A little more of this and that….

My work table

It’s clear, sanded and since that shot, repainted and put back together so I can work.

While clearing things, sorting and trying to release some supplies I never use I came across print making supplies. Most of it I gave away but I’m keeping one or two oil based inks and all the water based inks. Of course, my ADD self stopped sorting and had to do some monoprints. These first two became mixed media pieces and I really liked how they came out. They were for a weekend drawing event over at wetcanvas.com

The next one is the house I grew up in, it was bright red so before I gave that red ink away I had to do it. I didn’t take time to find a photo so this is from memory and for printmaking one has to work backwards. By the time I got to the door and windows on the front porch I was on a trip down memory lane and forgot to put them in backwards so on the finished print, they’re backward. It doesn’t bother me enough to change it, I still recognize home.

And then it was Tuesday….

On Tuesdays I paint with some friends, outside in when weather permits, inside churches or coffee shops when it doesn’t. Last Tuesday it was wet so we were in Grand Haven Garden House’s Greenhouse. http://www.ghgardenhouse.com/home

It has so many choices for painting or drawing…. This is what I settle on this week

Before I settled on the orange circles on the pot I walked around taking photos for other possibilities; this is one of those shots….

Back home and back into the studio…

A friend wants an ink drawing of their home up north. I’ve done the drawing but after getting back to the monoprints and turning them into mixed media pieces I thought I’d like to try it with their house. This is in process, the collage pieces haven’t been glued yet, still thinking about placement.  Once it’s done I’ll add a watercolor wash to the one she asked for and send them both. 

Circles, Squares and Sadness

I’ve been working on the last three 8 x 8 pieces in the mixed media collage series.  This is one of them, still in process.  I’ve had some assistance from another eye which I was happy to have but with mixed emotions.  A good friend, another artist, lost her husband to that dreaded C word.  They are from here and rent in our town in the summer but their home is Florida. 

I should say their retirement home is Florida; home is here in our Tri-Cities area.  And because this is home this is where the service was and burial will be.  She needed a place to stay while making all of the arrangements and I was happy to have room to have her here. 

Both sad times and good times, sad – no need to explain.  Good – because she and my dear friend Annie Morgan are two of the most creative artists I know so having her here to kick around ideas helped me and gave her a little break from thinking about her loss.

She doesn’t have an internet presence but she’s having an exhibit here this summer at C2C Gallery.  When Cyndi (C2C owner) posts them I’ll put a link here.  Annie has been dealing with some things too so her blog and website are not up to date; however, you can get an idea of what I’m talking about if you go here.

Meanwhile, here are the other two of the three new 8x8 pieces in process

I also fooled around with a transfer, acrylic paint on a piece of plastic transferred to a boring grey collage….

More on that when I get back to it; after I finish the other three.

Newest Work Finished & Delivered

 

This is Freedom, one of the three 8” x 8” pieces in the current exhibit at the Gallery Uptown.  I’m delighted to be part of “Fire, Fiber and Color” with 8 other outstanding women artists this month.  If you are in town, do stop and check it out.  If you’re not, here are the artists who have a web presence, Sheri Woodard, watercolors; Nancy Slack, glass;  Maggie Bandstra, acrylics and pottery; Joni Hyma, pastels;  Valerie Boet, fiber and watercolors; Sharon Smithem, mosaics and oils; and Sharon Tanis, photography.  Jackie Bonomo, pastels, is also part of the exhibit; however, she is not on the internet – yet.

These are the some of images that I have been show as works in process for the past few weeks.  The one above and the following two started with the piece that was all color.  I’m pleased with how they turned out….

Circle On The Square

and Games People Play

All three are 8x8 and $95 each. 

I also have the three 4X4 inch pieces in but having delivered at the last minute – yes, I procrastinate! – I wasn’t able to get a good photo of those so will have to wait to post them later.

Two of my fiber pieces in the exhibit…. Summer Solstice

And one of three from an ongoing Remembering series, remembering the many generations of women in my family who stitched.,,

Thanks to Jude Hill’s Spirit Cloth blog.  It was there I first saw a face similar to this one and loved it.  I can’t tell you how many variations on it I’ve done.

Here they go, ready or not…..

The new work has to be delivered to the Gallery Uptown for the April exhibit.  Time to stop playing and get the hanging hardware on.  I may do a little tweeking after that but they have to go out the door this week.

I have a variety for the hanging committee to choose from.  The one above is 8”x8” and I have 2 more similar, same size and 3 that are 4’'”x4”.  And I have some stitching that needs to be finished up today.  Here are two of those.

This one is almost done

The exhibit opens Friday, April 4.  Reception 5:30 – 8, if you’re close by come see the rest. 

Still Evolving

Remember last week, I really didn’t like the way the piece was going.  Well, it’s back in play.  I still don’t’ know where it will end up but I’m liking the turn it took.

First, I removed some of the black and the cream color with alcohol.  I didn’t think I liked acrylics but I’m loving the look of texture that results by rubbing it away.  I also like that it can be rubbed away.

I probably should have taken another photo before I went to the next step but, as often happens when I’m “what iffing,” I was too engrossed to think about photographing.  So, you ask, what was the next step?

More collage.  While searching for something for another project I came across New York Times Magazine and National Geographic pages that I had treated with CitraSolv.  Colors and texture were perfect so here is the latest phase of that WIP

And here’s WIP 1 next to last weeks

And here’s WIP 2 next to last weeks

Here I’ve indicated where the collage is so you can see what got wiped away.

These are all the same size, it’s the camera angle that is off.  The 2nd one has been turned so the dots are now vertical and I know I’m going to add a couple more.  Beyond that I have no idea where this is going to end up.

I’ve been working on the small ones too along with the collages and some art quilting.  Photos haven’t been taken of that progress yet,  That will be next week most likely.

Oh, and the dailies…. here are two, actually 4 because I did the drawing one day and painted the next on both of these.

That’s it for now….

The WHAT HAVE I DONE stage and other better things

The next stage of the WIP had me wondering what in the world I was thinking when I started this project.  This sure is looking hopeless.  That white block at the top is the clip on my wall holding it up.

But there is still hope, I should have taken a photo of the next stage before I cut it into the 2 8x8s and 4 4x4s but I was so anxious to see what I had that I forgot.  Here they are:  the 2 8x8s followed by the 4 4x4s, still WIPS but I’m feeling like there is hope.

Feeling better I started another mixed media piece.  This one started by collaging a lot of color on the surface.  It’s brighter than this shows on my computer, not sure how it will show up on yours.  I’m planning 4 8x8s out of this one, we’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I’ve joined the Lighthouse Quilt Guild and through the Guild took a quilting class from Mary Bajcz .  What a fun experience and here are two WIPS from that day.  The first one is suppose to be a circle but I didn’t cut the curve quit enough…. the fear factor, sewing curves; however, I like it and now to add me to the process, some handwork.

The second one I got a little braver and I’m really liking how this one is evolving.

I also finished a block for the quilt in process that I started a year ago.  I thought it was done but once I layed it out I decided I needed 10 more blocks.  This is the first of that 10, a wonky star.

I do love wonky.  Here is the first log cabin block I did 35 years ago in a quilting class.  The teacher told me I had to “cut perfect strips, it was the only way to make a log cabin block.”  My response to that….

I loved it, she didn’t.  I decided quilting wasn’t for me and didn’t do another until the one I started a year ago.  I’ve done a lot of experimenting with quilting since I got back to stitching.  Still finding my way but having a great time doing it.

I think I may need to start another blog for my dailies.  This is already way to long and I should post those daily.  Something to think about.

Dailies, Fiber and WIPs

Last post I mentioned the synchronicity… daily challenge, windows, book on my coffee table, Windows to the Soul and then finding scraps that looked like windows.  Continuing along that vein I used the scraps to do a little digging into my likes and loves and why. Water was big, that is so obvious to me that I didn’t bother writing it down right away.  I was looking for things I had to think about, searching.

I spent a couple days here, two windows, before moving on to narrowing it down to the basics. Sine water related items came up 6 times in the regular list, it ranked as #1 on the new list.  One window for the whats and 1 window for the whys, another two days covered.

I’m not sure where all this is going but it’s sitting on the back burner for awhile.  Once last window and then on to other things that have been going on the last couple weeks….

All that writing around this window is testing pens for a Lenten project we’re doing at church.  A weaving….

This is the frame made by a very talented couple, Suzanne and Mike Moynihan.  We’re using strips of unbleached muslin and asking members of the congregation to write a favorite hymn title, a prayer, a bible verse, whatever they would like on a strip. We’ll be weaving as we get finished strips. The strips of fabric have been ironed to freezer paper for ease in writing. Hope it turns out the way I have envisioned it.

I’ve also been getting ready for the April exhibit at the Gallery Uptown,  “Fire, Fiber and Color”.  I’m one of the fiber artists so have been busy stitching.  These are a few of the pieces I’m finishing …

And April also means we need new work for our walls and I really need to get painting.  Synchronicity again…..

These art quilts are basically abstracts.  I’ve never done abstract painting for a lot of reasons that I’m not going into now, this post is way too long already.  However, after looking at my little quilts I decided maybe it was time to try some abstract paintings so this is a start, a WIP (work in process) that has the first three layers done. 

Layer one, an old watercolor painting that didn’t work.  Layer two, cover the painting with gesso and color.  Layer three, add some collage elements.  It’s going to be a mixed media piece.

I had watched a Jane Davies video about doing postcards all at once (one piece of paper and then cut out the postcards.)  Why not with paintings…. so…. this one will be 6 small paintings, 2 8x8 inch, 4 4x4 inch and maybe some Artist Trading Cards to boot.  (I’m hoping small will sell.)  At this point I’m not paying attention to composition, just getting something down to work with.

I’ll post my progress.  Sorry I didn’t think to photograph stages 1 and 2.