Fiber Fever.

Much to write about...and...per usual...I wait too late to post...and then it is already time for me to go to sleep.  Sigh.  Well, my art is posted to my recent works...and to my FB page....and I did update Instagram all weekend. 

The main thing to mention is...it's awake.  That crazy, fiber fever is alive and kickin'.  Jessie brought out a bag of vintage embellishments, appliqués  lace and trims...and...I think I might have lost consciousness for a few minutes.  Once I regained my senses, all I could do is stare and touch these new treasures and dream of all the projects that I want to create. 

I have always loved sparkly things...I remember dabbling in textiles and not even knowing that was what I was really doing in high school.  I had made this batik...it was a mess.  So I ended up stretching the piece of fabric out with some yarn and then hand beading two zebras on the fabric.  I know I have a picture...somewhere, will have to find it.  That was my first time beading. I wish I had that piece now.  

In undergraduate I really got into textiles after my first survey course...I ended up taking five weaving studios and I think about the same number of surface design studios.  I loved everything- the texture of the yarns I used for dressing my loom...using my screens to create surfaces...dye work.  I would usually add some kind of embellishment to anything I did, from really fine glitter to beaded details...and for a while I was more into textiles than drawing...oh, that was until I took Mr. Elmore for painting one summer, then I remembered I loved to paint, too...

Sigh.  So much that I love, so much art to make!

...in graduate school I rediscovered my love for beadwork.  I made many beaded pieces, from abstract works, to narrative pieces, beadwork on my own digital images...and finally my beadwork on the surface of fabrics I hand dyed and fused together in a mixed media collage that I combined with my paintings on paper...below are some examples...and yes, every single bead is hand stitched on the fabric.  Every....single...one.  I am crazy, yes, I know.  I haven't done this type of work in a while...I think it is because in the back of my head I know I start to obsess over it...

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Works from grad school...bead by bead, stitch by stitch...I fell in love with handwork.

Okay...let me reel myself back in....back to the back of awesome fibers that Jessie shared Saturday....on Sunday, after my weekly trip to Barnes and Noble to work on some fashion illustrations, I headed to one of my 'bargain spots' and found a dress for $10.  (I seriously love this store, always find a ton of stuff)  I think I will wear it to a wedding that I am going to in April...but...it needed a little more sparkle.  So I started stitching the large blue appliqué to the center of the dress just to get it in place...going to add more beadwork...maybe some more appliqués...that I want to make from scratch.

I actually did this, made my own appliqué I mean, when I was in college.  I serious loved it.  It was tedious work...but I really enjoyed it.  For that gown, I will try to find a picture, I bought a simple navy gown at goodwill and then created a very detailed beaded and jeweld appliqué piece that I attached to the center of the gown.  It totally transformed my thrift shop find.  So that was kind of my thought process with the blue dress I bought today.  Then...I saw the red vintage lace, with small sequins on it and I remembered I had a red dress in my closet I bought a few years ago and decided to give that a new look...and there are so many other thoughts going on in my head for things I want to make...I took a trip to Joanne Fabrics today...I think I was in the store two hours.  

It is a slippery, sparkly slope folks.

Scenes or sparkle...me, covered in vintage fabrics and trims, freaking out....and...my first two projects...in progress....

And...I worked on my daily pieces...finished up those two Gucci illustrations...and made a new drawing based on a photo by Nathaniel Goldberg in the April 2013 Harper's Bazaar.  The pose....just so striking.  I love the angle of the figure, and the contrast of the fabric against the background...that is what caught my eye...so I drew it.  

Ummmm...wow, I need to go to bed, I have to get up in a little over four hours!  Aughhhh!