Juxaposition

Everything is fabric, clothing to the very end. Everything turns to dust, but dust is just an extreme covering; it envelops everything. 
            -Mario Peniola, "Between Clothing and                                             Nudity"

This morning brought two emails concerning my playing with permanent markers and rubbing alcohol. The juxtaposition of these emails has given me lots of food for thought.

The first email was from a person who did not like what I was doing. Wasn't I concerned with how "permanent" (her quote marks), my piece would be? Considering that I am dealing with my dad dying right now, the question seemed easy to answer. "Nope." But, to be honest, it would probably have been my answer regardless. Her next question was, "How can you lead people in this direction?" This stumped me. I don't know if I am leading anyone. I am simply sharing. If I can get one person to play and experiment, it's a good day.

The next set of emails came from Liz Broussard of Houston, Texas, and made my day. Liz generously shared all her experiences with playing with and teaching this technique. Her suggestion to use a q-tip for more control which was immediately put to use (around the outside edges of the feather fabric). I look forward to sharing more with Liz. Thanks Liz!

So play, experiment, make mistakes (lots of them), learn, grow, throw caution to the wind! What do you have to loose?

Permanent Markers and Rubbing Alcohol Explorations

Today I continued playing with permanent markers and rubbing alcohol. I decided to see if I could do a drawing and see what happens. The inspiration for my first piece of inspiration was a feather I found and keep in a bowl on a table in my family room next to my couch where I sit. It was interesting to discover that the black Sharpie did not bleed much. Not sure why. I do like the effect.

For my next piece, I used three different permanent blue markers- Sharpie, Bic Mark It, and a Sukura Identi Pen- because they were each a different color blue. The blue Sharpie ran the most.  And once again the black did not run much. Too much fun! Going to continue playing and I think these will end up in little quilts. What are you doing to keep the winter blues at bay?