Hello, chaos, welcome home

It happened again, although I tried very hard to avoid it and keep things sorted ... I have been visited by my old friend - guess who? Yeah, you are right, the name is chaos *sigh*.

Well, at least, I won on the stay sorted side, but I badly lost on the finishing projects side. The visit seems to be the revenge for all the painting I did lately, just too many pieces on that *fabric-painting-pile*. But on the other hand, it's always nice to find long forgotten things underneath the ones you still remember ;). Although there are always some things I like to stay buried ... awful color combinations, unsightly experiments or simply overall epic fails.

This is what I found when I sorted through the paintings pile, see that seastar in the lower corner? I totally forgot about it, it was among one of the first paintings I did - months ago ... Sad, isn't it? But well, I guess, that is just me - slightly chaotic and ticking slower than the rest of the world. The proof can be seen above.

The only book I finished lately (although I admit, I had to deal with severe/stupid computer problems for a while which needed to be solved) can also be considered as an experiment. It is a handpainted softcover fabric jounal with a polka dot, hot pink sideflap and off-white pages with pink colored egdes, bound in a combination of long stitches and link stitches. Whether it is totally unsightly or not, may be up to you ;).

I guess, I should stop writing now and get some things done ;)

Simple colors

Back in time, just before the weekend - and still fighting with paint and chaos *sigh*. But at least, I am progressing - *yay* for that :). And I am keeping the promise, and will show you what I have been working on just before I took my vacation in Chaosland.

All of them are fabric prints on natural, unbleached cotton, made with all kinds of materials I had at hand: potatos (released my inner child), rubber stamps, cardbord rolls, buttons, foam and plastic packaging, cork from a wine bottle - see, really anything works. Although I am not sure yet if I dare to cut the prints down or use them as whole pieces ... Anyway, here are some colorful candies for your eyes - the icy blue, light pistacio green and light purple ones are my favorites, what are yours?

Have a colorful weekend :)

Playing Christmas elf

In case anyone might have wondered where I have been the last week and what I have been doing, here are some photos. But be aware they are mostly sneaks, and not more than that because you know: Christmas and all those presents ... I don't want to risk anyone seeing the items I have been making for them too early.

;)

I hope you had a nice, creative and productive week, too.

Back... or: How I have been kissed by a car and turned 18...

Hello out there. I admit I have been a little bit absent lately, but I still exist ;)

The past two weeks gap of posting was not really planned it just happened as days passed by...

The first week was spent at my parents home - I was visiting them for the whole week because it was my mom`s birthday and I had not been there for nearly half a year which made me realize how incredibly fast and unnoticed time flies by. This week was full of non-adventures and an out-of-service access to the internet, therefore getting kissed by a car was literally the *highlight*. Don`t worry, nothing serious happened, but when the grandpa who maneuvered his car precisely into the front of our car just came up with a tiny "Oh, I am sorry, but I can see no damage, do I really need to give you my address?" my "Yes, you need to do so!" included a little bit more than just a polite request for his address - although I wouldn`t have seen any damage myself, too, if I had tried to - dark as it was and with his bad eyes and such strong glasses - however, he also had not seen us in the first place when he was driving and went into reverse for whatever reason (with us lights on and standing still 2 meters away from him...). But enough of complaining...

Well, nevertheless, I was not totally lazy that week and did more than just watching TV and enjoying family ;). Since I had wisely taken some fabric and my paints with me, I managed to paint some more bookcovers.

Well, unfortunately, the last week back home was way less productive than I had hoped it to be. To tell the truth, I did nearly nothing due to a stupid but persistent cold/infection/whatever. Although my stomach still feels like it is enjoying endless private rides on a rollercoaster, I am much better... :)
Being slightly ill also seems to make me look way younger than I actually am (and unfortunately: feel). When I did some daily shopping I added a bottle of wine to the list - and guess what: I was asked if I am already allowed to do so!?!? Buying such things is restricted to matured persons of the age of 18 and above in Germany, so I would not have mind it anyway if I were 21 or even 25. But since I already turned 18 quite some days ago (ahem, more than a decade.... ), I really thought she was kidding me. No joking, the lady was serious!

Well, the moral is that it is at least way better to remain in a youthful stage than to hurry to look your age, isn`t it?

Last weeks ups and downs...

... came for me in a full color scale from purple to red. Some colors in-between were missing, though, mostly due to the new behavior of my personal satan - the new nickname for my sewing machine which definitely ruined some covers during the sewing process. I hope I can overcome this tricky behavior and it will turn into a nice behaving sewing machine again. But when you have a closer look at the red satin book, you will see that the front fabric also looks crumpled, this time mostly due to my lack of sewing experience concerning patches *~*  So, there is still a long way for me to go, to do things right and to make them turn out the way I originally had in mind - or at least close to this ;)

So, no light yellow and green this week except a work in progress piece combining a mellow yellow theme and my personal favorite: a line related theme.

Yes, I definitely love lines. Simple line art can express anything when used in right way as shown in a very impressive way by tape artist Chris Hosmer. All those great images are made with different tapes - which means a real limitation to line itself. Just a tiny glimpse of his work below, called "Africa 2", which I think is really great in perspective and color choice, but there is so much more to see on his blog:

Well, onto fighting the demon in my sewing machine, we will see who won the next few days...

;)

Red against Moby

Currently, I am making a miniseries of three softcover notebooks painted in red - ahem, besides all the other more or less book-related ideas and projects, which are starting to form a rising wall around me, so it might be wise to work on those projects rather than starting new ones *ah, focus focus*... Otherwise the piles might silently fall down on me and bury me. Although it would not hurt that much since the piles are made of fabric, it might complicate daily life......

Nevertheless, I try to get the series done. Last time's red poppies became abstract circles, this time's inspiring grass became quiet striped, and the third motiv already drifted away to a completely abstract construct. Maybe it is a mixture of grass and underwater landscape which I am doing in a parallel project. At the moment, I like the poppies the best - perhaps because poppies of all colours are one of my favorite flowers since they are so delicate and fragile but yet intense.

The seastar is part of the underwater project I mentioned above; the greenish-yellowish in-process-something (a sunflower yellow in reality, not as orange as it appers to be on the photo) next to it was inspired by the love for a sixties yellow mellow mood that suddenly overcame me when I was listening to Moby this evening. Ah, and again another project started... *remember: don't listen to the music - focus focus*

Well, I am off to sort things out and get them done ;)