nathan pinkie mcdowell

 "There is no "just" from the artist's perspective - the tiniest speck is a galaxy if your eyes are

   functioning."   Eric Maisel 

Today I stumbled upon a woman's work that I have loved for a long time but haven't seen lately.  One of the problems of changing states is I miss the local galleries and shows and life sort of goes on without me.  Back in Boston we shared the same photographer and I would occasionally get notices of what Merill was up to.  I have never met her, I guess I may be more of a fan-from-afar.  But you have go to see her work-  Merill Comeau's Artist Statement:  

"I examine themes of decline, loss, memory, regeneration, and bloom collaging mixed media murals from discarded materials."

Her work consists of found fabrics, discarded clothes and vintage linens which she paints and prints and embroiders in a very free form way.  Her later work is huge-  takes a whole wall and just pulls you in to see things closer.  There are great images on her site so see much more there.

Rod’s Shirt Rebirth III
31” x 56”

                                                         Kristin’s Rags II

                                                               49" x 15"

                                                     Zebra Rebirth
                                                         43" x 83"

(detail below)

And if you haven't gotten enough of Merill's work yet, there was a very interesting interview with her HERE.

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Right after I got rid of the dead 'Palmetto Bug' lying feet-up in my sink, I started another baby quilt in the studio, something with softer baby colors and something I can finish on LESS than 10 years.  It's all cut out, basically off whites with blues and greens in a rail fence setting.  I scoured Modern Quilt sites and got a couple of ideas, but the main one is K.I.S.S. (Keep it Stupid, Sandy) so I am.  I rifled through my hand painted and hand printed box o' scraps which is the size of a Volkswagon.  Seems I don't use blues very much so I found an old shirt of TY's and then another one with chartreuse/yellow/blue so I cut as many strips from those as I could.  The whites came from a very expensive Japanese cotton that had all sorts of different beige lines that I cut between.  So, next I get to sew it together and mess with directions.  The backing is a large piece of blue batik and I cut a strip of that for the front too.   This will be a one week project, small to drag around or play with, washable, and no fuss, no muss.  The only Palmetto Bug in the ointment is whether the machine will hold out for me.  Pray.

I'm sure I will be ranting about this all week.  Just a little warning. 

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A gigantic aerial mural of Johannesburg, South Africa

A closer look at detail... looks a little chunky.

And OMG, it is made of mosaic pieces!

Artist Gerhard Marx in conjunction with Spier Architectural Arts recently created an enormous sculptural mosiac of an aerial photograph of Johannesburg, South Africa. Seven professional mosaic artists, together with nine apprentices worked for 5 months to complete the project using natural stone such as marble and travertine, fragments of red brick, ceramic elements and chippings of Venetian smalti glass. In the end, the 56-panel aerial image weighs nearly three tons and was presented last month at the 2013 FNB Joburg Art Fair.

Visualize tuna breath?