Category Archives: Fabric

Shy by Matthew Dear

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Silk on linen , linen cord and metallic floss & thread

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This is what most of my drawings start as- listening through fancy head phones,  with my aural/visual response on a napkin which is my favorite drawing paper.  I scan the napkin, clean up the image and colorize a multitude of color and texture choices in Photoshop, blow up the image to size I want to sew, print pattern and use as stencil to cut fabric for completed piece, hand embroider in place and VOILA- there it is

Keeping My Balance on One Leg

How Long Can I Keep My Balance Before I Fall Into Infirmity
“How Long Can I Keep My Balance Before I Fall Into Infirmity?” Hahnemühle Fine Art German Etching Paper 310 gsm, giclée print 10×7.75″

 

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“How Long Can I Keep My Balance Before I Fall Into Infirmity?”   Silk on linen, with linen cord, metallic and cotton floss and thread 24″x36″

For all of us Baby Boomers, Infirmity is real!
I was talking with a 60-something friend about his health issues this morning, and this fell out of my pens.

So far I am the pink dancer, but watching friends and family age, I can anticipate a probable future. And I always experience pain as very sharp. I can only balance on one leg for so long, no matter how much I exercise, how strong my core is, or how much healthy food I eat.

Il Sogno: Catania, Campania & Lucca

Cotton, linen, cotton and metallic floss 9.5”x8.5”
Cotton, linen, cotton and metallic floss
9.5”x8.5”

This is a cover for an Artist Book I designed prior to our trip to Italy in 2013. We made this visit to my nine Italian composer/musician friends who lived in Catania, Campania or Lucca, and who created the music that was my soundtrack of healing when I was very ill in 2009. This poem by Tagore and the five drawn color variations of the hand sewn cover, are included in the Book.

The eternal Dream
Is borne on the wings of ageless Light
That rends the veil of the vague
And goes across Time
Weaving ceaseless patterns of Being.

The mystery remains dumb,
The meaning of this pilgrimage,
The endless adventure of existence –
Whose rush along the sky
Flames up into innumerable rings of paths,
Till at last knowledge gleams out from the dusk
In the infinity of human spirit,
And in that dim-lighted dawn
She speechlessly gazes through the break in the mist
At the vision of Life and Love
Emerging from the tumult of profound pain and joy.

Tagore
September 16, 1929