Starting the Year Off RIght

Have you resolved anything related to your art for the new year? The beginning of a year is always such a good time to start new habits and "re-make" ourselves, isn't it?

I'm starting the new year off with systems in place that will hopefully keep me on track. My art quilt group, FANE (FiberArtNorthEast), spoke of ideas to resolve to do for our art. We're avoiding the word "resolutions" because that's fraught with past failure for all of us, but instead we're embracing the powerful definition of the word "resolve" which is "a firm determination to do something" or "to come to a definite or earnest decision about something". Much more affirmative and lacking in baggage, don't you think? As you might be able to tell by the past couple of weeks, one of the things I've resolved to do is blog more often!

At the group meeting at the beginning of the month, I passed out sheets with spaces to write from 1 to 5 things to resolve. People could have only one and could have up to five. More than five would have overwhelmed us, I think, and this way we can add more as we complete some, if we choose. The idea is to check in with each other every couple of months to see what our progress is. We are resolving to take positive steps for our art and there were excellent statements like: "I resolve to schedule time to make art"; "I resolve to enter at least one show this year"; and "I resolve to try a new medium".

The five I chose are:

1. I resolve to finish and submit my book proposals (yes, plural!)
2. I resolve to attempt encaustics again ("attempt" is better than "master" at this point, lol)
3. I resolve to finish culling my art supplies
4. I resolve to update the art on my website and keep it up to date
5. I resolve to blog at least twice a week

Toward the end of keeping to a schedule I created a second calendar to remind me of what days are for what types of posting (blog, newsletter, tutorials, updates, etc). The first calendar has my "gigs" - teaching, vending, meetings, etc, and is on a magnetic board on front of the closet door in my studio/office. This second one hangs on a bulletin board near my computer monitor.

I'm sharing my calendar with you here. You can print it out on card stock, cut each page in half, and then hang it from a binder clip. I added a blank schedule sheet if you want to assign a day of the week for each type of posting or task. For example, I'll be posting to my blog on Wednesdays and Saturdays, sending out a newsletter every Tuesday, and so on. 

Are you resolving to do anything for your art this year? Please share!

A surface design tote for the American Cancer Society

Tote Tuesday is a fundraiser held to benefit the American Cancer Society dreamed up by the incomparable and indefatiguable Virginia Spiegel. I'm so pleased to be able to help out again, this time by donating a tote for the auction. I've included a copy of my new book, Surface Design Essentials, 5 bottles of Liquitex soft-body acrylic paints, 3 bottles of Liquitex acrylic ink, 3 different Liquitex acrylic mediums - fabric, matte gel and, my favorite, iridescent - 6 Derwent Inktense water-soluble ink pencils and a small piece of art made with these yummy colors. With this tote full of goodies, you can dive right in and start creating!

For all the details about this auction that will be held next Tuesday, February 23, head over to Virginia's blog. There are lots of fun totes up for bidding and it's for such a good cause!

Surface Design Essentials

I'm so excited to show you a sneak peak of my newest book. Surface Design Essentials will hit the stores in January 2010!



A smaller format book with a covered spiral binding, Surface Design Essentials explores the use of acrylic paints, mediums, acrylic inks and water soluble pencils on fabric and some unusual, mixed-media surfaces. In addition to the 15 techniques covered, there are 7 projects to help you get started playing and creating. I think it will be a handy reference tool for any artist working with paints, inks and mediums.

Some of my very favorite artists generously contributed work for the gallery section of the book. You're going to love to see what they've created!

Judy Coates Perez
Virginia Spiegel
Terry Grant
Jane LaFazio
Natalya Aikens
Elin Waterston
and Lynn Koolish

The book will be available in bookstores and quilt stores worldwide in mid-January. If you'd like to order an autographed copy, please contact me.

Paired with the release of this book will be C&T and Liquitex's new Surface Design Center to quilt shops near you. The Surface Design Center features:

24 Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic colors
4 Liquitex Professional Acrylic Ink colors
Liquitex Fabric Medium
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
& Winsor & Newton Brushes

I had the great pleasure to be in on the development of this center and it was so much fun to test out the products and give input as to what art quilters and mixed-media artists would find most valuable and useful in it. We debuted the center at Quilt Festival in Houston last month and invited everyone walking by to sit and paint and play with the mediums. We had such a fantastic response!

I'm delighted that it will be much easier for art quilters to find these products in their local quilt stores. I'm equally delighted that this means that more and more people will be experimenting with making art quilts and trying things they haven't yet tried. The Force is strong in those of us who play with paint and we welcome more people to join us!!

4" square challenge

I showed you the beginnings of my 4" square challenge pieces here and now that the art is swapped I can reveal more of the process and the finished results.

After I had fused on the prepared-for-dyeing fabric to the 4" squares of fast2fuse interfacing, I applied a wash of acrylic paint diluted with water, mixing colors as I went.



Even after they dried they were a little too bright for me so I added another wash over all of them, this time in a diluted off-white color.



Then I added pattern with designs from stamps I made, applied with more of the off-white color, undiluted this time.



And finally, I screen-printed thermofax images of insects with black acrylic paint randomly to each of the squares. After the paint was dry, I trimmed the squares and topstitched around the edges. I added labels on the back and headed off to the meeting for the grand swap. 28 artists traded 4" squares and a good time was had by all! I found a cool box (meant to store ATCs) that I need to alter to store them all in.







At the meeting it was really interesting to hear how varied all of our approaches to this project were. Some people started out planning to make 29 similar pieces and got bored after 10 so switched to making groups of similar pieces. A few people began intentionally by making definite groups. Several people made all completely different pieces, some within themes, and some not. A couple of people made large backgrounds and cut them down into 4" squares and proceeded with more design. There were a lot of different edge-finishing techniques. Many people chose to work entirely or mostly by hand due to the project's portability. So many different ways to get to the same place!

I find that the assembly-line process works best for me, as you can see from my pictures above. As a printmaker, I'm used to work in editions and this is very much the same thing - all originals, but absolutely an edition or series.

Of course, as soon as we had swapped and discussed and admired, we jumped right into a new challenge - stay tuned!

Website Re-Design

I finally have Carlos' website re-designed and updated. What's that saying about the shoemaker's children? It definitely applies here...



We spent quite a bit time with the new camera shooting and re-shooting all of his paintings and then getting the photos ready for print and web. There are still a few early prints to shoot and more older photos of sculpture to scan, but all of the current work is up and ready for viewing.

Please let me know what you think!

Bricolages - part deux

The bricolage assemblages are done! I'm not certain what they "mean" or what they're "saying" yet. I tend to work very subconsciously and all of that needs to filter up before I can figure it out.

I made small shelves with balsa wood, painted them and then distressed them before attaching them to the illustration board. I used both glue and small screws to attach the shelves.



I auditioned a number of found objects for the shelves. In the end I used found chess pieces that I bought from Judy Gula in Houston last year.




The empty morphine vials came from a Facebook friend's etsy store.



The cardboard letters and vintage Japanese card came from another Facebook friend's etsy store. Etsy is the best. So is Facebook.







It's very tricky to photograph framed art because of the reflections on the glass and harder still to photograph shadow boxes because of the depth of the frames and the shadows they throw. These difficulties were compounded by having to use just one photoflood, since the other blew during a marathon photo shoot recently. B&H will be delivering new bulbs on Tuesday, so I'll set up and shoot again next week.

Bricolages

One of the online collage groups that I belong to had been discussing the various terms that describe what we do and the word bricolage came up. I love this word!

Bricolage: [bree-kuh‑lahzh] a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.

I just happened to have three small IKEA shadowbox frames lying around the studio. I buy frames "on spec" when they're pretty and interesing (and inexpensive!) The frame opening is only 5 1/2" square and is about 1 1/4" deep. I've been wanting to work on three-dimensional assemblages (Joseph Cornell's work has inspired me) and layering colors and textures. So, cool new word in hand, I jumped in.



I had scraps of illustration board leftover from making collagraph plates, so I cut those down to fit the frames. I painted layers of washes of paint on the illustration board (and forgot to take a picture) and then tore and glued down pieces from an Italian newspaper.



After the glue was dry, I painted a wash of cream acrylic paint over each board and then stamped designs over everything with more of the same diluted paint.



The cream wash toned everything down and the stamps added visual texture and interest. Next I glued on a few paper mesh squares and strips, and found object papers and letters.



Right now I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the little shelf supports that I cut to fit in each frame. I'll take more pictures when the shelves are attached to the boards and I start auditioning found objects to place on them.

Oh, and a person who makes bricolages is a bricoleur - wouldn't that look great on a business card?

Art in the Studio

I can't post anything that I've made lately (top secret and all that jazz), so I thought I'd show you some of the beautiful pieces I've been fortunate enough to acquire lately. I love how wonderful they look matted and framed, I love how well they work together, and I love how simpatico they all are with the string of birds Elin gave me years ago. A bright happy corner in my studio.



The piece on the top is an ACEO by Lisa Call - you have to see one of these in person, the detail and workmanship are astonishing. The middle piece is by the delightful and lovely Mati McDonough, I adore its positive, fresh, fun and bubbly vibe. And the bottom piece is by the incomparable Liz Berg. I've been hankering after one of hers for eons and was fortunate enough to get this during the recent Collage Mania.

Back to work, and as soon as I can, I'll show you what I've been up to!

Summer Workshops

I'm excited to announce that I'll be offering workshops in our barn this summer. We're located about an hour north of NYC in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I have a list of local hotels, including a couple of charming B&Bs on or near our completely authentic New England Main Street, if you're coming from a distance and need to stay overnight (and one hotel to warn you away from, lol).

Each two-day workshop is offered on a Friday and Saturday, in June, July and August. We'll be working on a variety of printmaking techniques, both by hand and with printing equipment (hello, etching press!) You'll create a lot of fabric that you can incorporate into future art quilts and you'll have a fantastic time doing it! We'll even feed you lunch and snacks each day. I hope you can join me!

This summer's sessions are: June 19 & 20, July 17 & 18 or Aug 14 & 15. If you need more info, please email me.

PS: The June session is filling fast -- just so's ya knows.

Pittsburgh and back again

Life has been a little busy lately! I've been madly dashing from one event/signing/class/show/something to the next since the store closed on March 31. Last week was International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. I was there at the behest of C&T Publishing for the release of Art Quilts at Play. My co-author, Elin Waterston, and I signed books (at the Checker Distributors and United Notions booths), spoke to scads of people about it, taught a workshop on one of the techniques, demonstrated a few more in the C&T booth, taped a demo and an interview plus I had a booth as the Country Quilter. My mom and I had four new patterns between us and were busy connecting with old and new customers.


at the C&T booth


at the United Notions booth

Of all of the convention centers I've been to (quite a few), my favorite architecturally is the David L Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The food there was really awful, the hotel was terrible (Sheraton Station Square), but the convention center was gorgeous.






Country Quilter booth

I met a lot of internet friends - from different lists and from Facebook - isn't that the best? It was a wonderful week, although it's really good to be home! No more traveling or running for a while, time to catch up to myself.

Simple Arts Podcast

When I was teaching in Asilomar at the Empty Spools seminar a couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of meeting Annie Smith, podcaster extraordinaire. She interviewed me one evening and we really hit it off. You can head to her website to listen to the podcast and hear us chatting about art and quilting and life and everything. Please leave a comment for me here - I'll be giving away a copy of my new book, Art Quilts at Play, on Wednesday, April 1st (no fooling!)



So you can follow along, in the podcast I talk about the books I've written with Elin Waterston, the shop that my mom and I opened in 1990 (that will continue as an internet store) and my husband's artwork.

UPDATE: The winner of the free book is "sewjoe"! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll get an autographed copy of Art Quilts at Play right out to you. Thank you everyone for your very kind comments! And thank you Annie for the opportunity to talk to your listeners!

An afternoon at the aquarium

As a special treat, Tracey Brookshier took me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium after we finished teaching on Friday. What a feast for the eyes! The aquarium is famous for its jellyfish exhibits and rightly so. I need to go back with my good camera, the jellies are hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot.







I found myself completely captivated with a tank of sea anemone. The colors were amazing. I feel a new series coming on...





Some of the pictures I took were disappointingly blurry - the leafy sea dragons (unbelievably cool and surreal-looking), the river and sea otters, and the sand dollars (we stared at these a long time while they moved in s l o w motion) so I'll need to try again next time. We bumped into some of my students who were practicing their observational skills at the aquarium before their flight home.

After we had our fill of the fishies, we headed to Cha-ya, a Japanese tea, art and antique store in an old part of Monterey, where I found origami paper, small dragonfly dishes, a couple of pretty chirimen bags and a tiny metal jizō statue (that caused my luggage to be searched at security the next day, I guess it looked more menacing in the x-ray machine than it does in real life!) Then on to an art supply store for a paper fix, gorgeous handmade paper with Thai writing on it, a vintage-looking map and more handmade paper with newspaper inclusions. And finally back to Tracey's house for a home-cooked meal with her family. All in all, a fantastic ending to a fantastic week.

A week in paradise

Last week I taught at the Empty Spools Seminar in Asilomar, California. Despite the chilly, rainy weather, it's a magical place. The ocean is a very short walk from the conference center, is visible from many vantage points and the sound of the surf is omnipresent. It was a very inspiring setting for a very creative week.



The dining hall where everyone on campus gathered for meals. The speed with which they feed hundreds and hundreds of people is astounding.



Just beyond the dining hall is the boardwalk to the dunes and trails. Beautiful even in the grey drizzle.





There are warning signs along the trail to watch out for mountain lions and advice about what to do if confronted with one. I memorized the sign but didn't need to use the advice, phew. There were a lot of crows and racoons, and many almost tame deer wandering about.



My classroom was a cosy building standing by itself, filled with courageous, talented women. We had a wonderful week filled with art and laughter.





It didn't rain the entire week, one morning there was a gorgeous rainbow above the dunes.



The first day I was there my friend, Franki Kohler, and I went to Pacific Grove for lunch and shopping. This is the town where the monarch butterflies gathered by the tens of thousands every year during their migration. A sculpture in front of the post office:



Walking back from an exhibit at the art center I spied these gulls hanging out on top of a car and it struck me as funny.



Wednesday night a bunch of the teachers went to dinner on Cannery Row - Tracey Brookshier, Lura Schwarz Smith and Kerby Smith, Reynola Pakusich, Marcia Stein, Annie Smith and I feasted on seafood and cheesecake.


I'll be back next year during the July session and I'm really looking forward to it!