Progressing... a Few Quick Glimpses

Coming along slowly with the new piece I first showed you in this post. It's been quite a while since I completed something; as some of you may know, I've been busy studying business things. More about that later. (You can read a bit about it here and here.)

Most of the basic components are glued down, and I have added some stitching; I think it will be finished in the next day or so. In the meantime, I just wanted to share a few more details before you see the whole piece. (Is that an oxymoron?) Anyway, without further blah-blah-blah:

I kind of enjoy using the hammer and awl to make holes for the stitching.  My dogs, however, do not enjoy the noise - I suppose it sounds like thunder or fireworks to them - and when I start, they quickly find another place to hang out.

My son-in-law gave me these old engineering drawings, which I have since found out are done on silked vellum. We knew they were vellum, but when I tore a piece of it to use in a collage, I saw tiny threads, and realized it was woven. Later I heard, just by chance, that in the past very very thin sheets of silk would be somehow laminated onto vellum to make it more durable. It's a strange material to work with, as it doesn't behave like either paper or fabric, and seems to stretch when wet (or has glue on it), and is very hard to glue down flat.

Here, tree roots have been stitched with embroidery floss - a mix of two different blues. Hopefully, it will all come together soon, and I will share it with you here!


Happy Monday, everyone!

Trials and Tribulations, and New Work on the Way

I have several pieces that have been laying around my studio that haven't been shared due to the fact that I didn't have a decent, fully functional camera. After much research and thought, I finally bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000. It was more than I really wanted to spend, but I needed something that would take excellent artwork photos, and a DSLR costs that much just for the body; then, in addition, you have to buy various expensive lenses for different purposes. Another point against a DSLR is that I realized that I didn't want to be bothered with lugging around a bunch of lenses, which I would have to be changing all the time, so a high-end fixed-lens camera seemed like the perfect choice.

So now, if the weather cooperates, I will be able to photograph those pieces, along with everything that needs to be re-photographed because I originally used my cell phone, and the photos are seriously lacking in quality. Especially since I'm going to be building a new website, I want the image quality to be as high as it can. I don't really want to upload my current photos, and then have to go back and replace them.

But now I have a new problem; setting up the new camera is somewhat (read: a lot) daunting. I'm afraid it's going to take a while. It has so many features, I'm not even sure what some of them mean! So in the meantime, I'll have to keep using my phone, unless they are flat and can fit on my scanner. Sheesh!

Anyway, I'm finally taking time from my technical studies to make some art! Here are a few sneak peaks of what's happening in the studio. Taken, of course, with my cellphone.

Materials used: vintage book cover, vintage maps, antique engineering drawing, monotype, book pages.  This one has a ways to go, but so far I'm satisfied with it.

I hope you are all having a great weekend, and making some art! Namaste, my friends.

Mary Walker's Pants

When I started working on this collage, I didn't really know who Mary Walker was; I just thought she looked fascinating, and that it was pretty bizarre that someone could be arrested for wearing pants. So I looked her up to see what else I could find out.

Mary Walker's Pants

mixed media collage, 11 x 8.5 inches

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage book pages and ephemera, cut-outs, child's drawing, lace, image transfer

I also found a page in this history book where someone had made some notes about women's rights, written right underneath the heading, "Manifest Destiny." Since women's rights seem to be in the news quite a bit lately, I thought now might be an appropriate time to share this.

Here are some things I learned about Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919): According to Wikipedia, she "was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war, and surgeon. As of 2017, she is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor." Though women were not allowed to serve as doctors, she nonetheless served the Union Army during the Civil War as a surgeon in an army hospital, and was captured by the Confederates when crossing the lines to treat injured civilians, and sent to the prison at Richmond.

   After the war, "she became a writer and lecturer, supporting such issues as health care, temperance, women's rights, and dress reform for women. She was frequently arrested for wearing men's clothing, and insisted on her right to wear clothing that she thought appropriate.
Walker was a member of the central woman's suffrage Bureau in Washington... She attempted to register to vote in 1871, but was turned away. The initial stance of the movement, following Walker's lead, was to claim that women already had the right to vote, and Congress needed only to enact enabling legislation."  She also wrote books and articles about these issues which concerned her so deeply. (Wikipedia)

Yet the history book only mentioned that she regularly got herself in trouble by wearing pants. What else, I wonder, has been left out of our history books?

Broken Girl - the Art of Recycling

Here is the finished version of the collage I was working on in the last two posts (here and here):

Broken Girl, mixed media collage on vintage book cover

ingredients: cabinet photo, vintage book pages and torn papers, vintage ephemera, watercolor pencils, stitching

The edges are cropped because it didn't quite fit on the scanner, and it's been way too dark and cold here to take good photos. (I take them outside in open shade.)  As you may remember if you're a regular reader, the torn pieces of layered papers on the right side started out as a completely different collage. I wasn't happy with the way it was going, so I incorporated it into a very different type of collage, i.e. one where the composition is more planned out and less abstract.  This doesn't usually happen, and I certainly didn't predict this turn of events when I started taking photos for my blog. These aren't the posts I had intended to write, but I thought it might be interesting for people to see what happens when things don't go as planned.

One thing I learned some time ago in my art-making explorations is that there's nothing wrong with tearing one piece up to make another; in fact, that's how I first began playing with collage. I didn't start out to become a collage artist, but as I tried making compositions with pieces of discarded work, I became hooked on the collage process as well as its outcomes. I love taking pieces of old ephemera that would otherwise be thrown out and combining them into something new. They bring with them something of the time they are from and the people who used them, which I think adds depth and meaning to the work.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_art.html

"The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country


"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
-- Scott Adams

“We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
― Bob Ross

A Day in the Life of a Collage

It started this way:

I had an old watercolor of a tree that I didn't want any more, so I thought I might recycle it and use it as the base for a collage.

First, I glued some brightly colored pieces of an old museum guide onto it, since I wanted to be able to scrape through to show bits of color.

Then, I covered the entire thing with pieces of vintage paper from old books, drawings, and sheet music.

I immediately added a second layer because it's easier to scrape or rub off when still damp from the glue. (I use matte gel medium as my adhesive.)

Here's a close-up view. I have to apologize for the poor photo quality, as it's been very dark and dreary here, and there's not really enough light to get a good photo with my phone.

Here it is after I scraped some of the papers off to reveal the colored paper underneath.  I call this the "Glaaaaaaah!!!" stage - when a piece gets to the point where I'm either going to throw it away or cover it up again; in other words, I hate it. Could I make a decent composition out of it? Probably, but right now I'm not seeing it.

My studio and materials were also in a complete state of "glaaaah!", but I still couldn't leave well enough alone...

 I glued some more papers on, then rubbed some more off (lather, rinse, repeat) .... and this is how I left it for the night.



Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens to our poor, pitiful collage. Will it live to see another day?  I'm not so sure...

New Mixed Media: Map IV

Map IV

ingredients: vintage maps, vintage book pages, vintage stamps, acrylic ink, metallic pen, watercolor pencils, image transfers, stitching  (7 x 7 inches)


This piece has come together slowly, originally starting with two fragments of pieces that didn't work out, and then building on from there. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, though some parts were ripped up more than once, as you may be able to tell. It just goes to show you that you shouldn't necessarily throw away the pieces you consider failures; you may be able to recycle them into something else. Does anyone else do this? I find it often works out well for me.

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.                           ~ Alan Cohen

In Tara's Garden

In Tara's Garden

9.5 x 15.75 inches

ingredients: vintage book cover, image transfers, acrylic ink, Derwent watercolor pencils, cut-outs, metallic pens, Pitt artist pens, monotype, woodblock prints, found objects, brads

Tara is known primarily as the Tibetan Buddhist bodhisattva (enlightened being) of compassion and action.  According to Wikipedia, "Tārā came to be seen as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom... Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in sansara (the cycle of suffering, death, and re-birth)."

Tara is one of the earliest known dieties; her origins are not entirely clear, but some scholars believe she may come from pre-Buddhist animist religions in Tibet. She has many different forms or aspects, of which Green Tara is one of the most popular. Green Tara (Khadiravani) is usually associated with protection from fear.

According to wildmind Buddhist meditation, "Green Tara is a forest goddess, and in one story is shown as being clad in leaves. Her Pure Land, in distinction to others that are composed of precious gems, is said to be lush and verdant:

Covered with manifold trees and creepers, resounding with the sound of many birds,
And with murmur of waterfalls, thronged with wild beasts of many kinds;
Many species of flowers grow everywhere.

She is therefore a female form of the "Green Man" figure who is found carved in many European churches and cathedrals, and who is found in the Islamic traditions as the figure Al-Khidr."

Flight Talismans

This one just came together without much planning at all; in fact, when I started it, I wasn't even sure of the subject matter. I just started building layers of collage and symbols, then suddenly made a decision to draw/embroider a wing on it, and it's meaning became clearer from there.

Flight Talismans       21.75 x 8 inches

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage maps and book pages, image transfers, woodblock print on cloth, stitching, feathers, brass wire, bone, glass, beads, found objects, stick     

I apologize for the quality of the photo, as I had to lay the piece atop 2 bricks because of the stick sticking out beyond the edges of the book cover. I will have to take a photo later with a nice black background, but didn't want to take the trouble to set that up right now.

Here are a couple of details; if you want to see more close-ups, go to my last post.

Thanks for looking, everyone, and have a great week!  

Finally Finsihed - Pieces of the Sky

I finished the panels for this piece a long time ago, but could not figure out how to put them all together. I finally decided to attach them to two pieces of black suede. I feel pretty satisfied with the way this turned out.

Pieces of the Sky             22 x 10.25 inches

ingredients: vintage book covers, brass stamping, vintage book pages, monotypes, vintage puzzle pieces, vintage game piece, star guide, photograph, vintage maps, watercolor pencils, suede strips, brads, metal findings, book binding tape

Weekly Quick Collage Two-fer: A Bit of Cheating

I guess you could technically say that I cheated on these, which is why I decided to put them both in one post. Though all the added materials were found on my work table (except for the stitching, of course), these collages are pieces of an old collage that I cut up. I was unsatisfied with it as a whole, but it had some parts that I really liked too much to just throw it away. So, I cut out those redeemable parts and added new materials to them. I actually think I like these enough now to consider them finished work.

 Map I          6.5 x 5 inches

 ingredients: vintage maps, decorative paper, joss paper, vintage book pages, metallic pens, artist pens, eyelet, stitching

Map II            4.75 x 3.13 inches

 ingredients: vintage maps, vintage notebook scrap, joss paper, vintage book pages, metallic pens, watercolor pencils, lace



Anyway, who's to say what's cheating - I make the rules here, right?   ;-)

Stronger Than You Know

Here is the finished version of the piece I showed in progress in my last post, starting with a couple of details:

Stronger Than You Know              9.25 x 13.5 inches

ingredients:  vintage papers and ephemera; found objects; image transfer; vintage photograph; vintage fabrics and lace; stitching

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.

                                                                                                           ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Weekly Quick Collage: Pink Dress

Pink Dress                5.25 x 5.25 inches

Not a very creative title, I guess, but here is my second weekly collage. Everything I used in this one is vintage, except for the peach and green swirly design, and everything was found on my art table at the time.  It's pretty amazing what can be found in my current mess at any given time; even more surprising because I do usually clean up between each piece - otherwise I would never be able to find anything! Sometimes the sheer proliferation of "stuff" makes me want to go back to just painting, instead of working with mixed media. Does anyone else ever feel that way?

Fragments of Memory

New work:

Fragments of Memory

ingredients: vintage book cover, various vintage ephemera (book page, post cards, notebook scrap, envelope, dress pattern), vintage textiles, image transfers, colored pencil drawings, pressed flowers, glass, stitching




Fragments

My eyes are not a camera
my ears cannot hold
the sounds
they slide by
like flashes of light
through the window of a speeding car

Between one fragment
and the next
the spaces are
half filled in with
imagination

and the other half - ?




Don't ask me where the poem came from. The other half, maybe?

Essence?

I finished this piece over a month ago, but have had some issues with getting things photographed due to my camera not working and the weather not cooperating (to say the least!). It's hard for me to describe what this piece is about, so I'll just say it's about essence. I was going to title it Between the Veils, but maybe Essence would be a better title.

ingredients: vintage book cover, pages, and spine; image transfer, drawing, collage, stitching, feathers, watercolor pencils



Bone
by Mary Oliver

1.

Understand, I am always trying to figure out

what the soul is,

and where hidden,

and what shape

and so, last week,

when I found on the beach

the ear bone

of a pilot whale that may have died

hundreds of years ago, I thought

maybe I was close

to discovering something

for the ear bone

2.

is the portion that lasts longest

in any of us, man or whale; shaped

like a squat spoon

with a pink scoop where

once, in the lively swimmer's head,

it joined its two sisters

in the house of hearing,

it was only

two inches long

and thought: the soul

might be like this

so hard, so necessary

3.

yet almost nothing.

Beside me

the gray sea

was opening and shutting its wave-doors,

unfolding over and over

its time-ridiculing roar;

I looked but I couldn't see anything

through its dark-knit glare;

yet don't we all know, the golden sand

is there at the bottom,

though our eyes have never seen it,

nor can our hands ever catch it

4.

lest we would sift it down

into fractions, and facts

certainties

and what the soul is, also

I believe I will never quite know.

Though I play at the edges of knowing,

truly I know

our part is not knowing,

but looking, and touching, and loving,

which is the way I walked on,

softly,

through the pale-pink morning light.

Glimpses

Glimpses

ingredients: vintage book cover and spine; monotypes, ephemera, ribbon, stitching                 7.5 x 9.5 inches

I seem to remember
bright flashes
of clarity
I could almost touch
before they dissolved
tantalizing
ephemeral
pieces
of a forgotten dream
moving through time
then vanished

For Emma

For Emma

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage lace, vintage book pages and ephemera, Derwent watercolor pencils, stitching

I found this written in a 100 year-old book:

Remember me when death shall close

These eyelids in their last repose

And when the wind doth gently wave

The grass that grows upon my grave

                                                   Emma K

I have no idea who Emma K. was, or what prompted her to pencil these words onto a page of this book.  But I tried to imagine her, anyway, and what she might have been like.  Maybe she loved butterflies, and lace.  Maybe she loved to sew.  Perhaps she read a book with a bitter-sweet ending, and it got her thinking.  She wanted to be remembered.  And so I made this for her, a girl I never knew, so we'll remember.

Time to Push?

I don't really have much time to read art business books or blog posts, but I try to spend at little a little bit of my rare and cherished free time learning about how to be an artist, as opposed to how to make art.  In truth, it's a pretty boring subject, but one that's important to those of us who aspire to attain even a modest amount of "success"- insert your own definition here - as artists.

So lately, things have begun to pick up a bit, and I have been selling some work, as well as being invited or selected by juries to participate in some fairly important exhibits. Recently, my work has been published in an art 'coffee table' book as well as on a book cover, and I've been notified of a show (possibly solo) coming up this year. So here's the thing: isn't this the time to push?  I mean, now that I've gained some momentum, I feel I should work as hard as possible to take advantage of it.


 Here are a few of the things I'm working on now:

 If you've been reading my blog lately you probably remember my Book of Secrets.  I've laid this one aside for a while to work on other things, while contemplating issues I still haven't found answers for, such as:

 Snakes eyes,...

                                                                                       ... or no snake eyes?
And what about the nagging questions around locks, latches, chains... or what?

Here's another piece in progress:

For this one, I cut some old book covers into panels, and attached an old 'star guide', game piece, puzzle pieces, and monotype scraps. 

I like how it's coming along so far, but my big question is how to attach the panels together.

I was thinking of something like hooking them together with large jump rings, but now I'm not sure.  Sew them onto ropes or cords of some kind, maybe?




  Stay tuned for the next post, because along with the answers to these and other burning questions,

... I'll show you, in depth, what's on my easel! 




 
So, what do you think?  Time to push?