Sketch books

I am a sucker for odd shaped sketch books. The regular shaped ones have no appeal to me, so I end up buying books that pile up and don't get used. My favorites are small ones---non-threatening sizes that I can have fun with.

I had ordered one from Dick Blick with a plain chipboard cover (very heavy stock). It is about 6" square and I immediately gessoed the covers. I like to work with my fluid acrylics on a gesso base. This was what happened:

(front cover) (back cover)

This was just playing around with the fluid acrylics; laying them on in washes, wiping some off, continuing the process until I had a base that I was happy with. Then I added some Prismacolor pencil, Sharpie marker, got out the stamps and ink and embossing powders. I was just having FUN, which for me, that is what a sketch book should be.

I remember in high school I hated keeping a sketch book. I got great grades in art, but the sketch book part was my weak area. My attitude was, "Why should I do something TWICE???"

Usually my sketches consist of a thumbnail that would be undecipherable by normal human eyes. A scribble at most. So when I started this book (and there is not a lot in it yet) it was to allow me to play with colors, textures, and mostly the theme of New Orleans and the flooding, which I have held in my heart since Katrina hit.

My art comes from a deep well filled by our trips to NOLA. And I had put a lid on it after the disaster, because I hurt so deeply from it I could not process it. Anger, tears, disbelief, deep anguish.

So this little flippant project began a healing process that is letting the art out again.

I'll share more of the contents in the coming days and explain what I've used and how it works.

Now, back to the banners! Worked on them till 9 last night and ready to hand stitch miles today!

I need my FiberPirates here to help........get in your dinghys and row fast! I ORDER YOU!!!

Check it out....

.....one day only.....in the Peru Tribune. (just click--and it will probably only be there today) The picture of me with that dang-blasted dog collage I had on the blog earlier. It's like of all the things I could have had with me that evening, not my really GOOD art, that ends up out in public........ But, it was on the front page and press is press.....right?
RIGHT? :)
Oh boy.
Off to work---just providing you humor for the day, or as the blog title says, this proves your blog is better than anything else out there.
Really.

Short and sweet........

Should you, gentle readers, be wondering WHY the author of this blog would post a popsicle, it is because that is ME. After an hour plowing snow, I have extremities that don't feel right. In fact, when I came in the house, I had as much snow on ME as I had plowed outside. The Abominable Snowgrump.

I, to put it bluntly, am frozen.

And I have to work, as in sew, so thawing out better be in the cards soon!

Better post tomorrow......when I am warm and fuzzy.

Or at least warm. At my age, fuzzy is frightening. ;)

P.S. I got my small painting I was working on pretty much finished yesterday. And one heel knit into the Jack Sparrows and the second heel probably half way there. WHOOOOOO---HOOOOO!!!! Those will get posted as soon as they are off the needles and on my tootsies!

IN MEMORIUM

I was going to add this as a P.S. to my morning post, but felt it needed a space of it's own.

My friend Jan's peacock, Mr. Mel, passed away this week. He was 18 or 20 years old and had led a good life. Jan cares for her animals better than a lot of humans care for each other, so he was inside, resting on a bed of towels, comfortable when he took his final flight.

I have his feathers all over my house; he lives on in my quilts, in a vase in my studio, in a small gourd in my kitchen. He is in Christmas stockings I was commissioned to make, his magnificent tail was used in a Christmas tree by the same lady who ordered the stockings. For those of us that are FiberPirates, his feathers were frequently enclosed in the Baggo exchanges.

Through Jan's generosity, and that marvelous bird, we all learned a bit more about avian behaviour, and especially how spectacular a bird he was.
So Mr. Mel, I hope you are in a warm, beautiful beyond, where your tail is spread wide to reflect the light and that you are honking as loud as you can to the angels.



















You will be missed.

Allowing Yourself Time Off

Okay, I am for the most part, a work-a-holic. I never thought I was, but after talking to other people, I have come to the conclusion that I truly am. I don't take vacations, I seldom give myself a day away from here and yesterday, even though I had a business meeting and then an art date with a friend and then a long conversation with another friend who has his mom in a nursing home---that was a day off for me. It was a day off from the banners, which allowed things to stew in my head and make it clear what to DO with them today. I did manage to get a lot of work hammered out at the meeting and the small painting I had started is almost finished. Then there was more computer work, business e-mail, got into a grant writing class, so for what I considered a do nothing day, it was GOOD! I think I have a warped mind..........YOU, gentle readers who really know me, were aware of that a long time ago!

I am going to post a pic of the felted booties I knit simply because I was asked to. The grey wool in them was some I had spun years ago and never plied as I had gotten waaaaaaaay too much twist in it. But to knit with the brown yarn, to felt, it was excellent. As I recall, it was a mix of black Ramboulette (sp?) and the combings from a beautiful white Great Pyrenees. And it felted beautifully and added halo to the finished product. Those should be exceptionally warm slippers! I might have to try something like that for myself, after the Jack Sparrows are off the needles. (they are coming along nicely, though the yarn I substituted for the body of them does not stripe. I think of it as the waves on the shore and the fog and crests of waves at sea.....HA! well, it sounds good....) I am close to putting the heel in them, then the real work of doing the skull band of intarsia. Frankly, I'd like to repeat the band twice, but will have to see how much yarn it uses.

So I'm off to the banner table, to have a banner experience on a banner day.....BAD PUN!

I'll just shut up and go away quietly in my little dinghy.......

Back To Work :(

After a nice weekend with little accomplished art/sewing-wise, it is Monday and back to work. And a long day as DH teaches after work tonight, so I have the studio till at least 9 p.m.

ICK.

I'll just state that right here up front. I am hitting a mental block with the banners---but no matter, I have to push forward, and I have about a week realistically, to get them DONE. Hear that??? DONE. OUT. I need my upstairs studio back.
So you, gentle readers (and especially the not-so-gentle among you!!!) need to REMIND ME that I have to get them finished........soon.
Insert update photos here:





By the way, all those little tassels will be cut off their base and sewn on individually. Insanity in the making.......
Fringe sewing is like corralling a giant slithering worm---I hate it, I hate trying to pin it and keep it where it should be. The stamping process isn't bad---rather fun, the pearl sewing is meditative, but this part just plain SUCKS. And most of what I'm doing from here on involves copious quantities of pins (things that get stuck in ME mostly) and, oh yes, more pins. Like putting the braid all the way up the sides of each one, and the welt cord (which at this point, may or may not go on. I have to see if it needs it.)
I guess, not unlike other artists, I have a limit of mental attention for any project, and due to the problems I had at the very beginning of these, I am ready to move on. And really, they are sooooo close to being done.
Am I the only one who goes through this on large projects? It isn't the type of "My work isn't good enough" non-completion complex---it is "I've seen this so long I can't take it another day and don't CARE" which, for as long as I have worked in any artistic form, I should NOT be allowing myself to slip into.
What makes us do this? Is the idea, the muse, such a shifting, flitting thing that we have to grab it and nail it to the table? Does any project only have so much good working life in it?
I have always had problems with this and it would be interesting to see if others fall into my boat, or if they have some sort of discipline to keep this from happening.
Input please.....puh-leeeeeeeze! (or volunteers to come help finish it....I cook really good!!!)

On this day........24 years ago......

......Gary and I were married. In the middle of a blizzard so severe the State Police closed the main roads, at the chapel at Grissom Air Force Base, me, a Roman Catholic and Gary, a Southern Baptist, were joined in holy matrimony in a nondenominational chapel by a Methodist minister.

And that proves, no matter how much people and countries fight, that if you put your mind to it, people of all backgrounds can get along.

So I'm off to enjoy my anniversary and cook up a big pot of crawfish to have with a bottle of Eiswein left from the holidays and a nice salad and hot crusty french bread.

Hope you all excuse my lack of attention to art and the blog today, but...hey....you know how it is! ;)

Light at the end of the tunnel..........

.....with the banners. Well, perhaps not light at the end of THIS particular tunnel, but I can definitely begin to see an end in sight! Whoooo-Hoooooo!!!!!
And that is today's work, along with some Co-Op paperwork. If I can just keep myself behind that sewing machine until vital parts begin to complain (back, hands, etc) I should be in good shape.
I cannot take any credit for this picture; it came to me in an e-mail from a friend, and where it came from before that, I don't know. But the minute I saw it I thought "Ah......for when there is a *bad-time-to-blog-day* and put it in my pending file.
It made me laugh, and hopefully will for you too!
By the way, the toes of the Jack Sparrow Socks are started (did that while waiting at the Doctor's yesterday), and I am just about ready to switch to the body color. And I got a pair of felted booties done for a friend--they just need a tie or elastic or something in that line. And I got a painting started, which in between banner sewing, may get some work today.
So I guess I have not been nonproductive.......just oddly productive in a somewhat scattered way!
Hope there is light at the end of YOUR tunnel.......heehee!!!! ;)

Cafe Du Cirque; Our Co-Op Home

I am on a short schedule this morning and of course this is the day I wanted to introduce where our art group meets and has work hung. It is a warm and wonderful place called Cafe Du Cirque. The owners, Chris and Bonnie Arrick, have supported us from the very inception of the group. Our first meeting was held in their previous location; a small, rather dark area inside another large old building. We have always been welcomed by them. They stay late to keep the business open so we can meet, they allow our art to hang---without their support, the Community Artists Co-Op would not exist, at least as we know it. And they support local art. We fill the walls; it is all from Miami County artists. Others have tried getting on the bandwagon with this, but the Cafe is still the central hub for real art support.

And now to the really good part---the coffee and food. Yes, in a small town overrun by fast food and mediocrity, this is a welcome reprieve both in quality and atmosphere. The inside of the building is an inviting sunshine yellow, so no matter how grey the day is, you can have your spirits lifted just entering. Chris makes the very best Lattes I've ever had, and I have had a lot. When I am out on the road and end up at one of the "Big Guys" who serve coffee, I always get a latte, expecting that delicious brew from the Cafe. Nope....not even close. His choice of beans is what makes it sooooo good. True, I love my coffee. And I love GOOD coffee. So he has me there. I am spoiled.

Their menus are varied and delicious, mostly a lighter fare; they do quiche well (a specialty) though I am NOT an egg person! That is made fresh daily and the contents vary depending on the availability of seasonal items. Warm soups in the winter, cool, refreshing salads in the summer, an array of original sandwiches and a courtyard where you can dine if you prefer to enjoy the outdoors.

The building's owner and restorer, Linda Bowman, has created a sanctuary for both the cafe and artists. She took a building in desperate condition and made a glowing, thriving community. Studio space is carved out of any amount of building area at affordable prices. She also shares in our success--by risking her hard earned money to make 65 N. Miami a desirable location.

To all parties mentioned here, I say "Thanks!" From all of us---as Co-Op members, as patrons, and as friends.

Every small act has an immediate effect, the ripple theory. Their acts of faith have far spreading ripples.

So for any of you reading this elsewhere, if you should happen to find yourself in or close to Peru, please come visit this marvelous gem in our city. You will, no doubt, put it on your list of places to which you will return !

We are truly lucky to consider them as our friends!

Sock-It-To-Me

FINALLY.
The Size O needle socks are DONE!!!!!
What sheer joy and relief to get these stinkers off the needles. It seems the socks I like the most are knit on miniscule needle sizes---I think there is something wrong with me. Leslie's socks on her blog are knit on
normal, human sized needles that allow quick progress.
This is the new Coats and Clarks sock yarn; I picked up three balls when I got it to have enough for knee socks. And with the length of my legs, that's a lot of yarn! Had a tiny bit left, so their measuring on the skein is pretty accurate. It knit well, seemed pretty consistent in size and while not super soft it appears to have constructed a good sock and be a good value for the money. If you don't care for stripes, you won't like this; it stripes pretty consistently.
I can't recall if this was recommended for a size 3 needle, or 2, but I would go with a 1 or O for a nice, firm sock that will hold up to wear. This was also the first toe-up I did with the slipped stich heel, which I prefer. All in all, it went okay. Was a bit confusing since I was trying to combine two patterns but each sock that I knit has some sort of lesson and imperfection in it. Also did a picot edge cast off for the top, which now needs some elastic run through it so it doesn't stick out like a ruffle...... >:( ......I did have enough sense to cast off with size 1's, for that extra bit of stretch.
The oddest thing is taking pictures of your own leg, first thing in the morning, when you can't see straight. Or hike the old gam up that high for that matter.
Now to the "Jack Sparrow" sock pattern...........
I need Pirate Socks.........
I really DO..........

Too much to do......

(boring post alert!!!!!)

....And too little time today, so this is short. We have the meeting of our art group tonight, the Community Artists Co-Op (scroll to the bottom of the page and you can see us *in the flesh*). We are not a traditional artists co-op; we don't own/rent a building for gallery space or pay monthly dues or schedule time sitting a gallery. We chose the name due to our rural location and the use of the word "Co-Op" among the farmers. One person helping another. One person sharing what they have with another member. Networking, building a group of people who can rely on each other and have a good time together, and learn to produce art--or hone skills they already had. It has been successful as this March we will be starting our third year.
So today I am doing the agenda addition about their first showing in a gallery. This is the group I spent most my holiday getting a nonprofit status in place for. We do a lot of charitable work for the community, sufficient that we can fit comfortably into the non-prof slot and be able to have some of the benefits. I'm pretty excited about the rest of the year, once we get the show out of the way!
But for today, it's peck, peck, peck here and then try and squeeze in banner work.
I need a double of myself----one to sew while I type. Surely that option is available........ya think???
Or I will be learning to schedule time better, and sleeping in is NOT going to be part of that routine!
If anyone would like to apply for a slavery job in my studio, please do so! The pay is nonexistent but the birds are entertaining!!! (not so much the owner of said studio....)

The Winds of Change: Time Has Come Today

Last evening I had composed a glorious post for today; as we watch our nation walk into the light of a new day and cast off this long dark night of the soul.

I chose not to publish it due to DH's work with the military. Yes. I suppose I am a bit paranoid. There was nothing bad about the post, nothing smearing any administration. But in the military world there is the issue of non-endorsement.

So instead, this brief and shallow bit of fluff.

I will be watching the inauguration today. I want to see history in the making. I want to see Dr. King's DREAM come true. I want to see the first steps of our nation back to what we used to be, and know that in the Pledge of Allegiance the words may be true again----with liberty and justice for all.

I just want to be able to say, once again, that I am proud to be American.

Totally Wasted......

....DAY yesterday. (Ah ha! Not what you thought, eh??? naughty, naughty!)

Tried sewing and the hands gave out so resigned myself to menial chores about the house.

Well.

That stunk, so found an excuse to escape to the neighboring town, but on the way discovered that---as usual---the highway dept. had sort of FORGOTTEN to really clean the roads. (RANT ALERT!!!!!) For heavens sake! It's WINTER, it's INDIANA, and we can't get the roads cleaned??? Am I missing something? Every year you would think that this white stuff that falls from the heavens is some sort of great miracle of Nature, never before experienced and so peculiar that NO ONE knows what to do about it. (be prepared---same rant will happen in August, when we are having brown downs because it is extremely hot and humid and the electric departments are---OH MY!!!!---shocked at the weather and the rate of electricity consumption......grrrrrrr.......)

A dud trip to town, witness to the aftermath of a bad wreck on the way home---yes, it was on the finely cleaned road previously mentioned, and then DH was on the phone with MIL when I got here. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I'm crawling in the parakeets cage and HIDE.

I don't even have a good picture to put up.

I need to go throw a fit and then seek custodial care. And then sew more pearls.

Nope, I'm wrong about the photo---here is one that pretty well describes how I feel today!

Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT my normal clothing, but how I feel frequently.........

That is, however, my car behind, with the custom flames.

Devil girl. Look out!

Sew on and Sew forth........

My day yesterday, and how I spent it....other than an amount of time on the computer dealing with e-mail/work.

Sewing pearls is SLOW; no way to speed the process up. You put good music on, sit and start and pick each pearl for it's shape, luster, etc as it is placed on the banner. Generally, it is a pretty meditative process, and I was quite surprised at the amount of time that passed as I finished the last stitch on this one banner. Today's work is the second banner, lower third. It is the same amount of time and effort, but when one is finished, and you can look at it for inspiration, it makes the work easier.

As these progress, I am always surprised at how they come to life. Yes, I have a vague vision in my mind of what they should be, but they definitely choose their own path. I am at the point I am anxious to get to the fringe and braid, because that will put them over the top.

I will be hot footing it to Hobby Lobby tomorrow morning

with a 40% off coupon in hand, to get (hopefully!)more of one braid that I want for extra edging. Then half the sewing table gets deconstructed, and I try and find the sewing machine.........

No humor here today folks----got to focus on the task at hand.

I'll be back to my abnormal irreverent self when I have these a bit further along. Like, when I truly see light at the end of the tunnel and I am sure it's NOT the train coming at me!

BANNER-A-GO-GO!

Yesterday's grueling work session.....all the gold laid in between the other stamps. Odd, it doesn't look like it should have taken that long or caused the amount of pain that it did! I had not originally planned to have *that many* of the gold images, but somehow on the second banner, I lost track of what went where, and then, well, you start filling in. I found it more interesting without a perfectly symmetrical repeat.
The problem was I could stamp one banner at a time, and then it had to dry so I could flop the end of the banner back on itself to work on the other one and was how things got off track.
That being said, it still looks good!
The other factor that makes it tough to do these is I cannot mix enough paint at one time even for ONE banner. It dries quickly as is, and with the addition of the dry gold pigment powder, that acts as an accelerator. So you slap the paint out and stamp like mad, hoping you get it used up before it dries up! Occasionally little dried flecks will embed in the wet paint and it adds to the older image---this is probably one of the few times I don't mind that happening. Normally that is a great big NO-NO.
So that's all for today---there are a million freshwater pearls to sew on now. Well, maybe not a million, but after about 20 or so, it feels like that many.


Tune in tomorrow; same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!!!

P.S. I am almost done with those Size O socks I've been knitting, like, FOR EVER. I'm thinking a big party is in line when they are off the needles......... >:)

Work Interruptus

Somehow in between snow removal, bird feeding, laundry and tree wrassling (i.e. the removal of the Christmas decs) I have managed to do a bit of slow work on the banners. Fabric printing is one of those things I love/hate. I love it when it turns out perfect and how I envisioned it and everything flows, and usually this is when I am working on a small piece.
BUT!
There is nothing small about this project, and each trip out here requires uninterrupted time and a lot of hand and shoulder strength to get the paint into the weave of the linen I chose. I still have a set of prints to put in between what you see here, and they will be of the richer gold that the bottom of the banners are printed with.


The full amount that was stamped


Close up of pattern---the space between each pattern is approximately 6" square

I started with a pearly white paint that went on a little splotchy, which was FINE due to the fact I wanted a somewhat aged/used feel. But then I got back away from it and.........WOW.........it just looked like a bunch of pure white polka dots, which was not even close to my *vision*!!!! (more like nightmare) This set of banners has caused problems from the start, and I accept the challenge and just keep moving forward with them. At any rate, the white polka dots just about did it; I was ready to e-mail the church and say the banners were shot and I quit. You know, sometimes you get to that point with things.
Instead, I did some of the other things listed above and kept thinking. On a trip to the basement to store items, I came across two bottles of a fine gold wash that spoke to me. I tried them on a scrap, but not enough gold. So I added some loose gold pigment to a bottle and tried again. Perfect!
Then I got out the monster stamp---7 " wide and of heavy latex foam, originally a stamp for walls---and began the slow task of reprinting and making sure the registration on each was close. *Perfect* is not attainable. What I strive for is *Acceptable*. This, too, printed with less than perfection, but over the top of the pearl, it looked good. It was what I wanted.
Today, providing I have time to just work and not juggle life, I'm going for the in between stampings. Will mix the paint and then stamp like a mad woman!
The mad woman part isn't too difficult....... ;)

Digital Dementia

This is it Kiddies; my *art* for the day. Seeing as how both hands are completely numb this a.m. (and I am assuming it was from my winter-wonderland-removal-from-driveway yesterday....twice....) all I can muster is some more tinkering with the previous photo.
I have a weak spot for lens refractions. Used judiciously they are delicate, lovely things and used the way I use them they are pretty much a weapon! I apply them the same as I apply makeup----the more the merrier! It's like lipstick; if it isn't BRIGHT why bother??? I'm pretty sure the make up selection is a Southern thing.....
One refraction did little other than look like a sore thumb amidst the other cacophony of color, but TWO, well, that was a bit more interesting, and then a third one seemed to balance everything out. This is not a portrait or anything for competition. This is for fun and at most, something to print out and cut up for collage. So I want COLOR and TEXTURE and VISUAL STIMULI. Actually, what I want is a glorified peacock's nightmare, and I think I have managed that. :)
I tried to find the *spiky effect thingy* I had done yesterday but could not, nor could I remember the technical term for it, so it was lens refractions instead. Hey, maybe it was supposed to be.
Now to haul my frozen-slug self off for the daily rounds, and work on banners, and do paperwork and disassemble Christmas. Yeah, I'm still celebrating.........(just haven't had time to take it down!)
Have a hot toddy and think of me!

Photo Art

While tinkering with a new program yesterday, in between trips to feed the birds and trying to decide if I would freeze solid to the ground while doing so, I produced the photo at the left. It is the photo in the "About Me" panel on the right. I chose it because it had high color contrast and figured it might produce something semi-interesting.
One of my girlfriends and I e-mail photos back and forth, working on them in our respective photo altering programs, and end up with very abstract images that are perfect for collage paper, or in some cases, a stand alone print. One was of a tree stump, with the focus on the exposed roots, bark and bare dirt. The final product was this amazing piece that literally looked like something from under a high power microscope! Maybe a thin slice of organic matter, living tissue---I was so excited!
I think this photo has more possibility after I send it to Val, to watch her work her magic on it. She is quite skilled at Photoshop. I am basically clueless and couldn't tell you how I got what I got. :) Hey, for me it's just a momentary diversion when I am trying to avoid real work or need to rest. And I do envy people who are proficient with digital manipulation. I am too lazy. Yes, I want to know how to do it, no, I can't seem to find the time to invest to learn. (read that: LAZY) I function better working on one thing at a time and I see too many possibilities with digital art. I am not ready to give up the fiber and paint and paper. I like the feel and the results and the surprises and the mess on my hands. The sound of the brush against the canvas and rushing to get the gel medium out of said brush before it becomes a sculptural piece itself! The meditative state I am in when working color glazes. Those are too dear to me.
So I will tinker for the present and be happy with the little triumphs.......maybe someday.......not now!

Why yesterday's post was so late....or how I spent my day and please kill me!

Sometimes real life gets in the way. Yesterday was a good case of that. With an impending blizzard, DH and I decided a snowblade for the John Deere was just the thing and I hot footed it off to get the last one they had for my model tractor.
The girl working there says, and I quote "It takes some putting together.....but it's not overwhelming."
Okay. I'm a handy-chick and don't back down from a challenge. No problem! I've fixed, built, plumbed, mortared, plastered just about everything. Done concrete, done roofing......I've pretty much done it all so this wasn't anything I thought much about at the time of purchase.

SIX HOURS LATER......

Yes, six hours of physical HELL, I have the blade together, the mounts on, the deck off, the weights in place, my back out, my shoulder killing me, and hands not working. I literally can feel nothing other than PAIN.
And one more day away from the banners.
All I can say is it had BETTER snow!!!!!! ;)

P.S. It works.......went out in the dark and tried it on the driveway, and nothing fell off. But I do have a few left-over parts.......hmmmmmmmm..........

ART--NOT ART Part 2

I want to thank Bernadette, Marion and Jan for their comments on yesterday's post. I found it interesting that as artists, we seem to have the same recurring thing we personally look for in art to make it art and that is the passion of the person that created it. I wish I could give credit to the maker of the collage I posted today; it is not mine and I found it so long ago. I have frequently used it as a visual stimulus because it seems to both sum up the eternal question and poke a bit of fun at it at the same time. I really, really like the rough background of newsprint and used binder paper; there is nothing here that requires a lot of highbrow interpretation. The work asks the question both with text and with the actual materials.
All three responses yesterday hit the nail on the head for me; evoking an emotional response or if the piece was cared about when made---and generally that is obvious in the finished product, crude or refined. Bernadette brought up the academics, who seem to determine what is *art* and my comment on that is a response I had recently to a show that travels Indiana and is the sine que non if you are an Indiana artist. If you are judged into it, you have "made it". (mizz B, you know which one I mean!) After viewing a portion of the show that travels, I was left with a feeling of.....NOT MUCH. All the work was technically good, realistic (overtly), precise. The mats, when used, were all the same white/cream color. Almost all the frames were the standard gold leafed, large types. In fact, even though there was talent represented, I felt BLAND. One piece really struck me and it, of course, had won nothing. One piece that was honored was a watercolor so precise and so cold (as in lack of emoting to me) that I just kept walking. Yet this is the organization that is supposed to recognize the best of this state's artists.
Hmmmmmm............slaving to reproduce work so it looks like a photograph is fine for school, to enhance ability, but after that, then what?
The most detrimental aspect of all this discussion is that artists then begin to BELIEVE that their work must follow specific guidelines set up by others or it has no value---this is the long round-about back to Bernadette's comment on the academic types.
And does art really NEED to be defined? Through out the ages, hasn't the work that survived been the work rejected for the most part during the artist's lifetime?
So I say Hurrah to the soul who had the guts and wisdom to make the NOT ART/ART collage.
Sort of sums it up...........

Marginal improvement and ART---NOT ART, a bit more intellectual discussion

Okay, I don't feel as absolutely horrid as yesterday but I certainly don't feel like going out and doing a 50 meter dash either.....not even in my new Doc Martens! That would be a sight. HA!

I perpetually tinker with the ART--NOT ART question. What is art? Who is to judge that? If you have a manager/promoter who is good at what they do--or you yourself fall into that category--selling a *product*, is it still *art*? I am sure all of you have seen some famous name type and you look at the work and say "That really is NOT art, but they're managed well". So they sell a borderline repetitive series and call it art. And we might call it crap.

As I have aged, my views of what art IS and ISN'T have blurred. I have different thoughts now from watching people of all means interacting with what they consider art. This is from craft shows to galleries to standing in the dollar store or other outlet stores and watching people connect with things I think are, well, nominal at best and worse yet, have been printed in China and thrown into a gaudy frame. None the less, someone is connecting with that. Think Velvet Elvis paintings here.....people buy them and proudly display them.

The first image was provided thanks to a fellow blogger, Michael (coffeemessiah), and you really need to click on the photo. The car is covered with stamps. COVERED. So I ask you---is this a form of Art??? Yes? No? Was this just an early form of collage taken to the extreme? Is this Outsider Art? (which I have an affection for...) I have no answer myself; it is one of those rhetorical questions that never seems to leave my brain.

The fine piece below it is mine, therefore, I can make fun of it, and myself. ;) It was a quickly slapped together piece NOT in my usual style, not making any statement, not intended for anything other than to fulfill two small goals:

1. It fits the Theme of "DOG" for the Co-Op meeting on the 21st of the month, that I had absolutely NO inspiration for nor time to do something I wasn't going to use long-term.

2. In some bizarre way, I do connect with this because the image of that silly dog makes me smile. It's one of those little things you hide in your bathroom or elsewhere, so you can see it and get the joke and others (but close friends) don't see it. That dog is ME. All blond and poofy and the shades and pearls and a book.

Is it ART??? I would call it CRAP myself, but fun crap. I don't have deep feeling for the piece, yet there is something that keeps me drawn to it. Maybe because it was produced in the moments of rest between banner work. Maybe because the technique is so NOT ME. (read; anal, laborious, slow, etc etc) Maybe because the colors/papers/stamps I used make it cutesy and trendy, which I really DO NOT DO.
Yes, it uses art supplies and some quality material and yes, it has collage on it, but isn't the man's Stamp-Mobile much MORE art? Or are these little things indulgences and obsessions? That I cannot sit still without something to do. (was that man the same way?) That I have to have projects in the works?
So what about other people who do paint-by-numbers? Where does that fall? In their eyes.......is it art?
As artists, do we need to start having a less elitist attitude and really delve into what art is/can be? To the mental patient finger painting, it is art and therapy. To the underprivileged child with the new box of crayons provided by grant money in a community class, you bet whatever they produce they will consider art. (as will the grantor)
So where is the line???
Feedback, please. And when I feel better, I will be back to my normal rambling posts that have little to do with anything.
See what I have been reduced to??? (sniffle....hack...)

THINKING.........

Weather....

....as in "Under the weather...."

Lucky me! I woke this morning feeling odder than usual (yeah, that's a stretch!), found I was hoarse and nose running. Well, I can almost schedule these things. I avoided the Holidays with it but, you know, when you really need to WORK....these bugs seem to be waiting outside your door, ready to pounce. If I take a few days off from here it will be due to bugs.....unwanted, and uninvited!

So today, I'll post something I did as a fiber sketch last year. This is small, less than 8" x 10" and was quickly put together while I was trying out oil pastels on cotton. I believe it was a PFD scrap, but it might well have been regular bleached muslin. As I recall---since I never keep notes---I drew the pears, ironed them to set the pastel, probably added highlights because I remember adding outlines with quilting and the foot was covered with the pastel, then either quilted the b.g. and did fluid acrylics, or did the first wash of fluids and then quilted. At any rate, while the fluids acted like watercolor and TOTALLY avoided the oil pastel, I found the background too bright for the pears and then took craft acrylic and did a bit of dry brush over the quilting, producing a softer background area at the top and a bit of highlight in the foreground.

These are cheap oil pastels. Actually, the only expensive item was the Golden fluid acrylics. But they are so highly pigmented that it takes little; in the long run, they are worth every cent. I have become addicted to them and in my mixed media work, they are Numero Uno!!! I use less expensive acrylics for a base coat, then do the glazes and additions with the fluids. Or build up fantastic, translucent depth.

Another product I cannot live without is Demco Gesso. The artist quality one, not the student grade. It is exceptional. But that is another post---or book!---in itself!

And so dear readers, enjoy the pears.

That may be all the visual nourishment this blog has to offer for a few days..... <:(

To quote the Ramones:

"I wanna be well......"

P.S. Somehow, I managed to forget that this was my dad's birthday. He and mom both passed in the summer of 1990, 17 days apart. They constantly bickered over who was going to die first, and he did. I have no doubt that when mom walked the tunnel of light, he was at the other end laughing and saying, "I told you I'd get here FIRST!!!"

The photo is of him when he was young, in WW II, and I believe it was taken in Australia.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I.....can't.......move.......

Spending a full day bent over the tables to lay in thread has taken a toll on this old decrepit body of mine. I did not even knit last evening...... Seriously, I can barely move, and I have to kick into second gear to get cleaned up and have lunch with the gallery director at the Honeywell Center. I have had work exhibited there before; it is a beautiful multi-media facility with an excellent restaurant in Wabash Indiana. If the name Honeywell sounds familiar, it is because they make thermostats, etc that are in thousands of homes. I always knew the name, even before I knew about the Center.
So I am allowing myself a bit of escape for the morning and then back to the tables this afternoon.
In the midst of all this work that needs doing, I started a silly collage/mixed media piece with a magazine pic of a dog in it. The dog is sitting on a purple cushion, *reading* a book and has fancy sunglasses and is wearing pearls. And it is a blond dog.......hmmmmm......I guess if I was a DOG....... So when that is a little closer to done, I will post it and you can be assured as you read that I have lost what little mind I have left and have also waded into the waters of "Crafty-Land". I am sure on the discussion of "ART--NOT ART", this one falls into the latter category! ;)
Now I'm outta here....I've got to look at least as groomed as the dog!!!

Banners, banners, banners......

....that has been my preoccupation, headaches and all. I promised photos; I have not taken them yet, but I did remember to buy batteries and that is a great start! I'd like to blame this lethargy on the *migraine-hangover* but most of it is due to just feeling the need to sit and stitch and get a lot of gold thread laid in by hand. The birds are going to have to settle for radio today, and not some of their favorite CDs because I need think time!
What I have always found as I work on these is at some point the work really becomes meditative and the handwork always seems to be it. When I am wrestling 6 yards of squirmy fabric, full of pins, under my semi-commercial sewing machine, there is nothing meditative about THAT. Actually, the banners are pretty much baptized by fire before they get where they are going. I have joked about that with my minister (yes, I do tell him about my fit throwing and cussing spasms!) and added that surely they can survive anything if they can survive ME. ;)

DH works late this evening so hopefully that means I can avoid the kitchen other than for coffee and tea refill runs!

And just so I won't feel guilty all day, here are a few photos:

The first is my high tech supply tray---yes, it IS an old plate from a microwave! They work great for mixing paint and can be easily cleaned. Heavy enough too that they will stay where they are put.

Second is a close up of the the threadwork for the day. I have laid on a couple of the freshwater pearls I will be using so you can get an idea of what it will look like.

The third photo has a view of the little *crawl-hole* I use to get from side to side. See the spot between the little bookcase and the ironing board legs? Yepper, that's it. All 5'10" of me gets to squeeze through there! Frequently........

Sorry for the lack of humor---I guess it's just work time! Oh, and what you see in the last photo, the section that has been stamped? It is 56" long, and there is a whole lot behind that awaiting attention.

OY.

Migraine mumblings

A shortie, just in case I am still somewhat seeing double tomorrow morning. Yes, this is the night-before-for-tomorrow post.
I am a migraineur (that sounds so lovely and exotic, eh?) and when the weather changes, I am hit broadside with naughty headaches that leave me dull and zombiefied. Usually this is a 24 hour, then pass, thing.
Bear with me. I promise some wit when I am back to abnormal! In the meantime, how about a small piece of art?

This was from a self-portrait challenge that Quilting Arts magazine had a few years ago---express yourself in fiber. So I did. This is another you need to click the image to see all the little details, like the leather jacket and the couched down bass strings and the headstock of my favorite bass and, and, and....

.....And need I say it was NOT featured in the magazine? Oh Nooooooooooo! Of course not! Hidden on the website, but Heavens to Mergatroid, NOT the magazine. (Probably scared them....heeheehee!)

But you, gentle readers, are of a stronger mettle, so click on the baby----you can handle it!

More later---I have to medicate myself and go sleep this one off........

Banner Report

First off, some of us forget to buy batteries so we can use our camera, thus a verbal post about the banner progress. After a lot of huffing and puffing and avoidance issues, I jumped in and got going. They seem to start taking a life of their own early on; I just follow what the fabric and supplies tell me to do. Though these are based on the Lent banners I did for my own church, already I can tell they'll be "the same, but different". (that's from a movie that I can't remember the title of....DH and I joke about it a lot)
One of the things I like so far is the contrast of the specially mixed gold paint on the purple of the jacquard woven linen. Some places it sinks a bit more than others, but it looks good. It gives the feeling of a royal robe that is old and worn and has seen hard times. That is always what I look for in these; something that has had a bit of a life before the present one.
The only part that could be dangerous/humorous is the fact that one whole side of the studio is blocked off with the large panels I work on, so I can do one side of the banners easily, but have to gingerly crawl under two ironing boards to get to the OTHER SIDE of the table to do the far side of the fabric. Somewhere along the line, with my luck, I will end up with a tub of paint in this *naturally blond* hair of mine! ;) Yep, that one is coming for sure, or I'll get caught under the mess and buried and DH won't find me for days.
When I get batteries, you'll get a photo of the pattern for the lower part of the fabric.
If I can remember them when I am in town today. That and decaf.
Bet I remember the coffee!

Oh help me.....it's MONDAY!

I just realized that Lent is not too far off and that scared the you-know-what out of me, because the church banners (previously rambled about here) need to be hanging by Lent!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! So Anne is thrusting herself into crunch-time work mode and that is, for the most part what I will be occupied with.The following pics are of the tidbits to make said banners; twelve yards of hand dyed linen---oh yes, that about killed me, and then the beads, trim, etc. that go ON the twelve yards of hand dyed linen. (the sedatives I will require are NOT pictured below) The second photo seems to be a more accurate representation of the color of the fabric. It is actually very saturated and textured with the use of several dyes and the bundling I did before the dye bath.


That is the bad news. The GOOD news is I have corrupted my fellow artist and friend, Bernadette, to start a blog and she has loaded pictures of her exquisite work! There will be art every day there, as opposed to my occasional art inspired post and mostly rambling....... <:( Go to Artifacts and check out the wonderful things she creates! That will, no doubt, be a blog you will want to follow. All I can say is her home has the colors of Frida Kahlo's!!!
That's it for now kiddies---off to the salt mines, or the sewing tables. I'm pretty sure they are one and the same!

The end of vacation, not the end of Holiday

This is DH's last day of vacation; tomorrow it is back to the grind for both him and me come to think of it. I leave the decorations up through Epiphany, so I have one more week of joyous light in the house, then back to the usual Winter hum-drum. It always seems so bare and sparse (even with all my JUNK!) when everything is down and tucked away till next year. That is when the real sense of the dark of the year sets in.

Oh yes, they have all this stuff to decorate with for the in-between "non-seasons" but it has little appeal to me. Maybe it was because I grew up in the military--Army-- and spent Christmas and the extended holidays in Germany. Europe's celebration, at least at that time, was a gentler, less commercialized one, with the season starting at the beginning of December and lasting through, hmmmmmmm, was it Epiphany? It was long, with no hurry to move on to the next holiday. There was a sense of tradition that centered and grounded the holiday.

I remember being at the apartment on one of our German friends and who should appear as we were leaving but St. Nicholas! Armed with switches for the bad in one hand (Dad got chased into the car with those) and iced Lebkuchen for good children in the other (which I got) was absolutely magical. As an adult, I realize it was a kind old man, who grew a snowy white beard, donned a beautiful red robe over his slim frame---remember, this is Europe and not America--- and went into the neighborhood and made children truly BELIEVE.

The streets were so dark that night, dotted with the soft glow of the streetlamps and seeing the silhouette of St. Nick coming toward me was breathtaking. It was an experience hard to put to words. But it still lives in the Christmas lights each year; when the tree is up and covered with glass ornaments from about the world, from my Dad and Mom's travels via Uncle Sam, when I am cozy and content as the storms howl outside, as I sit and contemplate what Christmas is supposed to be about. Belief like a child; responsibility of doing for others.


Carry the light from this season in your heart all year; it doesn't have to go away.

Fiber Art: The Divine Marilyn

This piece, though sold and gone, is without a doubt, one of my favorites. I miss Marilyn. The title "Cursum Perficio" was the name of her home in Hollywood, as I recall. (the research I did at the time is mingled with the dust bunnies of my grey matter...)
I broke barriers with the construction of this piece. There were portions of the hair that were my actual hair--saved from going short after years of letting it grow out-- I had wefted and then gently pulled through the fabric. The front of the dress has, ummmm, *breasts*---i.e. padding to give it dimension. I remember showing this at quilt guild and the lady helping to show it all of a sudden blurts out, "Oh my God! She has BOOBS!"
Well, she did... ;) The face is fabric I very lightly printed, then took Prismacolor pencils and totally redrew the portrait. It was so delicate in color, but it needed the punch of the lipstick to make it work with the monochrome fabrics surrounding. I used small images from when she was *Norma Jean* (at the beginning of her modeling career) and ironed them on to silk organza, then used a blank film strip image to frame each out. They had the slick look and feel of a piece of 35 mm film.
You really need to click on the image to see all the detail. It is subtle, subtle.
But of course Marilyn isn't. She's dimensional and sexual and ready to step out and sigh and wink and giggle. That was what I wanted.
And do you for one minute think this quilt won anything?
Nada.
Nope, the one's people love/buy are NEVER the ones the judges choose.
Which is a lesson to all:

Make art your heart loves, that you are passionate about and that you can fall in love with again later, long after it is gone. Otherwise, you're just fooling yourself and selling out to people you don't know and will never see again.

Making art means building backbone and a tough skin, but when it works, it is so very much worth it!

A small PEEP!

I've been having connectivity issues with my broadband server, so I highly anticipate some downtime with the blog.
I am sure that saddens my gentle readers, but do not despair! The tech guys are great, and believe me, I can't function without the computer....not good. So IF posts are not of the usual frequency, I'm in "non-connection-land" grieving my heart out. (and probably driving DH nuts.....)
Cross your fingers for me! Him too for that matter.
And as a P.S.---the basement is almost DONE; I anticipate one more day of labor and it will be in order to work and have mixed media classes (though small) later in the year. Art Time!!!!WHOOOOOOO---HOOOOOOO!!!!!! Even hubby liked the wild print sheer curtains.
There really IS hope for the new year! ;)

A New Year: Welcome 2009

Wishes for a beautiful New Year, filled with light and plenty,

and many many days to celebrate!

May 2009 bring better things to all of us,

to those in need especially.