TUMBLING
Mixed media, 42×50″, 2005.
Created over the cusp of 2004, when I was traveling to different places – seeing family and friends – I knew I would have no time to create much in what was the ‘quiet time’ of our Bed and Breakfast. Firstly I wanted to have myself in the piece, so I drew the life sized tumbling person as an out line of my naked self place on the panels. I devised a scheme where each plate was assigned a day during the 60 days doing this work – chosen randomly and therefore are placed randomly (i.e. the days do not run consecutively). I journaled each day, and collected ephemera etc. , including the moon’s cycles, drawings and objects, to use in that day’s panel. Each panel used color and collected pieces to set the mood of each day and activity. To give it all some cohesion it had several coats of wax. Sadly ironic, the big SE Asian Tsunami happened during this time, and I had already placed the tumbling figure in what could be water, on it …
This piece also gave me the opportunity to be part of a book called WRITING AWAY: A creative guide to awakening the journal-writing traveler, by Lavinia Spalding, who was then a young writer who had come across this piece in our B&B, and inspired her to add an artistic side to journal writing. Lavinia & I taught a workshop together in 2010.
THERE, BACK AND INBETWEEN
Mixed media on post cards, 55×35″, 2006.
Fifty-four day journey through South East Asia 2005-6. Each day is recorded as a postcard and snaking consecutively from top left to bottom left. Again images and ephemera collected each day and made in to an individual postcard, sewn together with booking binding thread. My seated naked figure is embroidered on top – as we did a lot of sitting on and waiting for transportation on the trip!
MEKONG RIVER: A COMMON THREAD
Mixed media on post cards, 30×26″, 2007 (Private collection).
Using a similar format, and more material from the SE Asian journey I created another piece. This time the Mekong river is embroidered on top – expressing how influential that water was on all the countries we travelled to: China – Vietnam – Laos – Thailand – back through Hong Kong and home to Utah.
DISEASE UNKNOWN
Mixed media on post cards, 20×24″, 2010.
This piece was a response to my journals that I wrote when I became ill and finally diagnosed with Transverse Mylitis in 2007-8.
(https://myelitis.org/living-with-myelitis/disease-information/)
It was a way of getting back into working.
Reflections on lightrays 