in-process gessoing this weekend. When my dad died a few months back, I embroidered by his bedside while I talked to him. Tomorrow, I have to put my dog Radley down, and, for the first time ever, I don't feel like working.

Today, I am sanding and gessoing all of the pieces. I cut up some emory boards to get into the tiny spaces.

Here is a planning map of the middle layers:

I am back to this piece again, one of three I am working on right now. Excited to be entering into a period of intense work in the studio... will be posting at least every other day, if not every day.

New, not-yet-titled piece: 13 x 17", embroidery on found pants fabric. This work was done in collaboration with G.K., a young female artist who will reveal her identity when she (or her parents) deem it appropriate.

At the beginning of 2011, I made the gouache on black paper piece below as part of the "Little Exorcisms" series:

I added the pink glitter frame because I thought it was a bit too straightforward without it, and thought the piece was ok for what it was, but I wanted to try again to see if I could do better. I then started a second painting of two dogs squaring off, about to fight, which I let go of and did not finish (a rare thing for me), because I still felt it was lacking something... if I figure out what it is, I will still make take a stab at it, either by finishing this work or starting a new one.

Around this time, I went to visit a friend with a young child. She was showing me her drawings, and one stood out to me, it approached what I was trying to embody in my own work. I asked her if I could use it in an a embroidery. I made one "monster" fatter and added hair to the second one, otherwise the embroidery is a direct copy of her original drawing.

A review of Fiberart International in the Pittsburgh City Paper, featuring an image of my work.