Sunday, September 21, 2008

Geisha - in progress



Workin' on the chain gang, lalala...
To describe the last month as "busy" is comparable to calling a category 4 hurricane as "windy with showers."

The day job, folks, is killing me inch by inch. And then there's the endless effort to juggle my own work, keep the house livable, manage to possess at least one clean pair of underwear and keep up with correspondence.

After a binge of earring making - I started playing with my bead charting software this morning.
I bought it a couple years ago because it was nifty and inexpensive and I like to work in square stitch. One quickly tires of graph paper and fatal mistakes one cannot erase. I haven't used the program a lot but since I've recently rediscovered how much fun peyote stitch is - I thought I'd play around this morning and the above, "Geisha" is the result. She's the focal of 2.7 inch wide cuff and I'm at row 43 of 80.

My cat hates me for the lack of attention. I haven't done the ironing. I have hand cramps. But I'm having a ball!

Colors are crappily rendered by my camera - way darker than the piece. I can tell this one if going to be a bear to shoot when it's done!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

11 comments:

herhimnbryn said...

All great female artists need a 'wife' to run the house, cook the meals and vacuum!

LJ said...

Most artists don't have to bead weave one, do they?? :)

MixPix said...

Oooo, this is just gorgeous - congratulations - I'm inspired to peyote stitch or loom weave my October piece for the BJP now. I finally got around to vacuuming & dusting but still haven't washed the kitchen floor - sometimes it's just more important to stitch, bead, draw, paint - after all, there's only so much time in a day. My solution is to manage my Catholic guilt and Protestant work ethic lol!

LJ said...

The kitchen floor, I find, always gets dirty again - but inspiration doesn't always strike in quite the same way twice.
Mind you, with that theory, you don't want to eat off my kitchen floor:)
Glad you like it, mixpix!

herhimnbryn said...

Mosaicing yesterday and this post of yours drifted through my head. It was late and dusk, I was still in the studio and the house continues to look a wreck. Hey ho!

LJ said...

Hey Ho Herhimnbryn. So none of us can eat off our floors. But maybe, if we keep at it, we'll leave something beautiful in the world?
Hope so! Must be coming up Spring in your world, huh? Lovely time to be in the studio.

Unknown said...

Love her!
Her name wouldn't happen to be Sayuri, would it? Oh, it couldn't be, since her eyes lack 'water' ;)
Oddly enough, I stumbled upon the "Memoirs of a Geisha" book just last week, during one of my second-hand store excursions. Read it in two days, what a wonderfully written story. I watched the movie yesterday for the first time, and was disappointed by the directorial liberties and omissions from the book. Oh, but the cinematography was fantastic, and seeing all the colors, and the kimonos, oh, the kimonos!

Beautiful work Linda.

Unknown said...

Oh, and since we bought the house, I've discovered that I'm quite into vacuuming... but certainly NOT into floor washing... LOL!

The Lone Beader® said...

Wow! Cool subject!

LJ said...

Hey Jewels! LB! I loved "Memories of a Geisha"...and I'm right with you Jewels on the kimonos. Geisha faces are great to render in pattern because they're so stark and contrasting. I like how the cuff is coming. It's 3.25" wide and about 4.5 long now. Getting there. I've done a lot of tweaking on the pattern since I started beading it.
If not profitable - at least fun!

Anonymous said...

lj,
If you any assistance with photographing your lovely works I'm there for ya!

-Anthony