Watch this space.
23 August 2012
19 June 2012
It's been a while almost 3 months since I put anything in here, and in part that is because while I have been making stuff, what I have been making is not intended for public consumption. It's basically skill-building stuff. You know ... practice! I have been working on my life drawing skills, and embroidery, and one of the most elusive skills around, paring down the stockpile of art crap to a manageable level.
There is a big, big relocation happening here, and I have no clue when I will be ready to post again. However, I am taking sketching materials with me on my journey, and really looking forward to setting up a workspace again on the other end of the wormhole.
Until then, I leave you with this photograph of my ex-espresso machine. (We broke up recently.) It is a truly utilitarian photo, but I find it somehow compelling.
There is a big, big relocation happening here, and I have no clue when I will be ready to post again. However, I am taking sketching materials with me on my journey, and really looking forward to setting up a workspace again on the other end of the wormhole.
Until then, I leave you with this photograph of my ex-espresso machine. (We broke up recently.) It is a truly utilitarian photo, but I find it somehow compelling.
23 March 2012
Headlong Toward Communism
Memento Park, just outside Budapest, Hungary, is well worth the visit if you are a fan of monumental tributes to communism. (I have no idea why, but I absolutely love this stuff!)
The sculpture I've sketched here is HYOOOGE! Awe inspiring. (Republic of Councils monument, this link goes to not-my-picture, but has a person in the frame for size reference.)
(Click through to Flickr for a few more slices of sketchbook from the week I spent in Budapest.)
The sculpture I've sketched here is HYOOOGE! Awe inspiring. (Republic of Councils monument, this link goes to not-my-picture, but has a person in the frame for size reference.)
(Click through to Flickr for a few more slices of sketchbook from the week I spent in Budapest.)
Took a painting class...
'Free Watercolor' - techniques for rendering from life, photos, and from imagination, without getting all hung up on details. The jazz of painting.
It was fun, and I learned some super techniques. Not sure how much it will affect my painting in the future, but then again, I never am sure how much anything is going to affect my painting. :)
Click through to see the rest of the photos.
It was fun, and I learned some super techniques. Not sure how much it will affect my painting in the future, but then again, I never am sure how much anything is going to affect my painting. :)
Click through to see the rest of the photos.
15 January 2012
Not Mine, Mine
First, here is a picture I love, and a link to lots more pictures I love ... Street Art Utopia is an aggregation of awesomesauce street art. I find it inspiring, and Right ... there is something inherently correct in ornamenting the world around us. Check out their annual collections of the best to see a bunch of super art all on one page.
Sadly, I didn't do any of that street art. I have gotten fixated lately with a crochet project I came across in the Crochet Me newsletter. They send out free patterns sometimes, and I was intrigued enough by a pattern I saw this week to actually sit down and learn to read crochet patterns. They are cryptic, and dense, and it is easy for me to lose my place. BUT! I have persisted, and learned some new stitches, and this is by FAR the most legitimate looking thing I have ever made with a crochet hook. It is far from done, I think I am going to need 8 more skeins of yarn to get there. But it is mostly down to a repetitive pattern to create length (this is a shawl), and not so much about doing complicated patterny things. The big piece here is about a foot long on the short side.
My brain has one front burner and a lot of back burner... there is more stuff to come, but I think I need to get this project out of my brain before I am going to be able to get back to the the block printing.
Sadly, I didn't do any of that street art. I have gotten fixated lately with a crochet project I came across in the Crochet Me newsletter. They send out free patterns sometimes, and I was intrigued enough by a pattern I saw this week to actually sit down and learn to read crochet patterns. They are cryptic, and dense, and it is easy for me to lose my place. BUT! I have persisted, and learned some new stitches, and this is by FAR the most legitimate looking thing I have ever made with a crochet hook. It is far from done, I think I am going to need 8 more skeins of yarn to get there. But it is mostly down to a repetitive pattern to create length (this is a shawl), and not so much about doing complicated patterny things. The big piece here is about a foot long on the short side.
My brain has one front burner and a lot of back burner... there is more stuff to come, but I think I need to get this project out of my brain before I am going to be able to get back to the the block printing.
27 December 2011
Currently Blocking The Dining Table ...
I have been dabbling a tiny bit in woodblock printing. And shall continue dabbling, because that's how I roll. I really like it, and have begun to scheme a bit.
Also working on crochet, embroidery, that tea chest door, and some other random goodies.
Click through the photo to see a few more images from this project.
Also working on crochet, embroidery, that tea chest door, and some other random goodies.
Click through the photo to see a few more images from this project.
29 November 2011
on the drawing board today
I am trying to learning how to turn my lovely swirled designs into proper motifs for painting. I don't know if this is the right step, but the *current* step is> Make it bigger!
This is about 16" x 30", on newsprint type paper. Although I have done lots of attempts to get my ideas down in watercolor, it might work better in a more ... weighty medium. So, probably try acrylic or oil for this. Soon, even.
This is about 16" x 30", on newsprint type paper. Although I have done lots of attempts to get my ideas down in watercolor, it might work better in a more ... weighty medium. So, probably try acrylic or oil for this. Soon, even.
28 November 2011
Latest in Knitwear...
This weekend I was possessed (POSSESSED, I tell you!) by the need to make gloves out of some super soft, super stretchy AMBRA merino wool.
No, I know they don't match. They're not really meant to. I am learning to make the various parts of a glove that fit precisely, because I am having trouble finding gloves that don't squeeze me and make my hands *colder*. I need precision gloves. The thumb on the left glove, for instance, is a perfect fit. And the palm-to-knuckles bit of the right glove is bang on.
Sadly, I don't know if I would be able to wear these any length of time, because they are wool, but they were not irritating to make, so that's a good start. Maybe if I wash them with some fabric softener?
Anyway, I was thinking about what to do with all my gloves and socks that don't have mates. And I thought about how it is very common this time of year to see solo gloves and scarves and things littered around town. People place them up on fence posts and in window sills and on crossing signal posts, so if the original owner should happen by, they will find their lost item.
So THEN I thought, I will take pictures of each of my insane knit items, and leave them around town randomly, and then in the spring, go to the city lost & found office and see how many of them end up there. (Why do I call them insane knit items? Oh, did I say? I was thinking, since they aren't really meant to be worn, I could make stuff like gloves with 9 fingers, or something that looks like a tiny pajamas for a turtle.)
Only, I probably will use less expensive wool, if I do that. Probably I will wear these gloves when I go to put the Lost Items into the world. :)
No, I know they don't match. They're not really meant to. I am learning to make the various parts of a glove that fit precisely, because I am having trouble finding gloves that don't squeeze me and make my hands *colder*. I need precision gloves. The thumb on the left glove, for instance, is a perfect fit. And the palm-to-knuckles bit of the right glove is bang on.
Sadly, I don't know if I would be able to wear these any length of time, because they are wool, but they were not irritating to make, so that's a good start. Maybe if I wash them with some fabric softener?
Anyway, I was thinking about what to do with all my gloves and socks that don't have mates. And I thought about how it is very common this time of year to see solo gloves and scarves and things littered around town. People place them up on fence posts and in window sills and on crossing signal posts, so if the original owner should happen by, they will find their lost item.
So THEN I thought, I will take pictures of each of my insane knit items, and leave them around town randomly, and then in the spring, go to the city lost & found office and see how many of them end up there. (Why do I call them insane knit items? Oh, did I say? I was thinking, since they aren't really meant to be worn, I could make stuff like gloves with 9 fingers, or something that looks like a tiny pajamas for a turtle.)
Only, I probably will use less expensive wool, if I do that. Probably I will wear these gloves when I go to put the Lost Items into the world. :)
24 November 2011
It is difficult for me to express how much I love this. I mean, I love Diego Rivera, too. But this is .... wow. Go read the article for the back story, and some progress / process pictures, and a photo of the peeps who made it happen.
10 November 2011
08 November 2011
20 September 2011
Forgot to say...
I also re-potted my bonsai. It's much happier now, has the first new growth it has had in ages. Somewhere in there is a metaphor about art, but I am probably too lazy to spell it out.
If you want to see more pictures of recent work, there are a few in Flickr that did not get posted on this blog today. Just click on this picture to go through to the Flickr stream, and start clicking to see all the most recent.
If you want to see more pictures of recent work, there are a few in Flickr that did not get posted on this blog today. Just click on this picture to go through to the Flickr stream, and start clicking to see all the most recent.
Hot off the non-press
Just finished this one today. India ink over watercolor. It kind of looks like an old-timey hand colored etching, except that it isn't an etching. Probably going to explore this technique / style combo a bit more in the near future, as it was pretty satisfying.
more ink and brush
I have been into the ink washes lately. This one kinda made me happy, but I feel like it is missing something.
Lost in translation...
I made a sketch in pencil that I liked very much, and wanted to convert it to a painting. It ... doesn't quite do justice.
Another unfinished thing
These were meant to be the four sides of a candle lantern ... and would have looked supercool with the candle light glowing through the paper. But I got stuck because I have been trying not to purchase any new materials, but don't have anything suitable to frame this out. And just gluing it together didn't seem wise.
watercolor experiment 2
I have been dabbling in some watercolor techniques. My desk is covered in pages like this one, where I adore some of what's there, but not the rest of it. Not enough to frame it. But I don't throw them out. Maybe I have a brilliant future in collage.
Questions Have Been Asked...
Well, questions have been implied.
I have been teaching myself to knit. Because. Uh. Reasons. My specialty so far seems to be making one of things that should be in pairs.
Following this post will be a bunch more posts with other stuff I have been doing, but just know that I have spent many, many hours over the last four months struggling to produce random objects out of yarn.
I have been teaching myself to knit. Because. Uh. Reasons. My specialty so far seems to be making one of things that should be in pairs.
Following this post will be a bunch more posts with other stuff I have been doing, but just know that I have spent many, many hours over the last four months struggling to produce random objects out of yarn.
15 June 2011
Vaguely Botanical ...
I am still learning the ins and outs of getting my scanner to give me what I want. Sadly, some of my work is a bit larger than the scanner bed. Ahh, well, if that is my worst problem in life ...
Here you see a painting I did a while back (late last year or early this year), and haven't posted because it is not yet matted. Matted = Finished. Problem? Not sure what color mat to go with. Black is obvious, but not sure it is the best bet.
What do you think?
Here you see a painting I did a while back (late last year or early this year), and haven't posted because it is not yet matted. Matted = Finished. Problem? Not sure what color mat to go with. Black is obvious, but not sure it is the best bet.
What do you think?
01 June 2011
Recently Completed
Eszter's keepsake box, just delivered today. I love it so much, she doesn't know how close she came to getting another box. I really wanted to keep this one. Click through to Flickr to see more pictures of it.
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