The Art Tribe Is Back at The Gallery Uptown

 

So what's an Art Tribe, in this case a group of artist friends who get together occasionally for lunch or wine and cheese to chat about life and art and sometimes to talk about doing a show together. In the past we've done some collaborative pieces but this year we did something a bit different, our theme is Beauty in the Ordinary. The Tribe members, Carol Cousineau, Bette DelVecchio, Barb Fugazzotto, Sandy Meyer, Annie Morgan and I, each did individual works.  Margaret Benefiel is another Tribe member but couldn’t participate this year.  She’s with us in spirit.

You’ll see paintings and collages along with scarves, table runners and assemblages and some surprise pieces. 

The exhibit is up now and the reception is Friday July 11, 5:30 to 7:30.  Hope you can come see, it's a great show!

Fun With A Pot That Wasn't

 

The group I paint with on Tuesday mornings went to Spring Lake Library this week. Most of us use a sketchbook dedicated to our Tuesdays.  The one I am currently using just wasn't working for the type of watercolor sketching I normally do but I have more pages to fill so I decided to add some gesso, collage paper and masking tape along with coffee splatters to them to see if that helped.  It did this week but what I painted isn't what was there.

Spring Lake Library has violets on it's windowsills. Someone was sitting at the table with the sun hitting it so I went to the one in the shade.  I loved the look of the pot and thought it would work perfectly with my recently doctored paper. I quickly drew in the shape and a few violets just because I thought the pot needed to hold something.  Then I began to examine the pot.  It wasn't what it appeared to be. The reality -- an ordinary garden variety clay pot sitting in a dirty plastic container.  Oh well, I'll just paint what drew me to it in the first place and I was correct, it does work on the doctored paper.

Back to Stones and other things

 I’ve been keeping a schedule which was one of my goals for this year.  Not perfect yet but a start. Another start is getting back to a sketch every day and stones.  Here are two small, 4x4 in, stone pieces finished. 

 

As promised, here are the two small ones from that free collage workshop I wrote about last week. These are also 4x4 in.  I didn’t realize it until I looked at the photo but the vintage paper on the right will be 100 years old on the 27^th of this month.

One concept she was teaching was pick papers you love for your collage based on what we had done in the class. Since I had picked colors that aren’t part of what I normally gravitate toward I wasn’t in love with any of them, vintage excluded, but I did like some way better than some others and I think that’s close enough and a good rule to follow. There are a couple shows coming up so I need to get busy doing more of these.

What else, daily sketching, so far I'm sticking to it..  I finally realized the for me, an art journal is part art and part journaling with the journaling being primary.  So, I’m back to doing some morning sketches and sometimes a bit of collage paper in the journal to separate out spaces to write.  At the end of a studio day I sit with that journal and write about what I did or did not do that day.  The hats are one subject.  That started with the one I posted last week.  Here are a couple more…  

  

The one on the left was very colorful.  I may do it again and take some time to add color.

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.

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.  

I’m a beginner again! And I’m loving it..

                                         

I’m moving out of my comfort zone to work in a new way so I'm a beginner again.  It’s a new way for me and it came about because I took one of those free weekend workshops.  I liked how she started because it was a way I hadn’t started in the non-representational (abstract) works I’ve been doing recently. However, I didn’t like the way she moved forward with it so I decided to explore on my own.

I’m working on four at once but I haven’t photographed them all through the process.  I’m quite happy with one I finished at Spider Lake.  I posted that a couple weeks ago.  These three weren’t working for me.  I was liking the first one but it needed something.

Having worked on non-representational for some time trying to learn the genre I began to think “what if I can’t do this after all?”  So far I’ve used unfamiliar media and worked across all sort of substrates.  All these experiments and I still felt stuck – until the free workshop.  I’m still not certain what I’m doing and some just turn out lousy.  But I’m remembering – many times trying a new medium and how long it takes. I ought to write about my first attempt at a poured watercolor sometime.  But I digress.

I thought the first one above had promise. It's a combination of media including collage. This one is something else I don’t usually do – work in a grid format.  I shared with one of my artist friends.  A suggestion, a tiny tweek and it’s done.  Can you tell what I did?

More Tuesdays and November Dailies

Yesterday Tuesday Painters were at Hemlock Crossing... a favorite foul weather spot because there are great views from indoors and it is open all year.  This is what I did....

And I'm participating in an Art Everyday Month, November Challenge.  The only day I don't have to show is the 2nd; it was an anniversary card and I gave it away before I got it scanned.

The first day was a sketch bag that will live in my car.  The one I was using finally gave out.

 This one was some leftover paper from the anniversary card...

 And more paper from the anniversary card...

On my morning walk the leaves on the ground looked like angel wings so I picked one up and used it for this little one...

 And while sorting I came across this divider.  I had done a little daily on it in October and put it aside. The flower picture was in the same pile so I added it to the page.

And now I'm off to Virginia for a wedding.

"Stay In Your Lane"

I was listening to a podcast today... Robin-Marie and Sandi Keene, "Creatives Get Real!"  One takeaway I got from it was "Stay In Your Lane."  I am going to make a sign to hang in my studio.  Like Robin-Marie, I am always trying whatever it is I see that looks interesting and fun.  Yes, I have accepted that I am a master of being a Jack of All Trades but even with that, there is a limit.

Right now I'm focused on the art journal and even though I'm not liking some of what I'm doing, I'm learning and that's okay.  I know that I need to change direction in my work but still not sure what direction … so staying in my lane to me means stick with trying the two things you think you want to master, collage and abstraction.  Here are a couple more done this week.

And I have decided I really dislike the spiral binding so this journal is going on the shelf, a new one is getting started.  Here is the last entry in the spiral bound journal.

The spiral bound is still okay for working with my Tuesday Painter group because I paint and journal.  But that's all I'll be using them for.

I've Started the #100DayProject

This was the first one.  Here are the rest.... so far

Day 3 is the one I enjoyed the most.  It's mixed media, the rest are collage.

On another note we had a good time at Avalanche Water Park, part of Boyne Mountain.  Great fun racing my grandson on the downhill and riding through the tubes.  The tubes reminded me of a loge run.  I did one of those a few years back.... both fast and fun rides.  The downhill was like sledding only water was carrying us down the hill.  Hard to describe but fun!

Thinking February

Which makes me think of Valentine's Day so I have done a few in my collage sketchbook.  It started with one I did for my spouse but I don't know where I put that one. It wasn't in the sketchbook. I will remember before Valentine's Day.... I hope.  If not I'll have to make a card from one of the sketch book collages.  

The collage journal and a couple sketches is all I did in the way of art making this month,  I've been concentrating on rearranging my studio.  I'll post the rest of the hearts at the end of this post.  So if you just want to see the art you can skip on down and have a look.

This year instead of a long range goal I am doing weekly goals.  That worked well for this month; I concentrated on a different area of the studio every week except this last week.  I'll get to this last week later. 

Several things that I only use maybe once or twice a year got moved to the basement storage area.  Other things moved out completely, some donated, some to friends and some to the trash or recycle center.  There are still some areas that need rearranging but for the most part I have space to work.  

This last week aside from the hearts I didn't get much done.  My spouse is still sick, sicker than I've seen him in the almost 50 years I've known him.  And so I have been a nurse and let me tell you, there is a reason I didn't consider nursing when I was in college.  I am not a good nurse!  However, he is not a complainer and he knows nursing isn't my thing so we are coping.  I've also been shoveling snow because he isn't able. That I am pretty capable of doing.  Fortunately our son is a teacher and has been off school so he and our grandson have been over helping with the shoveling   

I am hopeful that next week brings fewer snowflakes and a husband that is feeling better so I can get into the studio and get to work on some major art making.  I have to get ready for a show in March.

And here are the rest of the hearts....

I think I need to give this little guy a heart.

Some Art and Other Thoughts

First some sketches... I always have a sketchbook with me and on Sunday I worked at the Gallery Uptown here in Grand Haven.  It was a cold day so not too many people downtown; I had time to do a couple sketches from weekend drawing event images over on wetcanvas.com.

And I did a couple more in my Collage Journal

And the thoughts....

January is always a time for me to reflect on life... where I've been and where I'm going.  I'm not a planner.  I don't always know where I want to go so the planning is usually pie in the sky.  To be honest sometimes life just takes me along without my realizing where it's taking me.  So far it's been a pretty good ride; however, as I am looking at the shorter end of my life I think perhaps it's time to think about what I where I want to go with the rest of it.

I did do something very different this year... a weekly goal.  And so far it's been working.  Four weeks almost gone, three goals accomplished, this weeks almost done.  The goal for the month has been get that studio organized so you can spend the rest of the year making art.

One of the blogs I read is Laura Lein-Svencner.  She posted some thoughts I thought where worth thinking about as I begin to think about the direction my art is going to go...

• Why do we make our art? 
• Can it be to communicate without words? 
• Can it be to respond, understand and document our lives? 
• It's not a race, Slow down and take the time needed.....
• Learn to love the process. 
• Ask the question- Do I like this?  Yes or No
• Create interest by making differences. 
• Be the change in your art and through your art. 
• Let go of instant gratification.

One of those I don't need to think about... I don't need to learn to love the process.  That one I've got covered; my problem is I love too many processes.  Another is the first one... I know it's something I have to do but should it be more... I don't know.

And a thought that I think fits art.  I have often said putting ones art out there is like standing in the middle of a party nude.

 

This past weeks news also gave me much to think about and do I want to say something about it with my art?  Maybe just in my sketchbook for me alone.  

The fact that so many adults jumped on a story without checking the facts just because it fit the narrative they wanted bothered me, a lot.  And then, when the whole story came out these same adults claimed it was still the kids fault for wearing a MAGA hat because they claim a MAGA hat is the same as White Hood worn by the KKK.  I'm sorry.... NO!  Just because 10% of the 63 million who voted for Trump may be racist (and I say may be because that is a matter of interpretation) doesn't mean anyone who wears a red hat is racist.  

I think I need to buy a MAGA hat.