At the end of the Nance O’Banion class today, we had to talk about what set us off in the direction we went and the themes we saw emerging our work. Both of my pieces were driven by the beginning of the class when Nance said to be open to serendipity and surprise. Because of the “personal pieces” I chose, the themes that emerged were themes that I had worked with in the past: One Night Stand and the Goddesses.
Nance’s class was full of different types of supplies and things to inspire us.
Rubber stamps lined up and ready to use in the books.
The book on the bottom is full of wonderful bits of embroidery and quilted books.
I was intrigued by the way she lined up everything.
This was waxed linen thread that she offered for our use. I used my own hand dyed thread.
We were supposed to bring three meaningful things with us. I wasn’t quite sure if she meant things we could use in our work or just things in general. I chose the former definition and these are the items I came up with.
Dots, of course.
The little woman figure is very like Desiree and I like her shape.
I am really into taking time for tea right now, thus the cup.
Cover: Here is the cover of the finished piece. I made this one MUCH smaller. We had less time for this second book and I wanted to accomplish a lot, if not finish the piece.
Page 1 and Page 2: First I went through and drew all of the figures. I alternated between the shape from the bead and the Desiree shape. The little figure on page 1 said that her name was Paulina. Not sure why or what her goddess responsibilities are, but there you have it.
After I was done drawing the figures, I went back and modified colors, sewed a bit, added beads. I think I want to stiffen the pages on this book as well.
Page 3 and Page 4: I merged the two shapes in the figure on page 3.
Page 5 and Page 6: Page 5 may be Referencia, but may be someone else. She did not reveal herself. The wings are a flash of brilliance, I think. The house in the Little Mother’s tummy is supposed to be a Gwen Marston house.
This is the end. I used a rubber stamp that I bought from Karenlee (finally!). You can also see the binding very well. It is called a stab binding. I still need to sign and date it.
