February 29, 2004
I'm Digital!
I bought a digital camera today! Here are two photos of my fur boys! Both have a bit of blur to them, the camera is not the problem, though! :)
Meet Arrow!
And Monk!
February 26, 2004
Heaven forbid!
I just completed this sandpaper painting and I quite like it.
I didn't know if the gold would show up well in the scanned image but I think it holds it's own. The scan is not quite so sparkly gold, but pretty close.
I wonder how I would translate this into fiber art? How would I get the gold to appear similarily? Perhaps an acrylic medium and gold powder? Maybe embossing powder? The only time I tried using embossing powder on fabric it left an "oily" ring around the embossed area. Could it have been the wrong stuff?
Someone asked if I would talk about using sandpaper to paint on.
It started because I use alot of sandpaper at work, it becomes matted with paint particles, and the grit wears off. I find these smudges to be intriquing, and they render the sandpaper useless after some use. I pocket the used bits and now have quite a collection of sandpaper bits. My favorite is 400 grit black sandpaper.
I use qouache as my primary paint, it flows beautifully over sandpaper. The grit holds the paint, drags against the brush, It is quite a tactile experience.
Try it!
I have bought some 1600 grit (I think that's the number) and have been reluctant to try it. In my mind, I think this sandpaper will be too much like paper. Heaven forbid!
I came across a really large grit sandpaper in the basement and thought to try it, but the grit is way too big and the color of it interferred with my design ideas. I have heard that they sell white sandpaper!
ut-oh! I found the white.... shoot! I think I am going to need to purchase!
February 25, 2004
For all my Belly Achin'!
Oh My Goodness! Last night was my figure drawing class, and all day long I belly ached about not wanting to go! Around 2:30, I gave myself permission to forgo class and go home. Suddenly, it was OK! I wanted to go! It no longer felt like a pain in the butt.
I needed PERMISSION NOT TO GO!
Above is an example of what I did in class. The parallel arm and leg going off to Buffalo on the left side of the painting is a bit off putting, but overall I like the piece. This is thickened dye on cotton fabric.
Next week I will take my sewing machine and challenge myself to draw with it again, View image.
February 23, 2004
Fear of Color?
The above is a painting on a small square of sandpaper, which is one of my favorite surfaces to paint.
Today I have been thinking about color. Reading through an email list I am a member of, I hear fear, hesitance and trepidation about the use of color. Prior to going to textile design school, I bet I was fearful too. Since going to school, I have become employed in a job whose main task is the ability to match color exactly utilizing gouache, watercolors, colored pencils and magic markers.
I no longer have fear of color.
I remember when I was in school my first semester. I had a color mixing class where the teacher was quite bored. She would give us the task of (say) mixing a gradation from yellow to black in ten steps and then leave for a forty-five minute coffee break. OH MY GOODNESS! I would become so tense and disfunctional at not being able to ask questions that I was near to bursting! One day, I even left the classroom, found her and yelled at her for leaving the class for so long!
So after four years of being out in the world, using color in both my personal art and in my day job, I no longer have fear or hesitance on the subject.
My suggestions to those of you who fear color? Remember that mistakes are opportunities to expand, the art you are making is more important than the cost of the materials, have extra materials on hand and try colors out on scrap before commiting it to the piece you are working on!
To change the subject, I am working on a piece I am calling The Three Graces, right now. I hope that when I return to it, the freezer paper is dry and ready to be ironed onto the fabric. I wish I could photograph the piece and share it here. I don't have a digital camera, yet!
If you have suggestions, please post them!
February 22, 2004
To start things off
Here is a recent journal entry, in my new favorite journaling book, a Moleskine. I learned about these from Danny Gregory's web site, Everyday Matters. I credit Danny with focusing my intent to keep a visual journal and trying to incorporate words, feelings and ideas into my pages. His work is inspirational and he is fearless in opening his journals for all to see.
I used to keep a daily journal with just feelings, thoughts and ideas, but it became stagnant and negatively focused. In the last few years, I have kept visual journals without words- which is quite similar to keeping a word based journal, but is quite a bit more private because of the lack of wording.
Now I am interested in doing both.
This is my first day of keeping an online journal, I don't intend to post everyday-just when I have something really good to share (this is quite often with me, really!).
These pages will become a place where I will share works in progress, dyed embroidery flosses, and spill over content from my web site. I intend to clean up my web site and direct the odd bits that don't fit to these pages.
Please! Bookmark me! Come back! AND share your thoughts!