Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Big Muddy

I've been wanting to do a few more pieces in the New Orleans series. And so I did. Then the pile of scraps kept calling out to me. "Just do a couple more," the scraps begged. And so I did.

Once again, I put some motivational music in the CD player. New Orleans and southern Louisiana tunes. Plus the Be Good Tanyas, naturally. They NEVER leave the CD player. The CD on the bottom right is hard to read. My fave: Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas "Hang it High, Hang it Low". Never fails to light a fire under my kettle.



Those begging, pleading scraps:



Looks like I just don't have enough of the window material in brown. Will have to make more. I'm quite fond of making simple stamps. Sometimes, just a rectangle is all that is needed.



And a white paint pen.



Now to lay out some ideas:



Need some more of the white letters on black and white swirls:



Time to sketch out some ideas:



Making progress:



Final layout (?) with some beading ideas:


Now the real work will begin. Sewing the pieces together. Quilting. More quilting. Applying beads and other embellishments.

Big Muddy is named after the Mississippi River. I'm also working on a smaller version of this piece.

I'm still thinking of a plan to have these auctioned off for a charitable organization in New Orleans. Lots of planning to do there. I have NO idea where to start. Maybe I'll contact the new mayor!

Many of the other pieces can be seen on my website.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Listening to Elis (Not Elvis)

I just came across this YouTube video on the Fiber Focus blog.



Elis Regina is one of my favorite singers. A Brazilian, Elis sings in Portuguese, a language of which I can understand almost nothing. This matters little to me as her voice is more like musical instrument. Perhaps I should state everything in the past tense. Elis died in 1982 at the age of 36.

Three years ago, I was inspired to create a piece based on her beautiful voice.


No doubt, this does not well enough capture her rich, clear voice.

I'm debating a change of tunes in the CD player to include her. I'm just worried that if I do, that will be the end of the Signs of the Times series. I am much too affected by music when I work. I will listen to the same CDs over and over again until a piece or series is finished.

Are others as affected as I am by music when they create?