Happy New Year and New Work for Jonesboro!

First - Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all had a warm and wonderful time with family and/or friends. We did both and are so thankful for the fact that we get to see all of the kids and parents, and that we enjoy it.

I am way behind in both keeping up the blog and getting these pieces made for the show in Jonesboro. I should have 10 pieces done by March 1st, so I can let them know sizes, numbers, etc. I am excited to report that today I have 2 pieces very well on their way and several sketches that I can't wait to get to.

As I move along this new path, I find I am really enjoying playing with fabric and metals, and making something arty and unusual and hopefully, beautiful, that others will enjoy. I know not all others will, but I hope some will. I like the Chinese-style coins on the right and the hammered and colored copper wire. I haven't yet decided how to attach the wire, or what I want the final effect to be.

Well, here is a HUGE detail photo of the top of the piece. Orange torn, hand-dyed fabric (dyed for me by my friend, Laura McGrath - http://periwinkle-quilts.blogspot.com/), copper sheeting that I annealed with a blow torch and hammered for texture, and a curly-cue of bronze mesh. Combining fabric with metals is a lot of fun and offers such a variety of textures and techniques.This is a very preliminary stage. Nothing is attached except the background, which is sandwiched with batting and black backing. But I am still thrilled with how much I have accomplished in 2 days. I don't believe I've been able to do this much in months and months.
I'd like to know your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. about this piece, but please hurry! I have a lot more to do, both on this and upcoming work. And I am off work all this week, so I intend to be creating in leaps and bounds!

AND - have you considered your word for 2011?  I hope mine will be two-fold - Search and Discover. I intend to search out more techniques for working with metal on fabric and discover more about myself and  my fascination with both metal and fabric.
I hope you will think about what you'd like 2011 to be? Rather than making resolutions that will be broken within a week and make us feel guilty again, why not establish a word in your mind that will inspire you? I'd love for you to share them  - either on your blogs or here, on mine.

Thanks for looking and have a Happy New Year!