Friday, August 28, 2009

Arteries, veins, unbroken meadows


This is another in my continuing theme of demon/human forms. The doorway is taken from so many Medieval paintings, as is the gold metallic thread which is to resemble gold leaf.
I did much of this piece while at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. In the spring and summer I spend many a weekend afternoon there with my 'portable sewing studio' i.e. a bag. Anyhow, there is a long stretch of open grass in the park called 'Long Meadow'. It's supposedly one of the longest stretches of unbroken meadow in any U.S. park.
As I stitched my way through the arteries and veins in this figure it came to my mind that I was "contemplating the circulatory system on Long Meadow". It occurred to me that that would be a good sentence to use if I was ever talking about this piece. That was over a year ago, way before I started this blog. Well, finally, I'm 'talking' about this piece but I just can't use that sentence seriously in good conscious. It's just too darn hokey. I'm already concerned enough about how much of my written explanations are just pretentious, masturbatory dribble, I don't need to knowingly make it worse.
This is the last of the excisions from the large hoop.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Friday, August 21, 2009

Astronomy, Art and Insignificance


"Three Celestial Studies:
1 - Spiral Galaxy
2 - Comet and Ion Tail
3 - Diffuse Nebulae"

The heavenly bodies were formed with one of my favorite flavours of painters floss. The purple 'space' around each of them was made using three different purple colors from three different spools, all mixed together. I often mix colors but in this case I especially remembered the futility of using three very similar purple colors since I knew they would blend and look as one. The difference is too small to notice. Its pretty insignificant. Its insignificant just like we are compared to all the heavenly bodies in the universe and beyond.

First time using embroidered text.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Animal Head



This was started in the Summer of 2008, inspired by the myriad of fauna in the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities tome that I had recently purchased. It was supposed to be some kind of animal head.
It lay dormant for a year on the big hoop, then I recently revisited it and tried to continue the animal thing but something went wrong. Maybe I lost my initial inspiration, or it was replaced. Now its more of an Animal-God-Spirit head of some sort. The large, oval shaped 'eye' is built up of metallic thread and 'pops out' about a half-centimeter from the surface.
Influences: Asian art, Indian Religious art.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Eyes


Some of the people who sell incense on the sidewalks of New York City also have religious paraphernalia. I recall seeing an image like this once, or close to it. All I remember were many eyes upon 'its' head and body.
Not sure if this is a God, or Demigod, it could be some kind of deity perhaps.
The 'meaning' that immediately comes to my mind to all those eyes is that of the 'all seeing, all knowing God', a God of wisdom. But I'm sure that the image of my memory probably had much deeper and more specific intents for the symbolic eyes.
As for this image, it's just my re-incarnation of another incarnation that I saw, or thought I did, or wanted to see, with my own two eyes, or out of the corner of my eye, or in my minds eye.