Pat Findlay's Studio Time

  During the last few days, I've had lots of time either at my computer of just sitting.  The computer time gave me an opportunity to catch up on some of the sites I follow, or some of the technique videos that have been piling up over the last few months, when watching time has been at a premium.  This has given me a few ideas for a future direction in my studio work.  Always, these days, reducing my stash has been at the top of my mind.  One idea has been to try using alcohol ink with my Gelli pad.  I believe that I have a fair collection of alcohol ink that's targeted for disposal.  Oh my, sounds like a plan emerging.  Most of my fabric scraps have disappeared, and now it's time to tackle the larger pieces that are all stored in separate colour-labelled tubs.  At the same time, I found a new-to-me quilt pattern called "Chandelier", on Facebook.  All of the squares of one are finished, and most of the squares for a second.  It's g...

  Yesterday I was off to Lorette fairly early, as the group had been invited to see the yearly "show" at the local High school.  The "show" was "Beauty and the Beast", with the sets and costumes either home made or made within the school--and I was very impressed.  It brought back memories of my time in high school ( late 50's and early60's), when every 'show" was Gilbert and Sullivan and all of the costumes were rented.  I enjoyed every minutes of the show, but while the other ladies went back to our usual meeting place, I chose to drive home, as the weather had taken a real change for the worse, and we were dealing with driving snow pellets and very strong winds.  Bad weather had been forecast for later in the day, and I was very worried about the drive home. Once home My DH suggested that I spend the rest of the afternoon in the studio, and I did.  Previously, I had used the papers made using my "play Day" last week to initiat...

  Last Thursday, two friends and I got together to play with our Gelli Pads.  None of us had used one before and the first step was to watch a video showing one way to use them.  We had a pile of old printer paper with "tractor" edges, about 4-5 inches high and went through most of it, about 1/4" pile left.  We used Golden Open Acrylic paint and tried out several techniques, but didn't get beyond the print-making part of the plan, so left for home promising to turn our prints into collages the next day.  The others have posted their pictures, but I have barely got the papers into colour-ways.  Life just got in the way. But one of the secondary benefits of the day was great.  We socialized, and chattered, and got caught up with each others lives.  That part of the day was priceless.

  No, I haven't fallen again, but it appears that my camera may have gone out in the trash.  This means no pictures for the blog.  Is there any point in posting without a picture or two?  Maybe. Part of getting ready to move and greatly reduce the size of my studio, is making decisions about what to do with finished art projects that haven't sold, and are covering the studio walls.  As well, there are quite a few more traditional quilts that have to be considered. Most of these quilts are not full bed size, which compounds the problem of their disposal.  Those few that were larger, and close to bed size were donated to a group helping to house Ukrainian refugees, where they were well received. For the past few months I've limited the quilts I make to a smaller size that can be more easily donated.  Maybe I need to make the next few bigger, so more fabric can be used, and out of the formal "stash". I say that because I've found that, even though I'm spe...