arts n' crafts

Last Friday the boys were over and I pulled out paints,brushes, pens, oil pastels, stamps and stencils and all the ideas I'd gotten from the Jane LaFazio workshop I had taken in Costa Mesa a few weeks before. While P. above did his own thing (he's five... notice he has written - I gave him the letters - 'two monsters' but from right to left) W and I played at experimenting with color texture and media.

After we practiced doing everything, W. (7)decided to start another picture... one with trees and stamped leaves... he had seen a drawing in my book from the JL workshop and wondered how I did it... so we found a picture of a motorcycle, put tissue paper over it, drew around the image and then glued it onto his picture... he was leery of the process at first but once he saw the line drawing in his landscape he was excited about coloring it in.
here's a close-up...
and this is my little painted page... as the boys painted and drew, so did I... I couldn't believe it when we had spent over two hours drawing, painting, experimenting. I think it was all the selection of media that kept their interest up.
and then there are these little mosaic's ... the one above done for second daughter. Her house number... once I started I decided to do one
for me.... and then because I'd promised to a house number above the garage door I had painted I am doing a bigger one for
Judy.

Summer classes

Paradise Community College's Continuing Ed catalog for the summer is now out. I am teaching a new class there this summer, it is the second listing on page 1.

oh, and it will be personal and exploritory.... altho it might explain a few things too....

you can register at http://www.my.maricopa.edu/

April 19

A lot has been going on the last couple weeks... I have allowed the scraps of paper to accumulate on my tile floors, the tables and counters have been covered with paints, papers, pens and pencils. I was preparing and playing... the last hurrah before the cleaning time, but cleaning time has come... kind of the moment of reckoning for all the fun I've been having.

I co-led a workshop over the weekend... this booklet, which is still in process was the result. Everyone began their own book. We had five participants and everyone did marvelous unique things.... of course, I forgot my camera. Urrrrr...
two sheets of 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico sewn together.... all pages painted both sides..... this is one of the stages of what becomes the "cover"

cut hearts from this textured paper found in a magazine, napkin edging, lots of gold and yellow ochre, but some greens and coppers in there too

Here I painted the hearts and added lines and the words,' letting go'

The center two pages were first painted gold, then black over... then I wrote in the wet black paint... after it dried a bit I glued in this cut out of two women facing each other...

I've been reading Wendell Berry's series on the residents of Port William, KY... it has really made me thoughtful about connecting and forming community... these two women facing each other reminds me that we need to see and cherish each other... no matter what our convictions we can no longer afford to stand apart.

then there is this little ditty... a small book made of reclaimed everything... well, not the paint, but pretty much everything else... and the bird singing for all he is worth....

reclaimed board, repurposed dress patterns, reused tea bags, scrubbed, torn, and folded old watercolor paper....

measures about 2 and a half by 3 and a half inches

and all sewn together with nice waxed linen thread.

Every time I look at it I feel pleased.

and then there is this carrot. I planted some seeds in October or November and had very low expectations for how the carrot growing would turn out... only about six of the seeds really made it, but in the last few weeks I have begun to yank them out of the ground... and what-da-ya-know ... they are not the deformed little nubs I expected... I have carrots! Well, had. There is one left in the garden and I think today is the day it comes out.

"I enjoy fireworks....

but stars is nice too".... is a quote from a book called Taxi Driver Wisdom that my daughter's old boyfriend gave me for Christmas one year... as I played with this canvas I was reminded of that quote. A reminder to me to look up and find joy in what I have had all along.... you saw this as a nearly blank canvas in the last post.... I knew it needed a line thing... I thought an animal maybe... anyway, a contour line, using a pen... but I didn't end up with an animal... I drew a portion of the Titanic from an old Nat'l Geographic and then the Titanic grew arms... the stars just came after that... otherworldly and fun. The quote is stamped along the bottom and the 13 now reads Lucky 13.

I am so pleased with this.... is it a beginning of a series?

Art Studio at the Farm

I do not want this day to end.... an art day... a day of "Transformation through collage". Melany Terranova led the class and supplied all the materials... It was an amazing day for me... the chance to just immerse myself in the process... to play... to create. The first collage was a warm up exercise. Melany gave us a packet of color and texture and a few basics of the elements of design...

on the second and the third Melany told us to just see what we came up with... amazingly she provided the canvas boards, the stretched canvas, the papers, the boxes of magazines... the class was $35! And she provided all these materials....

anyway, I'd found this figure in black with her face in shadow... the line of her body, the simplicity really called to me... and I had a scrap of map, one of my favorite things... and Melany had some mono-print scrap paper (Melany!?! are you crazy... this is great stuff) and all of these bits became one piece... with the word "return" ... I find myself using that word as the mantra word when I meditate lately... so this one speaks to me... now that I've got it home I might hit it with some layers of wax (Melany had wax... but in the end using my own and giving myself some time to think things through was the best option)

and this is the last one... just begun... it needs some lines, in a warm sepia tone... maybe a cat or some other animal in contour line... and then layers of wax....

I forgot to bring my camera, so all you have are the after-pictures... but what you should have seen was the before's... the process pictures... the piles and boxes of texture and color, image and pattern, canvas and glue, brushes and paints, wax and pastels... next time I will be certain to bring the camera along...

3/30

I haven't posted in a while.... first, I'd changed gears from bags to books... then I went to Idaho skiing, which was wonderful, but I came back with a torn ACL (ouch!)... and since I have been felting felting felting... I nuno felted this little beauty yesterday evening... from hand dyed roving in warm chili pepper colors. This one is really sheer and I think suitable for spring weather.I had some green silk sheer that forms the internal body for this green and white scarf... Silk and pure merino wool make this one light as a feather and soft as well

Here these two are hanging from a door... I love the little bits of felted wool I tossed in for texture...

this is my personal favorite.... probably because it looks so good on me... pale blues and soft grays, sheer crepe inlays for added strength, color, and interest...

And another green... for this one I used four different colors of roving and intermingled them with sheer silk strips... really turned out beautifully.

Again, this is a longer view of the two above... all these scarves are a bit smaller than what I had made a year ago... this time around 10x60... I think I like them smaller... there is less bulk and they seem to drape better.

Now the books... G-son W. decorated the paper for the cover of this one... he ironed the brown paper for the pages as well...

even though I am the one who sewed the whole thing together and added the button... this book is really his. measures 5 and a half by 8

A bigger book - 7x9 - covered in a leather look and feel upholstery fabric - and ties with a leather thong.

lots of creamy colored pages

and a really nice paper to for the inside cover

another book.... whoops, didn't put in the front cover, which is painted... this is Katie's favorite in the bunch measures 6x8

and this one is my favorite... covered in a leather look upholstery fabric - embellished with a stitched on, stamped copper rectangle and

loaded with two tone papers.... this one is soft and flexible and leaves plenty of space to write... measures 5 1/2 by 8

and last... another faux leather and copper book.... with a leather thong to hold it closed

80 lb white paper make this a great drawing book. 7 1/2 x 6

5 bags

I have made it through almost every recycled sweater I have on hand... the only one left is a white cable... beautiful and soft... think it might like being something other than a bag. Some of these bags were beginning to go south and I just let go a little more and did some experimenting and brought them back....
I wore this sweater for years and finally decided it was too short-too tight and so I sacrificed it to the hot water and the heavy duty load and it has been re-born as this nifty maroon felted wool bag. 15 inches wide and 9 deep, this bag has all the room it needs to stash all your things.... and a front pocket, too. (My dad, and honestly, who made him an authority on woman's bags, says all purses should have pockets) So here is a pocket for my dad. Oh, and the "flower" safety pinned on so it can be moved or removed for laundering.

This one was a Goodwill find... an XXL men's size... and it shrunk to this beautiful dense fabric that will stands up to anything you'd want to toss into it. The flower with the asymmetric button center softens the sporty stripes. It measures 15 deep and 10 wide. No pocket, sorry dad.

oh, here is a close up of one of my flowers.... the flowers change everything.

and here is the whole bag... another stripe. I was worried this one would not work as a bag, but I wore it out the other day and had positive comments and the girl at the hardware store told me I ought to sell them.... 10 deep, 13 wide. The stripes are navy, yellow and creamy white

and this one, another Goodwill, half price sale find. The color has some definite cranberry tones but there is a tiny bit of bright orange in the heathered yarn. this one felted quite densely.... something I really like in a bag. The pocket has been machine stitched and then had sewn onto the bag body. The flower is a combo of left over sweater scraps, felted wool, some orange dyed chiffon and a novelty button. Measurements: 9 high, 12 wide.

and I know you have already seen this one, but I couldn't help but include it again.... 10 high, 13 wide.

I have put the sewing machine away, saved every minuscule bit of scrap(a problem, I know), and cleaned off my dining room table and kitchen bar... Shortly the paper will be hauled out, the board and the glue, the waxed linen and it will be bookmaking time. I'll show you those in a couple of days.

Oh, and it is 85 here. Really a bit too warm, but must admit I am loving it.