Seamless Skin

Lizzie's photo is highly prized.

I am blessed to have some old photos of family born in the late 1800s.  This is a rarity for African Americans but due to the traveling photographers and the interest in imaging oneself and working for income it was an important thing to do in claiming one's own identity and sense of self during the period of so-called Reconstruction.  Although this image was taken in the 1960's of my 2nd Great Grandmother I do have one that was taken in and around the turn the 19th century.  I only recall meeting her when I was around 5 and was frightened of her as she seemed to be sooo old and feeble and "witch-like".  When I met her she couldn't talk but loved to reach out and hug young children.  It was only in my young adulthood that I held appreciation for at least having meet her.  This is my sketch of the photo printed on heavy cotton fabric.  I think I'm going to attach it to a mail bag (that I've yet to make).

I concentrated on all the darker values to make this loose sketch.  I think this would be cool to free motion embroider on a white or unbleached cloth.

It is cold here today but daylight is stretching out longer and longer by the day and that is encouraging.  In a few hours I'll brave it to go gather my supplies for the workshop that begins tomorrow with Jane Dunnewold on Screen Printing at Univ. of Louisville.  She is speaking tonight at 6pm at the Chao Auditorium at the Ekstrom Library on campus.  I have every intent of going to hear her speak but since will actually make the judgement call once I'm out and about.  

I need to go see a man about a horse...

My mother says this when she is asked about her destination when she heads out and it is her way of kindly saying "none of your business".  Carter has picked this up from her and says it sometimes when he is getting his coat on to go out.  Carter is 2; my mother is 83.  

I'm a babysitting Nana...yes I am.  Its me and Carter these days.  Mo is looking for another child care center and in between time I'm filling in.  He is spending the night with us and Mo is here after classes each evening.  He has tons of toys here and I'm once again evaluating children's programming.  I find myself singing without reason "there is an animal in trouble..." and I think the Backyardigans Rock!

In the photo you can see one of my  "highly prized" cups that I showed as a sketch in the post below.  The set up above is my sequestered winter art spot on the kitchen table.  When I need to clear the table, I turn around in my chair and pile it in the corner behind me...

The winter has warmed up in the last few days but I think ice and snow are being predicted again this weekend.  I'm sketching and collaging away here.  Strathmore selected the collage, Finding Peace, (post below) to feature in their eNewsletter, blog, and FB page.  Only 4 were selected so I'm pretty happy about that.  Here is the one I started this morning...

It is keeping me half way sane to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge and the Visual Journal Workshop.  I find the collaging much more intuitive and didactic in process than sketching.  I mentioned this on Liz Plummer's blog and she shared that her reaction was opposite.  Anyone else care to weigh in on this?  I'm curious to know.   I'm also going to participate in this year's One World One Heart Event for Bloggers.  I've never participated before but have always enjoyed the blog h0pping in previous years...if you're curious, click on the logo in my sidebar under "Dig This".

Collage, a Retake; Sketch, a Debut

This is for the Strathmore Workshop by Pam Carriker.  After I did this one I thought it would be enhanced with stitching.  I'm working both sides of the paper in this journal.  If I decide to explore it with stitch embellishment, I'll make a copy and collage it down onto water colour paper and go for it.  You can see the way it looked prior to this stage by clicking here.

and from the other sketch book, here is another highly prized coffee cup...the ones up 'til this point were my tea cups.  

 

Mixed Media Collages

What I learned today:  the cheapo gesso i picked up almost 2 years ago is a pain to spread...I really need a palette knife with this.  I'm not going to use the Golden (I think that is the other brand I have) which was easier to spread for this stuff---

The other thing I learned is that I'm not that swayed to use charcoal for direct application or for details.  the sharpie, the pitt pens, and just a plain old sketch pencil worked better for me.

I'm going to contribute the inability to get the oil pastels to blend better to the low grade (cheapo) brand.  I used my fingers and also a blending stump.

 

The other thing I'm questioning is if I'm more drawn to the photographic image over the cartoon image.  I do believe I am.  

Even though it is not cloth and thread...I can loose myself in the processes of doing these mixed media collages.

Okay, okay, I'm as green

as guacamole, but since the impromptu reception I just held with family held hostage, in attendance just fizzled out, I'm counting on you, dear readers, cyber ole friends of mine to give me accolades share in my joy of Highly Prized Cup #3 that I just finished.   This makes me just slap happy...why, because in my experience all of the 7 days, I'm beginning to believe there is something to this "drawing everyday" practice.

Highly Prized Cups

Patience.  Is this the number #1 skill required for learning to draw?

I filled in the first drawing with colour and am still sketching cup #2 which was a gift from my BFF (I read the other day that this was voted in the top 10 phrases that needed to retire but since I've never used it I wanted to get in on it before it was gone to see how it felt...I'm underwhelmed by BFF).  

Back to the cup.  Kelly, who I love and adore, made this cup.  She is a creative but I'll always think of her as a potter since that is what she was doing and teaching when we meet 10 years ago.  I love drinking tea from this cup.  She dug the clay up herself!  It was a bit challenging to draw.  At the time I was really tired and the kitchen table was a mess and it was late and and and...but here it is.

 

Here is the first one with colour added:

 

Learning Curves, Week 4

Learning Curves is getting back on track after Thanksgiving week.  I made it to class (class is how I'm referring to each book I'm working with in the Learning Curves) but not on the days designated.  Like today (Thursday, 12/02/10, the day of this writing) I'm working with all 3 books on digital art.  I have continued to reference Visual Language (Benn & Morgan) in creating lines and shapes.  The 2 images above are small cloth samples.  On the top one I cut out random shapes from book-cover plastic (similar to contact paper) and stuck it on the fabric to use as a resist and then dye painted over it. The image directly above is with the plastic removed and then dye painted in the white areas.  The cloth sample has been washed out and dried here.

The Image Transfer Class (McElroy) didn't go this week.  I did order the Transfer Artist Paper and its on its way and succumbed to a Lutradur purchase.  I have 3 weights of it and the extra light offers the highest appeal...I'm thinking it would pair well with silk organza in a statement on transparency or where transparency could impact the overall visual.

********

Jane Dunnewold will be here the end of January and will have a show at the Hite Gallery on University of Louisville's campus and is preparing new work for the show.  Here, on Jane's blog, you can see how she has written and defined the parameters for her forthcoming works. Here is Jane's schedule for her Louisville agenda. 

When I'm stuck on a piece, I pick up a journal and begin to ask questions and provide answers while actually sitting in front of the quilt/fabric.  When I first started doing this I was going to dedicate a journal by year, then by the series, then by location...but what I really do is just pick up whatever journal is close by, thus loosing continuity in writing about specific pieces and making it difficult to have the writing become reference material because my notes are spread throughout journals.  The one dedicated journal I have is a technique journal that I glue I glue samples into rather than how the designing of a quilt and the message of the quilt are related and what I did to get there. 

 I washed out the last of the fabrics I've been layering (images directly above).   Dunnewold limits the variables in order to self-impose focus and I'm going to join her in this journey for the next couple of weeks as I return to Crowbonics.  My next post will go into details.

 

Journal Pages...

As I typed this Martha Stewart demo'ed how to make felted soaps.

One of my favorite tunes that Cheryl Lynne Skinner use to sing when she performed locally had a line that said "i'm sitting in the house with everything on my mind, looking at the clock and can't even, can't even, tell the time". 

dig the gold by Liquitex!  

Amazingly, I'm calm and cool and relaxed even though I've not left my domain since coming home from the hospital.  I'm even letting the fingernails grow...(a little idiosyncracy about me, I clip them short because I do not like the whites of my nails to show and have never been a fan of long nails even when I had regular manicures done at salons...nail techs found me odd that way.  But this obsession with clipping them short as I do started about 3 years ago when I was going through some BS with my daugther and I just never stopped.  I also found short nails to be better for handling paints and dyes so it just made sense to continue.)

 beginning a new "design writing"

If I'm honest with myself, it will be March before I return to either The Basement Workshop or The Beauty of Holyness Studio.  The comments in the previous post boosted my spirits.  The idea to start "design writing" came intuitively without any preconceived ideas of where the lines and values would go.  I just kept changing up pens and writing anything from what I heard on tv, what the doctor said to me, something I recalled, or a slew of emotions.  The idea Mai-Britt offered to make copies and experiment with colouring them was like "a duh, why didn't I think of that" moment.  Thanks Mai-Britt for the idea.  I haven't been in Photoshop in so long that I didn't feel up to taking in sharp turns in my brain by trying to recall how to do layers, but when I do feel up to I think I'll try working them with colour that way. 

  

i got carried away

Deborah's idea to start a study made me go "wow! i'm going to do an entire journal, page after page design writing"  I dig this!  Then Acey suggested seeing them stitched and I thought "ummm, did she mean stitched paper quilts...thats cool, I've never done one...or did she mean print them on fabric, ummmm saw a quick layout in my head...then I thought a paper and cloth quilt!"  I dig this also.  The art of holiness and the holiness of art is that it is regenerative on soooo many levels, one being that it draws community, and out of community, one finds their tribe.  So thank you to all who commented, one love!

doodling faces to mimick Ethiopia artists.

The answer to the question, "what are you writing these days?"

The paper is a heavy textured cotton like paper that I just love to close my eyes over rub. The writing is done using Faber-Castell Artist pens that glide beautifully over the dimpled paper.  The journal size is about 14x11 inches. The writing I started while in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs.  I have at least 2 weeks to be house-bound, at which, gives me time to finish it.  I thought about adding colour but I love the stark contrast of the black and white.
 

Kicking off the year!

Well la ti da, looka here, looka here...this cold fluffy stuff that is so pretty to look at but whose reality is a bit harsh finally found us...the frigid temps wasn't enough, it had to go and snow! Its only a few inches but, still, ya know how I feel about the season that shall not be named. 

But I was not daunted! No, beloved, I managed to keep myself distracted and warm and worked my plan in spite of it all! 

FME Exercises (Shinn) 

VL (Dunnewold, Benn, Morgan)

 
MM (Fritz)  

What I've committed to doing this time around with my outlined curriculum (see previous post) is to stick with the exercises, ride them out so to speak, go a little further with them, versus rushing through them in order to get to the "fun" part.  For example, take the expanded shape exercises (middle image above). Instead of doing 10-20 of them and then moving to the next exercise, I'm going to overlap the exercises and continue to do the previous exercises while moving to the next one.  This will add some "depth" to what I do instead of moving through fast.  Afterall, the purchase of books is a serious investment and it doesn't make sense to keep adding to my shelves without really getting the benefit from them.  I'm even abandoning my approach to keep my books in pristine condition.  Why? For What?  No, this time I'm highlighting, making notes in the margins...really pushing myself to engage with the efforts that each author has made. 

Other happenings this week was finding 4 painted whole cloths that was my first intended series.  I didn't even remember doing them until I saw them and one of them just might become the background for the Audubon piece.  How sweet it is to look at something with new eyes, eh!? 

And another fresh discovery for this week is observing very little dye wash-out with acid dyes on silk which leads me to the conclusion that most of the dye adhers to the cloth.  Here are the scarves waiting for a 2nd layer of something...I'm thinking of some hand writing, any ideas for me?

Looking at these colours, I must have Spring on my mind :)

 Peace,

Its A Miracle!!!!

 

Well, lookahere, lookahere, I can upload pictures!

This is another 6x12 completed (for the most part).  Do you think the fringe should stay...I was planning to trim it but looking at it here, I kinda like it.  I went through at least 7 bobbins as I experimented with thread painting.  I received Carol Shinn's book in free motion embroidery and decided to thread paint this one...she uses heavy canvas also which takes thread painting beautifully!

These are just me auditioning possibilities at random.  The green fabric is my continued writing on cloth in readying fabrics to continue with the Poetry Series.  Writing on cloth is time consuming but I decided to do the writing on multiple pieces before doing successive layers.

Back in 2003 when I jump started this journey of quilting I saw myself doing picturesque quilts...human faces in fantasy/mysterious settings.  My attempts were not enjoyable...didn't enjoy the realism in applique.  The image on the left above was done using a stencil I cut from a picture of one of my great nieces...the one on the right was based on a free hand drawing in my journal of an artist whose name I can't recall but he uses found objects and old pressing irons in his work.  The stitched image was done using free motion drawing. 

Here are some images from some of my journals:

young man-child w/ dreadlocks

 

aborted pod from magnolia tree

 

art from others that I find appealing.

I found a video that Melanie Testa did (on YouTube) of her studio...I've been wanting to delve into doing short videos...I think I'll make it a goal for the month of July...with the first one being a view into my workshop.  Hopefully the learning curve will not be too deep.

The effectiveness of old dye stock

I pulled out old dye stock and 2 strengths of thickener from the fridge and allowed them to come to room temperature over night for use last Friday the canvas.  Since I didn't feel like bothering with soda soaking I used Afterfix which goes on after the dye is completely dry.  The Afterfix is brushed on dries in about an hour.  It has to completely dry and then the fabric can be washed to remove the Afterfix and the dye remains.  

The dye and thickeners are 9 months old and have not been removed from the fridge since I put them in.  There is no odor to the thickener...seems like I remember reading in Complex Cloth that an amonia smell indicates the thickener is bad. 

I hand-washed the pieces in warm as my hand could stand it water with synthrapol.  I was satisfised with the results and plan to use the remaining dyes for dye-painting.  Here is what I painted today. 

The dye is still wet and will be good and dry when I return to paint on the Afterfix. 

I also tried ink-jet transfers using soft gel medium...the top was on a lighter background and the image was in gray scale.  The image directly above was in colour and the background fabric was darker and I'm thinking the values where too similiar resulting in the lost image.  While I was doing these samples it dawned on me to have my journals either dedicated to "transfers", "embroidery", for example, or either divide up a journal into sections so that I will not have to flip through journals to find (or most often, rediscover) previous samples.  What can I say?  Always slow but sure.

Memorial Day is starting out gray and wet...we are not trekking to the "country" cementary this year but I have fond memories of tradition of going with my Aunts and cousins.  For my mother's family, Memorial Day morphed into remembering the ancestors and not just those who served in the military.  I always used the time to collect family genealogy and stories which I entered into Family Tree Maker, a software program which has since been lost.  Even if I find the back up disc I'm not sure it would even open in the operating systems we have now.  I've thought about re-gathering, rebuilding the information but genealogy is much like quilting for me...enjoyably consuming in time and attention where anything else ceases to exist.  I loved the hunt involved in digging up records (of course much can be done online now) and oral interviews.  Even though I anticipated picking it back up, I don't think I can do it without stressing myself out which would take the pleasure from it.  I don't know if there are any young people in my family who are interested or not...its kinda entertaining to think of the 2nd (3rd?) wave hip-hop generation undertaking genealogy research.(what age demographic is that btw?  15-25).  I think of the first wave being my brother's age in their early 40's now.  The group that was weaned on it.  My 17 year old is writing a paper about the history of hip-hop.  He sees Rap as a sub-genre in Hip-Hop.   He has been struggling with the paper because I can't get it through is thick head that strong research paper goes beyond just citing historians and views of others but should at the heart be his own thoughts, ideas, and impressions of what he has learned, or what he thinks of the thoughts and ideas of others.  When we are talking about it, his self comes through, but he struggles with transfering his spoken words to paper.  At this point I've stopped bumping my head against the wall and I'm leaving him to his own devices and see what transpires between he and his teacher about it.   

Turning Pages

Sampling watercolours

pencil sketch

pencil sketch

 

outline drawing from a photo of my grandmother Lizzie

.02

 Back in the summer I started another visual journal.  I don't keep them with any regularity, but this one has been the most fun so far after deciding to abandon doing this for any specific purpose.  Images that inspire, doodles, experiments, colour play, just whatever, goes into it.  Of course I guess if I have to reference something this would make it difficult to find. Ahhhh, but come what may...I'll just roll right along.

My drawing skills are close to non-existent but it is one of those things I keep promising myself to take more seriously...I have all these things I want to learn about...wines, coffees, photography, etc.  My wish lists are endless.  How about yours?