Tuesday Painters and A New Sketchbook

 This Tuesday there were just two of us at the Aldea Coffee Shop.

We have our granddog here this week so studio time has been limited.  But that didn't mean I didn't do any art making.  While I'm not a bookmaker I do make books every once in awhile and that seemed the perfect thing to do at the kitchen table while the granddog lay between my spouse and me.

Awhile back I had seen Laly Mille's youtube instructions on how to make a coptic stitch art journal without a a cover (it would be added later) and with all stitching on the outside rather than the inside.  Perfect time to try it so I got out paper and began making folios, then the signatures and finally stitching.  And when my spouse took the granddog for a walk I went into the studio to dig for paper to cover the book boards.  

 

This is a paper I made by layering the string between two pieces of tissue paper and applying gel medium.  Once dry I added the color.  Perfect size for what I needed.  So I covered the boards, glued them to the first and last pages of the journal and a leftover piece was perfect to cover the stitches on the spine.  Iset a bunch of books on top to be sure it all dried flat and happily opened it up the next morning.

I've decided to use this small one to review my year and hopefully figure out what I want to concentrate on next year.  Granddog is still here so I've started folding and stitching a larger one.

 

Tuesday Painters and Starting A Review

 This week my Tuesday Group went to the Spring Lake Library.  Libraries are favorites in winter months,winter is starting and we have 3 libraries to choose from.  We also do coffee shops and that's on the docket for next week.  This is what I did this week along with my morning 5 minutes.

And here are a couple of my 5 minutes in the morning pieces.

I'll continue doing the 5 minutes, at least until the end of the year.  And my Tuesday Group will continue and maybe I'll get out even more since some of us have joined Urban Sketchers West Michigan.

Meanwhile, it's time to begin a review of my year.  I read a few blogs,  Nicole Warrington is one of them and she had a list of review your year questions on her blog a couple years ago.  I kept the questions but never used them for my year end review.  This year I'm going to, they're good questions.  Here are a few of them in them:

    What did I discover this year about my art or my creative process?

    When during the week/day did I feel most creative?

    Where did I find support or community for my creative soul and my creative practice?

    What elements of 2022 do I want to bring forward in 2023.

There were several other posts on Nicoles blog that got me thinking about some things I may add to my morning routine.

And I did another feather this morning...

Until next time....

At Odd Sides With Urban Sketchers West Michigan

 Missed painting with my Tuesday Group this week but joined some of them to sketch at Odd Sides here in Grand Haven with #uskwestmichigan.  It was fun meeting new sketchers and at a place the Tuesday group often meets in cold weather.

I had recently tried foreshortening sketching a chair and decided I needed to work on that so I choose this long view.  I really do need to work on foreshortening!  At the last minute everyone behind the front counter moved and I spied the coffee grinder.  This is the type of thing I like to sketch so I did a very quick one.  The elipse is off but I don't care, next time we're there I'll do it again more carefully.

And I'm keeping up with my 5 Minute Challenge, now 82 collages done and 2 and 1/2 eco dyed journals used.  This morning I tried something different, I used stitching to add a piece of bark that I picked up on my walk yesterday. 

Another type of fragment.  This may lead to a whole new series.  Time will tell.

Two Challenges In One

 I continue doing my 5 minute challenge and there's a new challenge, #arteveryday2022 for the month of November.  I've done the Art Every Day challenge every year and since I was already doing a daily I hopped on that one too.

Today's 5 minute is quiet.  I'm working on some larger collages but those are a commission and being done in stages. 

I didn't join my Tuesday Painters group this week.  Another funeral; we went across the state for the funeral of our long time friend, Frank Leek.  He was the husband of one of "the girls."  "The girls" are my high school buddies and we've known the husbands almost as long as we've known each other.  We all have husbands that are tops but Frank was the one who went above and beyond.  Whenever we girls got together without husbands Frank sent a special treat.  I recall one gathering, we all turned 40 and decided to get together for dinner, Frank ordered wine for us and sent a note: "Like fine wine, getting better with age." 

I've been going to too many funerals lately, this getting old thing isn't fun when the group of friends you had so much fun with keeps getting smaller.  Oh well, we can't avoid it forever, but I am working on not letting the old lady in.

Last winter I was going to try cross country skiing but conditions were lousy.  This year I may try again or take up snowshoes.  Or get back to downhill skiing, I bet my grandson would go with me.

Back to Lake Michigan and a New Gadget

 This week the Tuesday Group went back to our friend Marna's cottage on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.  It's our go-to spot when the weather turns chilly and the cottage is not yet closed up.

I think I spent more time visiting than sketching but that's part of the enjoyment.  That was Tuesday, I also got a new toy that day but didn't play with it until yesterday.  

A few days ago we had a visitor, she was actually in the yard next door but seemed quite content to stay where she was even while I took the time to put down my coffee cup and pulled my phone out of my pocket.  So what does that have to do with my new toy you ask -- my new toy is Sprocket, a pocket printer that prints 2x3" photos from a phone.  Had to try it.  

I've been doing 5 min something in this little sketchbook, 4x5".  This morning I used it for my 5 minute piece I added the photo.  Part of the fun of these little photos is there is a sticky back if one wants to use it so, of course, I had to try that too.

As long as I'm talking about the 5 minute pieces I'll share a couple of them.  This began as a challenge and I challenged myself to use an eco dyed handmade journal and the scraps that were in a pile on my desk.  It was a 15 day challenge but I had a lot more scraps and a couple more eco dyed handmade journals so I kept going.

I started this challenge in September.  Patting myself on the back for keeping it going.  

Tuesday Group Visited Lake Michigan Today

 It's nice to have friends who have cottages overlooking Lake Michigan.  Our group was blessed this very cold and windy day.  We were up above the lake in one of the wonderful cottages on Peterson's Ridge, thanks to a Peterson daughter.  This was my view --

We'll go back there next week.  There are many views to choose from but this one always seems to be the first one I do every year that we've gone out there.

Is there Meaning In My Paintings?

I’m not the only artist who struggles with this but it is my struggle

How can I use paint to show that life is about more than what we see? Isn’t the painting suppose to have some meaning and if so, what do mine mean?

I know the meaning of this one, I love boats!  But that’s not what I’m working on now.

What do the non-representational pieces mean.  That’s a question I ask myself often. Questions and struggles have guided and shaped the careers of some of the world’s leading artists.

Monet struggled with light in his landscapes.

Van Gogh struggled with life and acceptance.

Jackson Pollock hurled paint at canvas, originally in frustration, and he turned the art world upside down.

And I find myself most often painting just because I like to do it, not thinking that there will be any special meaning to the piece.  I just hope that as the experimenting moves along something that makes a good painting will evolve.  Experimenting is the key to what I do now, “what will happen if I….” is most often on my mind. 

I suppose my subconscious is saying something because I’m usually alone in my studio when I’m working on these non-representational or abstract pieces. Everything I’ve read says there is a meaning in every stroke.  If that’s true is there a key to knowing what that meaning?  Or is that just something that the experts claim to know? One thing it means to me – as long as I’m painting I can avoid housework.