Dot Dot Dash

In Dot Dot Dash, I set out to explore visual rhythms. We know that I love stripes. Turns out, I love dots too.

I had so many fun fabrics to choose from. Some donated to the Community First! Quilters, some I purchased myself. In particular, I've been in love with this Dottie Jean Jacket print by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cotton + Steel.

Does it get any better than strip-piecing?

So much fun to quilt this thing!

Aah, texture.

On the back: cream-colored flannel, and a variegated blue thread.

Along one edge, Community First! is spelled out in Morse code, using buttons. Light buttons for dashes, dark buttons for dots.

Dot Dot Dash was donated to the Community First! village, an innovative housing solution in Austin, TX.

Learn more about Mobile Loaves & FishesWhat is the Community First! Village?Contribute your quilting skills to the Community First! Quilters

All Things Fowl for A Hiding Place

All Things Fowl Scratchboard, 10 x 8 inches, 2016 by Sarah Atlee. $330 For purchase inquiries, contact [Artspace] at Untitled at info@1ne3.org or by calling 405.815.9995

This post first appeared on my Patreon page.

A Hiding Place: Artists Respond to Poetry

"As children we all played hide and seek. We learned through that game: the stillness of hiding and the necessity of being found. Both are essential to living the communal life. this collaborative project expolores these themes through poetry and art. We have generated a creative conversation of the senses, of image and movement and language, so that what is hidden can be known."

- From the statement by curator and poet Jane Vincent Taylor

All Things Fowl is based on Jane Vincent Taylor's poem, "Being Little Catholic Girls." A snippet:

We lit candles. It was dangerous. Incense smoked out all things foul.

About the Imagery

The composition is based on traditional Byzantine icon paintings. Guillem Ramon-Poqui's book The Technique of Icon Painting (Amazon) is a great resource on this topic.

Who's that hen? The nun's habit and background images are inspired by the early Christian mystic and polymath, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). You can read about her remarkable life on Wikipedia.

Among her accomplishments, Hildegard invented an alphabet and language known as the Lingua Ignota. The little hula doll in the corner is using Hildegard's Litterae Ignotae to say "Aloha."

Scratchboard is a wonderful process of reductive drawing. It's all about what you take away. And the level of detail I can get with my x-acto knife is so pleasing.

A Hiding Place opens at [Artpsace] at Untitled on Thursday, July 28, and will be up through September 10. Visit the gallery website for more details.

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Bananas are my Barometer

Cleaning out some old notes, I find this list of potential painting titles. What does it mean? I think I was thinking that when I run out of bananas, it's time to go grocery shopping. The rest is undoubtedly culled from spam emails.

I keep a lot of these lists. I keep them in a file. One day, they'll reach a critical mass, run off and form their own colony.

Related: How and Why to Title Your Work.

A Real Tough Cookie

Tough Cookie. Acrylic on panel, 5 x 5 inches (10 x 10" framed), 2015 by Sarah Atlee.

To purchase Tough Cookie, call STASH at (405) 701-1016 or contact me directly at sarahatlee@gmail.com.

Things I Hope People Say at My Funeral One Day

"She was a tough old broad. A real dame."

"She was tough as nails."

"She was one tough cookie."

Tough Cookie will be on display at STASH as part of Wyld Flowerz through 11 November 2015.

Wyld Flowerz at STASH 2015.10.09

Veruca Fry. Acrylic on panel, 7 x 5 inches (11 x 8.5 inches framed) 2015 by Sarah Atlee. $225

To purchase Veruca Fry, call STASH at (405) 701 1016 or email me directly at sarahatlee@gmail.com.

Wyld Flowerz - New Abstract Paintings by Sarah Atlee

Where: STASH (website, Facebook) 412 E Main Street, Norman OK 73071 (405) 701 1016 (map link) Store hours are M-Sat 10-6 and Sun 12-4.

When: 9 October - 11 November 2015.

Opening Reception and Hair of the Dog

Join us for the opening night party during the Norman Arts Council's 2nd Friday Art Walk!

When: Friday 9 October, 6-10 pm.

We have an amazing event planned, STASH's biggest of the year. Enjoy local craft beers and live music at a party to raise funds for the Bella Foundation! There's even going to be a pumpkin patch. Click here to learn more and purchase tickets.*

*This is a ticketed event, but you do not need a ticket to see the art.

Hope to see you there!

About Veruca Fry

I often dream about things that I'll paint later. In this instance, my dream was of a quilt design - 60-degree triangles in warm yellows and violets, gently transitioning from light to dark. When I awoke the design told me it was called "vocal fry."

For the unfamiliar, vocal fry is a way of modulating your voice so it combines moaning and creaking sounds. To make the sound, groan, then lower your voice, close your throat a bit, and just let it peter out until it starts sounding like bacon in a hot pan. It's the sound you make when you Can't Even.

The dream design told me later that day that it wasn't going to be a quilt, but rather a painting. And that I should make a miniature version to try it out. She also changed her name along the way. She's quite willful.