December 7 – Intentions

Intentions are the most amazing things.  Setting an intention is to watch a miracle in progress.

This past year has been a tumultuous one for me.  Work in my studio has, at best, been in fits and starts with lots of dead time in between.  Most unsatisfying. Then a week ago it all changed.  At the moment of change I was reading a book.  “Daybook”, a journal by Anne Truitt (20th C. sculptor, painter, author).  She was talking about her daily work in the studio.  Regardless of mood, emotional turbulence, events in her outside world, every day she worked in her studio.  In doing so she found stability, groundedness, her spirit. Now how many times have we heard this?  Writers are suppose to sit down every day and write.  Painters need to put brush to canvas daily, regardless.  Julia Cameron has written books and more books about this.  Twyla Tharp has written on the topic as well. I’ve read them all. However, in this particular moment the light bulb went off for me.  What I needed to do was to work at making art absolutely every day, even if for just 15 minutes! Along with that decision came the miracle.  I have been working every day since.  I’ve been loving it.  20 minutes has turned into an hour, two hours, six hours. Am I on a roll?  Definitely.  One I intend to make last for the rest of my life.

The piece I think I’ll share with you today is a rug.  As you know from my October entry, my Finnish friends & mentors (Rod & Karoliina) visited for the month of September.  Before they left I was given a challenge: make 12 rugs during this next year using their technique — and perfect it! (Yes, that last part are Rod’s words.  He’s quite the task master. ). Here is my first one, which I’m quite pleased with.

I started out with a cartoon. No my usual style. I usually just dive in and see how my idea manifests. But Rod insisted and Karo agreed on its importance.  

 

I laid out my base fiber, alternating chocolate brown and gray.  I am always interested in the color interaction of the fibers and this was no exception.  Honestly, however, I also didn’t have enough quantity of either color alone to form the base.

Here is the piece as I’m laying out the top, decorative layer. You can see the bubble wrap templates I’ve used to hold the space for some of the main design elements.

 

For some reason I left the detail lines off the left side.

Now I have added them back in.  Much better!

Here is it, all done.

It’s thinner than I expected.  The edges aren’t perfectly straight, but they are pretty good.  I am satisfied.

 

 

October 12 – Autumn Showers bring….Finnish Felting Friends

Hello.  I believe I’m back.  Hopefully with more regular and frequent posts than the rest of 2011 has produced.  The months of August and  September were  unbelievable here in the northeast.  The land of benign weather (unless you’re talking winter snow storms) saw an earthquake, a tornado and finally Hurricane Irene. Top it off with a month of just about non-stop rain.  In the midst of it all, Finnish friends of mine, also felt makers extraordinaire, came to teach and visit.  I was lucky enough to have their company for 5 weeks. In between teaching gigs they lived and worked in my studio. Here is a not so good picture of Karoliina leaning next to a piece she’s just started.

Don’t think I managed to get any of Rod.  Or at least none where he’s visible.  But let’s give this one a try, just in case. That’s him in the right hand corner, sitting at a desk doing some computer work.  And again Karo is more in the center with an armful of wool.

Here are a couple of shots of Karoliina’s latest series.  She is such a talented artist.

And another shot, neither of which does them justice.

While Rod and Karo were here they decided to try making a rug using some Icelandic fleece I had.  It’s not a wool they’d used before and they were interested in seeing how it felted.  My dog, Wallace, quickly adopted the rug as his. Rod and Karo were generous enough to leave it behind for Wallace.

While Wallace got his rug, I got lots and lots of wonderful mentoring.  First off Rod worked with me and my rolling machine quite a bit.  I think I finally have a good idea of how to use it, and how to make it really work for me.  That alone was fantastic.  I’ve had that machine for years now and was never able to get it to do what I hoped it would.  Now it does!

I also had lessons from both Karo and Rod on how to improve my rug making.  Much of it was review; I’d forgotten so much since I first took a rug workshop from them 5 years ago.  And some of it was new to me after I’d been experimenting (often unsuccessfully).  I took a rug I’d originally laid out in April 2010 (my gosh, almost 18 months ago.  I will not feel embarrassed or ashamed.  I won’t!).  You can see the original layout in the post of April 28, 2010.  It was a piece my mother just loved.  When I asked her why, she replied, “the colors”. Here it is, modified and felted.

And another shot.  If I was a better photographer 1 picture would do.  But I’m not and I’m hoping you can get a little bit of an idea if I give you more than 1 lousy shot.

I have promised Rod I will make 12 pieces to be sure that the technique gets ingrained into the very cells of my brain.  I am working on a set of placemats at the moment.  I don’t know if those count as 1 or as 4 pieces.  I thought starting with something small would be helpful.  Size aside, it’s the same technique.  Next I’ll move on to larger rugs.  I don’t have a picture of the placemats yet.  Soon, I promise.

July 7 – Remember Me?

Hi, remember me?  I’ve been gone for so long.  Off in the land of the living.  Busier than imaginable.  Traveling, healing, and enjoying summer in the Berkshires.  And now I have begun going back to my studio.  As always, as I pant my way up three flights of stairs, thighs burning by the time I reach the top, unlock the door and then close it behind me, I find myself lost in another world.  The creative world of my inner Self.

My last post, so long ago –April 13 — mentioned the death of my mother and pieces I’d begun to make to commemorate her life and her loss. I’ve spent the past months working on healing.  I think it is a process without end for me. But now I’d like to share with you the first piece I made, a celebration of her life. It is, appropriately, called “My Mother”.  :-)

I think I’ll show you the finished, framed piece first, then take you through the steps of my process.

My mother was an alive, active,  vibrant person.  Full of life and love, & righteous indignation at the wrongs she saw in the world around her. She was generous, intelligent, thoughtful, wise. We spent lots of time laughing together. In this piece I tried to express it all, as well as the sparkles of joy she spread.

I started off by choosing a scarf and a handkerchief of hers. I wanted personal belongings of hers incorporated into the piece.  I knew I wanted the piece to be bright and colorful.  (She loved color).  So here is a picture of how I laid out the image initially.

Once I had the basic design I lifted all the fabric pieces and layed down lots of colorful wool. Then I replaced the design.

Too much empty space.  Mom’s life was never empty – always quite full, up to the day before she was taken to the hospital. It needed something more. And it needed ….balance. I added a little bit more of  the bright sparkling material from my stash.

Just one more stream and it looked good to me, so I felted it.

I knew I needed to do something with the very white, right-hand section.  It had been my intention all along to use couching on the “L” that was already embroidered on the handkerchief.  ”L” for Laurette, which was my mother’s name. I wanted to make that “L” stand out, as well as bring more color into that corner. I found the perfect silk yarn in my stash.  Yarn I had hand-dyed many years ago. Here you see a close up of the couching.

And yet another.

I just love the way the ruching (scrunching and wrinkling) of the fabric and the swirl of the couched letter look together.  And the whole bright and colorful piece.  Here it is again.  A tribute to my most wonderful mother.

Life seems a whole lot less without her.

 

At the beginning of the summer I made 2 promises to myself.  One was to spend as much time as possible outside engaging in the activities I love: gardening, biking, kayaking. The other was to finish (stitch and bead) and frame as many of the 25 felted pieces that are hanging on my studio walls as I could.  I have been doing both.  I’ll post again soon with 2 more completed pieces.  In the meantime, I am going for a bike ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 13 – a Gentle Nudge

It has been 2 months since I last posted.  Last week my friend Sheila mentioned that she’d love to see what I’ve been doing in the studio recently.  “Why not post it on your blog?” she asked.  A gentle nudge.

You may be wondering where I’ve been?  Then again, maybe not. I was ready to post the last week of February.  I procrastinated a few days.  Then at 8 am on the morning of March 2nd I got a call that my mother had just been put in an ambulance and sent to the hospital.  Four days later she was dead.

So where have I been? Wandering around that vast emptiness called grief. Giving myself the time and space to feel.  Mostly it’s been painful, very, very painful.  There have been some “ah-hah” moments and some smiles.  And lots and lots of tears.

Would you believe I actually have also made some art?  2 pieces specifically deal with my mother.  One about how she was during her life and one about the day she died.  I’m not quite ready to show them yet, but I do have a few other pieces to share with you today.

My last post, on Feb. 16th, showed 2 pieces based on a scene of a river at the Natural Bridge State Park, a favorite walking place of mine.  One was small, one larger.  Turns out I made a third one as well. Let me refresh your memory.  Here’s a photo of the first two.

I wasn’t really happy with the larger piece.  Didn’t seem abstract enough for me.  Had I really simplified the image down to it’s elemental shapes?  How had I portrayed the different substances? Ice? Water? Rocks? Was I able to capture what I felt was their essence? I thought I’d try again.

This first picture is the wool layout.  I wanted the cool colors of a winter landscape: white, gray, bluish gray and black. In part I did this by making the 2 layers of wool different colors in some areas.  I hoped it would give the finished piece more depth and interest. I also wanted some sky included.

Here I have started to lay down the major elements on top of the wool.  The stream as it goes around a rock.  The cold, snow capped rocks.

Now the piece has been felted. I like it.

Here are all three hanging up together.  Which do you like best?  Why?

I don’t have titles for any of them.  Do you have any suggestions?

I wanted to show you a picture of my studio wall.  It is the wall where I hang felted pieces that need surface design like stitching or beading.  It is my hang and think wall.  I look at the work every time I walk by, sit on my couch and look some more, and eventually I get an idea of what comes next.

I keep telling myself it’s time to get to the sewing machine and stitch.  Or do some bead work.  I’ve told myself “No more new pieces until you finish (and frame) some of these”.   All of my finished work is now on display in the offices of Berson & Corrado, outside New York City. The hallway outside my studio is empty except for hanging hooks. It needs some finished pieces to adorn it.  And my felt has slowly spread onto other walls and even the walls of the back room of my studio.  In self defense I will say that I finished 1 piece (not yet framed) and am stitching another.  But I love the making of felt, and the ideas keep coming.  I like to make things when the ideas are fresh.

Are you familiar with the Victoria Crown Pigeon?  It lives in Papau, New Guinea. I saw a picture of it on a greeting card and fell in love.  It’s flamboyant headdress of feathers reminded me of a shawl my mother gave me.  I don’t ever remember seeing her wear that shawl, but now I have 2 pieces of felt that are wearing it.

The first piece I did I remembered to take pictures along the way.  Here’s the wool layout. The photo of the bird is in the upper right corner.

The piece with the fabric layed out on top of the wool and wet down.

I don’t seem to have a picture of the piece once it was fully felted. And on the second try I forgot to take pictures along the way and only have the finished felt.  The second piece uses less realistic colors, brighter fabric and a different style headdress.

Here are the two together, along with original photo card.

This is the first post on my blog that won’t be read by my mother. Earlier in the month I had my first birthday ever without my mom.  This next year will be a year filled with firsts.

February 16 – Goals and Resolutions

Today would have been my father’s birthday.  He passed away 5 1/2 years ago.  I thought of him first thing this morning.  Wished him a Happy Birthday, told him I loved him and missed him.  Then I started my day.

I didn’t think I was going to start my blog with that thought, but it popped out and I guess there’s really nothing wrong with sharing it.

What I thought I’d write about are all those New Year’s Resolutions, or Goals as I prefer to call them, that have disappeared round about now.  One of my goals for 2011 was to post to my blog on a weekly basis.  And here it’s been 2 weeks since my last post.  How is it that time flies by so quickly? I still think weekly postings are a goal I’d like to strive towards this year. I like recording what I’ve done in my studio over the past week.  It’s another way of thinking about what I’m working on and why.  It is so helpful to have to talk about my art.  Otherwise I’m not always clear about where I’m going.

My last week has been rather frustrating.  I spent a huge amount of time on my computer unable to accomplish the task at hand.  I’m proud to say I didn’t hurl the computer out a second story window, nor did I throw it against the wall. However, I did think about both possibilities frequently. Despite the hours in front of that confounded machine, I did manage to get into the studio and make a few pieces of art.

One of my favorite little galleries in the Catskills (the Catskill Artists Gallery, Liberty, NY) is having their annual small works show in June.  This year there is no theme, so I decided to try making a piece or 2 for it.  “Small” is defined as no more than 8″ in any direction. I made one piece and discovered this is HARD!  It is a totally different way of working and seeing. Ah, so the challenge is on.

But first, let me show you the piece.  I was trying to pull out some of the geographical imagery in my brain from my trip to the Grand Canyon in December.

I didn’t like it!  Not one little bit.  I really didn’t like the stringy haze of wool over the yarn shapes.Here’s a close up so you can see just how awful it is.

I’d put that wool there to hold the yarn in place, but once felted the yarn seemed pretty solidly attached regardless of the wool on top. It did a great job of hiding the effects of the different colors of wool under the silk top piece too.

So, I just decided to get rid of that awful wool and carefully pulled it off.

Ah, much better!  The piece is still pretty lousy and unexciting, but I’ve a couple ideas brewing that might be able to turn it into something I wouldn’t want to throw in the trash can. We’ll see where it all leads.

As I mentioned, small is a totally different way of seeing and I was beginning to enjoy the challenge and the learning involved. Next I thought I might try making a large piece and a small piece simultaneously.  Setting them up next to each other and trying to capture the same imagery in each. I also decided it would be a good time to try and capture that picture that was still rattling around in my brain.  The one of the stream up at Natural Bridge Park that caught my attention on a day I didn’t have my camera.  (See post of  January 16, 2011 ).

I realized when all was said and done that I’d forgotten to take pictures throughout the process.  So I only have images of the pieces after felting is done.  Here are the 2 side by side.

Here’s just the large one.

And just the small one.

Getting a little better I think.  I hope.  As I’ve been living with them up on my studio wall I’ve been enjoying the textures of the different materials I used.  I think the materials give a great feel to the fluff of snow, the vibrancy – and the coldness – of the stream, etc. Here are some close up shots of those elements.

As I gaze at them I also hear my inner voice telling me “not abstract enough.  You stayed too close to the realistic elements.  Never your best work”.  So, there is at least 1 more of this scene coming.  Maybe I’ll try doing the 2 sizes again. We’ll see what next week brings.

February 2 – Beginner’s Mind

My meditation teacher always told us to start each day off with a “beginner’s mind”. This is especially important as you become more and more experienced in whatever endeavor you’re involved in.  The beginner’s mind brings you to your activity fresh and enthusiastic. It often opens up new doors that you couldn’t even see because you were so involved in “been there, done that.”  (Who started that saying?  I dislike it enormously!  which is not to say I haven’t used it myself).

My current meditation teacher focuses a lot on “refinement.”  Yeah, maybe we think we know something, but we can always know it more deeply, more intensely.  Our understanding and knowledge can always be greater and more expansive.  It’s a bit of a foreign concept to us Westerners, but a tried and true maximum in many Eastern philosophies.

This past week brought me back to “felting for beginners”.  I spent time making scarves to show the students in my next workshop that I’ll be teaching in a couple of weeks.  Not only did I enjoy myself enormously, and like the scarves I produced, but I challenged myself by making some styles of scarf that I’ve never made before. I had such a good time that I think I’ll make a few more this week.

Here’s a wool scarf that uses mohair to create a curly fringe. The wool and mohair are hand-dyed which is why they match so well.

The next 2 pictures are of a reversible scarf I decorated with tencil (for sheen) and a novelty yarn (for fun visual interest and texture). The decorative touches may be a bit hard to see in these pictures.

The rest of my week was spent in administrative tasks.  The usual search for exhibitions (I now have 9 possibilities to sort through and apply to.  With deadlines in the next 6 weeks, I also need to get busy and make some new work!), publicity for February’s teaching (the workshop is in a week and a half), etc.

I am putting aside time every morning to knit (I’m making a vest for myself) and to spin (yarn for sale — any knitters out there?).  Spending just 1/2 hr. on each.  I’ve discovered the world of timers.  Just set it and then go! It’s amazing how much I am able to get done that way. I also love starting my day with such basic arts.  It feels like I ground myself in life’s basics right off.  Then, and only then, I move out into the fast paced world.

January 26 – Workshops – My Latest Adventure, or Slow Cloth?

After receiving several inquiries and requests last fall about teaching felt-making I decided to give it a go.  I’ve taught felt-making before, but always returned to studio work with little desire to continue teaching.  However, after much thought I decided I would like to try again.  It sounded like fun.  And of course, who wouldn’t want to give others the opportunity to fall in love with one’s very own passion?

I have set up four workshops over the course of this winter.  The first one, learning to make a nuno felt scarf, took place this past Saturday. 10 women came and we spent the day making felt. Here are some pictures of the students hard at work.

Ooops…lunch break.  Hard work for some.  I actually found one of the biggest challenges of the day was to get people to stop working, sit down and eat lunch!

It was fun, at least for me.  From the feedback I’ve received, the students enjoyed it too. It was also exhausting.  However, each person left with a unique and beautiful scarf.

I’d like to show off this one particular scarf.  It was made by a woman who earnestly informed me at the outset that she is not at all creative.  But she had this dragon fly pin with her and she wanted to make a scarf she could wear with it. Here is the scarf layed out.  (Yes, it is nuno.  The silk is underneath).  I regret not getting a photo of it once it was felted.

Here is our group photo, everyone draped in their scarf.

As teachers always say, I learned some things from my students as well.  I realized that there are skills I have and small helpful tricks I know that I often think are common knowledge.  Or at least common knowledge amongst fiber people. You know, that ain’t necessarily so.  Something I was reminded of on Saturday.  It has helped me to appreciate that much more all I do know, and those who have shared their knowledge with me.

Out of the workshop came some interesting questions as well. There is a point in felt-making where beginning students get a bit impatient.  It is the rolling part of the process. It seems like it goes on forever.  In truth it’s about one hour of physical work. One is rolling, rolling, rolling — but nothing is happening.  Then BINGO ! and the wool has migrated into the silk and is ready for the next step. I am always afraid I’ll lose people during the rolling.

I was talking to my friend, George, about this.  George is a fine woodworker.  He mentioned he thought most crafts went through a stage that involves long periods of physical labor for the crafts person, but seems to result in no changes in the product. This is so different than say, painting, where every effort causes changes. An interesting insight.

Ah, back to the questions…..Have we as a culture become so out-of-touch with making things that we have expectations of instant creation?  Are we so used to going to the store and receiving instant gratification (if we can just get the thing unwrapped) that we no longer appreciate what it takes to make something?  One of my students said, in the middle of this day, “Now I understand why when I see these scarves for sale they are so expensive.”  It reminds me of a quote I read years ago, though I’ve altered it a bit.  “It takes a long time to make a beautiful piece of felt, just like it takes a long time to make a friend”.

 

 

 

 

January 16 – Sunrise, Sunset

Today I get to share the Santa Fe inspired pieces with you.  All 3 of the pieces in this series are felted and hanging on my studio wall.

Work always seems so crude to me at this point.  Unpressed, without the adornment of stitching or beading, no frames.  None of the subtle details that enhance a piece of work. Rather like what I see in the mirror each morning when I arise. I’m sure you know what I mean: hair uncombed, no earrings, etc.

However, what is strong in these 3 pieces, even at this point, are the colors.  It is fascinating to me as I pay more attention to the sun at each end of it’s daily course the huge differences in palette and color placement that nature creates.  So much depends on exactly which moment one looks at.  Everything changes within seconds.  It is miraculous. My intent was to capture some of that in these pieces.

Before we look at each piece more carefully I’d like to share with you a few of the sunrise pictures I took when in Santa Fe. These serve as my inspiration and my starting point.  Then I move on from there, changing… tweaking….  In this series I also used some photographs I’d collected from magazines and calendars to guide me with color combinations and placements.  No piece is an exact replica of any photo.  Each is a synthesis of many.

Now let’s look at my pieces in a little more detail. I showed the background fabric and the start of the lilac layout in my last post (January 6), but I’ll repeat it here.

Yep, there’s a blue one and a pink one and a yellow one.

I started with the lilac palette on the blue background, and here it is with the wools layed out.

In the foreground I tried to capture that special yellow-beige color of the sand and grasses of New Mexico. It always evokes feelings of dry and thirsty for me.  And mystery. In contrast, the vibrancy of the colors of the sunrise seem even more resplendent.  See the sun peeking out as it rises?

More and more I find myself blending colors with my hand carders.  It lends a richer and more true feel, especially to landscapes.  After all, if you examine any color in nature carefully it’s very hard to find a pure hue.  What with natural variation and shadows….

And now silk to represent the mountains in the middle ground, and trees and shrubs in the foreground — felting finished.

Next I worked on the pink.  This time I managed to get a few more pictures during the laying out process.  Unlike the last one, there’s no picture of just the wool layout, but there are pictures of each stage of imagery on top of the wool.  First just the mountains.  Then the addition of trees and shrubs.

Some of the trees are silk, some pre-felts.  A pre-felt is a partially felted piece of wool.  Usually it is dry (or needle) felted, not wet felted.  I like to use pre-felts for the different texture it lends, and also the sharp edges of an image.

Here is the last piece, the yellow one. Layed out and ready to go.

Now, felted and hanging on the wall.

I will admit, I am partial to this one.  It is the brightness of the sun — how it just seems to reach out and grab me — that seems so special.

I currently have no less than 15 pieces hanging on the walls of my studio, waiting to be stitched, beaded and framed.  I have made a commitment to myself to spend these last weeks of January at the sewing machine, or with an embroidery hoop, or at my framing table in order to finish everything up before adding new works.  BUT….this past week I went snow shoeing at a nearby park where the stones and snow in the river called out to me.  I’ve got this piece in my head which I’ve been carrying around since then. How am I going to contain it for 2 or more weeks?

As I sit at my desk, typing away, I can see that all my bird feeders are empty.  With two and a half feet of snow on the ground my birds need some easy access food. I wonder if they consider my feeders “fast food” like MacDonalds or Pizza Hut?  Time to go.

January 6 – Happy New Year

My goodness, where does the time go? Here I am wishing everyone a Happy New Year and we’re already a week into this year!  I have the feeling that 2011 will be a wonderful year for all of us.  I can feel creative juices churning, excitement mounting, and expression imminent. What more can an artist ask for? This month will celebrate a full year that I have been blogging.  It’s been fun for me, as well as worthwhile.  Writing this blog makes me pause, look, think and then try and verbalize what my work is about for me.  I hope it has been fun and worthwhile for you as well. One of my New Years Goals (I make a list of art – related goals each Dec. to be worked on during the next year) to be be more regular with my blog postings.  I’d like to post weekly as I did when starting out.

Are you wondering why I haven’t posted in so many weeks? I was off on an adventure, traveling in the southwestern U.S.  It was a marvelous time and I am totally inspired by the beauty of this land. Brimming over with ideas and inspiration.

I spent quite a bit of time at the Grand Canyon.  It was my first visit there.  I must agree with Teddy Roosevelt, who said “The Grand Canyon is something every American should see.” So if you haven’t, you must!  What a marvel!  I didn’t take many pictures.  I figured that plenty of professional photographers have taken (and published ) splendid pictures that are so much better than anything I could take.  Instead I tried to soak up the sights (and sites), the feelings, the colors, and the textures.  It is that which I wanted to bring home and incorporate into my work.  Having said that, here are couple of pictures I did take.  The first is one of those amazing long vistas with some special close-up interest.  Just the kind of thing I like to use as a starting point for a piece of felt.

I had a fantastic time riding a mule down to the bottom of the canyon.  Here’s a picture of me and Milo the mule.

And one last shot, down at the bottom, looking back up and out.

After a wonderful time at Grand Canyon I drove down to Tucson to see dear friends and then on to Santa Fe, also to visit with friends.  While in Santa Fe I visited with my friend Martha Kennedy, painter extraordinaire (www.marthakennedy.com).  The pressure was on as Martha has 2 solo exhibits opening during January.  So we worked.  She painted and I made a few scarves that I wanted as samples for an upcoming workshop I’m teaching.  It was fun to go back to basics and make simple (but hopefully beautiful) scarves that show different ways to make a nuno felt scarf.

This first scarf started out with a black piece of silk that has large pink flowers on it.  I chose to line the whole “back” side with bright pink wool.  It came through the black beautifully creating a most scrumptious purple color. And since I used a very, very fine silk chiffon the ruching is oh so very delicate.

This second scarf used the same silk fabric.  However, this time I laid the wool just around the perimeter and then in horizontal stripes along its length.  The ruching is quite different as you can see and more of the silk shows.  Not my most favorite composition, but a good example of how the wool and silk can interact for a different effect.

I was away for three weeks.  Coming home and back into the studio was difficult.  I felt rather disconnected.  I had all kinds of interesting ideas from my travels, but just couldn’t quite access them.  So I decided I needed something simple and known to work on and reconnect me to my studio space and my work.  Scarves were the answer!  I wanted more examples to show my upcoming class. Here are 3 layed out on my table.  3 different looks all using the same fabric.

My mother was kind enough to model two of the scarves once they were done. Neither picture does justice to the ruching of the felt.  Sorry. But they do show Mom’s spark and joie de vivre.

My last “reconnecting” project was to start hemming placemats I’ve been making for myself.  See the post of Oct. 1st to catch a glimpse.  They’re still not quite done, but I should be posting them soon.  So Stay tuned!

Each morning I was at Martha’s in Santa Fe I would get up early, make a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise out of her living room windows.  Everyday it was different — and gorgeous.  I did some sketching in order to remember and now I have started a 3 piece series, “Sunrise Over Santa Fe”.  Lots more  about them next time. But here’s a sneak preview of the back cloths and the start of laying out some wool. Your eyes are not fooling you.  There really is a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one.

In addition, I have been spending a lot of time on advertising the upcoming felt-making workshops I will be teaching this winter.  Sending out flyers, press releases, and talking with interested people.  All the administrative tasks take so much time.  I’m really forward to teaching and I know all the leg work (and time) will pay off .

Time to go to the studio.  More again soon.

November 22 – The Business of Art

This past week has been spent in my least favorite art activities:  the business end of being an artist. Humph…and what does that mean?  All the paper work and computer time that goes into being a full-time artist.  Like?  Taking photographs (luckily I have a wonderful photographer who does that, though I still have to be around to tell him what I like or what I want done differently), burning images onto CD’s, applying to galleries and exhibits, keeping records (financial and otherwise), hunting down possible display venues, making flyers and newsletters — and list goes on and on and on. However, unless one devotes time and attention to these kinds of details one’s business goes nowhere.

I did accomplish a lot this past week and I am pleased about that.  But I also spent an awful lot of time in front of this computer. Similar to Luann Udell’s statement “I hate…..” in a fit of pique (see her blog: www.luannudell.wordpress.com It’s quite wonderful), today I feel like “I hate this computer!” — only I know I don’t because it enables me to do so many things I’d otherwise not be able to do.

Sometimes I wonder though, why do I choose to run my art like a business? Is it really necessary?  I always come back to the answer, “yes”.  I work better (and more) when I have deadlines (applications to galleries and exhibits). I want to share my work with others (again, exhibits, galleries, alternative venues).  It earns me money to keep making art, which is essential to my well-being.

And so….I sent out 3 applications for group exhibits.  I sent out 1 application for membership in an artists’ coop gallery.  I arranged to exhibit at a new alternative venue starting in January.  I followed up on a customer interested in purchasing a piece.  I am almost done with an email/flyer announcing some classes I will be teaching over the winter.  I’ve catalogued the pieces I have on exhibit now and those I have promised and those that have accompanied applications. And I feel good about it.

Last week I did whip out 3 small color studies.  Using pieces from the same fabric, a fabric I dyed, screen printed, discharged, etc. I experimented with different colors of wool behind them. It was fun.  It was a good exercise and may even come in handy when I go to make a larger piece from the remains of this fabric. These were pieces I referred to in my last post as being “forgotten” in the dryer. They felted more than I might have liked, and are a bit hairier, but all told, serve my purpose.  I will probably stitch, bead and matt them, turning them into low price point pieces.  I think the stitching will be good and turn these not-so-exciting pieces into delightful studies.

Here is the wool layout for one with  light blue and  royal blue wool.

Now the fabric has been placed on top.

And here it is felted.

Here are the same three steps with the yellow one, followed by those same steps in red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, a couple of (lousy) photos of all 3 together.

 

 

And that’s all the news fit to print for this week.