I have enjoyed the First Friday Artwalk in Mazatlan so much that I thought I'd continue it on my blog. Why not? - friends and neighbors and tourists stopping by to have a look at what's new in my studio, chatting, having a snack and drink, perhaps even purchasing a piece of my work or some fabric. At least that's the Mazatlan version. Here you can just read and enjoy!
Coincidentally it's also the 4th of July. I'm sure some of you out there wonder about why that matters to me. Even though I live in NORTH AMERICA (Mexico and Canada), by birth I am American, and some things, like the 4th of July just don't disappear from your being, even though you're living in another country. This has always been a special family get-together day in the U.S.. Today we are happy to have Tom's daughter and grandchildren with us, keeping the family thing going. Dinner with friends and family, picnic fare, a few sparklers on the cake. It's the 4th!
The 4th is also a special day for me as my dear dad passed away on this day 12 years ago. Art was a lover of life, had a hankering for travel, and grew beautiful flowers! He considered me his gypsy child and his everlasting message to me was "whatever you choose to do in life, I love you". Wow! I am so grateful for his words. And so, in memory of Art (we called him "Art the Fart" behind his back in our youth, snickering, feeling a bit guilty...) I want to display these two quilts that I made a few years ago for my grandchildren. (The first is shown at the top of this blog.) They remind me so much of him because of the bright plaids I incorporated with my hand-dyes. Yes, he was one of those men who wore bright plaid pants. (Tom calls them "David Lindley" pants, after the musician who always wore the polyester version.) Art wasn't a golfer, just a guy who wasn't afraid to be himself.
Moving on, I want to display the finished product I featured in my blog entitled "Discharge Dyeing". I added a beaded fringe of paper beads and buttons, a set of tabs at the top, and hung it on a copper pipe in my living room. I am very pleased with this piece. 
One of my goals this summer has been to teach myself to paint on silk. I have a big stack of habatoi silk scarves and I am pumping out about 2 per week. With the steaming involved, my success rate isn't very good (maybe about 40%), but I'm plugging along and enjoying it very much. Here's one I have on the frame at the moment, a vision of what's going on in my garden....GROWTH, COLOR, LIFE! 
And last but not least, I had a busy day of dyeing up my "one piece wonders" using a stack of cotton pieces that really weren't too interesting or useful. I happily have about 20 new overdyes that definitely will be used in my work. Here is one of the many I produced.
I hope you have enjoyed July's Webwalk! Come again next month and see what I've been up to! Happy 4th!
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