rough around the edges...

I took this picture a couple of days ago, thinking that it was just a progress shot of things that I'm working on. And it is. But when I sat down to blog just now, it struck me that it is a good photo to represent how I'm feeling these days. A little rough around the edges. A little like I've been rubbed with sandpaper. And a lot not finished.

I'm not gonna lie, I've felt some twinges of sadness. Even in the midst of good things that I'm so very joyful about. And the feelings of things being not always wonderful aren't feelings that I typically talk about here. But they are here. There isn't even a particular reason for me to be feeling this way, but I am.

Just sharing that is good. I trust that you understand.

But I have been making a bit of progress, so I'll move on to that. The wood blocks above have already seen a bit of paint, and they'll see more soon. Three tiny paintings are started!



Then I got this idea that I would use this old green fabric I had rescued. It used to be on our old couch cushions, underneath the upholstery. I started out by trying to iron out some of the wrinkles. Thankfully, at the last minute I put paper on both sides of the fabric. Good move, as it totally melted!

Fine, fine, the wrinkles can stay. So I stitched up "Recycled Aluminum Can" on it to be a patch. Well, let's just say that the fabric, any way you melt it or stitch it, was a bad idea. I found it to be very ugly, but have kept the "patch" as a reminder. The fabric is gone forever.



More successful was the trial of painted/stitched patches. Although, when my sister first saw this, she asked me what it was supposed to be. My mom knew right away it was a book. You got that, right? A book. Anyway, I'm working on a coffee cup next as a trial. Not sure if I'm the only one who would find this kind of fabric patch charming, but the making is enjoyable, so that's all that matters.

Now, I'm off to glue beads to spools (more on that later) and to do some more printmaking trials (this one involves styrofoam and toilet paper...yes, you read that right).