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I had mentioned the last time we talked that a publisher had contacted me and asked that I illustrate a  poem in their upcoming book called “Power Poems for Small Humans". 

I enthusiastically agreed, and eventually, I was paired with poet Liz Morgan, whose poem is entitled “When Someone Asks About My Drawing of My Family”

I won’t share the poem here, but Liz's poem is about the many iterations of non-nuclear families. 

My original idea was inspired by the videos you may have seen that run on the theme of a blind dog who has a seeing eye goat bff, a donkey and a pig who are best friends, animals who adopt animals from other species, and my long time favourite: Roy and Silo, the two male penguins at NYC’s Central Park Zoo, who first fell in love, and then year after year, tried to raise a clutch of rocks, until the zookeepers finally gave them an egg to hatch and raise. She grew up to mate and have adopted babies of  her own. <3 

The sketch I shared with you six weeks ago of the little pig, was part of a larger piece that was going to be a farmyard composed of many iterations of different types of animal families. 




But then I was thinking about the brief I was given:

“… something between an illustration and an environment…the important thing is that the artwork meet and embellish the emotional place of the poem.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that gave me pause! It reminded me of when I was in second year at Uni, and a professor asked for “an intelligent, emotional response” to a text we had been given to read, and no further instruction. And it was worth 40% of our mark!  Boy, that struck terror into my heart. Lol

Anyway, as I considered this “between an illustration and an environment” I thought that perhaps I was being too literal. That a more abstract idea was called for.

I slept on it overnight, and realized that Roy and Silo ought to be my inspiration. When I thought about it the next day, I could “see” this two page spread as you see it here, and realized that was they way to go. My "Roy and Silo" are two stylized male birds (an eastern towhee and a black capped chickadee) who have a clutch of baby chickadees to nurture to adulthood. 

So I called it, "After Roy & Silo”.

Now that the publisher has the images for use in the book, I will unmount (dismount?) this piece and put a group of hares or perhaps a fox family in that blank space where the poem will be in the book. 

When that’s done, I’ll show you that version too. J

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So on our last episode (lol), I had done a couple of concept sketches for the client, and they decided not to go with the "farm" concept, but rather, birds. I was not disappointed. 🤫

I'm taking this off the frame and mounting it because the piece is now done. "But I don't see any birds, you say"? 

That's because this piece is an illustration for a poem in a children's book of poetry. And the photo you're looking at it just a detail. 

I'll share the finished piece with you, once the book is published!

Until next time... 


Kit

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Working on a concept sketch for a new project tonight. So far, there's a pig, three kids and a donkey; but there will be quite a menagerie at journey's end. 

Concept is due by the end of the week, so until then, I'll be burning the candle at both ends. Ahhh, the artist's life! 

Xo Kit
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So, it seems that rather than post twice per month, I’m posting once a month.

What are you gonna do. Life, am I right?



(These little bunnies are the bits of fluff I was needlefelting in the last post.)
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It occurred to me that I should either delete all of my blogs or actually post. 

As I typed that, I realized that what I SHOULD do is delete the Kit Lang Art blog and go back to posting on the Kit Lang FIBER art blog (this one), because who am I kidding? I have a bunch of blogs and a website and I don’t really post on any of them. May as well keep the one that actually has followers and a long history of content! 

So this is an announcement to let you know that I am back to posting here, on Kit Lang Fiber Art, and have deleted the kitlangart.blogspot.com blog. But just to make things extra confusing, I am renaming Kit Lang Fiber Art,  "Studio Kit" because there are just too damn many Kit Lang Art(s) out there.  LMAO. 


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Photo shows a Canadian artist in the wee hours of Sunday night - about to head to bed* 

Lol  

Since we spoke last (uhhhhh…3 weeks ago?); the following happened.  

I was at work, and all of a sudden, I started getting vertigo. My desk would rush up at me every time I sat down or looked away from the screen, I was sweating and nauseated, and when I got up to go the bathroom I was staggering around like a drunken sailor.

I had broken my glasses that morning, so I thought it had something to do with my vision being borked.  I made an appointment to see my opthamologist that afternoon, and left work early.

I went home, lay down and tried to make the world stop spinning – got up later to go to my appointment and ordered my new glasses, and then went back home to bed.

The next morning I woke up with the same symptoms.

Same thing the next morning, and the next and the next.

By this time it was the weekend, and I was fully expecting to go back to work on Monday.  But on Monday morning I was no better, in fact, I was worse - with an ongoing fever added to the mix. I tried to make an appointment with my family doctor, but she wasn't available until the next day, so I called in nearly dead for two more days.

The next day I went to my doc and found out that I had a severe ear infection; hence the vertigo, nausea, imbalance, fever, etc. She told me that I would need another TWO weeks off work (!) and sent me home with a fistful of prescriptions and a "stay in bed" order.

I'm now back at work.  I'm not quite myself yet (I still get dizzy when I get up too quickly or when I roll over in bed or get out of bed); and I had a bout of quite severe nausea and fever yesterday, but I'm more or less okay.

In GOOD news since we talked last, I sold "Starling in Hawthorne" and received two commissions.  Yay!

For whatever reason, I tend to get most of my commissions in February/March; I work on them through June/July; take the summer off, and then try to get back into an art practice in the fall. 

This year, I had hoped to get into a regular studio practice and never mind the rest of it, but my commissions started coming in early. I'm not complaining – and perhaps this means that I won't get any in March (although I hope that doesn't happen!); but this is why there will be a lack of posting over the next little while as I try to catch up/get going/produce work!

I'm also trying to make a gift for a friend – the original plan was that I would dash that off over the last couple of weeks of January, but now that needs to be put on the back burner and stuck in - maybe at the end of this month? 

So… see you soon? I don't know. I hope so! :) :) :) I was enjoying talking with you all of you again.


* P.S. amazed that my all day lipstick really did last all day! It's Colourpop - an American brand out of California with a very friendly price point. If you like make-up (I LOVE it lol) check it out! :)
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"Winter is Coming" (c) Kit Lang 2014 background composed of pieced disperse dyed fabrics


After having a conversation with someone on FB yesterday about disperse dye, I was inspired to do a post about HOW to disperse dye. Disperse dye is also known as "transperse dyeing" and "transfer paint" dyeing. 
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This is another piece in the group of birds I'm going to be working on. I seriously love how my hand-dyes look with these birds even if I do say so myself (this one is a disperse dye).

I was planning on talking about how the greater woodpecker piece I'm currently working on (it's in a state of flux currently because as I add more and more hand stitch I'm realizing that it's beginning to overwhelm the bird – which is the focus after all!) So I'm going to remove a lot of what I've done and pare back the stitching to something that's more subtle.  But I need to have a think about it first. 

And that's all I've got to say about that, really. lol

So let's talk about dyeing.
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I was out for lunch yesterday, and chose a table by the window so I would have good light for stitching when I finished eating.

I had been doing so for a little while when my light was suddenly blocked. I looked up, and there was a woman standing there, looking interestedly at what I was doing.

So I held it up so that she could see.

She gave me an enthusiastic smile and made "applause" motions with her mittened hands. I smiled back, and mouthed "thank you".

"Happy new year!" she mouthed back.

"And to you!" I said.

And then she went on her way.

The exchange took all of a minute, but it warmed me the rest of the day.

I guess I still feel a little toasty today, too.   ðŸ˜Š

Talk soon,


Kit
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