Over the years, you learn a lot about yourself that perhaps you could have guessed at when you were younger, but you really can't be sure about until you've stood the test of time. One thing I've learned about myself is that except for experiences that I am really compelled to repeat, I am a "been there, done that" sort of person. I learn my lessons, take in the sights, and then enjoy moving on to bigger and better things. What ends up defining me are those things that I choose to stay with...the ones that I take to so well that they hold a permanent place in my repertoire of knowledge, experience, and enjoyment. I think it's probably like this for most of us, but since I haven't actually gone out and polled people, I'll stick to telling this in the first person.
The connection this has with today, is that the title of this week's This Thursday It's All About..." theme is, "It's a Puzzler", and that in itself got me thinking about puzzles, and helped me solve a related puzzle along the way.
It has always puzzled me that I have never wanted to work with altered puzzle pieces, although most I've seen are beautiful, and they are darling sizes and shapes. Why? Why not like something that, well, you already like? I decided to put that puzzling idea out of my mind while I searched within myself for inspiration on the theme, and a way to illustrate it without altering a puzzle piece, when it occurred to me that something was familiar here...I had worked with puzzles pieces, for a year or two, actually, in the past!
I had completely forgotten about this! It began as a series of surface prints on fabric for a master class my last year in college, and continued on to include needlepoint canvases, and a mural for a game-themed employee break room in a major department store. And I remember that after that mural, I was puzzled-out! I never even photographed what I'd done! I had exhausted my enthusiasm for the theme and was ready to move on, and far away from puzzles, or puzzle pieces, as an art form! And that is probably why I have no desire, what-so-ever, to make beautiful things out of those adorable shapes! Puzzle solved!
The next step was to dig through closets to see if I had kept any of the old puzzle art from the---ready for this--the 1970's! So no, these aren't new, and no, they weren't made for today, but who's to say they weren't sitting there waiting all these years for just this challenge?
The original needlepoint canvas and several permutations of it are long gone to other recipients. They were commissioned and sold as pillows, a chair seat, and tote bags. I burned out so quickly on these the only one I have left--the one I was making for myself--stopped as pictured here. As for the two prints above, they were designed to be mass-printed and quilted following the outline of the design, and/or to be surface embellished. The medium used was what was then the permanent marker of choice used by interior designers and architects, in fact, Design was the name of the brand, if I am not mistaken. It proved a perfect choice for closely woven 100% cotton, in spite of the nasty fumes, because when dry, it was completely permanent--no bleed at all, even in the hottest water my hands could stand and my washing machine was set to deliver!
It's hard to believe this today, but in 1976 when those two prints were completed, they caused quite a stir in the academic world. No one, ever, designed a print for fabric onto fabric itself! It was not done! Designs were on paper and specifications for fiber content, color and dyes were made in notations, much like blue prints. I was curious to see how permanent markers would react to fiber dyed cotton fabric, and then challenge the industry to match the colors. I was considered an "upstart", and an "impertinent student" to even suggest that the industry match my colors! And I chose a fiber dyed 100% cotton weave from "retail" stock What kind of person does this? At the time, I had no idea that I was experimenting in mixed media. But I know that now, and it has taken the times to catch up with me to realize just who I am, who I was, what I am doing now, and what it was that I was doing back then.
So there you have it. One puzzle solved, and two pieces and a fragment of early puzzle art in pictures on my blog! My artistic offerings may be from the stone age, but the puzzle I solved was entirely for today!
Have a great day, Everyone!
It was high time for me to get into my boxes of papers, stacks of magazines, stamps, inks, pens and paints and help them achieve their true potential! So here are four journal pages: one two-page spread and two individual pages, which amount to a major raid on my stash of supplies!
Part of a poem titled "Three Guests" by Jessica Nelson North was gleaned from my large collected stash of second-hand and flea market books and encyclopedias that I cut-up, scan and alter as the mood strikes. This poem is from a volume of a children's encyclopedia. I acquired the entire 21 volume set at a used book store for just under $10! It reads: "I had a little tea party, This afternoon at three; 'Twas very small, Three guests in all, Just I, myself and me." 
