Some recent work. Speaks for itself.

I am a sap for Valentine's Day, even though we don't go in big for any sentimental celebration. I just like the shape of hearts. (OK, it's a trite image as a noted art instructor and juror once told me, but an image can still has power even if it's trite, I think,) This is me working from my heart, listening to every little creak that puts me on my path. Today, the heart said, "CLEAN UP THIS PIGSTY" so I have been undoing all the clutter and putting my tools where I can actually find them. And sitting doing a bit of stitching in front of Project Runway reruns.

These "accidental hearts" -- a series of 5 -- are small wall "altares" eaach about 15.5" by 11.5" by 1.5" or 2". The are pieced and machine quilted with machine and hand stitching, some with buttons and other embellishments. The fabrics are all dyed, printed and/or overdyed and the central heart images were made with handpainting and deconstructed screenprinting in the Kerr Grabowski workshop I took a couple of weeks ago. The hearts were actually the prints that appeared accidentally on the drop cloth under some scarves I was printing. Because the silk scarves were so thin the dye seeped through and added another layer to a complexly printed accidental piece of design -- actually on the back of a piece of commercial upholstery fabric. Thus the title of this little series.

PS. the colors are more like that in the detail. I need to tweak the saturation in the one's taken outdoors today.