Have been happening this week. This is my sons first full week off of school for the summer, and of course, I have got us overbooked. There is tennis in the morning before it gets too hot, about an hour for lunch and then off to a birding camp on the other side of town at Quarry Hill Nature Center. This has been the first summer in a couple of years where my son has wanted to participate in one of the nature camps, and it has been really fun to see him excited about catching a tagging birds. I have been bringing my laptop with me to both tennis and birding camp, and I'm getting a lot done....two exhibition proposals for Minnesota art centers, a residency proposal for new work at Wesleyan College in the fall, and a SEMAC established artist grant for four person exhibition I will be in at Rochester Community and Technical College in June, 2018. So much hustle. I think the more you do the better you get at it all...I think my writing is improving. All of these word and character count requirements really force you to get to the point. So this has been my view when I get too hot being outdoors...

I have written a couple of these proposals for this large piece I really want to make:

I want to make all of these smallish, but varied in size, breast like shapes. All the shapes will be made with the same painted sewing patten paper I have been exploring in my two-dimensional works. The shapes will be formed with darts, gathers and sewn seams, and maybe even include some boning (like a corset). Some will be open and you get glimpses of the innards....some will be closed shapes and marred with massed stitches. The value around all of these shapes will be black #1 eyelets (from hook and eye sets) individually stitched together to make this sort of curtain of texture. I love the idea that when you are far away from it, it will just read as a value, but the closer you get, the more the texture and material are revealed. And did I mention that I want this to be about 6-8 feet tall and 10 feet wide. ALL THOSE STITCHED EYELETS. I am terrified and thrilled at the prospect of making this piece. I figured I would need 20 GG (great Gross) of eyelets; A great gross is 1,728. Maybe I have lost my mind, but here is hoping I get a grant to get it made.