Walking on Four Legs

Happy Thanksgiving! I feel energized and content after a weekend with my extended family, so I've started job hunting in earnest today. I really, really want a job at Starbucks or another coffee shop. Less stress than a waitress gig and you still get tips! Keep your fingers crossed for me. 


The big thing on my mind lately has been identity. How do I define myself as an artist, as a woman, in a new town, in a stranger's home, away from friends, without school? 


During the weekend I talked with my family and I listened to their stories. Speech is so powerful, and I'm beginning to believe that being able to speak (up, out, or quietly yourself) can only propel your growth forward. What I heard this weekend were stories of healing, of growth, understanding, happiness, and strife. In turn, I felt safe enough to speak frankly about the changes I've been experiencing and it FELT AWESOME to be surrounded by people who connected with those words and emotions.  


I am thankful for this wacky family, for the chance to discover myself in this strange town, for dry humour, for wine and women. 

And here is a gorgeous green room courtesy of the internet. 

Surprising Results

While my noggin is taking a beating from this fierce head cold, I figured you should look at some things I've done! 

Above: pre-mordanting some wools and silk in an alum and tartar solution (note: the dye kitchen doesn't have a proper scale, so I had to eyeball the amounts), and in the pot on the right, a rose-hip dye extraction. This was from that demo...

I banged off a scarf in record time! All of these cotton scarves are blank canvases for dye experiments. If they turn out well, I'll sell 'em.

Below: dye experiments! Gorgeous, fascinating dye experiments! These two were coloured by horse chestnut hulls. The top photo, though out of focus, shows the samples after an iron post-mordant. LOOK AT THAT BLUE! 

And without iron, you get lovely champagne and nude tones. It's incredible that the colour shifted so drastically AND only on the cotton and silk! The cotton was pre-mordanted with milk and an ammonia solution. I am also testing cotton with a tannin solution, so we'll have to wait and see how effective it is. 

These next two photos show the rose hip bath. Similar nudes and champagnes, but wait till you see the results of the iron post-mordant...

TADA! BLUE! Logwood blue on cotton and silk! Amazing!

And here are all of those little samples lined up in my book. The colour's a bit off in the photo, but you get the idea. The horse chestnut blues are far more yellow than the purple blues from the rose hips. 

I need to spend some time in the BAC driveway collecting walnuts and horse chestnuts before they get carted off by squirrels or shredded by lawnmowers. 

Semi-Conscious

rain driving Allosaurus cinnamon hugs light-up suits fashion dancing Nuit Blanche train rides I love you bike rave truck metal heart art art art frozen fingers cold core




Need I say more? Word soup is about the only thing my sick brain can produce right now. It's actually my tonsils that are afflicted, but the chills and general malaise that accompanies a sore throat are a body-wide phenomenon. Where are you, nyquil martini recipe...


Aside from feeling sick, I have two overwhelming concerns (three, if you count my lack of warm clothing and the onset of winter). I have yet to land a job. Cash is a finite resource and I need a job very soon if I am to survive and repay loans. 


The second thing I worry about is... well, it's October, and this weaving project needs to GET GOING. Laying in bed for hours has given me some time to reflect upon my actions and goals, and I think I've spent the first month of this residency unwinding from summer and school and all of that jazz. I've been setting my own pace and trying to figure out how to live in this new territory.  


And that train of thought just ceased to exist. I'm going back to bed to sleep for another 12 hours.