Up and Away

I've dealt with the roll of quilts, and feel immense relief. What a funny thing the brain is...how we can build walls inside and lock doors and feel out of control...when one simple act can unlock everything to make a fresh new start.
Along with putting away the quilts, I also swept up the floor, and filed away knitting and sewing detritus, needles, patterns, magazines, books and cleared off tables and tossed away junk. What a nice clean studio. Yes!

The quilt on the chair is an oldie, Colorplaying from 2008.

There were quilts in the mix that have never been hung in this house, and this is one of them.
Matchstick Moons #2. Hand dyed cottons, with hand dyed silk matchsticks. It is now hanging in our dining room area. The window adjacent provides northern light, in just the right amount to make the matchsticks glow.

The two pinkish Bon Bons went into my loft bedroom, where they first were hung back in January 2008. They are making me very happy.

Back in the studio: Dave had put my folding table in the garage attic and together we retrieved it. Earlier this week I bought two inexpensive shower curtains, and used them to top both the folding table and my worktable. Out comes the messy painty stuff!
I have been gathering inspiration from paintings and painters on my Pinterest board. Now I am ready to start fooling around with some ideas that have been sparked.

I am using inexpensive acid free drawing papers and acrylic paint. These are monoprints which are nothing in themselves, but serve as fields of color. They may become backgrounds or collage bits. Who can say? In the meantime I am making a collection of them and will figure out what to make from them later. Stay tuned.
 I think I need to  make some purple, pink and greens today.

One thing I always felt about my fused quilts, was that I liked them best before they were quilts. I mean the flat compositions were what excited me. Then they had to be backed, and quilted etc. which changed them into something else.
I always wished I could fix them as the were, so no sewing would be required to keep everything in place. With this in mind, I came back to painting, where one can assemble/construct a design, and paint it/glue it all together into a finished something. And with paper or canvas, one can also draw into the surface, adding personal marks that will finish it off.
There are lots of assemblages out there, and some I really like and some are just too busy for my taste, like everything in the artist's arsenal must go onto the composition.  I am going to try and limit the stuff that goes into the work.