Saturday, September 30, 2017

Object Identification

Ok, you know how you use things over and over, and can't think of its proper name? I'll have to look up this 12 1/2" square plastic thingie. I'm lining up my leaf's spine with the square's diagonal. Easy.

Friday, September 29, 2017

A Curved Life

 Kobayashi Kiyochika's 1884 work "Ikegami Honomonki Temple," in a detail here, caught me because of the curves in the paper lanterns and the angles of the composition. I see those leaves (curves, angles) everywhere. Maybe why I can't stand up straight.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Redo, Remake, Reinvent

Next week I'll be teaching a class I call "The Skinny Line Leaf." I had a pattern, but never quite warmed to it. So, I've redone the leaf. It will take some improv piecing, skinny lines, and no pins!

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Objects in Boxes


"The Admiral's Game" by Joseph Cornell is one of his mysterious boxes. I saw this today at the Memorial Art Gallery, and it brought back my fascination with his collages -- bits of things suspended, placed, fiddled with. His work made it all right to collect and keep objects. I've got boxes too.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Make Mine Silk

Crepe de chine is more difficult to print only in that is is limp, saggy, and moves like a slippery sock. Otherwise, it takes the same dye paste formula, same screens, same methods of printing. And what a lovely hand.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Groundwork

I lay the ground for this piece last night before I left the studio. So, this morning I could screen over "dry" painted thickened dye. It is a different look, and I like to see the variation in how the color I laid underneath is selected by the screen's motif.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Vacation Recovery

Returning home from a road trip out to an earlier time zone (who knew there was one east of EST?) I happened on these anemones that were stressed by 90 degree heat. Me too, so I spent the day in the cool of the studio.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Life Imitates Art

I use circles all the time. So, I was thrilled to find this just waiting for me on a pier at the tip of Cape Breton. Now to replicate this, maybe over and over.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Stop For Art


Nova Scotia Artist Regina Marzlin had work in Antigonish where I stopped to take in her "Crown, Branches, Root." The SAQA family is world-wide, but the community behaves like you lived around the corner. Fun to see this exhibit of hers.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Goin' Coastal

My journey now has me looping up the coast of Cape Breton. Since I was 20, I've dreamed of visiting this island. Now I'll just have to stop dreaming!

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Time for Introspection

Maud Morgan, caught in the perfect pose for reflection, has the perfect attitude for any next step. Just lean back and think. My break from the studio continues.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

What Goes Around


Maud Morgan's painting "Gold Coast II" was from the early 70s. Her use of the grid, along with the narrow range in tones, reminds me of some early contemporary quilts. Or maybe of some made today in the Modern Quilt vein. What goes around...

Monday, September 18, 2017

I Know It's Fall

A neighbor gave me these pink anemones in trade, and they are my signal that fall is around the corner. Which means I best get all I can out of this late summer weather. You'll have to excuse my taking a break from the studio to drink in autumn's aperitif.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Thank You, Judges.

Artist Row is a juried show held at the Rochester Public Market each year. It's my first year, and they awarded me this for best in my category. As much as I hate to be categorized, I'm thrilled to get this award. It'll go in my trophy room.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Helen Knew What She Was Doing

Helen Frankenthaler's work "Orange Shapes in Frame" (detailed here) in the deCordova Museum was made in 1964. Her experiment with pouring paint on unsized canvas produced figures unlike any others of her time. Had to stop and take in this large scale work. Always clears the brain.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Comparisons, Comparisons


I've been trying some options for a half yard of printed fabric. All work, but there is one that is more dramatic and that's what I'll use. Deadlines for submitting this is soon, so I'd better get going!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Artist Row is Stacking Up

The Rochester Public Market hosts Artist Row each year, and this Sunday I'll be there (for the first time) selling these pillows, my silk scarves, and whole cloth quilts. Functional stuff, baby. Come by and try a pillow toss! http://www.marketfriends.org/artistrow.html

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Halloween Dreams?

My 100 meter roll of pdf cotton arrived (in one day), and it was too heavy to haul to the studio. So, I've cut it into yards that are ready to take to soda soak. Let's hope for sun and warm tomorrow to line dry.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Missing the Full Moon

Was I busy? Was it cloudy? Was I fussing with something else? Life happens, and I missed looking up at September's full moon. But it was certainly on my mind.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Oh I Love Those Leaves

My road took me to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum today. A beautiful day and lovely walk around the grounds and lookie! leaves in the grass! Now what is what I say for 'go big or go home.'

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Homework Trick

I'm making linen pillows from my"painted" fabric for next weekend's show. I needed to pin the zipper to just one layer of my continuous loop of fabric, so I slid the cutting mat in the middle. Pin away!

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Laugh and Tell

Ahead of my lecture for the Herring Run Quilt Guild in Norwell, Massachusetts today was the quild's Show and Tell. They hardly needed  me for entertainment. We howled with laughter at members' first quilts. Honestly, these gals were funny. Thank you for inviting me. Best laugh in a long time.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Work Day, New Big Leaf Day

The Herring Run Quilt Guild in Norwell, Massachusetts had me over for a day of learning how to make freezer paper templates and apply them to a design. The combinations were lovely, and the company just swell. I had a beautiful late summer day with all.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Work Dirty

I'm in the midst of printing, and thought I'd mention I don't mind those bits of dye stuck to the back of the silkscreen. The perfect print would be clean, neat, tidy. I often look for that drip, dribble, fingerprint. For some prints, I want that character, and the distinction that it was hand made.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Remembering

Every year I buy a bunch of glads. They mark an anniversary, and help me look both back and ahead in time. I'll do this forever.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Filling Holes

I've made this element on my silk screen with a pool noodle cut-off for the round, then sliced again for the half moon shape. I'm filling in the center bite with soy wax. This lasts through many washings in cold water, which removes the thickened paste. Hot water takes out the wax.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Gorgeous Water

A hike to the Watkins Glen State Park (you know, where they used to race cars through the main street) and a hike down the gorge only had me thinking about water, water, and getting back to the studio to wash out the waiting prints. Well, almost. I had a relaxing day. I washed in the evening.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Reading the Stacks

I am limited to the amount I can print and hold flat. But, with a bit of creativity, and waiting till the prints are fairly dry and set, I just hang them. Shift, move, hang, set, print. It is all a process.

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Garden Pleasure

A friend brought me little tomatoes. I never knew tomatoes like this, so it shows that the second half of my century is when I can (indeed) learn new things.

Friday, September 1, 2017

No Rain Means Get Hanging

I've soda soaked some cotton, some Marimekko printed linen, and some silk crepe de chine to print this weekend. Chances are, it'll rain this weekend. But I won't care. I'll be printing.