Sick Leave

For the second time this winter, I've been attacked by the crud. And just when I was making some progress on my bubble theme. I didn't even have enough oomph until yesterday to take a picture of the progress I'd made before creativity came to a screeching halt. I'm really liking the way this one is coming together. I think I need to add a few more bubbles and then decide what color the arms will be - I'm considering a mauve something like this as well as something lighter, maybe even one of the sheers. I have enough of the background I used in the first experiment for narrow borders (left of panel) and may insert a thin piping of the mauve in the seam. There's also a navy batik wondering if it should be included - either piping or binding or both. See? Lots to think about and try but the brain is too addled from the fever & chills to make these sorts of decisions. I think the fever finally broke today, so maybe I can proceed with this over the weekend. I'd sure like to because I have yet another hand-dye set aside for another version.

My recuperative couch time has not been totally unproductive. Except for Sunday, I've been able to muster enough uprightness each day to do my daily Zentangle, although I haven't been able to achieve the same meditative state and am a bit unhappy with most of my efforts. This one is from before the bug struck and is done in Artist Trading Card size. It shows the tangle I mentioned that gave me a thought for how to quilt my bubble quilt: vertical wavy lines. That will really show on the teal hand-dye I'm using, making me wonder what thread I should use. Metallic? Rayon? Cotton? More or less matching the background for subtlety or mirroring the bubbles?

The rest of the time it has been dosing, catching up on recorded tv programs and reclining with the laptop to catch up on e-mails and blogs. As I've felt better, the library books have come out too. That David Hockney book has really inspired me and the Celtic Art one has me sure of my Celtic roots as so much of it incorporates faces peering out from the swirls if you give your imagination rein. The filling of space is not unlike those Zentangles too. And last night as I was trying to drop off to sleep, my mind got back to problem solving, thinking about these bubbles, that marbled fabric from Mary, the photos I want to use...I may be on the mend.