Playing with leaves

Since returning from Cleveland, I've been experiencing a bit of ennui. Well...not ennui exactly...more like...hmmm...my mind needed time to digest what was learned in the India Flint workshop and come up with a plan for how to use that knowledge in my own way, with my rusting and stitching and tea bags.

I'm still pondering and digesting over a week later and likely will be for some time to come. Today, though, the inactivity faded a bit and I found myself outside gathering maple leaves to bundle in a length of dyed linen.

Not sure what the yellow leaves are - birch, perhaps? - but they're from the backyard too. Their scent was pleasing so I'm following India's advice that if it smells good, it is safe to use.

I'll let it brew for a bit and throw in a rusty bit or tea bag, maybe a stone or two even or another handful of leaves for good measure.

For those following the search for Roy G Biv, tomorrow is indigo day. I've got to admit that this one has been hard.

Stacks

Back in September, Seth Apter over at The Altered Page decided to embrace his fondness for stacks in the studio and asked others not only to do so, but to share them in a post entitled...what else?...Stackoholics Anonymous. I considered participating, but just never quite seemed to get around to photographing mine.

This morning, midst needing to make room on my work table to open bundles, it occurred to me that there's a nice little stack of fabrics that have been accumulating since Thanksgiving and the adage of better late than never came to mind. So, without further adieu, here's my guilty pleasure stack.

This is actually a good record of what has transpired in the studio since the semi-disastrous experiment with the cranberries. As I seem to be on a roll rusting right now, it's tempting to just keep adding to the stack and see how high and varied it gets before the 2012 artist retreat.