6th Annual Artist Retreat - Tuesday

Tuesday began as days in Pam's studio always begin - with a discussion of what we think we'd like to accomplish that day. As often happens, the studio muses eavesdropped and decided they had other plans for us.

Pam and George twirled, dipped, tangoed and even sang a tune or two with some fabric she'd stitched together in Santa Fe last October after my departure. 

The results of their dance are soft...muted even...ethereal and intriguing. Perhaps Pam will allow a few photos today of the completed first piece. There are two more waiting in the wings.

While Pam and George stitched away, I did as well. My experiment for the day was hand stitching on paper, something I've done very little of. The Japanese papers available are like stitching on cloth so I tried a piece of design vellum.  

And then another.

About that time, Pam mentioned that if the thread was removed from the sewing machine, it could be used to make holes in the paper. Following her advice, I experimented with two weights of paper. Worked beautifully too.

At some point I grew a tad disillusioned. It had been far easier to hand stitch on paper than I'd anticipated - especially when using the sewing machine to punch the holes. Back to the annex I went in search of the next step. In the end, I painted the back of one stitched piece with white gesso and then made a print from it on vellum. 

The gesso sits on the vellum's surface adding texture.

With one successful experiment under my belt, I thought to try making a rubbing of another stitched page. This done, my energy ran out and it was time for bed. 

Shhhh....don't tell Pam, but I rose early this morning, came downstairs and cropped on my pages from yesterday. I like them much better now, don't you?