Category: Art

Andi's book in the colors round robin is the White Book.  Except that, instead of a book, she prepped and sent small canvases for each artist.  My canvas was painted a medium gray, which I thought was sort of an intriguing way to have to start for a white theme.  Here is my canvas, A Sense of White.

 Santa Torres's Pocketful Book is a big old book with pockets for record albums.  You don't see many of these anymore!  It is a beautiful book and it is full of lots of richly detailed art at this point.  I loved the book from the minute I picked it up.  I also knew what I wanted to do immediately.

An important lesson I have learned is encapsulated in the phrase "Speak Truth to Power."  The exact origin of the phrase is claimed by a number of different sources, but that doesn't really matter to me.  It's a difficult but important life lesson and it felt just right for Santa's book.

The inset, which I'm sorry I didn't take a close up of, is a small canvas that sits inside the pocket.

This is the backside of the page.

And, a closeup of the collage on the back.

Thanks Santa, for letting me work in your beautiful book!

My last class at Art & Soul was an assemblage class with Michael DeMeng.  He was a fabulous teacher — I enjoyed his attitude towards power tools (ooh look, sparks, cool) and his advice about mixing paint colors.  Since this was my "stretch" class — making a piece of art using an electrical outlet is pretty far out of my box — I didn't feel any pressure to perform and just enjoyed myself.

At the end of the class, Michael puts everything out on a table, and puts on a spontaneous art show, including critiques.  This was very entertaining — he was kind but insightful.

This is my more abstract piece.  I had made a little kidney bean shaped soldered glass piece in one of Sally Jean's classes, using the glass over the dictionary definition of assemblage ("a collection of people or objects"), think it might come in handy for this class.  It did, although I have since regretted the foofy piece of tulle at the top of the hanger, and removed it.

Interestingly, it's one of very few pieces of art I've ever made that the Judge liked.  Or at least, didn't look at and shake his head while saying "I don't get it."  You take what you can in my house.

My second piece was a bit more inside my box, using the images of a bird and woman, along with a piece of bamboo Ellie and I cut down in the backyard last summer (note to self: cut down lots more bamboo this year).

One of the best things about this class was being in it with Lou, (the sadly blogless) Judy, and Joanne.

Judy brought the best stuff….and, she shared!

Lou made a really super piece.  It was so wonderful — the colors and the shape were so appealing you wanted to crawl inside of it, although there was something about it — maybe just a hint of discomfort — that made you slightly uncomfortable, like you needed to keep looking at it to make sure you weren't missing a hidden message.

I'm incredibly sad that I didn't get any photos of Joanne.  She went after big chunks of metal, using the power tools, with great abandon.  Sparks flying everywhere!

This class was lots of fun and a perfect end to a great retreat.

It's 8:18 and it takes me ten minutes to get to work, which means I have to leave in two minutes.  So, what am I doing?  Why, I'm soldering in my kitchen.  Really.

The outlets in my dining room were two pronged, so I picked up my tray and moved to the kitchen.  Took a business call and propped the phone, on speaker, up on the cookbook stack and thought while I soldered.  Isn't it a wonderful world?

I need a lot of practice.  My worst issues right now are alignment and taping, so I plan to go on the charm a day program to get lots of practice.  I figure I can make little alphabet charms for all of Ellie's friends as end of school presents if I keep it up.

I have to give a big shout out to Brad a/k/a Mr. Sally Jean, because his wonderful tip about holding my soldering iron properly has made it possible for me to attach jump rings easily and in perfect alignment.  Thanks Brad! (and Sally too. If you ever have the chance to take a class with her, you should!)

I decided to make my Mother in Law an extra present using my new sort-of skill.  She loves dogs, so I made her a big goose egg charm with a dog.  Fortunately, in real life, he does not have the deranged mad dog look that the glare of the glass in my camera gives him in the photograph.  He's all rough and uneven.  I hope my soldering improves with time.  The good thing about making presents for Moms is that they like them despite, or maybe because of, the imperfections.

I had a wonderful time teaching my Dyeing to Collage class at Art and Soul.  It was my first time teaching at this retreat and I could not have had a more gracious, fun class of students.  This was especially important, since it was an overflow class.  Everyone had lots of interest and energy and the fabric that everyone dyed was stunningly beautiful.

We worked with Procion MX dyes on cottons, rayons, and silks.  We also dyed ribbons and trims.

Despite the surprise of finding that the staff had not covered the floor in our classroom, we managed to put together a couple of drop clothes and get to work.

It was fabulous watching everyone's sense of color and fiber come together.  De dyed beautiful velvets (with help from Gracye, who applied color to fabric with abandon and got stunningly beautiful results with vibrant color).

Elizabeth's faux shibori piece was incredible.

Denise's was too!

This is Gracye's crackle dye piece.

And my dear friend Judy, who took my class to make sure I had moral support (and snacks to keep up my strength) dyed some wonderful pieces, including her trims, which I didn't get a picture of, and this vintage linen napkin, which is going to be the perfect background for a collage piece.

Susi did this wonderful piece — far more beautiful than I could get a picture of using my cheapie travel camera in the low hotel lighting, but just stunning.

I wish I had taken more pictures and gotten some of everyone's work in photos!  It was all so beautiful and the range of colors was lovely.  I had students who never left for lunch so they could just keep dyeing and students who ran out for a quick bite and were back in ten minutes.  That meant that the whole afternoon was full of wonderful surprises, every time someone rinsed and ironed a piece dry and we got to see the results.

It was a fabulous day and I am so honored to have had the opportunity to dye with such a wonderful room full of talented women!  There were quilters, collage artists, and wearable art people and it was fun to discuss the diverse backgrounds and uses everyone was planning on putting their fabrics to.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's fabric books, purses, art quilts and more over the coming weeks!