work table : starting anew

This morning I was able to sneak some time in my studio and catch up on last week's ideas I've had brewing in my head. I finally shipped off my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project and finished framing my two Idiom pieces for an upcoming show.

The weather the past few days here in San Francisco has been stunning and makes me want to clean out the garden, clean up the studio and get back to work. Even Jacques the cat got into the spirit by cleaning away some cobwebs while I worked (not really but it does look like it, no?)

As I mentioned I've had new ideas brewing in my head, smaller versions of the Foreclosure Quilts but inspired by Japanese Boro textiles. Well, here's the start of it ... my favorite pair of jeans. Rip ... RIP, sniff, sniff.

I'm too embarrassed to show you all the patches over the derrière that I've made in the past few months trying to save them. After two 'ripping' squats I realized it was time to let them go. Thankfully, they will be immortalized forever in my next piece. You can see a little glimpse of my new idea in the image above and my sketch below.

I really have been craving blue lately. I had some intense blue linen lying around and bleached it for different lengths of time to create the subtle color variations for the main panels. And next, will come the 'patchwork' foreclosed lots. I need to fray and age them a bit first before sewing them on.

It's so nice to have two related projects going on at once. I love being able to jump back and forth on them, it keeps me sane. I hope everyone else is having a productive 2011 so far!