Faux Vintage Glass Shards

Been plugging away at those holiday cards, and look what I discovered the other day . . . the excess Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint that I brushed off the edges of a tag looked like this.
They would be great in a mixed media project or in one of those cute little Ranger Memory Capsules. Everywhere you look, there's beauty if you're open to it.

Back from Vacation

Today the kids and I got back into town from a wonderful couple of weeks spent at my parents' place in rural Kansas. It is always a restorative trip for me and the children too. I never do get much time to actually do things of my own, so I have learned not to lug along a whole lot of stuff thinking I'm going to get to play more than at home, but I think the enforced break is a good thing. There is also usually a visit to either the Utrecht store or Creative Coldsnow's Westport location, both in Kansas City. I was quite pleased this visit to find the Golden Van Dyck Brown in fluid acrylics there, which I have been looking for--I know I could order it online, but it's just so much more fun to pick it up in a store and walk out with it.



As I said, I didn't get to play with actual materials much, but I did manage to find some time here and there to do some of the projects in Susan Tuttle's book Digital Expressions; the images with this blog post are a couple of the results. The building is the one-room schoolhouse that my grandfather attended as a boy; it's just down the road from my parents' farm. The other abstract image was lots of fun to play with, and there were no brushes to wash up afterwards!



I did spend some time thinking about what I want to do over the next few months and realized that I don't have any free time if I do everything. One decision I need to make is whether to sell any holiday cards this year. If I do, I need to get cracking on those, get them posted up on my shop site, and fulfill the orders pronto. I also have to decide if I'm really going to offer an after-school book arts class at my son's school in the fall. (I offered it halfway through the spring but it didn't make.) That's going to take some work to pull together as well.

Other projects in my pipeline are doing something with the painted papers I did before leaving on vacation and finishing the Renaissance triptych book that's been lurking for some time now. I also saw something in the latest Cloth Paper Scissors (I think) that I would like to send in an entry for--a book limited to no more than 6x6", if I remember correctly.

I was also contemplating what to do with the 7gypsies printer's tray I got recently (shame to let those Archiver's coupons go to waste, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with something yet), and I thought it might be fun to do some of the ideas from Mixed Media Self-Portraits and do one in each tray. That's a pretty large undertaking--unless I purposely made myself do it in time limitations. Guess it depends on why I decide to do the project--practice doing instead of thinking, or really delve into the self-portrait concept . . .

And on top of all those things, I forgot to mention that I wish to finish the projects in the online Complex Collage class that Julie Prichard & Chris Cozen are offering . . .

Much to think about, and much to do!

Evening with Friends

Tonight I spent a few hours in the company of two women who also share an interest in creating things and discussing this process and the results of making art, and while not quite as fulfilling as some of our other evenings have been, I did leave with an image in my mind. This is unusual for me, since I don't consider myself to be a visually oriented person, but this one I have. It's more impressionistic, almost but not quite abstract, in style, and it would be three friends sitting at a table with light coming from an overhead, old chandelier, not something shiny but old, and maybe in a square with a light at each corner, and shadows everywhere especially in all the corners. Colors would include deep, dark reds, the light from the chandelier a rich buttery yellow.

More Thoughts on Moving Back In

Even after doing this for some time now (a couple of years), I still find the beginning almost paralyzes me. I have read so many magazines, looked at so many sites, thought so much about things I want to make, and yet when it comes time to actually BEGIN, I find I remember nothing about how I should start. It is one of the most courageous things I do, every time, to pick up something--a blank canvas, a piece of paper, a wood panel--and start to change it by painting, sanding, gluing, etc. Some of it is process--should I gesso first? should I use gel medium to adhere background papers? what color should I start with? It can be so overwhelming.

And part of that is in my mind about moving back in to a space somewhere in the house now that it's off the market until next spring. When I get my stuff, or at least most of it, back in and around me, will I know how to begin?

Questions from Pam Carriker's blog, 14 May 2009

I love this lady's blog and her artwork and have really enjoyed reading her thoughts and musings. It has opened up new pathways for me and encouraged me to think about things in ways that I'm not sure would have ever occurred to me if left on my own.

In her 14 May 2009 blog entry, she lists these questions and challenges her readers to answer them for themselves (which is why I feel it's okay to list the questions and post my answers in this blog). Here goes!

Developing Your Own Voice

What are your 3 favorite colors?
Blue. Purple. Green.

What kind of architecture do you like?
This is tough--much easier to say what I don't like, which is the classic Greek style with the symmetry. Ugh. But otherwise I like everything from English cottages with thatched roofs to urban brownstones to ranch-style houses to castles. I also don't care much for things that look too modern in terms of building materials; I like the houses with limestone exteriors, an organic warm feeling. I very much like buildings that let in lots of natural light.

What 3 words describe your personality?
Self-restricted. Nurturing. Accommodating.

What is your favorite animal?
Cat.

What do you collect?
Blank books. Kitchen items, especially serving. Miniatures. Books with nice covers.

What is your favorite season?
This one is also unanswerable. I like them all. Over the last few years I have come to really like winter because it's fun to wear warm clothes and snuggle up with blankets (I live in Central Texas, so this is a novelty). But I also love spring when everything leafs out, I love those fresh crisp breezes in the fall after the six-month-long baking summer here, and I love the summer and the sound of the crickets/locusts in the trees in the blazing afternoon heat--everything lazy, languid, and laid-back.

Name your favorite icons.
Now I know I've answered this, probably about a month ago. It will be fun to compare my answers later . . . I don't really have any icons.

What are your favorite mediums?
I am not sure I'm experienced enough to have an answer for this yet. Right now I'm at the point where I recognize that different mediums do different things, so I guess my favorite is whatever works for what I want to accomplish!

Having a Great Time

In my last post, I promised myself to do something creative every day, even if it just took five minutes. That has been a great thing to do! More time in my day has been spent thinking about what I'm going to do, and it is so rewarding and nourishing to grab the time to do it, whatever it is on a particular day. And on the crazy days leading up to the end of school for my son when I barely had time to breathe and remind myself of my name, let alone spend even a second not thinking about that day's task at hand, that was okay because I thought about the things I was working on and advanced them in my head. I am so glad that I have this wonderful outlet, and frankly I just feel like a kid in a candy store with wonderment at all I can do. Doesn't seem real . . .

A Quiz, Somerset Studio May/June 2009, p. 75

What are your three favorite colors?
Blue.
Red.
Green (learned to like this because so many of my aunts like it, and I make things for them).
Fourth would be purple.

What kind of architecture do you like?
I like a lot of things. The English half-timbered look with leaded glass panes is a favorite, as is the English cottage. I like the Spanish villa style and love the look of the French Quarter and the Garden District in New Orleans (pre-Katrina).

I do not like the rows of terraced Victorian houses, nor do I particularly like modern unless it's done very, very well. I don't care much for Greek or symmetry in my buildings. What I do like is warm, inviting, welcoming, cozy (of residential). I like a lot of light. I like natural materials rather than synthetic.

What are the three words that describe your personality?
Unassuming.
Listening.
Undemanding.

What is your favorite animal?
Cat.

What do you collect?
It used to be books. Sometimes I would buy a book just because I liked the cover. I also buy blank books and never write in them. Also I love to get small unique serving pieces to use for company--or just myself! Another thing I have always liked are vintage labels. It's really only recently I've given this any thought--I don't think I've ever given myself permission to collect anything before (and am not sure I have yet).

What is your favorite season?
I like them all. Each has different things to recommend it. Spring is lovely because it transforms the landscape, summer is nice because it's so relaxed, fall is great (probably my favorite, I guess) because the coolness is such a welcome relief after the heat of the five-month-long summer here in Central Texas, and the winter is fun because I like snuggling up with throw blankets and hot water bottles (remember, Central Texas, this is a novelty and doesn't last long).

Name your favorite icons.
Not even sure what is meant here. I'll substitute "images" for "icons" and answer it that way. Strong, confident women--goddess, archetype images. Images with that secret air of knowing about a mystery that no one else does. The Serena image that Stampsmith sells--something about the look on her face. I like water images--Japanese waves, still oceans, waterfalls, all of it.

31 August 2008

This is harder than I thought it might be to keep an art blog going while in real life rather than on holiday at my in-laws. I knew it would be tougher, but I didn’t realize quite so much! Of course, I did also have my parents visiting for a total of about two weeks, a baby shower at my house, and my cousin had her second baby, so I guess there have been more than the usual number of distractions. At least I am writing now!

Tonight I gave A. our first challenge, and by 30 September we will share our creations. The challenge is “water”. Once I settled on it, I tried really hard not to think about it, but now I can let myself toy with ideas. Here are some off the top of my head:

--glass paints on a bud vase
--bring out the idea mentioned earlier in this blog on the dolphins
--do something with some of the sea rocks and shells I brought back—use Dimensional Magic somehow to simulate water?
--shades of blue keep occurring, for obvious reasons—do another shrine like one for Danny—liked the teeny vase painted with blue glass paint
--try blue alcohol ink on acetate to see how that looks, then maybe use as an overlay on something

Perhaps I should think about how water makes me feel. More than anything, it makes me feel calm inside, serene, still, at peace, connected to the earth in a larger way . . . even the stormy water does that, enhances that connection and being caught up with something larger than oneself. I like the rhythm of the sound of the waves. It does also make me think of Kayleigh’s birth. There is a sense of weightlessness, fluidity, gracefulness. I do not find water threatening or dangerous, I find it welcoming. I like the sense of translucence associated with water. Also I like the freedom that seems to come with vacationing by water—appearances are less important, everything is more relaxed and laid back, meals and bedtimes come at all times—I guess it’s a sense that time is looser by the water.

Could try something on the glass tags from Stampington. Or instead do something on microscope slides—maybe a mosaic-style broken-up picture, using about five slides of different shapes? Hmmm, that’s intriguing. Place those five on a background to create the whole piece. I like the idea of having them in one of those frames like I have in the bathroom (can’t recall the name just now—floating?). Or take a picture of water, or poster, put slides on top of some parts, none connecting, and use those to do the mosaic-style piece? Maybe, thinking big, get a poster of water on a beach, then do slides to place on top of various parts of the picture . . . I like that too.

Could find a poem or words about water that I like, then do an accordion-style piece.

Along those lines, I like the Andre Gide quote used by Melody M. Nunez on p. 23 of Transparent Art: “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Could write my own haiku to go along with the piece, rather than using someone else’s words. Form is five-seven-five syllables.

I wonder: can the mica tiles be colored with anything? That might be interesting.

Also had thoughts of stitching onto the background, rather like water would run off from something. Use light blue metallic thread, maybe a few crystals here and there. Another thing is that I have always loved the way the sunlight shimmers on the water, if I could work that in somehow.

Could do multiple things to show (Dad’s card of sailboat could be one). Many small treatments rather than one great thing.

Okay, that’s enough brainstorming for one night.

27 July 2008

Need to think about what projects to tackle upon arriving home—

9 August—need baby book for Joanna, tin for Danny
6 August—need baby book for Jen?

22 August—must have finished birthday card for Mom

Start producing Xmas cards!

29 August—must have finished anything for Mom to take back

On plane, try to write out steps for Danny’s tin.

Get 1” square punch.

Re seascape item: use Opalite Sterling Frost to do small shells, starfish.

Start working on steps for sea piece.

Make Japanese card for Irene.

Look up Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi (p. 45 Mixed Media Collage).

Really like the layout pp. 50-51 MMC.

Look up a book by Joanne Mattera on using encaustic—The Art of Encaustic Painting.

11 July 2008

Or maybe the thing to do is make a piece and then make up a story for whom it belongs to or where it belongs. Although if I could do that, I guess I wouldn’t need the story at all. . . .

Notes to self:
--use a bleach pen
--gold gesso
--get some Frisket

Idea: Collage with pictures of bread, old-fashioned ovens, wheat growing in a field, cheesecloth [use pics of my bread]. Sprinkle salt, use eggshells.

College with bouquet garni bag, herbs dried and fresh, seed packets, smoke swirls (for aroma), pots (big ones, like for soup), pictures and layouts of herb gardens. Sprinkle salt on part of it.

Mica idea—glue down in one corner and cover up with gold or copper flakes (p. 97 A. Cartwright book).

Conflict of being parent/wife—incredible heart, hope, love, but with a cage around it, or part of it; maybe use wire to anchor it down. Something that conveys the spilling over of so much love and emotion but the constraints of responsibility and duty enclosing, surrounding, encaging.

--Scott Davis Jones (gallery)

1 July 2008, on plane to England

Notes on Somerset Studio Gallery Summer ‘08:

p. 32 “I think my luck stems from my ability to search and find items I can build a story on.”
Good idea—start with an object and build a narrative around it. Create something that fits into the narrative and uses the object. Put the story on the back.

Xmas ornaments p. 38
Sandwich two images back to back and enclose between glass slides. Wrap with silver tape and apply Stickles over the tape. Wrap with wire to form a hangar. Attach wire with beads to bottom.

p. 52 “Legend”
Attach smaller canvas with hinges to a larger one. Add a handle. Hang two tags from bottom.

p. 58 Create a collage like this using Kayleigh’s face. Handtint the photo.

p. 73 I’m really interesting in trying the encaustic medium. Must ask Joy if she has any—she always mentions encaustic. Try it on Claybord. Can buy from rfpaints.com and at Jerry’s Artarama.

Maybe a biweekly challenge is the thing to suggest to A. Alternate picking the theme.

Really like using miniatures on a large canvas—see “Enchanted Garden” p. 77

29 June 2008

I am thinking of suggesting to A. that we do one challenge a week. That might be a bit ambitious, though. Perhaps just for a month? Or lengthen the time to one every two or three weeks, or once a month?

AB p. 49 I love this quote by Stephen DeStaelder: “Artists don’t work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working.”

AB p. 17 “random ideas and fancies . . . just enjoy the process of creating”

p. 22 me
p. 24 me
zoronaland.blogspot.com keep an eye on this

I find it scary to not have a plan, to not have detailed instructions for a project from beginning to end, to just let things happen as you go along feels like a recipe for disaster, for failure, for producing garbage. Maybe what it is is that I don’t trust myself to come up with something nice?

Frankly the chutzpah of having a blog, of thinking there is anything I have to say that anyone would find useful to hear, is an uncomfortable though. Who do I think I am, pretending to such heights? Yet if I heard a friend say that, I’d be all over it to persuade them otherwise—so why can I not apply that to myself? I am out of the habit of thinking I owe myself anything—everything I do is accompanied by guilt—if I’m playing with art, not baking bread, always the choices. The tradeoffs are tough. It’s strange for me to follow my emotions and instincts—again, scary, this lack of structure and no clear destination.

I’ve always been fascinated by, drawn to, intrigued by . . . maps, collage pictures, children’s illustrations, bare trees (no leaves) . . . but I’ve never followed something to find out where it’s going, not given myself permission to do so, it feels pretentious somehow.

Another thing I’ve always liked are the doodling, intricate patterns—I used to fill up whole pages with them. Can I use that somehow?

Tell A. to look at thepastoraldollmaker.blogspot.com.

Basically, who do I think I am, that I could do something others would like?

Having a blog keeps you accountable, AB p. 80.

Sagworks.wordpress.com
Simplesparrow.typepad.com

NOTE: put RSS on blog

“a surface designer”—yes, AB p. 100
“blogging helps keep connected to myself and to my art”
“the ME that was put away a long time ago, and the one that I am now reclaiming as my own” AB p. 101
writingaffirmations.blogspot.com

Note: AB refers to the summer edition of Artful Blogging.