the thinking stage

One of my teachers said that the secret to a good painting is to do these steps:
think
think
think
think
plan
plan
plan
paint

I'm getting quite good at the thinking stage.



These pieces have been hanging on my design wall for several days. And these pieces



have been hanging on my side wall for just as long. (They were snow dyed) (ignore the tv in the middle). Some of the small pieces have had stuff done to them (stitching, layering), but none of them are 'done'. I dither about what to do next on them. The big pieces look so good on their own that I'm at the stage of being afraid to touch them for fear of ruining them. I'll get over that. Eventually.

Meanwhile, what I have been doing are these:



These are 4x4" pieces of polyester that have had disperse dye paintings transferred to them. They have been backed with acrylic felt. I am working on adding details to them, with the intent of matting them with a 2x2 opening, in a 9x9 overall sized mat. I've been needing to make some small pieces to sell, and the other day I saw something similar in a restaurant--small square pieces, framed large, hanging in multiples. I liked the look, and these are small enough that it's not dangerous to play with them--not much initial investment, so if I mess up, no big deal.

And then there are distractions like this:



The snow melting on my deck in the sunlight. I see another strata piece in there, but of course none of the fabrics I'm currently working with would do...

But I expect that I'm on the final 'think' step for most of the pieces. Will move on to the 'plan' steps any moment now...

That is all.