Hot chiles make for hot photos

Visiting a friend yesterday, someone who is a lover of all things hot, I spotted the most beautiful bag of dried habanero chiles on the kitchen counter. For those of you who aren't familiar, these small round peppers are among the hottest on the planet. Even a small amount added to a recipe can create something so potent very few people can get beyond the heat to experience - let alone enjoy - their flavor. (Which is unique and wonderfully rich and complex when added to a recipe in minute amounts.) That being said, they were beautiful to look at. I tossed a few out on the black ceramic stove top and used ambient light from the kitchen window. The stove top did surprising things in the light. Here's my favorite photo.

Printing - constructed / deconstructed

Over the past few weekends I've been working with silk screening on fabric using thickened dyes. The luxury of a few uninterrupted hours to pursue this delightful activity has resulted in a few prints that please me to no end.
I'll put my favorite one here.

Breeze in the Forest (c) 2009

This print was made using two different deconstructed screens printed one over the other. I moved one of the screens slightly after each image was printed. It created rhythmic flow of bubble-like images across the print. I think this print will make a nice whole cloth art quilt, perhaps mounted on stretcher bars. I think some hand-quilting with copper metallic thread will be nice.