Christmas Wind down....

After  a week of house guests

it's time for the Christmas wind down

A time to recharge and reset for the new year.

Keep warm everyone!

Florida greetings

Florida greetings, originally uploaded by jckirner.

A tropical tree for us this year.

Spending time with visitors - creating glittery bits for the tree.

(but we decided to leave off the pink flamingoes!)

Merry Christmas/Seasonal Greetings to all...

Tree 12 preview

Tree 12 preview, originally uploaded by jckirner.

Yes, a preview because I'm lacking light for fine photos.

And I've not done the finishing on the back - yet!

An exploration of no flanges on the edges
using a modified facing instead
results in more hand finishing.

That's TV work tonight!!

But what are you going to DO with that?

"But what are you going to DO with that?"

It's a fairly frequent question from some who are curious about the destination or end product.

And I'm a process explorer.

It usually comes up when

 I "show-n-tell" my process results.

I treat that as a query to understand rather than a judgment.

(or perhaps a nudge that I'm "showing" but not "telling" enough)

Recently, several somethings have clicked together to result in my trees:

• a desire to create on a more daily basis
• a need for completion
• a growing pile of fabric surface design explorations
• a fascination with 3D constructions
• a love of minimal form

And I cannot disregard these inputs from my voracious reading/viewing about art and artists:

• This PBS film on Origami   Between the folds 
• especially Paul Jackson's concept of exploring  one crease
• Jane Dunnewold's blog   existential neighborhood with her discussions of limits
• (and I've just noticed I've lost my sidebar of blogs I read - hmmm, put that on my to do list!)

Trees have figured in my work for awhile - from mixed media collage work to textile play.

(Curious? search  my flickr photos with the word "tree".)

And the pink Christmas tree in the photo collage center?

Heh heh - a kick to myself to loosen up and not get too serious!!

Tree 11 - woven earth

More a play with woven construction than any particular look.

Using my earth-tone painted fabric.

Once again I paint fabric destined to become graduated tone machine cord,

and it is repurposed before it was purposed!

Not too seriously constructed.

(have any of them been completed in a rigid way? Nope)

And suffering from some malady of seaming that induces toppling.

(if a tree falls in  a forest...)

Tree 10 - texture and roots

    

I've a fondness for texture and root forms.



Painted tyvek, torched (tortured?)
stitched root forms in tissue



parched earth tones

Creativity sparked!

(Click above picture to see the complete flickr photoset/slideshow)

Thank you to those who've written , my trees have been well-received!


It is one of the joys of blogging to get the feedback and contact with folks you may never otherwise have crossed paths.

And even more delightful when an exchange spontaneously occurs.

Ann Miles of  Wild Somerset Child and more frequently Journaling the Journal  felt inspired by Tree 4.

And as a writer her creation is in words she calls a Poem Spill.

And then when contemplating the transitioned tree 4.1:



I am delighted to receive these gifts of words.

(And have sent tree 4.1 on its way across the pond to Ann)



Tree 9

Grey and drizzly here today.



My (almost) daily tree has a watery theme.


Mostly I played with line in the form of zig-zag variations.



The base fabric from experiments in flour paste resist and over-stamping.

Tree 8

Tree 8 at 90% complete.

Some hand finishing left to do.

These layered constructions leave exposed innards along the edges.

 Which I have disguised this time around with some flying wedges.

And will close over the spine with "shoot me now" big X stitch.

Nothing too over the top.

Less minimal than tree 5.

But a bit compositionally challenged!!

Weather wimp Floridian today.

62 degrees in the house this morning.

Wearing un-accustomed layers and sleeves.

Not used to the bulk and find the sleeves catch on everything.

Heating's on now.

Set to 74.

That's more like it!!

Tree 7

Tree 7, originally uploaded by jckirner.

A little less minimal than tree 6!!!

Glommed together fabric experiments from this year (or perhaps last!!)

Tree 6

Tree 6, originally uploaded by jckirner.

A touch more indigo experiments available in the pile of fabric fun.

A slip of a clamp and an eclipsing moon resulted.

Tree 5

Moving on through the fabric creations from this year.
Indigo overdyed on dynaflow batik experiments.





Very subtle color movement



The morning soft light in the workshop - makes photos more challenging  - and very peaceful place to work.

Tree 4.1

And out came the metallic fabric paints.



A bit of an improvement, but over "blingy"



And it's time to let it go and move on!!!

Tree 4

Tree 4, originally uploaded by jckirner.

Eh! The colors aren't singing for me this morning.

I love batiks - yet these combos are coming across too muddy.

Sounds like I need to paint up some more Dynaflow panels!

Tree 3

Combining ends of batik blocks and random strings for the fabric base in this morning's pajama sewing session.



And the trio of trees so far...

Tree 2

Tree 2, originally uploaded by jckirner.

There was another unused batik square lurking in the fun pile of fabrics...



And tree 2 grew...

Tree

Tree, originally uploaded by jckirner.

A tropical tree.


Batik.



And sail-like in profile