Gesso Tales

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Green Lines Gets a Cover

In June 2016 the painting Green Lines went to the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival in Waterloo, Ontario.

Now panel #5 is on the cover of The Conrad Grebel Review:

And the whole thing (a teeny tiny representation) is on the back:

Friday, 19 January 2018

January 19, 2018

A friend died today. I put things aside and went for a walk in the river valley to document the day in her memory. It was +4 C, partly sunny and calm. It was a good day for woodpeckers.

Friday, 12 January 2018

Over several months I have had a bit of an obsession with Alabama Chanin type clothes and techniques. Some have already been documented here. In the fall I grew my collection of t-shirts again, going through my husband's drawer and checking out Good Will and the Salvation Army. What really bugs me is how so many current promotional t-shirts have printed matter on both the front and the back. But I digress. I tried to dye some bright green, blue and red t-shirts black. This was not successful in terms of turning them black, but it was successful in toning them down a whole lot.

My first project was a tunic length top, with stencilling and stitching. I made up the stencil specifically for where I wanted the design to go.

front

front detail

pocket

back

back detail

Last week I pulled out what was left in the pile to put together pieces to do a test run on a dress. I used the same top from the tunic, already adjusted from this pattern:

I changed the skirt part by making the front and back be 2 pieces rather than 3, and I added a pocket. The perfect dress really needs a pocket!

front

front top detail

front bottom detail

back

back sleeve detail

At this point I was faced with the option of putting little scraps away or making a small item. I decided to make a t-shirt for my grandson. Everything I make for him (so far) has at least one pocket.