Connections

I just signed on to a blog party that involves writing in response to a daily prompt for 21 days. (See Kate McNally's blog.) I jumped in late, but it looks like fun and another way to keep my blog more active. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it! Let me know.

Yesterday's prompt was to post a favorite Selfie. As I never take Selfies, I got to work with my tablet in my favorite place to plan, dream, imagine, and write - in my bed as I slowly wake up with my coffee next to me. So now you know what I look like (this morning, anyway). I'm smiling at how funny this project turned out to be. Many rejected photos!

The prompt for today is "Connections." It's a very good one for December for lots of reasons. My great desire this time of year is to get in touch with all of my far-away friends. I've moved quite a bit so I have many. And I don't connect with them often enough, in spite of thinking of them. My attention is a "Be Here Now" kind of thing.

BUT! How does an artist who also teaches at a college do all this?! It's the season to make more art, sell more art, administer final projects and complete final grades, prepare and ship the gifts, and make arrangement for traveling to see my mom. (This is the short list ...) As much as I imagine making lovely cards myself and sitting by the fire writing a note to each dear person, it just isn't going to happen. My solution has become to buy someone else's lovely handmade cards and send them out between December 26th and Valentine's Day. Lots of benefits. 1) I can write an actual personal note, 2) my friends can read them when they are not inundated with stuff themselves, and 3) the friend who sold me the cards is happy. The connections will be made and I love that.

I have to mention here that one slender but important connection was to send or receive a note or card to and from my wonderful ex-mother-in-law. She passed away last night, and she was one of the most lovely women I have know. Irene and I met when I was 15, and she taught me a lot over all those years about grace and generosity. You were well-loved, Irene, and your longtime connection with me was highly valued.

Our Fabric Collage Class

In November, I taught a fabric collage class at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. Above are some of minis I made in class, using fabric of my own with some donations from class members. My hand embroidery is finished and the little pieces are ready to be made into gift tags or little hangings. Thanks to Susan, Deborah, Sylva, Stephanie, Sue, and Kathy! I learned so much from all of you!

Let's Try This

I really do love to post on my blog, and I've been trying to find an easier way to post more often. Technology is my friend but I'm still trying to get the pieces to come together smoothly. Any words of advice?

I'm busy completing lots of small projects for my gallery and for my open studio on December 13th, so I'll add a photo or two of some of those, without much chat.

Here a small piece of gorgeous fabric I made at my deconstructed screen printing workshop in late October, receivng some hand embroidery to enhance the marks made by the gradually dissolving dye. It will become a small square framed piece soon.

More Printmaking at Bluseed

I'm in a bit of a printmaking frenzy, which I'll illustrate and explain over the next couple of weeks. My previous post was about deconstructed screen printing. Now I'm learning a whole new process.

Yesterday and today I am taking a workshop with my friend Katherine Levin-Lau in the printmaking studio at Bluseed in Saranac Lake. She is showing us how to make multicolor prints using the viscosity of inks progessively thinned with oil, so that a thinner layer of ink can be rolled over the thicker layers, one by one. Above is my first attempt, showing my drawing on the first layer of ink over my zinc plate. The ink is removed with q-tips mostly, along with a paint brush end and  rags.

Here is my second plate, with its second layer of ink, easily rolled over the first. I'm removing the excess yellow ink with a rag and then more q-tips.

Results posted here later, along with more of this process.

New Directions

My first experience with deconstructed screen printing. I took Kerr Grabowski's workshop at the Schweinfurth in Auburn, NY last week, and my work will probably never be the same! Above is one of my screens with dye and thickener ready to be pulled down the screen, along with part of a previous print just showing above. We printed mostly on cotton fabric but I did a few experiments on paper and sheer fabrics. Below is a different print on sheer silk organza, after several passes with the same screen. Love it!

A Goal Acheived

Over the winter, I joined a "visioning" group of other artists in Studio Art Quilt Associates. The best thing about joining this group is the necessity of goal-setting. And one of my goals for this year was to make a piece to submit to an art quilt exhibition. The image above is a detail from my large (for me) art quilt that was recently accepted into this year's juried Quilts Unlimited show at VIEW in OId Forge, NY. Another piece in my "bog and water" series was accepted as well. The hard work and focus is bringing rewards. Yaaayy!

SYNERGY: An Artistic Process

Oaxacan Doorway - small try-out

 LOTS of art work was made in my little cabin studio this summer! Many fabric collage pieces for the gallery, a large piece for submission to a juried quilt show, and many small pieces (4" by 4") like the one above as my friend Catharine and I worked on our own interpretations of our photos that we shared for several months. Catharine worked in watercolor; I made little fabric collages.

We finally choose four of the photographs and the resulting small experiments and larger (11" by 14") finished pieces for our exhibit as the September featured artists at our NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery. We decided at the very beginning of our work together that it would be a synergistic process and it truly was that. Now it is time to get everything on the wall for our opening on Friday, September 5th. We will include some of our sketchbook pages and other planning work as we made our decisions. The exhibit is called "Synergy: An Artistic Process." Below is a page from my book with the beginning of the little collage shown above, the original photo, and a sketch.