I’m a week out from my show opening and still working. I’ve never been in this position before and I can’t recommend it. However, here I am with five pieces to finish by next week.

In January I edited out some designs because I didn’t think I could get them all done in time. Now that I’m so close I can see that the show is a little light, especially because three pieces became one triptych. That left me with only 13 wall pieces. So I decided to add two pieces back in and to make the three free-standing pieces that I had always planned to make for the show.

It’s worth it to keep the pressure on myself just a little longer to have the best possible show. After all, a solo show isn’t something that happens all the time. Can’t have a birth without some labor pains!

things are getting messy

Pretty much everything I do in the studio is low tech. I use my hands, I cut out paper, I imagine. But I do love my ipad. Here I’m using it to look at source photos while choosing fabrics for a piece.

Yesterday I took advantage of my rested state to design some 3-d free-standing pieces for my show. I’ve wanted to make them since the beginning, but as everything has taken longer than I thought, they’ve been pushed back over and over again. I knew if I didn’t at least get the paper patterns done they wouldn’t get done at all.

I did cheat a little. I used some patterns that I started for other projects that never got finished. Having forms to start with made it much easier to jump in. I was able to tweak them here and there so that they fit with the rest of the Madrone series. I got all three designs patterned and cut out in the peltex in just one day. Now that they are in this stage of the process I can put them aside until I finish the rest of the wall pieces and still have confidence that I will be able to finish them for the show.

It was a relief to work on something that was easy, or at least relatively so. It was satisfying to go to something that I really know. And for the first time in a long time, it didn’t take longer than I thought it would.

New and improved design on the left

Yesterday I delivered three finished pieces for my show. They are the very last pieces that will go in the on-line catalog and it was a huge push to get them done.

Today I’ve given myself a much needed day off for the first time in about a month. Aaah.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to the studio to continue  work. I can still give the gallery pieces for the show, they just won’t be in the catalog. I’m going to try my best to get three more wall pieces and three free-standing pieces done.

Everything for this show has taken longer than I anticipated. It could be because I got spoiled by having interns and didn’t realize how much they were helping. Or it may be because this work is more complicated and more time consuming than what I’ve done before. It’s certainly not because I’ve been procrastinating or sitting around eating bon bons!

For now, I’m enjoying my respite, spending time with my family, and resting up before the final push. I feel ready to go back to work after my rest in the eye of the cyclone.

I’ve fallen behind in posting here as usually happens when deadlines approach. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say or show, just that I’m using every spare moment to create new work. I woke up from a dream this morning that the gallery owner told me that I needed at least 20-30 more pieces for the show. I’m apparently even working in my sleep.

Here are some photos of the fabric selection process for the last set of pieces I originally designed. I’m still hoping to squeeze in three more pieces. Wish me luck! And if you want to keep up on my day to day workings “like” my page on Facebook, Cameron Anne Mason.

Back to the grindstone!

fitting the puzzle pieces together

Now that my palette is full of rich and beautiful fabrics I have to make choices. Which work together? Which fabrics support each other without conflicting? Which work within the confines of the available space and give to each other without taking away? And simply, which fit?

Here are some photos of the fabrics I’m considering for the next set of finished pieces.

I’m sending a bunch of pieces back to the dye pot to get one more layer of color before I start the final push of constructing the rest of the pieces for my show. This photo is of a number of pieces that were all overdyed with shades of Burnt Orange.

There’s a big batch of mixed colors and fabrics in the dryer right now. I also dyed about 18 yards of muslin for the interiors of the pieces I’m making for the March show. I’ll overdye more today and then I should be finished with dyeing for a while.

Overdyeing is always a risk–I’ve made some bad choices before–but most often the fabrics aren’t usable without another trip to the dyebath. The color either needs a little correction or they have too much white space. What I just put in the dryer looks like a mixed bag–some very nice and a few dogs. I never can tell, though, until they are washed, dried, and ironed.