More on sketch books....

.....one of the things I do to all the pages in my book is cover them with Demco Artists Grade gesso. It bulks up the page and gives a good ground for many mediums. In fact, I have been surprised at how differently things react on the gessoed paper. I have come to love it.

On days I don't feel *artistic*, I coat pages. It is meditative and lets me think I am accomplishing something of value! This is a combination of pencil, craft acrylic and quilters template marking pencil on the gesso ground. There is probably some fluid acrylic in there too, can't remember. The ground lets you push paint around, the pencil almost becomes water-soluble and if you choose to use a rough brush, you have extra texture also.

The painting is from a photo I took in New Orleans, a typical house in the French Quarter; the little balconies rich and verdant with foliage and flowering plants. Ferns grow out of every crack and crevice that can hold a bit of the silty soil always blowing in the air from the Mississippi. It is a cramped part of the city rich with varied life. Yet two stories up, everything is different. Gardens in the air. Most enchanting.

The owners water every morning, and there is something delightful about walking under the wrought iron canopies in the already devilishly hot sun, feeling a few cool drops of water falling upon you.

That was what I felt working on this---that languid, time-standing-still sense of the city that I so love.

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!!!

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!