Mixed Media Artist

For many many years, I have collected pieces of fiber art whenever I travel.  Most of the pieces from my early days were finished, and some were even mounted.  But I have a few from Central America which do not have finished edges, and I thought about it for quite some time before deciding how to mount them. I decided not to put them under glass, so most of the raw edges were going to be turned under or pulled to the back of the mount somehow.  The one exception was the bird embroidery piece from Guatemala, where I decided to leave the bottom free to show the raw edge of the dishtowel background fabric. Another heavily embroidered piece is also from Guatemala, and shows off lots of Mayan cultural symbols.  It's also done on a dishtowel type of material, with no lining, so the fabric ends up with a fair amount of buckling. The third piece is from Panama, and was a gift from a friend who visits there every year.  You can probably see pretty clearly ...

Although we spent the majority of our time at the orphanage, we did take an hour or so to go shopping in Santiago Atitlan.  Here are some fabrics that I purchased.  Since I left my clothes at the orphanage when we departed, our suitcase was no heavier than before!    Hand Embroidery   Lightweight scarves   Heavier shawls Hand embroidered table runner Copyright 2011 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Friday was our last full day in Guatemala; we've got an early early wake up call for the trip into Guatemala City tomorrow morning and our flights to get home.  After the exhausting day yesterday traveling and visiting the Auto Safari, we were happy that Friday was going to just be hangout time for us. There were actually quite a number of things that went on that last day.  Deborah and Dave had taken Lucia to Coccia to testify against her father in his trial, Micah had taxied a couple of the kids into Santiago to see the doctor, and everyone was excited about the local wedding that was planned for the evening.  I helped Lizzie prepare lunch, and everyone kind of showed up and ate in shifts as they returned to the home. I spent most of the afternoon taking pictures of the kids and the grounds.  Many of these children have already been profiled on the orphanage website, so if you are interested in their stories, you can read about them either on their facebook ...

Thursday was a big adventure day for the orphanage!  Everyone packed up and left to go visit the Auto Safari in Taxisco, Escuintla, Guatemala.  Nate came out to pick us up at 5:30 am for a 6 am departure from the home.  It's really risky to have the home completely deserted for the day since robberies are so common, but Dave asked the nearest neighbor to come over and have a look around if possible.  Sometimes it's just necessary to take the chance. So, another Mr Toad's wild ride for 2 1/2 hours to get down to the flatlands nearer to the coast.  Dave drove the van with Deborah and most of the kids.  Micah drove the smaller vehicle with Nate up front and Mike, Lizzie, and I in the back, each with a child on our laps.  Seat belts?  Naaahhh.  I tried really hard not to think too much about it. It is always much hotter in that region, so we were a little concerned about it.  Fortunately for me, the one who burns, there was ava...

  We're just on the verge of the beginning of the rainy season On Wednesday morning, we went into town with Micah to drop off Yelsi for her class, take care of some banking, buy some wood for one of Dave's projects, and go to the produce market for the next two dinners.  While Mike and Micah went after the wood, I stayed in the van to guard the money.  We were parked right by one of the paths that the kids take to go back and forth to school, and I watched a bunch of them strolling down the street with their uniforms and backpacks.  Although the backpacks had shoulder straps, they were more likely to end up being carried on the kids' heads!  Micah told me later that the younger kids go to school in the early morning until around noon and then the older ones go in the afternoon until around 6 pm.   The women mostly wear their traditional dress:  a corte (skirt), huipil (embroidered blouse), and faja (sash)  Then men mostly wear jeans   ...