clear coat and silver thread

I got lots done yesterday. I am really getting very excited about this project! I was actually quite proud of how much I'd accomplished. I cut down the dowels. This was mostly impressive because I found a hand saw, and I wasn't sure I'd even be able to locate a hand saw. I was ahead of the game before I started! Yay, me!

So dowels were cut and resanded and given a couple of coats of clear coat. And, yes, I did it outside. Although it was breezy and I did inhale some of it and it was a weird feeling to feel like the inside of my mouth and lungs were clear coated. Plus, it made my coffee taste sorta gross afterwards. A couple of coats, more sanding, a couple more coats. On the last coat a huge wind blew all sorts of tree pollen into the wet sticky clear coat. *sigh* So instead of being done with that part, I am now going to need to resand the dowels to sand the pollen out of it. And then more clear coats are in store.

I also put another wash layer down on the drawings because I wanted them to be darker. I really am glad I went with black ink instead of a color. I didn't want to have any kind of gender perception built into the piece because I used a particular color. And after writing I am beautiful a zillion times over, I'm extra happy with the black and white choice because it reminds me of writing lessons on chalkboards. And after writing that last bit, I've gotten started on my artist statement!

I did some practice sewing to see how I liked the look of it. Decided that black thread was maybe too dark, after all, and then went out to JoAnn where I spent a good 10 minutes debating which grey was best. Turns out silver is what I was looking for.

And in between waiting for things to dry, I got started on the landscape based in part on the 4x6 Exchange painting, which is based on the ink drawing, which is based on a friend's photo. Just a little bit. It's 16"x20".