June 29, 2004
What Makes Chuck-Chuck.
Meet Chuck. Chuck has made his choices. He is a really nice guy who is hard to stop looking at, you know it is rude but are drawn to him anyway. Chuck can fix the tiniest computerized chip in your car. Chuck is a Vietnam Vet.
Yesterday my good friend J.N. and I spent the entire day together, talking about and making art. We started two pieces that we passed back and forth between us.
When I first sewed Chuck's figure I felt like I had ruined the piece. By the end of my visit, we embraced Chuck and the stories we created about him and I fell in love with him. We laughed so hard about our friend Chuck, it was good for the soul.
Here is a more 'serious' piece...
J has a fabulous collection of cloth, feathers and art supplies. When I saw her bags, piles and neatly folded bits of sumptuous cloth, I felt the need to use them.
If I were able to have stayed longer, I would have made sure I was in the center of a pile of cloth, happy as a pig in mud and making a new big piece of long-term art.
Maybe J and I should trade studios for a week!
June 22, 2004
Books
Favorite books I have read, in no particular order and quite incomplete:
Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
Ahab's Wife, The Star Gazer: A Novel by Sema Jeter Naslund
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color that Changed the World by Simon Garfield
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
Do the Windows Open? by Julie Hecht
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
What I am reading now:
The Great Fire: A Novel by Shirley Hazard
What I have waiting in the wings:
Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
More later, when I have had time to think- and look through the shelves.
June 15, 2004
A Quiet Project
1,2,3 This is a tease, This is only a tease.
June 09, 2004
It is happening, again.
I have begun!
This is bleach discharged. I will wash it out and overdye it tomorrow morning.
As I was stamping, the idea came that perhaps I should do a paper cut out image in a balinese style of myself as some sort of goddess, it doesn't need to look like me, maybe it will have long hair and full eyebrows or something. The middle section of the fabric is empty you see.
June 08, 2004
Greetings from Mount Wannahauckaluggi!
Lots has happened over the last week or so.
First off: I watched and now own a copy of Finding Nemo, hence the name of this entry.
My Man has revealed this year's birthday gift (I will be 35), I am going to Bootcamp for Goddesses 1 at Kripalu!!!
This sort of community/activity/focus is right up my alley and I am very excited! We will be doing yoga, fitness workouts, meditation, breathwork, aromatherapy, nutrition, belly dancing, a sweat lodge, a labyrinth walk, energetic healing, and hiking to say the least.
I am preparing by recommiting to my daily yoga practice, which was lagging in the last few months, and by making a sarong, which is on the list of items for what to bring.
I have never worn or owned a sarong and I would like to surface design my own for this event.
I uncovered some periwinkle blue sandwashed rayon from my stash of fabric, I wonder if batiste might be a good idea too. I imagine a bleach discharged and overdyed deep midnight purple-y blue sarong.
The fabric in this photo from left to right is a dark blue linen/silk mix, which will be good for a pair of yoga pants, but not surface design. Undyed white batiste (I may not have enough), I feel a trip to the fabric store coming on. On the right is the sandwashed rayon I spoke of earlier.
On top of these fabrics I have laid out a few of my own stamps. In looking through some internet pages that sell sarongs, I notice that many of them seem to tell cultural stories that my Connecticut born experience cannot dissern, so I have decided that my sarong should have symbolism relavant to me. I think the stamp all the way to the right is out, because of the scale. I lean toward the Isis stamp...
perhaps paired with the stamp I used to create this fabric. I feel like I will need an animal spirit in the cloth I create. But the spider stamp looks pretty good too...
I wonder how long sarongs ought to be?
June 03, 2004
One Fab Day
My Man and I had a fabulous day on Sunday, We went to Manhattan early, ate Breakfast at Norma's. Read this article about thier 1000 dollar omelet. We, of course, didn't get that particular omelet for breakfast, it is a good marketing tool for publicity, though.
Then we walked through Central Park taking photos, recordings (on my Man's new digital voice recorder-DVR), and enjoying the stroll in and of itself.
We meandered our way up to the Whitney Biennial, The show was fantastic. The web site is lacking, so if you want to try to navigate it, more power to you.
There was some really great art and ideas there:
Zac Smith being one of my favorites. You can see some of his art here. His drawing skills are phenominal.
Assume Vivid Astro Focus did a pop art instillation that blew my socks off. I will try to find a link about it later.
In the realm of artistic photography, I offer my own contribution to this art filled day---
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June 02, 2004
Picnic!?
I've gone and done it again! I put my foot in it and am not looking back!
I invite all you journaling artists to a picnic on Pier 45 in Manhattan, August 14, 2004 @ 1 o'clock!
If you have a web site and want to come, tell me about it! I will link my site to yours and we can all get to know one another.
So far, Danny Gregory and I have commited to going! What about you? Ya wanna?
What could be more fun? Hang out with other journaling artists, draw, eat. Sounds like nirvana to me! Come on! I know you want to!