It has been a while since I worked last on my "Eve" mural. It is not finished yet but almost!
I had to stop to work on a show that has just opened. I have not touched the mural since September and now I won't touch again it till next spring. It would be difficult to do it while it is freezing. But for now here are more pics.

The back of our garage was covered with wood siding. I covered that with plywood, painted it and smoothed it with wood filler and a lot of sanding.
After the final coat of paint it rained heavily and some areas blistered. Oh, well, I went on with it anyways. At night I projected the drawing of my print "Eve" onto the finished wall and traced it with charcoal.
The fine details were hard to trace, so I decided to deal with them later.
That electric outlet in the middle of the drawing has to move.

Digital stage. Self doubt both tortures and propels.

Finally done with preliminary screen-printing of this piece. Needs more experimentation with colors. In the second run I  added a little square at the bottom with Arabic for Eve. I am not sure about this title though. I like Forbidden Fruit but my husband thinks it is Cliché
. He is right. He likes First Mother. May be it will come to me later. Still don't know how the cat snuck into the drawing.

Here is the final (digital) result. Now I have a familiar feeling of disappointment. I hope it passes away. It is a baggage I seem not to be able to rid of. I am hungry to 'honest' feedback.
Next step is to make the screens. Nine of them. 

During the last few days I have been pondering the color scheme. Because I have a packed drawing it seems almost impossible to have a limited pallet. I cannot escape using all colors. This will be VERY colorful piece. I am worried!

Here is what I am working on these days. Complex process.
First I sketched the broad lines on paper. Then I made a detailed drawing of each element. Next, scanned that in sections because the drawing is larger than my scanner. Talk about putting the sections together: a nightmare. Finally I cleaned it up with Photoshop. Here is the result.
I am calling it Eve - but the title might change to 'First Mother'. This way the viewer has a wider interpretation spectrum.
Next is to add colors and decide how many screens I will use. Did I say this will be a scree-print?

March 2016 for me is catching up my breath after three big shows in January and February. It was super exciting to start my new project "Mihrab" and make the first two shrines out of the intended 22. I also had the thrill of being part of the Guerrilla Girl's Twin Cities Take Over at two exhibition, "Stepping Back, Looking Forward: Honoring Feminist Vision" at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and "Look Again: Expanding Feminist Possibilities" at St Olaf College. Now I am on vacation in Middle East enjoying the beautiful sun and the sweet company of my mother. 

Today I ruined three screens in an attempt to burn a pattern. I like my pattern but the screen does not seem to like it. Now I have to cover more screens with photo emulsion, oh my. The only bright side of the evening is that Jahida Wehbe, a Lebanese singer I discovered recently, was singing: "I will not let flowers wither in my garden." Nice thought.