Decision Portrait Completed

(Above: Leukemia Decision, Decision Portrait Series. Stitched words: I refused further treatment, 1937 - 2008. Xylene photo transfer on tea stained muslin. Hand embroidery and beading. Unframed: 25" x 19"; framed 31" x 25". Click on image to enlarge.)

This is a picture of my Mom from her 70th birthday party in August 2007. Two months ago, I wrote this post about my Mom's decision to refuse further treatment for her acute leukemia and how my Mom's decision was going to be used in a very special art exhibit created by Susan Lenz.

Thanks to Susan's transformational prowess as an artist, my Mom's decision will reach far beyond her own life and family. My Mom is now every man, woman or child who has faced the decision of further treatment for cancer and said No.

This portrait will be displayed as part of 100 Decision Portraits, several mixed media works and an installation of two-story, free motion machine embroidered chiffon banners at a solo exhibition called Personal Grounds at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston, SC. Sept. 10 - October 10, 2010.

You can see Susan's post about my Mom's decision here and follow the amazing series of portraits that she will be showing here.

As you might have guessed, I've been away on vacation *wink. I'm home now.

And the Half-Award goes to Parcheesi

OK.

After all that talk the other day about award ribbons...

Well, award ribbon, schma-ward ribbon.

I cut the thing in half...


It's not that I wasn't grateful for the award... It just didn't look good with the purse I had to finish for today and I was stressed because I had to think of another way...

That's how Parcheesi, the purse, was born but I'll get to that in a minute...


You may have guessed, I was feeling a bit grumpy about having to meet a deadline for making all these purses. And I was trying to find away to turn my bad attitude around.

My girlfriends and I have been talking a lot lately about how to turn the ordinary, mundane tasks we have to do into something extraordinary. For example, my friend hates Monday nights because it's taxi-hell for her while she drops four different kids off and picks them up from four different locations for practices. So, she wore a taxi hat and played Cash Cab with the kids; she taught them how to do a chinese firedrill (safely, of course), ...you get the idea.


While I was making Parcheesi (btw, that wasn't her name until this morning), I cut out multiple fabrics at a time and decided to make all the purses a variation of a theme. Then, I asked myself, how can I make this task less dull and more extraordinary?

That's when the Baby Got Game Series of purses was born. Each purse in the series will be inspired by a Board Game! Woohoo! Now I've tricked myself into having fun and my creative juices are flowin'!

And so, without anymore blah-blah, I'm pleased to reveal the first in The Series...Parcheesi.


Each purse in the series will be inspired by some type of Board Game.


I dug in Jack's old toy bin and found a couple of things to add to the inside of the purse as a surprise.


And, I made up "official" looking tags in Photoshop to go on the purse. This one is going to a silent auction for a church fundraiser so I'm trying to give the impression of exclusivity and uniqueness -- think they'll fall for it?


This is the first in a series that has me engaged, energized and excited. (notice the use of only "e" adjectives? wonder what that means...)


And I'm feeling so very grateful for the day. Grateful for the creativity and the freedom to make something with my hands. Grateful for the "e" adjectives.

Here's to making Parcheesi out of fabric and thread.

Here's to making something ordinary...extraordinary.