Last weekend my daughter Sam and our dog Pixie participated in a dog walk-a-thon for ROAR, the local animal welfare organization. The teams of dogs and their people walked two miles and raised over $20,000. Think Globally, Act Locally and you can make a difference. Many communities have organizations like this one and they can all use our support.
Besides, you never know when you'll meet new friends!
Today I took a "mental health day" and attended an encaustics workshop at Silvermine Art Center. The workshop was taught by a knowledgable, generous artist named Nash Hyon. She introduced us to the techniques and processes, showed us all the basics and got us started on an exploration of encaustics or "hot wax painting". The Ancient Greeks used this technique for portraits and murals and, more recently, artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Delaunay have used it. Due to a few very pressing deadlines I won't be able to explore this medium further until after the new year, but taking the class today got me thinking about my current medium of fiber in a deeper way.
Encaustics is all about layering. You start with a (usually) blank surface and patiently, slowly build layer after layer of wax medium, adding collaged items and colored pigment if you choose. Incising lines, scraping away layers, adding still more layers until you declare yourself satisfied with the result. Now I'll try to translate some of that patient layering to my fiber art where I've been trying to work more complexly in layers of imagery, color and texture.
I enjoyed the process of encaustic, but it's a skill like any other that takes practice to master. Today I was mostly experimenting with how the different materials I was collaging would react with the wax. I'm definitely looking forward to exploring further and seeing how best to incorporate this technique into my "vocabulary".
I've also recently taken up tap dancing again. Another medium, another opportunity for creative inspiration. Choreography follows a lot of the same principles of design that visual art does -- repetition, rhythm, variety and balance among others. Besides, it's good exercise for both body and brain. And I can combine art quilting and tap dancing if I "shuffle off to Buffalo" every time I head to the ironing board and "shuffle hop step" when I head back to my machine!
I finally got around to taking pictures of the giant rolling "island" I built for my studio that started with the top of my parents' kitchen table. It has shelves on three sides for storage. The short end has shelves that hold metal flower pots from IKEA. In the pots are all sorts of art supplies that I like to keep at hand. Things like colored pencils, palette knives, hand-carved stamps, stamp pads, acrylic paints, tubes of watercolors, etc.
One long side has storage cubbies for stretched canvases (for mixed media work), printing supplies like bench hooks, rollers, brayers and acrylic plates, and a shipping center. The big space in the middle allows me to pull up a drafting chair and work at this table. Which is always a bonus when flat surfaces are at a premium.
The other long side has canvas bins for current projects, plastic Artbins for more supplies and class samples, and great storage for my Dremel, block-printing press and Gocco printer (sadly still unopened!) I love that this table is on wheels and I can move it anywhere in the room, or even out of the room if need be. Have work table, will travel!
The media cart is done. You saw one side of it here. Now, finally - here's the other side. I had a piece of 1/4" thick acrylic custom cut and had the holes drilled and countersunk for wood screws. I pre-drilled holes in the wood and then hand-screwed the acrylic to the cart. I still managed to crack very slightly the acrylic when I overtightened one screw, but otherwise I'm pleased with the way it came out. Note the oh-so-subtle marketing ploy of my book in one of the pockets (big grin). I'll be using these pockets to hold new books that I'm currently reading or using as reference for works in progress. There's a neat technique with acrylic glazes in the new Cloth Paper Scissors, by the way.
In the background is another piece of furniture that I built, it's one from a few years ago. I made it to hold some white metal bins from Pottery Barn. I do love the design principle of repetition. There are small bins and large bins and they hold things like yarn and trims, art glitter, pearl ex powders, stamp making supplies, adhesives and mediums, angelina, foil and other surface design materials.
Come join me (and Elin) for four days of fun at the Country Quilter for a workshop called Materials at Play. Learn about and try out sixteen different materials and techniques to incorporate into your art quilts.
There are still a few spaces available. Fridays, October 5, 12, 19 & 26.
The International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction is organizing an exhibition of White-on-White works. It's really interesting to work in the absence of every other color - every minor variation in tone becomes more important. Take a look at the work collected so far. I just finished mine and will send it off tomorrow. What a challenge to work with such a limited palette!
Carmina Figurata, 2007, 12" x 9"
mixed media mounted on stretched canvas - papers, fabric, found object, acrylic paint, printing, embossing
There will be a full-color (if it's an all white exhibit is that an oxymoron?) catalog of the exhibit.
It is not quantity which counts [with colors], but choice and organization. - Henri Matisse
Okay, this is a pretty cool story. In 1965 my husband Carlos was one of three artists to represent Peru at the Paris Biennale at the Musée d'Art Moderne. His two paintings were shipped back to Peru at the conclusion of the show and due to military unrest in the country at the time and his immigration to New York they were never collected at the port when they arrived.
The other day a man in Texas emailed him to ask about a painting he had inherited from his father. It was one of the lost paintings from the Biennale. How exciting to have a photo of something I'd never seen and he'd never thought to see again.
Even though it's an abstract I see both a mask and a bird in it. We're so delighted this man tracked him down and that we have a record of at least one of the paintings.
I did work on the big table in my studio over the weekend and should have new pictures up in a couple of days. I had to wait for the table saw a few times (there was a line! since Carlos was working on frames and stretchers) which slowed me down, so I kept busy while I waited. I really don't sit still well. I baked four loaves of banana bread and two batches of chocolate chip cookies. I'm surprised that the earth didn't wobble slightly on it's axis - I *never* bake or cook. Wait, I'm sensing an evil plot here... The joke is that the only reason we have an oven is because otherwise there'd be a hole in the cabinet. 
Here's a quick organizational idea: I bought some of those tins with magnetic bottoms and mounted two metal strips to the wall in my studio. I think the tins are meant for spices or some such, but mine have unmounted rubber stamps, some cool colorful stones from Peru, some cool buddha stones from Thailand and other little doodads in them.
