Portfolio of older work

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Tea Time Print Series

Artist Statement
 In this monotype series I explore the contradiction of tea being a genteel tradition for elegant ladies versus being a forbidden, unhealthy substance.  Raised as a non-tea drinker, my newly acquired habit of drinking an herbal tea borders on scandalous behavior that may imperil my immortal soul.  By layering direct, indirect, and ghost prints I create not so still lifes of tea pots and tea cups enjoying a sip of tea together.  My influence for the series is print artist Jenny Waelti-Walters.











Friday, February 24, 2012

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites
LuAnn Kessi at May your Bobbin Always Be Full has a Smilebox presentation of a day of soy wax surface design with her friends. While not a tutorial on how to do it, the before, mid-stage, and after photographs were enough to make me want to get my electric skillet out to play.  Beth, when we get together in March do you want to play with soy wax again?

Ready for some sunshine?  Tanglewood is sewing her own sun.  Here you can see the sun and here you can see the details.  I love her stitching!

The printing I am doing in my class is with a printing press.  Like I will ever have the money to have one of them of mine own. But there are other ways to apply some extra pressure and print.  Wen Redmond uses an antique iron.

Okay, this is just eye candy.  Elaine's class has great stuff but scroll down to the bottom to see the liberated strip piecing quilt by Carol.  That one is my favorite. And this post has some liberated strip piecing quilts in progress by some of Elaine's students.  I would love to take a class with Elaine!

I'm ending today with some inspiration from Ira Glass via Lynn Krawczyk. While I have not read this particular quote before I have been told to work, work, work, if I want to be the artist I can become. But I forget.  I get discouraged.  I slow down my own progress by being intimidated that I might not make a great piece of art.  And I listen to that inner critic tell me that I can't.  Diana Trout gives us all an invitation to tame our inner critics rather than wasting energy trying to quiet it.  Not a bad idea.

Just my opinion, but what I think we all need is to make art and lots of it.  The more art we make, the more capable we are of making the art we want to make, and the easier it is to teach that innner critic a lesson!  So, now I am off to create art. Come join me!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My Camera

This week is winter break for my print classes and still I don't have my first edition back.  Oh, I wish I had taken pictures before I had turned them in! But the camera was lost. Then I found the camera.   But the camera battery was dead again.  It can't hold a charge for very long anymore.  So I looked for the charger.  Found it (Ha!  You thought I wouldn't be able to find it!).  Yep, I found it but the plug on the back of it to plug it into the wall was dislodged and I can't find that part. So then I thought, well, I really need some new batteries anyway.  So I put the battery in my pocket to go and buy a new one. But then I remembered that when you buy a new rechargeable battery you first have to charge it and well, that is a problem. So, now, what should I do?  I bought a new camera! 

Even before the lost and found story I wanted a new camera that could take closer, more detailed pictures of my quilts.  And if I have to spend money on new batteries and a new charger, I might as well just spend money on a new camera that will satisfy my needs better.  Once I made that decision, I wanted a camera instantly but couldn't justify paying the $60 more it cost in a store rather than off the internet.  So, I have now ordered a red Panasonic Lumix with 16.1 megapixels and in 5-10 business days I will have picture taking capability again!  Yeah!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Friday Favorites

I had hoped to get my first series of prints back from Critique so that I could show them to you.  I make no claim to them being fabulous but I am pleased with how they turned out.  I am now starting on my second series of monotypes.  I am getting really excited about them.  If they turn out anywhere as good as the concept in my head, I will be over the moon!

Here is my proposal for the next series:

"I propose to make a self-portrait series exploring the concept of weight loss. The process of losing weight requires the losing of one identity and the gaining of another which may or may not make up for the sacrifices made to achieve it.   For this journey, as sacrifices are being made, the work should be a bit minimalistic as opposed to rich and luscious but still be satisfying. Therefore, the artists who will guide my technique for this series are those who do not fill the entire surface with color but use a few marks to create that oh so important full feeling.  This technique leaves an empty background like the empty spaces between those smaller portions on the dinner plate.  One such artist is Jenny Waelti-Walters in her work Catching the Sun III.  A second artist is Assumpcio Mateu in her works Arbre and Les Quatre Estacious: Primavera.  A third and favorite artist is Joy Barth."

Friday Favorites

Robert Genn Twice-Weekly Letter  I have told you before that I have subscribed to Robert Genn's twice-weekly email that is sent directly to my mailbox--no muss, no fuss.  They are always worth reading but the Valentine's Day letter was a nice present I think.  He says that 5 skills all artist should master are 1) the ability to draw, 2) colour theory (he is from Canada and spells color funny), 3) abstract understanding, 4) composition, and 5) an emotional evolution (you own voice).  Now before you get on your high horse and say you don't need to know all the "rules," both Robert and I agree. But knowing the rules and understanding them allows you to break them more successfully.  For me it is the difference between looking at something I have made and wondering what is missing and looking at it and having a set of questions I can ask to fix it.  The letters are free. The link to subscribe is at the bottom of his webpage.

Keeping to that theme of 5 skills to master, is this great post by Jane Davies at the Sketchbook Challenge. 
She finds exciting small composition  in her work and then uses those small compositions to create new larger pieces.  I think is is a lovely way to work, especially as you are learning to identify what makes a good composition.  And, talk about developing your own voice! Starting with your own good work to build on?  I think that is great!

The Modern Quilt Guild has a week of pictorial inspiration on composition. This post is the introduction but it is followed by 6 days of good information that is worth taking a look at. The other posts are easy to get to by a clever arrow near the top of the intro post. You might not always approve of the composition but it helped me understand compositional principles.

Gloria Hansen shares with her readers a "quiet" book on  classical drawing.  Gloria lists the contents from the Table of Contents and I am quite intrigued by it.  My problem is that I spend far too much buying books and not enough time reading them but there is a DVD that goes with it.  Hmmmm...that might capture my attention long enough for me to learn something.

Jacquie at Tall Grass Prairie Studio shares her locations for color play.  I took a peek at both sites.  I will need to go back to have any idea what to do at either site.

I am off to quilt.  I got my sewing machine back from the repair shop several weeks ago but haven't had the opportunity to test it out yet. Today is the day.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Harlow Gallery Silent Auction

One of the fiber pieces that I entered into the 8 X 10 Show at the Harlow Gallery is  now on sale at their Annual Silent Auction.  Take a look!  I am in turn disgusted, horrified, and excited. First, it is only on sale because no body wanted it before now.  And what if STILL no one wants it??  On the other hand, I AM IN A SHOW in a GALLERY!  LOL

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

YEAH!

My computer has come back alive and has returned home!  I have missed my computer.  I still need to personalize the new hard drive but at least I can start checking out what all my blog friends have been doing!  See you on Friday!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

No Friday Favorites This Week

No Friday Favorites this week.  My computer is infected with malware AGAIN or still and is dead to the world.  It goes back to the Geek Squad AGAIN tomorrow.

When I find my camera, I will post pictures of my prints from the print class.  I have to have 8-10 prints in a series to be turned in on Tuesday.  So far I have 4 and I will be working hard between now and Tuesday.

Wish me lots and lots of luck (finding my camera, finishing my prints, resurrecting my computer)