Letting Go - A Monoprint

This print began in 2010 when I was creating backgrounds with papers cut in several shapes and sizes and used as masks. It was completed this past spring while learning to use the photo emulsion silk screen technique. I posted about using the Queen Anne's Lace flowers on April 14, 2012. Looking at the finished print, I could see depth, almost as if the rectangles were falling down a well or being sucked away. Trying to come up with a name for this print was tricky - Falling? no. Deep Space? no. Letting Go seemed appropriate for the piece and for the journey that I am currently on (leaving my office job to pursue art full time). Letting Go of security, of routine, of living the same life day to day. Is it scary? yes. Is there much to learn? yes. Is it exciting? YES. I really am enjoying the ride!

Details

Contemplating Schooling Options and My Future

I posted this on Facebook last Monday:

"So I'm thinking that a certificate in Botanical Illustration from the New York Botanical Garden might be a better fit than a MS in Environmental Education from SCSU. Any thoughts?"

I had spent a few well needed days working in my gardens and my need to have "more" of this experience was awoken in me again. I was thinking that what I love most to do is be among plants, insects and birds. The sights, sounds and scents are so thrilling to me! The desire to recreate these sensations in some manner is strong. I really don't know how to describe in words what I feel. But I was thinking that it is a solitary experience and so, for the most part, is being an artist. Only I know exactly what I feel. I want others to experience the same pleasure I get from tending and being in the garden. That is my main reason for choosing to pursue a masters of science degree in Environmental Education at Southern Connecticut State University. But I was thinking that involves lots of planning and organizing and tasks that take place outside of the garden. So I was thinking that if I concentrated on creating art and taking courses at the New York Botanical Garden to further develop my skills, this might be the better fit.

I did receive some thoughts from my friends. One friend asked why I couldn't do both. That might be possible, but the financial investment would be considerable. Over the past few days I have been thinking and praying about the best course of action.  I realized that I already have the basic drawing skills, have all the equipment (papers, pencils, paints, etc.) and I certainly have the specimens! What I really need is to get outside and draw, draw, draw!! I don't want to be a botanical artist per se; I do want to get better at depicting the flowers, plants, trees, vegetables, butterflies, birds and other life that share this plot of earth with me and my family.

They say that beginning a new habit is more difficult than ending one. It is supposed to take three weeks of sticking with something before it becomes a routine.  Starting on Monday, I plan to spend at least a half hour each day outside - weather permitting - drawing! The reward will be better work and plenty of reference material to refer to during the long winter months.

Muscari sketch

Studio Reorganization Update

Last week, after two days of re-organizing and removing items from my studio, I realized that I could be at this full time for a month! I decided to make sure the counters, sink and work table were clear so that I could start doing some screen printing. I bought another table, unfortunately a foot shorter than the one I have, but it gives me more room to work. The plan is to devote one hour a day organizing/donating/giving away/throwing away the many items still cluttering the closets and under the work tables. But for now I can move and breath and create!!!

space to lay out prints to dry

room to work

A Fresh Start - Studio Reorganization and Give Away

Good morning! In an effort to become more disciplined and dedicated to art making, I have set some goals for myself. I intend to blog about them so that you have an idea of my progress. The first act to accomplish is reorganizing my studio. I have stuff everywhere, as you can see in the photo. It is worse than normal in this photo because many items were moved to that side of the room in order to remove a sewing desk.

About fifteen years ago I was given a Singer sewing machine which is housed in a beautiful mahogany-finish desk. I used it as a writing desk since I don't sew much. When we finished our basement and set up my studio, I moved it there in the hopes that I would start sewing. That was ten years ago and I have only worked on a handful of sewing projects. I do also have an old portable Singer machine that I can use if I do decide to sew again. Anyway, moving that desk out of the room opens it up to greater possibilities for organization. Towards the right of the photo you can see a set of tall cabinets. These are quite deep and many materials are buried in there. I want to get them out in the open where I can see and then use them! We also have a computer with a big "old-school" monitor on the back counter that we will move to my son's room since he has decided to remain in Nashville. I will set up my laptop in its place and gain quite a bit of counter space!

I've decided I also want to clear out up to half of the items I have saved and collected over the years. There is just too much. I plan to donate materials to Creative Arts Workshop for their annual fundraising Art Supply Tag Sale. I do also want to give away items to people I know who would be happy to use them. With this thought, I've decided that I would give away an assortment of papers, fabrics, ribbons, possibly beads, paints and who knows what else, to anyone who decides to follow one of my blogs today. (My other blog is My Big Backyard, Diary of an Amateur Naturalist ) and to anyone of my current followers who leaves a comment on one of my posts today.

Thanks for reading and for keeping me company in this new journey!

Dyeing and Screen Printing

Almost everything I see gives me an idea for a new art project. I write these ideas down so that I don't forget them. I plan them out, but often times when I am about ready to execute them, something else suddenly appears that I want to try and the ideas fall by the wayside. This is okay; I can still pursue them another time. I recently enrolled in a screen printing class at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT. I have some experience with screen printing but want to learn and practice more. In one class our instructor demonstrated how to create a photo emulsion screen from a transparency. He mentioned that objects such as lace and leaves can be placed on the screen and the image "burned" with this process. When he said this, I immediately thought "Queen Anne's Lace flowers", which I have pressed. I brought them in the next week, and "burned" them onto the screen. It was too late to begin printing that night.

On a separate occasion, I was looking in Joanne Fabrics for screen printing ink. In the fabric painting and dyeing section I came across a new line of dyes called Idye by Jacquard. I was attracted to the chartreuse and olive colors. The directions described dyeing in the washing machine. I have been preparing old cotton sheets to be dyed with plants in a few weeks. This product was so tempting with the color choices and ease of process, that I decided to try it. One package was enough to color 3 lbs of fabric so I decided to also dye some old denim jeans that I have been saving to turn into paper as well. I love the results! But I'm not sure I want to turn the cotton fabric into paper pulp now! Then the idea occurred to me that I could screen the Queen Anne's Lace pattern onto them. I mixed colors that match my bed comforter since there is a hint of chartreuse in it.

Chartreuse

Olive

Last Thursday night at class I printed this design on top of some unfinished prints. In doing so, one is now complete, one very near completion and the rest one step closer to compl etion!




For the remainder of the evening I printed on the chartreuse dyed cotton and love the results!! I think I will add some bead work to this and possibly some embroidery, then make a pillow or two.

Soaking and Sowing

Another incredibly gorgeous early spring day (last day of winter, technically)! I worked outside doing "prep" work for the real work (and fun!) that will follow later.

I had been researching sources of tannin for pretreating cotton fabric for natural dyeing. I learned from a fellow natural dyer on the Yahoo Natural Dyes group, that oak bark and oak leaves are a source, in addition to oak galls, which is what the books recommend. This is good news to me, since the leaves and bark are readily available, here, where I live. I filled two 5 gallon buckets half filled with oak leaves in one and oak bark in the other. Filled with water, covered and will let sit for a week or so before straining and adding cotton cloth.

I spent most of the afternoon sowing seeds in trays. Bob just finished building a large cold frame over one of the raised garden beds. It is like a mini greenhouse! I sowed Asian eggplants, basils, tomatoes, woad, calendula, okra, hollyhocks, nicotiana, tithonia and several more seeds. The okra and hollyhocks will be a source of fiber for papermaking as well as a source of formation aid. The woad, calendula and hollyhock flowers are being grown for dye. The nicotiana is for the hummingbirds and the tithonia for the monarch butterflies. Lastly, the eggplants, basils and tomatoes are for dinner!

I should add that the okra, calendula and nicotiana are old seeds (at least six years old), so very well may not be viable.  It is an experiment, just like everything I do. The way to learn is by trying out an idea, often thinking "what if", making observations and taking note.

2012 Papermaking Season Has Begun

It was a beautiful, sunny day today and I was off from work, so spent some time outside straightening up my papermaking studio and setting some fibers to ret.  Mulberry, willow, kozo and gampi bast fibers were each put in a five gallon bucket with approximately six ounces of wood ash and four gallons of water. I put tightly fitting lids on them and placed them in the sun. I plan to give them a stir or tumble once a week for a month. Hopefully April will be warm and sunny so that I can cook these fibers and then beat them. Then the real fun begins!

Mulberry bast with bark

willow bast with bark

gampi

kozo

The mulberry and willow basts were gathered here on our property.  I bought the beautifully clean gampi from Keith Gum of IFUGAO Papercraft. The kozo is from Magnolia Paper.

 I am also reading up on preparing fibers for natural dyeing.  My plan is to dye the cotton sheets first this year, then cut and beat them. This should be easier than trying to mordant, rinse, dye and rinse pulp like I did last summer. From what I read, I believe I need to treat the fabric with tannin (need to find a natural source of that), then mordant twice with alum. Fibers/fabrics can be premordanted and kept indefinitely, ready and available when the dye materials present themselves! I am also planning to use this dyed cotton fabric for weaving and small sewn projects.

Never Stop Learning - My New Year Tradition

For many years now, I have celebrated New Years Day by adding books to my family's library. When the children were younger, I would take them to Barnes and Noble or Borders and have them pick out a book on a subject they would like to learn more about. I would do the same for Bob and myself.  Alina often chose travel books or books on photography. Joe preferred books on origami or Star Wars. One year he chose a book on backyard blacksmithing. While we haven't done that together as a family in a long time, I do continue to buy books for myself each New Year.  My favorite sources these days are Edward R. Hamilton, Booksellers and Amazon. While I love books, I am faced with the reality that they are expensive, so choose these sellers for their selection, great discounts, and fast delivery.

This year I bought from Edward R. Hamilton the following:

Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season by Sally Roth (Rodale) (c) 2009
The Magic of Digital Close Up Photography by Joseph Meehan  (Lark) (c) 2006
Paisley Designs - 44 Original Plates by Gregory Mirow (Dover) (c)1989
The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn (Lark) (c) 2005

They arrived yesterday.

It is my hope to learn more about the birds that are regular visitors to my feeders so that I can make their home here more appealing to them. Already I have learned from Backyard Birds Secrets that birds need extra crude protein and fat in their winter diets to stay warm. Today I bought specialty peanut seed mix as well as two types of suet and feeders to hold them. I discovered recipes for making my own suet when these run out. I learned that if I build and install roosting boxes and provide conifers for shelter, the birds can stay warm.  With this information, I asked Bob to prop up the Christmas tree we bought in the garden near the feeders so that the birds have another cozy place to sleep at night. (We were saving the tree to use the branches as protective covering for the perennials.)

I love close up photography! Many of the photos I take are close ups, but they often turn out blurry, or the camera refuses to take the shot at the range I want to take it. The Magic of Digital Close Up Photography looks like a textbook and I am hoping to learn the tricks of the trade from it!

Paisley Designs will help me when I create the other decorative fruits to add to Punica ornamentum. It is my plan to add a paisley apple and pear and thus create a series of this type of print.

Lastly, I have known about the book, The Decorated Journal, for years. Having other books on book and journal making, I didn't buy it until now, although it is a classic on the subject.  The price was right so I decided to add it to my collection.  Already I have learned new things from it!


It is great to learn something new every day, but there is the trap of being always learning and never doing, which will be the topic of my next post.