Balancing Art with Everything Else

Lately I feel like I'm in spinning-plates mode, trying to keep several projects in the air without anything coming crashing down.  So far I'm managing, perhaps just barely, but at least one of my projects is a vacation.  A real one this time, not just working out of town. We're headed for Montreal in the morning and on Saturday we're boarding a cruise ship for a leisurely trip back to Boston.  It's a belated celebration of our fortieth wedding anniversary which occurred while  I was in Columbus for QSDS.

One of the things I just did to get ready for my trip was to cut some more little fabric pieces to make into original cards.  I mentioned in my last post that this was how I spent my down time while vending at QSDS adding some embroidery to each of the little bits that I'd brought along.  Then over the last couple of days here in the studio, I mounted them on blank cards--doing some layering with some abaca papers and other handmade papers.  It's been fun and I'm pleased with how they came out so I decided to do some more on this trip.  Here are some examples of the completed cards.

 This first one started with a commercial fabric that had Paintstik rubbings on it.  I layered a sheer fabric with a bit of couching over that, added some sparkly abaca paper, and finished with a little embroidery to hold it all together.

 This next one started with a bit of fabric with some nice shiny couched threads.  I filled in one of the spaces with French knots, then layered it over a sheer handmade paper.

This last one started with a pieced remnant from a jacket I made a few years ago.  A little embroidery and an underlayer of more sparkly abaca paper  was about all it needed.

I love handwork; I find it very relaxing so it's a great vacation project.  I've been so busy with various administrative projects lately, that it feels really satisfying to make some art again.

In the last six weeks or so these cards and one free lace scarf is about all I've managed to finish in terms of artwork, but at least I'm doing something to keep that plate in the air.  Here's the scarf I finished.  I tried something new in that I made the ends of the scarves quite different from the middle.  I like the lacey look, I think I'll try that again.