Slow Stitching

Well, gentle readers..

I took a few photos of the pieces 

that I am still working on for

my 

Slow Stitch String Book

Black Bean dyed cotton with bleached and over dyed sari silk.

which we will make on the next video..

Tea dyed and stitched cotton textile

one more video and then we are taking our summer 

vacation..

Tea dyed Khadi paper stitched with mono printed fabric

We had planned a trip to visit family to celebrate a birthday,

but that was cancelled..

due to Covid..

so very much has changed..

but stitching hasn't changed..

I can still rely on it

for it's curative

repairs.. 

Caterina Giglio, mixed media, slow stitching.

stitching,

centers me..

as the needle marries paper and fabrics..

 creating a path all its own.

moving gently on .. 

with no concern of where that pathway leads..

 the piece, 

or me..

I loose my attachments and just focus on this 

present moment..

my breath, a sip of tea..

and I make space for the 

the wonky and wabi sabi..

in myself and in my work.

 

A little string book will be perfect for imperfect pages

and will allow them to be worked on 

time and time again..

See you next week 

my dear readers..

be well and as always,

thank you..

Ciao, Ciao!

 

February Art Journal Pages

Writing a love letter to myself

each February

began years ago in 2008

when I first put paint brush to altered book..

It is a tradition that I look forward to each year..

writing about the things that I do, say and think

 that 

I really appreciate..

This year however..

I had a new twist to journal about..

I have always identified with being Italian American..

because I was so close to my father's family..

and because my mother and I had been estranged for so may years..

not uncommon in families with 

alcoholism..

My Mother always claimed to be Irish..

She even gave her youngest son an Irish name..

and well she was beautiful, 

with red hair, freckles and blue eyes..

fast forward 

to Ancestry and DNA testing..

and suddenly 

I am not half Irish, but German and English

What a surprise..

not an Irish scalawag in the lot..

I knew I had an English grandfather that I never met..

(lots of secrets on that side of the family..

that we won't go into here today..)

but I was too young to remember my maternal great grandmother..

My Mother.. 

sigh..

I can understand her changing her heritage during WW2..

I get that part, it would have made high school very difficult..

and small town living,

 atrocious..

but to keep the story going all those years later..

that is so my 

MOTHER..

However..

No matter where my DNA originated..

I am happy to be the woman that I am..

So I gessoed and painted and painted some more 

and scrubbed back the layers to reveal the orange paint underneath.. to show the past..

and used the letters...

to emphasize 

the power of the written word..

to manifest what we truly want to create..

Ingredients: Stitched Mono Prints, threads, acrylic paint, colored pencils, pencil, paper ephemera, antique envelopes, wrapping papers, pen.

So gentle reader,

I will have the second half of that 

Mono Printing video for you on Friday..

we will be printing on large cloth,

canvas

and boards..

so I will see you then

dear ones..

xox