Mounted

Sometime today or tomorrow, I will re-research the size of the gallery walls that these pieces will be on, measure off the distance in my hallway, arrange the pieces in the middle of that space with some objects to the sides to simulate Megs' work, and decide if these nine pieces are enough. I researched it before so I'm pretty sure that they are and that I'm just having that end of project panic attack where you think about all the things you could have, should have, would have done differently. That's an endless debate. At some point, you just chose to be finished. What I did is what I did and is good and enough and...




... LOL - if it's not, the thought tickling my brain is that I will paint one 24" x 24" piece for each series. It's tickling so strongly that I'm going to order the canvasses just in case because even if they weren't for the show, what fun that would be.

I already know that the color piece would be golden yellow and I've been thinking about gel mediums for the texture piece. The trickiest one would be the lines & shapes piece as those three are so connected but since these would be obviously different, it could work. The idea is just a tickle though - not at all necessary so far.

Here's the side of a canvass with a piece mounted. As you can see, my work is very flat depth wise. It has LOTS and LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of stitching - stitched to death is the common term used to describe it. I really enjoy that look and feel.

I'm debating the photography. As much as I'd love to have the documentation, the expense is a bit much right now and then there's that question - why? I'm not hugely sentimental so the pictures I've taken are probably more than enough for me. A few years after making a piece, I find I'm not nearly as "connected" to it as I was when I made it. Already, I feel an emotional distance from these ones. This is normal but does make me wonder about the photography.

Mostly, I wonder if there is a reason to have professional images? Should I have them taken just in case at some point in the future there is a reason? That's the real question because I have absolutely no idea what the future holds. Even if I were to have another exhibit five, ten, or fifteen years down the line, I'd have to show some current work in order to secure it. I can only imagine (hope) that my work would have grown and evolved at that point. It's something to ponder while the pieces are setting.

Right now, they're dry to the touch however, I wouldn't want to wrap them in plastic or pile them against each other because the paint could stick. Ask me how I know! I'll leave them safely leaning up against a wall for the next month and then wrap them in heavy plastic until the exhibit.

Yesterday didn't go quite as I'd planned but even so I did get what I wanted to do done and finished mounting all the pieces around 8:00 p.m. last night. This morning, I plan to sign the backs, print off and tuck some care & keeping instructions into each frame, and create the documentation for the curator including name, size, date, price, and so on. It would probably be a good idea to write the show and series descriptions too while I still know what I'm talking about. And then, everything is ready for Craig for the beginning of January. The exhibit is mid January 2010. If all goes well, by tomorrow I will be done.

A friend is picking me up to go out for lunch today. After that, we're going to spend some time knitting on my front porch. Doesn't that sound really wonderful? I'm looking forward to it. I'm half finished the first sleeve of this sweater. If I get far enough, perhaps Rosemarie can show me how she sews her garments together. Her work always looks incredibly neat and - if you remember - improving the quality of my workmanship is my knitting goal for this year. I'm making good progress.

In particular, I've learned a lot about the kinds of garments I like to wear/knit and the types of yarns that I like to knit with. I'm starting to get a feel for how the different fibres will react while knitting and afterward in the finished project. It's a bit like sewing in that I create a fabric and that fabric has similarities to a woven fabric of the same fibre content however, there a few other factors to consider that I'm learning mostly through trial and error BUT... I'm getting there.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - all the pieces are mounted and complete