what's been going on...

...a lot.. is the short answer. Details? Russian Orthodox Easter was celebrated a week ofter everyone else Easter, and that pretty much took over my life. There was much cooking and cleaning to do, church going, celebrating and visiting. But I have blogged about all that before (here, here and here), so I'll spare you the pictures and will instead share the tiny bit of artwork that I managed to pull off amid all the hoopla. 

I had shared some work in progress last month in this post, and now I got chance to finish it. That meant whole lot of painting! And I enjoyed it so. The "whole" cloth long and skinny quilt (not even sure if I can call it a quilt officially) that I constructed out of various recyclables got painted on both sides. Acrylic paint was chosen mainly for ease of painting straight from the tube, excellent "blendiness" and because I was counting on it to give some strength to the paper parts while retaining the elasticity. 

I think that in these photos, you'll be able to tell that I went back to my roots in choosing the theme for my totem. Russian village windows were a recurring theme in my early art-quilting days. This one is a favorite, as well as this one and this one. It just felt right to construct a totem out of windows. Perhaps the Easter season influenced my color choices, both sides turned out bright and happy.

Unfortunately I do not yet have a full shot of the finished work. My studio ceilings are not tall enough, I'll have to take some non-professional pictures outside and I will definitely take installation shots of the whole room of totems in May. Stay tuned!