Last January when we were in Hawaii, we went to a craft fair and among all the kind of usual craft fair stuff, albeit this was with a Hawaiian flavor and hence somewhat different, there was a lady selling these great t-shirts that were decorated with painting and fabric, but they looked way more artistic than old lady, at least to me, though since I am an old lady, I sometimes have difficulty telling the difference. But these t-shirts were quite pretty, and some of them used kimono prints which added a kind of classy look to them, and then she painted on the cloth. See last day in Paradise.
After we came home, I kept thinking about these shirts, but, of course, never got around to trying anything with them. And then we were in NY, and I saw this cool lady at the flea market who was just dressed to the nines and I thought about the artsy t-shirts again. Well, in NY, just down the street from the flea market, there was a very cool fabric shop that catered to quilters, and I bought a bunch of fat quarters one of which had a kind of NY cityscape, that I thought I might use for a design on a t-shirt eventually. And as always happens with me and fabric, I put it away and forgot about it, or really not so much forgot about it as didn't have any brainstorms for what to do with it. Because when I would look at this fabric, of course all I wanted to do was use the whole piece, and then what would I use it with?
And then our harp circle was going to play a little concert in the park on September 11, and we were supposed to wear red white and blue. But I don't do red white and blue, because I don't particularly think September 11 is a day to wave the flag, but it is a day to remember people, especially those in NY, and I thought, "Aha, I'll put some of this cool New York fabric on a red shirt, and then I'm sort of seeming compliant, but I know I'm not.
But I still couldn't figure out how to do it and make it look cool, so I did what any sane person would do and asked Lynda for her advice. She's an artist, and therefore has a really good sense of design. She suggested we cut pieces around the buildings and not use too much of it.
Already by this time, I had realized that this wasn't really going to be an artistic shirt like the one in Hawaii, because I am too representational, but I did like how it kind of worked out by cutting around the buildings. So we played around with it for awhile, and she could see it wasn't going to be a particularly artistic rendition and left before she got blamed for my lack of vision. I did mention that she's pretty smart, didn't I? 
I started playing around with putting it on the shirt, and since the fabric is basically red, it didn't stand out much, so I found some black fabric lying around upstairs -- probably a leftover shroud from a previous murder or something -- and put it behind the buildings and it really kind of popped out. Anyway, when I got finished, this is what the shirt looks like.
I guess it's all right, but kind of what I wanted to do was incorporate the drawing, sort of like those painted leaves on the Hawaii shirt, but I don't know what to paint on a t-shirt with, and I'm not a painter. Just before I started writing this blog, I photoshopped the drawing or painting or whatever that I would have liked to have put on the shirt, and this is what the "artistic" version would have looked like. Maybe eventually someone will take pity on me and tell me how to do it. Of course by then, I'll have spilled mustard on the shirt and won't be able to wear it anymore anyway. 
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