Alien invasion continues

This is the same teal fabric as the earlier E.B.E., with unprinted side (I refuse to call it the "wrong" side for this piece) on top:


And while I had the fabric paint out for the eyes, I tried a freezer paper stencil:


Not sure how he ended up wonky-shaped. I like the color and the hand of the paint, but he looks a little flat compared to the appliqued guys.

More aliens

They need embellishment.

E.B.E. 2, on a background of overdyed calico, about 3" x 4":


A teal E.B.E., same size:

I want to say he's a Jinny Beyer print from at 10-12 years ago, a print pattern I do not like but somehow acquired in three different colors. I didn't know if black eyes would show up, so I painted them silver via a freezer-paper stencil.

Have also begun machine-stitching around the aliens en masse.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Today's fruitless attempt to avoid going insane with purposelessness: MAM. I just went over the holidays to study the folk/outsider/Haitian art, so I skipped all that and made a beeline to the temporary exhibit of 19th century hand-tinted prints. They thoughtfully provide magnifying glasses for better admiration of the fine details on the engravings. I must go back sometime next month to study them again, as I struggle with "where to put the quilting lines."

The museum was fairly empty once the teenagers on field trips left (kids--check the corners of Matrix XV for old ladies in dark clothing before you decide it's a cool place to make out, please!), and I finally got to go into Stanley Landsman's Walk-In Infinity Chamber, which was incredible.

Now I'm trying to understand why I was drawn to Hans Hofmann's "Meadow Splendor" in December, but today it was just sort of there:


I get in free through June, and I have three punches left on my parking-garage pass, so I'll have to go back. Maybe catch a gallery talk now that I have nowhere to be on weekday afternoons.

They're heeeeeee-eeeeer.

My working title is "Radish's Cry for Help." *snicker*


...and they're kinda dark:


But they're already fused in place, and dark fits the mood I was trying to create.

And a close-up:


"He who takes leader cloth is leader. He who takes green is green and follows green leader. He who takes purple is purple and follows purple leader."

E.B.E. 1

This guy was the wrong shade of green for his buddies, but he seems just fine solo. The metallic perle cotton was a pain to work with but I like the look.

I wonder how many of these things I'm going to end up with...

Madness takes its toll

All that fabric I have been dyeing and overdyeing "Avocado" since 1999? Apparently there was a reason.



Why yes, I have been watching the X-Files. In German. I understand about 15% of it...

Mas Tequila!!

I have added new photos to the Tequila Project.


I have my new camera back, although I don't know for how long. I've had to send it for warranty repairs twice since I got it 12/31. It's excellent when it works...

Flower Quiltlet 2

Went into the back room last night to heat set and use my black paintstik'd fabric and I couldn't find the drawing I was going to work from, so I put it aside, found a template I created last spring, and made this little 3" bit for my best friend's grandmother, who is having some health issues.



Hand-dyed fabrics, fabric crayon, perle cotton, beads. I think I could have selected a more contrasting background fabric. I do like how the beads look like masago, which should send me off in yet another direction.

Here is the earlier version, which I gave to my mother:

Less-delayed gratification

Fabric paint and freezer-paper stencil:



Yeah, I'm jumping around a lot. After unearthing so many forgotten treasures during my excavations over the holidays, I want to use them all...

Anyway, before it was a stencil, it was a felt applique:


I haven't fused it down to the painted batting/organza yet, because I haven't decided if hacked-out felt is the best option, and if so, how to stitch around/through it. I like the motif being raised above the surface.

It's slightly too big for a postcard (the stenciled bits could be postcards, I think), which leaves room for a scroll-y border. In six weeks or whenever I pick it back up.

Portland Nature/Scenery Photos

Portland Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, and some waterfalls and vistas along the Columbia River. I'll get to the city photos later...

Limitations of paintstiks

Gingko paintstik, originally uploaded by heatherradish.

"Irridescent Charcoal" on black (there is a hideous calico print on the obverse...can I call this reclaimed fabric?). Now I wait 3-5 days for the paint to cure, which irritates me. I want to beat people up right now!