Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., painting | Tags: arts, godzilla, Kindergarten, Michele Lauriat, Middlesex School
Well, this is has been my son’s first week at kindergarten, and ALL IS WELL. No major disasters/meltdowns/hysterics. I haven’t gotten any disgruntled phone call from his teacher yet, so I feel that everything must be going FABULOUSLY. Hopefully, my child’s rather grouchy side (understatement) has somehow NOT surfaced. He’s kind of Jekyll and Hyde…sometimes the most loving, polite child…sometimes devil spawn. I struggle with the devil spawn side of him, especially when it comes out in public, or with friends. I feel like I should wear a t-shirt that says, “I know…I’m sorry!!!,” just to make up for all of the times that he’s rude/grouchy/unfriendly. Sigh. I think that I am starting to feel my gray hairs growing in. Is that possible?
But, I know…what’s not to love, right? That backpack is bigger than he is. So cute.
Lucky for me…he likes to make weird stuff, just like Mommy. Here are a couple of recent examples:
What are those bizarre creatures??? WHO KNOWS. They’re adorable, though. I must keep them. FOREVER.
Hilarious, right??? He decided that his Godzilla head needed a block body. I love this. So cool. What’s not so cool, however, is the pigsty that we call a living room. I clearly have no shame to be able to publicly post this picture with my living room as a clear disaster zone. I hope that those of you with kids will have some empathy for the tornado-like effect that 5 year olds have upon a household. Notice the empty 2 liter bottle in the plastic crate. That bottle is apparently part of one of his “creations”, and it cannot be thrown out/recycled. Sigh. So now we’re literally keeping trash along with our toys. Great. I feel like Sisyphus shoving this mound of toys/blocks/trash up a hill, only to have it come tumbling back down on me. Next time that happens, I’m just going to take a nap underneath it all…
I did manage to get out this week to see some art. WOO HOO! I went to see the work of Michele Lauriat at the Cornelius Ayer Wood Gallery at the Middlesex School in Concord, MA. Her work is STUNNING! Everyone should go check it out.
She does GORGEOUS, large scale paintings/drawings of natural scenes in an abstract way. The is an enormous amount of layering and mark-making. She tends to pull out certain parts of a painting into deeper colors and higher contrast as focal points. I could seriously have stood and gazed at this piece all day. It’s really so beautiful.
This painting is enormous. I’m sorry that this is not a great photo…(which is why you must go see it yourself). Her work totally sucks you in, as you become mesmerized looking over both the work in its entirety, and the amazing details.
Stunning, right? You can’t see it in this photo, but the darker area in the upper left is just amazing.
She also had some very interesting pieces that have an irregular silhouette. I wonder if she made a larger work…decided what was really capturing her attention in the work, then painstakingly cut it out as the finished piece? I LOVE IT. The beautiful and delicate edge to the paper is now part of the work as well, as opposed to being just a neutral boundary. So cool.
WHEN, not if, you decide to see this show…I’m going to give you some direction as to how to find it on campus. There seems to be only one main road into campus, which terminates into a large, one way loop. JUST BEFORE you start to enter that loop…look to your right. There will be a gap between two brick buildings. Walk between these buildings and go straight down a staircase. There will be a gray building in front of you. Enter that building through its far left door, and you’ll be there!
Well, I’ve decided that I’m such the super-mom, as I managed to get my kid to school with a healthy lunch AND visit some art this week. I’m ignoring your comments that I’ve forgotten about the living room. I’m just going to lie here underneath all of the junk and take a nap. Wake me when it’s 2:00 so I can: 1. pick up my child from school. 2. maintain my self-proclaimed title of “Super-mom” in spite of evidence to the contrary.
Oh, and if there is an annoying advertisement at the end of this post, I apologize. Looks like WordPress is going to sully my blog artistry with tawdry ads. Fascists! So be it.
Carry on…
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, arts, Cambridge Art Association, godzilla, iced coffee, Mixed media, painting, toast, Visual Arts
Is there anything more annoying than a sluggish computer mouse? I think not. I may have to fling this one into the backyard with the lawn clippings…
How has my week been? Perhaps I can summarize by asking if you can you guess what song my son has had on repeat today? No, not “The Wheels On The Bus.” No, not “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” He’s been playing the brooding Godzilla theme song all day. Why…WHY, you may ask? Well, because he listens to it (with the volume WAY UP) and then pretends to be Godzilla knocking down a block city and stomping on matchbox cars, that’s why. Most of his peers are interested in Skylander Giants, Ninjago, or Spiderman. My son finds those marginally interesting, but his heart belongs to Godzilla.
Sigh. He’s kind of a social outcast with his Godzilla obsession. As a worrier, this concerns me. Why can’t he just like Batman like all of the other kids? In addition, I am concerned that he will want to BE Godzilla for Halloween. This would be totally beyond my non-existent costume-making ability. Maybe he’s settle for a green sweatpants/sweatshirt combo with some strategically placed tie-hangers on his back?
No? Oh well. I give up. I’ll worry about that again in half an hour…
So, I had a meeting this week at the Cambridge Art Association about an upcoming group show. While I was there, I got to see the New Member Show that was up. This is an exhibit of the people who were recently accepted into the Cambridge Art Association. Congratulations all! There was some great stuff to see:
Elizabeth Hardjono, Silence, Magnesium Plate Etching
Ahem. I love this. This print is sooooo beautiful. I wish that the artist had a website. (HINT HINT) I’d love to see MORE of her other work. Don’t you LOVE the delicate figure? Isn’t the composition amazing? I love it.
Lynne Klemmer, Intuit Images: TD Woman #5, Gouache / Pigment
This painting is so different, yet also beautiful. Great colors…great form and markings…I love how it fills the paper…look at her face! I’d love to see more in this series as well. You can check out her website, but it seems that this series of paintings are not up yet.
Tom Stocker, Tom + Sally, Acrylic on Canvas
No, these aren’t fabric, they’re paintings! This artist’s technique is inspired by textiles, as I learned from his website. The images are comprised of tiny blobs of multicolored paint, gridded much like needlepoint. No joke. Isn’t that amazing?
Conny Goelz Schmitt, Luftschloss, Mixed Media
I was SO excited to see this beautiful piece, as I know this artist! (Does that somehow make me more important?) She participated in the Artist’s Professional Toolbox program with me at Montserrat College of Art. He work is amazing. She often works with materials from old books as well. Great job, Conny!
What have I been up to? Well, not much…
I’ve discovered how delicious cinnamon toast w/ butter and an iced coffee is for breakfast. I may have to make this my meal of choice for the whole day! Who needs vitamins? That’s what Flintstones are for!
I’ve also rediscovered how I love to make weird stuff and mail it to people. My latest:
This is one of those “fortune tellers” that we used to make as kids. I kind of made mine a photomontage. SO MUCH FUN. I know. I’m brilliant. What? The living room is a mess? No one has fed the fish today? Why is there spilled iced coffee on the dining room table? Pshaw. Don’t bog me down with such BANAL matters. I’m makin’ STUFF.
What’s this mess, you may ask? MWAH-HA-HA!!! It is an INSANE little patchwork project that I’ve started. LOOK AT HOW TINY THOSE PIECES OF FABRIC ARE! The small squares are 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm. I kid you not. CRAZY. Luckily, I’m nearsighted.
Umm…if you’re wondering how my latest drawing is going…it’s coming along. Sloooowly. Well, I don’t like to rush perfection. (That’s a joke). Actually, the truth of it is that I have A.D.D. when it comes to MAKING STUFF. Does anyone else have that problem?????? What’s the opposite of A.D.D.? O.C.D.? Sometimes, I do wish that I had O.C.D. about cleaning stuff, as I’m particularly weak in the housekeeping department. (I’m not making light of O.C.D….that’s serious, and I’m not.) I do SOMETIMES make an effort not to be messy. But, as I just finished reading, Coming Clean: A Memoir, by Kimberly Rae Miller, I feel like the queen of clean! Please read this book. It is a heartbreaking memoir of a woman growing up with a father who is a hoarder. Not just messy, like me, but an actual hoarder. It’s an AMAZING read.
Hmm. Maybe I will go and clean up something just to reassure myself that I’m not a hoarder…starting with my spilled iced coffee and the fallen block city that my son so lovingly toppled over this afternoon…then I’ll likely get distracted and start making stuff again…SEND HELP!
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., Sewing | Tags: art, arts, boston, colored pencil, crafts, Donald Trump, drawing, Machine quilting, quilt
My current excuse for not having seen any new art is that it’s sweltering hot here. I guess it’s going to be 97 deg F tomorrow with tons of humidity.
I know…
It gets hotter in Texas…the Sahara Desert…the surface of the sun, etc. But does it get hotter than the dark interior of my dark blue car???? Nooooo…I think not. I’ve been feeling too lethargic to cook lately, and I’m wondering if there is some way that I can prepare dinner by cooking it IN MY CAR??? Fried eggs on the dashboard? No, those aren’t vegan…damn! Tofu pups instead? What IS seitan anyway? It looks like a wet, sweatsock turned inside out. No? Well, I hope that it doesn’t TASTE like that. Anyhoo…as I can’t afford a real convection oven, or at least one that doesn’t have four wheels and an engine, I was thinking of possibly doing a lasagna. Do you think that it would cook faster in the glove compartment, or on the dash? Tough call.
So, I recently finished a drawing. FINALLY. I’ll show it to you in a minute, but before I do, I had to celebrate it’s completion by making a baby quilt. My FIRST quilt…mind you. Needless to say, the quilt is done, but the sewing machine is in the shop. I think that I scared it half to death with my shoddy sewing skills. The feed dogs won’t go up anymore. I think that they’re either hiding, or on strike.
So, here’s the quilt!
I know. It’s sooooo basic. Hey, at least it’s a friggin’ rectangle. This is machine quilted entirely. I’m much too impatient to even remotely consider hand sewing. Besides…the binding was hand sewn, and I nearly made a pincushion out of my left thumb with my incompetent needle handling (yes, I’ve heard of a thimble). I can’t imagine doing a whole quilt. (Patty, I bask in your quilting glory.) I feel itchy to do another quilt! Is that normal? (Don’t answer that.) Actually, as I am a mosquito and poison ivy magnet, I tend to be itchy in general.
The back:
Super simple!
While I was working away on this thing, my son brought home one of HIS creations from camp. Here it is:
Do you know what that is? No, it’s not vermin. It’s a PET ROCK!!! He proudly told me that it will require no feeding and care. He also explained that after adding the first piece of brown fur, he felt that his rock was cold and needed the black fur as well. It’s like a bad toupee…or if Donald Trump somehow found himself in the story of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Anyway, I love it and think that it’s hilarious. I’m also a sucker for anything with googly eyes.
Speaking of googly eyes, after months of slaving over the minutiae of my drawing, it’s finished.
Nameless Problem #2, Elizabeth Kostojohn, 2013, colored pencil on mylar
Sorry for the glare…photography is not one of my strong suits…
No, I have not gone off the deep end. I’m just expressing my domestic angst. I’ve already started another one in this series, and I am seriously hoping that it does NOT take me months to complete. I’m also hoping that I don’t decide to ever draw Doritos again. Don’t get me wrong…they’re delicious and I love orange, but really…
Okay, I will make a SERIOUS effort to see some art next week. Until then, I’ll just have to wander around the yard in a heat induced stupor. The hydrangeas are about the only things that haven’t completely shriveled up and died in this heat.
Speaking of withering neglect, my son correctly used the word “languish” in a sentence this week. He’s five! Well, he only get’s half credit…as after he commented on how our unused British pound coin will “languish”, he said, “What does ‘languish’ even mean?” What does “languish” mean??? Just look at mommy trying to bake lasagna in the Toyota!!! I’m glad that my culinary failings can prove useful by enriching my son’s developing vocabulary. Next, I’m going to teach him, “exasperate”, “lethargy”, and “ennui…”
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: arts, Barry McGee, boston, Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Os Gêmeos
I went downtown this week.
Lots of people were milling around the site of the bombing on Boylston Street. There was actually a small crowd of cops and individuals with prosthetic legs, possibly veterans?, chatting and talking to people who stopped by to visit the site. I know that it would be bad for business…but I almost wish that this spot could stay boarded up like this. It won’t, though, and I know that it shouldn’t. But a statue or a plaque in this location to mark the significance is so much less powerful than seeing the boarded up storefronts. The grim blankness of the closed windows is mirrored in the faces of those who stop and stare. There was also something poignant about people both walking past, a sign of the return to normalcy, and people standing in reverential silence. Everyone here is still obsessed with the event and the victims.
Eventually, I headed down to South Boston to check out what’s up at the ICA. I used to work in South Boston, so it was nice to be back there.
I used to work on that street! Looks the same as I remember. Other parts in the area look MUCH different:
Mural by Os Gemeos
LOVE IT! This work has been somewhat controversial. Some people found it to be disturbing, but I think it’s a fascinating mural on an irregularly shaped building facade. This used to be a plain, flat, gray metal facade. But, now LOOK! He’s just hanging out like everyone else on the lawn! I like the ambiguity of his expression and partially hidden face. He’s SO big and obtrusive, and yet he appears to be trying to almost hide and make himself small and unnoticed. FASCINATING. I’m glad that I finally got to see this in person. Here’s what else I saw right near him:
Brilliant! There is a little grouping of food trucks right across from him…and I loved the local “flavah” of this one. As much as I love the Boston accent, I get worried when I hear my son say words in a slightly Boston way. I’ve had to explain to him that “hair” is a single syllable word. It’s “hair”, not “HAY-ER.” I wasn’t born in Massachusetts, so I’d feel like a fraud if my son sounded like a local. I should have bought one of the cookies to really get a sense of the flavor, right??? I wonder if they sell the raw dough? I would happily have gnawed on a blob of dough whilst sunning myself on the lawn in front of the enormous, reclining “dude”.
Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe
Not to be confused with this reclining nude. See how far we’ve come in art? Now, instead of a nude female having lunch with a couple of clothed men on a lawn, we have a larger than life oddball peering at us from beneath the sweatshirt he’s wrapped around his head!
I love the ICA. I don’t always remotely grasp the content of the work, but I still love going. Right now, they have the work of Barry McGee up. He’s a painter / graffiti artist from San Francisco. His work is amazing and I bask in his artistic brilliance. The show is incredible, with works of a stunning variety of scale, color, and medium. I love the dark humor throughout his work. He had written his name, “McGee” on a wall with what looked like wishbones from chickens. I wish that I’d taken a picture of it. Brilliant.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
That is so amazing. EACH DRAWING that makes up this piece is amazing. This faux living room wall with an amorphous “growth” of these drawings was phenomenal. I don’t want to gush, but I will. GO SEE THIS NOW. I LOVE how this is so compelling from far away AND up close. Look:
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Look at all of these amazing sketches, collages, drawings, photos, etc.!!! Each one is a fantastic and bizarre little world to get lost in. Stunning.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Again, SO amazing. A wall of whiskey (??) bottles hung by wire in a giant cluster. Who is this population of disturbing men??? On the surface, each face is different…but they all share a common core and they are all empty and “hanging by a thread.” Again, it’s compelling from a distance AND from up close:
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Don’t you love the limited color palette and vintage look to the style of illustration? I love their neat, shiny hair and unnerving expressions.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Okay. THESE drawings were INCREDIBLE. They are ballpoint pen on paper. Each “face” appears almost as a mask made from shiny human hair and like a collection of strange tribal fetishes. These may have been the most mind-blowing drawings for me. They are disturbing…beautiful…strange…and done with a BALLPOINT PEN. I could have spent the day pouring over each one. Together, especially in that mass, they are imposing. While they are mask-like, the eyes are not vacant but staring back at you…tiny deities from a mysterious religion.
Please go see this show. Call me, and we’ll go together so that I GUSH over everything with you as my unwilling audience. Sound good? Okay, it’s open at 10 tomorrow…see you then.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
LOOK. AT. THIS. These are little patterned color swatches that FILL THE WALL and are configured in a unique way each time they are installed. I desperately wanted to touch them, but I didn’t. I would never do something like that, but I can admit that I WANTED to. Again, I could have pulled up a chair and basically sat all day staring at this. Is the breadth of his talent not mind-blowing????? I have to end this commentary soon, as I’m running out of superlatives.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
The bulging wall behind was incredible. This tower of TVs fit so perfectly with the context of the show. I am so glad that this show has an extensive range of his work. I would love each piece individually…but the entire show makes you dizzy and awestruck. Next time I’ll get myself a blob of that cookie dough, bring a lawnchair, and sit myself down in front of this totem of TVs for the afternoon. The staff will love me. (Maybe if I share my cookie dough they actually will love me? Maybe not? What would Barry do???)
Strangely enough, I came home to find my son creating something that felt similar:
Okay. Not quite. I know that some kids build with Lego, but this is what my son was up to. Somehow though…this multicolored blob of Lego on the rug struck me as fitting in with my Barry McGee afternoon. (I hope that he wouldn’t be offended for me to say that.) Actually, the fact that he’s being written about in this blog is probably offensive enough to him. Hmm. If he writes me to complain, I’ll be sympathetic. I might even put down my blob of cookie dough to give him my full attention as I read his enraged comments about my misguided analysis of his work. I flatter myself to think that he would contact me. If he does contact me, I’ll remind him that I LOVE his work and that I did NOT touch any of it, never mind get cookie dough on it…
Maybe I’ll hold off on telling him, “I’m your number one fan…”
Okay, I’m going to stop wearing my hair like that…IMMEDIATELY. I’m also going to end the post here because I’m starting to freak myself out…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: architecture, artist, arts, concord, painting, Room of One's Own, Visual Arts
WELL. This was an exciting week because:
1. I got some work done.
2. It didn’t snow.
Is the bar set a little low here? Probably. Wellll, as long as I can rest my drink on it, it’s fiiiine with me! Did I mention that I did three loads of laundry today? YES!!! WATCH OUT, MARTHA STEWART!!!
Now, I’m sure that some of you performed brain surgery, or split an atom or two, or whatnot. I drew and did laundry. (so nyah!!!) Such is the life of the hybrid housefrau/artist. No, I didn’t draw my laundry, (I barely folded it for Lord’s sake) but that’s definitely going to be my next series. I’m trying to keep this new series under wraps until I have TWO drawings done, as you don’t really have a much of a series without at least TWO, right? (Or is that just to make a thing go right, a la Rob Base?)
Are you still reading??? AMAZING!
So, tonight I went to the opening of my advisor’s new show at the Concord Art Association. The show is titled, “A Room of Our Own.” On exhibit is the work of a group of female artists who regularly meet to discuss the profession and support one another. The title of the show is, of course, a reference to Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own. These artists and their careers have been enriched not just because they each have “a room of one’s own” (a studio), but also because they have had each other. Lovely! The show is curated by Merrill Comeau. I have some images, but not many…as it was a crowded event!
Adria Arch, Red Blue Diptych
So THIS is the work of my advisor! Don’t you love it? I’m sorry for the weird angle of the photo, but it was impossible to get directly in front of it and back up far enough for a good shot. Her work is inspired by the subconscious mark-making of others. She plays with scale, color, layering, etc. It was great to see her and hear her talk about her work.
Kathleen Volp, The Town
You might recognize this artist’s name, as I featured her in another recent post. It was great to hear her talk about her work as well! This piece was about the universal pain of loss. Very beautiful. She’s really masterful with both material and image. I was hoping to chat with her, but she wasn’t feeling well and left soon after speaking.
Margot Stage, Water Words
This artist described herself as a bit of a scavenger…taking delight in the often overlooked objects that she finds on her walks. This series incorporates driftwood in a study of repetition of form. I should have taken a close up so that you could see the detail of her work, comprised of driftwood and brass rods. I like how she’s arranged them, not in a linear was as a sort of “sentence,” but as almost the visual representation of primordial sounds. I also think of the scratchy marks of a polygraph, revealing what is invisible to the eye.
Ilana Manolson, Navigation I
Ilana Manolson is well known for her gorgeous, watery landscapes. Here, she is also incorporating some image transfer of what must be nautical charts, reminiscent of ripples of water. It’s fascinating to see her subtle painting overlap and interact with the clean lines of the transfer.
Jeanne Williamson, (Fence) Shirts and (Hot) Flashes #1 – 6
Now, I was lucky enough to be introduced to this artist. I’ve seen her work in many other shows, so it was really nice to finally meet her. I love how graphic these are, but if you could see them up close, you would notice the delicate stitching throughout each piece. They are compelling on many scales.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of all of the artists (not even close to getting it of all of the work.) SO, you’ll have to GO and see the show yourself! Ahem, that’s an order. Since quitting my job to be a better mommy, I’m good at dishing out tasks, but not so good at completing them myself…I used to be the opposite when I was working, so I feel that this shows some “growth.” Again…pulling myself up to that LOW bar…
Did I mention that I did three loads of laundry today?
Okay, besides laundry, I also finished knitting a hat that I’ve been toiling over for a few weeks:
Cute, right? I had to rip out 1/4 of it, when I decided that I didn’t like the colorway of the second ball of yarn. AND, I made a pom pom. Check THAT out, you atom-splitters out there…
My son brought home this creation from school today:
He tells me that it is a house. I love it. I love it not because I’m an architect and I’m partial to buildings, but because this lumpy, misshapen thing on the curling paper plate is my son’s design. I’m wondering what the significance of the yarn halo is at the top, but I’ll have to ask about it tomorrow. No, my son is NOT a first year student in an MArch program…nor was this a study model for Selfidges by Future Systems:
That’s fondly called “Blobitecture.” NOT my cup of tea, thankyouverymuch. I’m all for design that pushed the envelope, just not quite like THAT. Push it back. Please.
No, my son is in preschool. By the time he’s old enough to be in an MArch program, we’ll all be living in blobitecture pods, eating synthetic meat, and using a 3D printer to make everything from our clothes to our houses. I’ll be crabby and sullen and complaining that he doesn’t come to visit me in my retirement pod, nor does he bring me any synthetic meals, nor does his online avatar ever call. Ever. Actually, by then I’ll probably not know how to even answer a phone…so i’ll just end up accidentally turning on the robotic lawnmower instead of accepting his call.
Sigh.
At least I”ll HAVE a robotic lawnmower…
This week, I had a fun evening of cocktails AND painting with my best friend. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I’m not kidding. We went to Palettes in Natick. Here’s how it works: You sign up to take “a class,” where an instructor leads the group in doing a painting…step-by-step. I know. You art snobs out there have already clicked “close” on this window, right? BUT WAIT!!! How much fun is it to MINDLESSLY work on a painting, and just enjoy the act of blobbing on bright colors (with a caipirinha in hand, mind you)??? SO much fun. Here’s the painting that a roomful of people painted simultaneously:
(I will explain why it’s so blurry in a minute)
Now, I would NEVER have painted this if left to my own devices. BUT, I found it really freeing to let go of all expectations, and just paint. One other thing that made it interesting was walking around the room to see each person’s version of this SAME painting. Notice how narrow my boat is…in comparison, my friend’s boat was wide. I found this to be a metaphor for our personalities…she is warm and open, and I am crabby and sullen. No? Well, I think that I’m onto something…
Okay, now why the image is so blurry:
I have a four-year old son.
Need I say more? I walked by the dining room table this week, noticed my camera sitting unusually close to him. He also had a rather guilty expression on his face. The camera looked fine, so I didn’t say anything. Well…now, as you can see, my Leica lens is now coated with one or all of the following: 1.maple syrup, 2. saliva, 3. rice milk, 4. chewed up waffle. While I think that the lens may be pretty much ruined, I think that I now have a “fuzzy filter” lens, which can likely take very flattering portraits. I may have a career opporunity in either taking fuzzy photos, or letting my son ruin other people’s cameras so that they too can have “soft focus” photos. Sigh.
I think that my motto as a parent is just that: “sigh”
We made a miniature living room set out of playdoh this week:
I tried to convince him to do a “low arm” sofa, but he insisted on “english arms.” Go figure.
I think that I finished that drawing from last week:
Looks better, right? (you must agree with me, lest I be offended) I was toying around with the idea of drawing these in charcoal, but do you know what?
CHARCOAL IS MESSY.
I’m sure that’s my lack of skill with charcoal, but jeez…that sooty black dust gets EVERYWHERE. I am already a messy person, so I’m not sure that using a messy medium is the way to go. I’m kind of asking for trouble, I think. People will see me coated with black dust in the grocery store and wonder if I am a chimney sweep. “Oh no,” I’ll say, “I’m an ah-tist!” Weird looks will abound. I still getting used to the odd looks that I get from the employees in either hardware stores, or Home Depot. I’m not sure that I want to add odd looks from grocery store clerks as well…especially as they can be a rather odd lot themselves. (I apologize if anyone reading this is a grocery store clerk…perhaps that’s true just in our town.)
I am also sorry for any of you looking for a somewhat serious discussion about art this week. I got nuthin’. Check out this blog, for thoughtful insights and discussions about the art world:
http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/
Joanne Mattera is an uber-talented encaustic artist. She does beautiful work, and she generously writes a fabulous art blog. READ IT! NOW! While her blog would be likened to a gourmet meal, mine is more similar to a bag of Cheetos.
Sigh.
Filed under: Drawing | Tags: artist, arts, drawing, sketch, sketchbook, Visual Arts
So today, I’ve taken the rare opportunity to scribble in my sketchbook as my son naps. His napping is rare, kind of like the Yeti. Come to think of it…my son is much like a diminutive, yet angry, Yeti when he HASN’T had his nap…but I digress…
I recently purchased the book, The Creative License by Danny Gregory. At first, I thought that it would be a ho hum book on being “creative” or “artsy”. Well…I suppose it is that on a fundamental level, but it’s actually a very good book (so far). His premise, which is not unusual, is that we can all be creative…and should be. As a vehicle for creativity, he focuses on drawing. For most people who don’t draw, the idea of drawing sounds as much fun as sitting at the RMV. But it doesn’t have to be! He starts of with various exercises to get your brain working differently. I know, this isn’t original either, but I like his enthusiasm for just doing SOMETHING, and not making the whole thing too precious. For me, doing this blog is similar to this. If I had to wait until I was thrilled with something that I did in order to have a blog and post it, you would not be reading this now. BUT, I had to just roll with it, and accept the good, bad and ugly. This applies to sketching as well…but sketching has added benefits of quieting your left brain, and engaging your right brain. Sketching also produces this zen-like calm. You have quiet focus on your subject matter, whether it be your breakfast bagel, or your medicine cabinet.
So, I’ve picked up my pen and sketchbook again, after too long a hiatus. Okay, so these are NOT great sketches. But, they’re where I am right now. The first sketch was one of those, “draw without looking at your paper”, exercises. So, needless to say, as I was trying to capture the “negative space” surrounding my desk chair, the sketch turned out a bit wonky:
I know. Far from perfect…but there is something about it that I like, nonetheless. I looked over at my snoozing son, and thought that I should get him into my sketchbook as well:
This only SORT OF looks like him. The nose is too wide. Anyway…the I decided to do one of the exercises in the book that I mentioned before: draw the contents of your medicine cabinet. This seemed intimidating, but I thought that it was a fun idea:
Again, not great, but okay. I know that with time, I should get better at this! I also know that I have too many contact lens cases, and that I should give the inside of the cabinet a once-over, to get rid of the junk we aren’t using. A spritz of windex would also help.
So, for those of you just dabbling with the idea of getting more creativity in your life, I would suggest looking over The Creative License. I don’t want to hear, “but, I CAAAN’T”. Just do it.
Filed under: Felting | Tags: arts, crafts, felting, handmade, sweater, Wool
Okay. I had a side project going that has NOTHING to do with printmaking…painting…drawing…etc. I was working on a crazy felted sweater. I JUST FINISHED IT. I was so excited, that I put it on, even though it is still DAMP! I’m so thrilled with it…even though I know that most people will ask me why I am wearing what looks to be just a big pile of yarn. Philistines! It’s wooly poetry… perhaps in an e.e.cummings sort of way. What do you think? Too crazy? Not crazy enough? I have no problem wearing this…I just wonder how many birds will be following me…trying to collect scaps for building their nest. Please excuse that I could not wait to photograph it tomorrow in daylight…so, here I am in the downstairs bathroom…
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., painting | Tags: arts, chicken, Collage, drawing, Igloo, Ink, painting, Rainbow Brite, sketching, watercolors
Well, this just about does it. Apparently, we are getting MORE snow. I’ve heard between 4 and…21 inches??? What kind of estimate is THAT? Anyway, all of this snow has put me over the deep end. I’m bracing myself for two days of winter ugliness. My husband has possibly embraced this whole snow thing more than I have…this is the IGLOO in our front yard that he built for my son:
Yes, you know it’s bad when you have an igloo on your front lawn. Hey, at least I’m not LIVING in an igloo. Sometimes, I am so cold in the house that it feels like an igloo. I’ve typed the word, “igloo” so many times now, that it’s starting to look weird. Hence, I am losing my grip on reality with all of this ice-hut-building/snowball-eating/northeast-cursing/blood vessel-bursting/stir-crazy/cabin-fever weather.
I’m trying to fight S.A.D. by using obnoxious colors. I’m not sure that it’s working for me.
Do any of you remember the toy, “Rainbow Brite“? I feel like I’m channeling her…
These are my neurons when I heard that we were getting more snow…
Now, I’m completely regressing…
I did this ages ago, and never wanted to post it. Well…I think that this is the time to post such randomness…
If this week is a series of snow days…you may not hear from me in awhile. I’ll be holding a plastic Elmo figurine and mumbling to myself in the corner of the room while my son asks me to “make Elmo talking…”
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: arts, Bazaar Bizarre, craft, Screen-printing
So, I finally finished my blob serigraphs (screenprints). Here is the step right before completion:
And here is how they turned out:
A single print:
And a detail:
So, what do you think? Thumbs up, down, or no comment?
I also worked on some monoprints today. I forget if they are “monoprints” or “monotypes“. Clearly, a novice printer. See my color theme?:
And a detail:
Are you bored yet? I get tired of putting in these photos. Well, I had fun doing these! I also have a picture of something that I got at Boston’s Bazaar Bizarre, made by Raeburn Ink:
Isn’t it so neat? I love hot pink, and this squishy scarf had hot pink puffy clouds silkscreened onto it. MINE! (hmm…should have used the fuzzy filter in photoshop elements…need to hide the scar on my chin…)
Needless to say, I went to the craft show today for the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston. SO RIDICULOUS. The stuff was INCREDIBLE. I cannot emphasize that enough. SUCH beautiful things. All the ladies that lunch were there buying $600 shawls. I was envious, needless to say. I walked out with a book. You know that you can’t afford anything when each booth has small signs in a corner showing you the meager “UNDER $100” items. Sigh. Seriously, this show is at the cyclorama in Boston through the weekend. Really REALLY amazing stuff. Just take out a loan, if you plan on purchasing anything…but the prices were completely justified. The works were so beautiful. Anyone planning on going?
slightly wonky 