Fire Red

I did my last shibori dye bath before my open studio today, fueled by as much chocolate as I could scarf down before the trick-or-treaters get here tonight.



This hot, dry weather is great for dyeing. Everything dries really fast.

Now I just have to put hangtags on the shirts and scarves, and then I'll be more-or-less ready.

More re: Open Studio

Here are some of the hand-dyed silk shibori scarves I'll be selling at my open studio on November 12th:



The colors really turned out nice. I also have some silk shibori scarves dyed with natural plant dyes:



The natural dyes produce more subtle, earth-toned colors. I like that they're earth-friendly.

Nelson has been helping me get ready.



He's here everyday now. What's up with that? I hadn't seen him in almost a year before last week, and now he's here all the time. Did he just rediscover me? Very weird cat.

Open Studio

I'm getting ready for my upcoming open studio. Here's Sashi on the newly red sofa:



Put this date on your calendar:

Cassandra Tondro Open Studio
Saturday, November 12, 2005
10am - 4pm
1348 Grant Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-452-2964

Hope to see you there!

Cats!

What's up with Cinnamon? She's been sitting like this with her face right in the computer for the past half hour, like the RCA dog, listening to the sound of his master's voice. Is she expecting a mouse to jump out of the CD drive, or what?

Work Update

I did some more dyeing today -- shibori scarves. I'm getting ready for my studio sale on November 12th.



Yesterday I washed out some of the "molding" pieces. This one isn't mold -- it's rust. Rusty nails on canvas. I like the pattern the nails created.



This one is chunks of yellow dock root on canvas after I had already used them for dyeing. I think this piece is truly beautiful.



I haven't yet figured out what to do with these mold pieces.

Hurricane Report

My friend Ron lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and since the hurricane passed through this morning, he has been without water and electricity. He's been without electricity before, but he wasn't prepared to be without water. He has enough drinking water, but no water for anything else. This is he and Cinnamon in their younger days:



Now Cinnamon lives with me, and it's Ron and Mooney who are enduring the rigors of life without water or power.



Good luck guys! I hope things get back to normal for you soon.

More Evidence of Global Warming?

What's up with the camellias? They're supposed to bloom in January and February, but they're blooming way early again this year.

Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On

Yikes! Earthquake! I was tired and thinking of going to bed early, but now I'm wide awake. I hate when that happens. The US Geological Survey is reporting it as a 3.0 centered here, in Santa Monica, and I see that there was a 3.1 earlier today a few miles away. I hope this isn't a trend. I was paralyzed trying to decide which cat(s) to grab before heading under the dining room table. Before I could figure out what to do, it was over. The cats slept right through it. I wish I could sleep like that!

Composted Canvas

I buried a piece of canvas in the compost pile for a week to see what would happen, and already it had acquired holes!



Some of the patterns are interesting.



Things seem to happen more quickly in the compost pile.

Magnificence

Have you ever noticed the caterpillars that feast on fennel this time of year? Aren't they magnificent looking?

Nelson's Return

This is Nelson, the cat that I nursed back to health about a year ago. He was completely blind and near death before anyone figured out what was wrong with him. He had cryptococcal meningitis -- a deadly fungal infection that had spread to his brain. After extensive treatment, his eyesight returned, but not completely. His eyes are always dilated like this, even in bright sunlight. I hadn't seen him since last winter, and I was wondering how he was doing. Then this morning, there he was, in my backyard, waiting for breakfast. During his recovery period, I handfed him for a month before he could eat on his own. He had been a large cat, but he was about half his previous weight. He was in very bad shape, but now he looks fine. He's a strange cat -- unpredictable, and sometimes quite feisty. It doesn't seem like he remembers having lived here for a month nor that I was the one who took care of him. But then it's hard to guess what cats are thinking.

This is Sashi's new sleeping place.



She likes to sleep with her head smashed up against something, which I find hilarious. Sashi doesn't care for Nelson. She was not thrilled to see him again.

Early Training

But of course! The consummate 21st century toy for children -- Playmobil - Security Check Point.

Titles

I need titles for these two paintings:



They're going on my page in the Guild Sourcebook 2006, and I have to come up with titles before the artwork is due in the next few days. Titles are not my strong suit. Maybe you have some ideas.

Abandonment

I was at Whole Foods Market this evening, and there was an orange tabby cat in the parking lot, dodging cars. Not a good place for a cat to be, but perhaps better than being on the busy streets surrounding Whole Foods. He was sniffing at everything on the ground, looking for food. I followed him around for a while, trying to get him to come to me, but he was not interested. He must be a stray. I pondered my options. Try to catch him, and possibly scare him into the street. Call animal control, let them catch him, and euthanize him. Buy him a can of cat food, thus encouraging him to frequent the Whole Foods parking lot. None of them sounded very good, so I left and did nothing. He looked OK, not like he was starving, but I'm sure his life is not an easy one. I felt bad because there was nothing I could do to rescue him from his suffering.

Here I am, living in the most decadent society in the world, shopping at Whole Foods for the very best in organic and healthy foods, when millions of people and animals don't have anything to eat at all. I don't even want to eat the food that I bought. I feel guilty and sad.

Someone once told me, but I can't remember who, that I am unwilling to allow others to suffer. I especially can't stand to see animals suffer, or at least animals that I imagine to be suffering. I don't know for sure if this cat was suffering or not. We all suffer in one way or another, and it is said, by some spiritual teachers, that it is through our suffering that we learn and grow. I can't rescue every suffering being, nor is it right, according to these teachers, for me to rescue someone from their suffering. By doing so, I deny them the opportunity to learn and to grow. But it's hard to see what this cat, or anyone who is hungry, is learning from that experience.

It's at times like these that I hate the way the world is set up. I hate that animals kill other animals. I hate that some animals starve. It seems like a cruel and unfriendly place, and at times like these, I don't want any part of it at all.

Global Warming?

It has been pouring rain here all afternoon, which is weird, because we never get rain in Los Angeles in October. Our rainy season starts in December, if it starts at all. Our typical fall weather is hot and dry, fading to cool and dry in November. And this is a tropical storm -- not one coming down from the north like the rain in winter. It's wet and warm. Something is not right with the weather, and it's making me feel uneasy, because there doesn't appear to be anything I can do about it. The weather seems to be strange all over these days.

The clouds were really pretty before the rain started this morning.



We don't often get big billowy clouds like this, because we don't often get rain. Or at least we didn't used to get rain. I don't know what the weather patterns are now.

Pimpdaddy.com

Here's where you get all of your pimp paraphenalia, in case you were wondering: Pimpdaddy.com! But of course. They have pimp suits, pimp hats, fishtank shoes, platform shoes, pimp watches . . . everything you need to start a new career. They even sell pimp cars. You can chat with other ersatz pimps in the Pimpdaddy.com chat room, and send in pictures of pimp sightings. Who knew?

Autumn

Check out Richard Grossman's latest newsletter discussing autumn from a Traditional Chinese Medicine point of view. It's a different way of looking at the season, and I found it to be both interesting and informative. Dr. Grossman is my acupuncturist, and he is the best. I cannot say enough good things about his knowledge and practice. He is a true healer.

Guild Sourcebook

I'm working on paintings for the 2006 Guild Sourcebook. These two look like they have potential. I still have to figure out what I want to do on top of this, but I like the basic structure of the colors and patterns so far.

Red Cabbage

I washed out the red cabbage mold-dyed piece today. It's not as exciting as I had hoped, and yes, it has a few holes in it. I think holes are just going to have to be part of this work. After two-and-a-half months, the red cabbage was surprisingly still mostly intact -- not a lot of mold. It's a big piece -- 36" x 48".



When you look at it closely, there are some areas that are pretty.



I've also been using natural dyes to color canvas for the backing of the red onion and orange pieces. Left to right, these are dyed with yellow dock root, yellow dock root with iron, and nettles with iron and copper.



I want muted colors so that the colors of the mold-dyed pieces stand out.

Yellow Dock Root

Wow! Look what the yellow dock root did to the plastic bucket it was soaking in.



And this is after washing! That's one powerful plant dye. But I'm not using it to dye yellow. By boiling it in an iron pot, I'm hoping to get black.

New Work Begun

I started some new pieces yesterday. Red onions are my favorite, because of their color and the ring pattern they leave. This one is sliced red onions, but this time I dipped the canvas in white vinegar before placing the onions on it. The red of the onions is starting to stain the fabric, which doesn't happen in a non-acidic environment.



This one is nails wrapped in wet canvas, and they're already starting to rust.



I'm also dyeing some canvas green using nettles, for the background of the mold-dyed pieces.

Good News, Bad News

Here it is -- the moment you've all been waiting for! The washing out and unveiling of the mold-dyed pieces. The bad news is that the mold weakened the fabric, and it disintegrated. The good news is that it only disintegrated around the edges, and the centers are intact. I think I like them better this way. This is prettier than if they were whole pieces of rectangular canvas. They look like ancient relics, or shrouds.

Here's the red onion piece:



Detail of red onion piece:



This is the orange piece:



Detail of orange piece:



The edges are intact, too, and I think I can do something with these.



Now I have to figure out what to do next. They're too fragile to stretch, so they'll have to be mounted on other fabric or something.

The colors are beautifully subtle, and they look good against both white and black.

Latest Mold Update

Everyone has been asking me about the mold pieces, so here's an update. I know you're anxiously awaiting the results, but great art takes time!

It's hard to know when these are done. They change on a daily basis, and I almost hate to stop the process because I want to see what the next change will bring. But then I run the risk that I won't like the next change, and they're pretty stunning right now. On the other hand, they could change into something even better!

Again, these pictures are taken from the outside of the Plexiglas. I haven't looked inside because I don't want to disturb them.

Here's how the red onions look:



Detail:



I don't know what the orange is, but I like it.

The orange is also spreading to the oranges, which originally had a blue mold, that has since turned black:



Detail:



Pretty interesting, huh? I think I'll wash them out later this week, or maybe at the beginning of next week.

Thanks for inquiring! I'm glad you're all interested in this work.

Yet More New Work

I know it seems like I'm whipping these paintings out, but that's only because I work on four of them at once, so four get completed at about the same time. There's a lot of drying time and waiting time, which is why I always have several in progress. That said, here's the latest for LoPressionism Gallery in Melbourne, Florida:



Detail:



This one is also 48" x 30". They all have dots, although I didn't plan it that way. The dots just seem to fit in well.

RAND Report on the Arts

I recently heard about a report from RAND regarding the visual arts. Their research shows a narrowing art market and more people trying to make a living from sales of art. That doesn't sound good. My tendency is not to believe naysayers and go along on my happy way regardless of what the trends indicate. If I listened to this sort of thing, I never would have become an artist in the first place.

More New Work

Detail:



Here's another painting I just finished for the show at LoPressionism Gallery in Melbourne, Florida in January. It's 48" x 30", and has to do with clouds, rain and storms -- both literally and figuratively. I still need to come up with titles for these new pieces. Any suggestions are welcome!