May something-or-other (close to June), 2023.

I was standing in my (not my) kitchen with my mother. the mood was very gray-dark. resigned. final. bleak…whatever-you get the idea.

My mom was leaving and said she didn’t think she could come back again. She wanted me to know that the world was changing, that I might not recognize it for awhile, and she asked what my plans were for going forward “given the situation” - and she waved her hands around indicating her immediate surroundings (my home) …like there was something wrong with my situation.

“I’ll be fine, ma. I have plenty…I’ll simply move forward on the current body of work.” I took her hand and ushered her into my studio which was mostly empty except for my totally unspectacular Brother sewing machine sitting on a table at the back of the room - the floor around it littered with scraps - And 2 floor-to-ceiling sculptural dress forms were affixed to the wall.

(wow! …did i do those???!!! and I knew that I had.)

Upon closer inspection I could see that both pieces were actually flat, and only looked 3-D because of the values and angularity of the individual planes. And the pieces were made out of all my old stuff—my old photos and contact sheets, my paintings, all reconfigured and stitched together to make a “fabric”, then cut into pattern-like sections, and sewn into shapes (dresses/not-dresses.)

All the old stuff was like the bones and desiccated blood of my life. and if you actually looked at the work, you could see places where the planes could be shifted/opened and something else revealed underneath…

I woke up and wondered if I could actually make those. And i think that I can…it does certainly solve the problem of what to do with the hundreds of prints I still have. lol.

but then that would mean i would have to stop painting kitty cats, and take a break on my Fancy Hat Fashion show… so we’ll see.