lines. and when life imitates art.

when i was house sitting and dog loving for my friends gregg and marisol last winter i started a series of drawings; meandering lines guided in part by play and in part by the obstacles created by their own design. i haven't visited the note book in a while though. last night i had an urgent moment of inspiration and out of the blue i envisioned a solution for a blouse that was given to me by my beyond cool friend tina. instinctively she knew i'd like it and would find a way to make it my own- you know, allow it to take on the life of draping my asymmetrical body. being a central-button-down the front blouse and with beautiful embroidery i didn't want to perform a complete renovation with a lot of cutting and sewing so this blouse has been around a while waiting patiently to serve.

without any procrastination, analysing, or second thoughts i retrieved the blouse from the "waiting" drawer, switched the singer on and began to "draw". i didn't even bother to change the thread that was already in the machine... the white seemed so perfect.

i have several friends who consistently tell me that my art doesn't have to hang on gallery walls to be valid- that my clothing has become my canvas. well, by all accounts i finally, FINALLY am convinced. (geez, i know! it took me long enough.)

(click on the images for larger views. and more drawings here.)

FEEL THE LOVE.

technically, there are so many things wrong with this dress. it displays some pretty wicked sewing after i cut up and re-arranged a standard button-down-the-front dress. but after the renovation i must say, conceptually, socially and architecturally... it's perfect. i've finally completed my asymmetrical shirt-dress prototype. it's been cut and pinned for over a year. i have a seamstress/pattern maker whom i'm meeting with. if she "gets it" and she shows me some quality stuff that she's made i'm set. i plan to have several asymmetrical blouses and dresses made by fall. and quite possibly i'll have them available in the 'rhea belle apparel' store. the beat does go on.

a newly discovered voice.

Please, oh please, go discover what goodness awaits you "Under the Stinkwood Tree".

a pause from anger.

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i'm reading this. and liking it very very much.

i'm outta here...

I'm on vacation indefinitely. In other words... "GONE SWIMMIN".

angry. anger. and grace.

i am angry these days. there's not an hour that goes by in a day that is empty for even a minute of it. (well, perhaps there are a few.) i sometimes wake up confronted with a fight on my mind- there's plenty to be fought. normally, i would try to "heal it", rise above it, go around it, slip under it or push through it. but these days, it lingers. and i let it. i let it remain and thrive because i now stand firm that anger is passion at it's best. good things have come from it. i will spare a punch and let it live through art, poetry, words and most importantly i will let it thrive and consume my behavior and my actions towards things i believe in. there's a long list of battles and if you think there are non to be fought you are either dead or simply not paying attention. i don't need to be calmed and the only meditation i need is to ponder my next graceful move.

(this is how i'm feeling today, anyway.)

words. and tolerance.

The following are quotes that I've heard this weekend. No kidding.

This was said to a friend of mine after she informed a friend of her upcoming bi-lateral mastectomy:

"I hope you're going to have reconstruction- a woman at my gym had a mastectomy without reconstruction and she's always 'in your face' about it."

This was said to my sister today while she was telling a neighbor about my Rhea Belle clothing.

"Oh, your sister didn't have reconstruction? I know a young woman in her thirties that had a mastectomy. She HAD to get reconstruction because she's young and beautiful."

It's a really good thing both of these ideas were not expressed to me. Just an FYI when talking to me... if you can dish it out- you better be able to take it. (And stand beyond arms reach, just in case.) BTW: I live in the supposed liberal, hip/cool, intellectual, cultural, anything-goes New York City... and actually I've learned over the years- sometimes, it's anything but.