Happy Thanksgiving!

For the past two days I've been in my studio working with the items Janet Kozachek gave me. We decided to try an unusual "collaboration". Basically, I gathered things I thought she's like for artistic pursuits. She gathered things she thought I would like. We exchanged them earlier in the month. Well, I just recently got to my new items.

To be honest, I knew what I would do with these sixteen pieces of Chinese calligraphy upon first glance. I even fused linen to the reverse with Fusion 4000 in my heat press. I just didn't get to working on them until two days ago. Then, the series took off like a rocket. They are all completed, matted (five framed), priced and put into the inventory. They've been photographed, as you can see. I selected this piece (which is not one of the framed ones!) because I was hoping my sister Wanda would like it. She likes dragons. This one's got two.

Of course, Janet carved all the stamps and wrote all the calligraphy. She can read it aloud and translate it. To me, I just see the beauty of the ink patterns and tried to combine each piece with fabric scraps, metallic foiling, and machine embroidery. All but one includes hand beading. They will be headed to our Archeology Show in January.

I tried to upload other images, but no luck at this time. Maybe tomorrow.

More importantly, it looks quite definite! I'm having a solo show at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys, California during the months of January and February. I will be going out for a closing reception and staying nearly two weeks through the opening of the annual Spring Obsession Art Show and Festival. Steve has booked the flight and the car. We will work on the accommodations tomorrow.

Last night I baked the pecan pie using all the nuts Alex shelled from our own pecan tree. Today, I made pecan stuffing. Steve cooked everything else. Fortunately, we've never gone all out for Thanksgiving. We skip sweet potatoes and yams, cranberries, bread, and pumpkin pie. We stick to a small turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans. We limit ourselves to the pecan pie! It makes cooking easily, clean up a breeze, and eliminates weeks of leftovers. Still, the day was strange. It is our first Thanksgiving without Mathias. Yet, we are thankful nonetheless; he is living his dream and Nutcracker opened tomorrow!