The Artist's Hand, book of ink drawings

I've assembled last spring's EDM drawings into a second book, which I've called The Artist's Hand, the name of the cover drawing.  This whole book is drawn on mulberry paper, including  the covers front and back.  I assembled it in a series of signatures each with two drawings, attached with strips of mulberry paper which becomes invisible in place.  Then I stitched each signature with a herringbone stitch, leaving long tails. Then I stitched through the covers in two places, sliding the floss through the herringbones, and finishing with a knotted end.  This way, once again, the book opens flat to see the drawings.  These are all musings on what's around me, my own hand, the workbag, the washing machine, the bookcases, the cherry tree branch outside the window,just everyday matters, which are full of significance if I pay attention to them.

I'm seriously thinking that this is a way to go this year, to assemble the work I like enough to keep and display, into artist's books.  Then I can discard work I don't think enough of!  just think of all those drawings and paintings you have, hundreds of them, in the studio, just lying in portfolios, well I have anyway.  This might be a good destination for them.

The Great Reveal -- the EveryDay Matters book of paintings and drawings

Here's the first of the two books, the paintings and drawings I did on Arches hotpress paper last Spring, using ink, wash, Caran d'Ache crayons, and whatever mood struck me at the time!   I edged all the paintings with transparent duct tape, the kind with a filament running through it, very strong, then stitched each page with blanket stitch, leaving long tails at start and finish, which I then braided and knotted to fasten all the pages together.  This method allows the book to open completely flat on each page so that you can easily see the painting. 

The book is titled EveryDay Matters Spring 2012, and the back cover is a self portrait, which I thought would be a nice addition, given that you usually get a pic of the author on the back cover of a commercial book!  As to the destination of this book, not yet decided.

Two Kinds of Magic

As I was working in the studio today, I heard either Penn or Teller, never know which name is which, on radio talking about how during his magic act, he offers to show the audience how he does the magic, but if they don't want to know, they can close their eyes until he does the actual trick.  He says that there seem to be two sorts of audience for art: one absolutely does not want to know what went into it, just wants the output, and the other is fascinated by the workings behind the scenes.

He describes his art form as the unwilling suspension of disbelief. Which occurs to me now as another version of Picasso's comment that art is a lie that tells the truth! I've rarely bothered to do work in progress shots, since for me art is so fast and furious that I can't stop to take pix in medias res, so to speak.  But today it happened that I was working on artist books, a sort of dull bit, the idea having been digested and now being executed, over how to put the pages together.  So I thought it was a good time to indulge anyone who likes to see items in progress, and here's the current state of the studio.

I'm creating the two books I mentioned ages ago, wrt the EveryDay Matters website I take part in.  I made drawings and paintings almost daily last spring, with the intention of creating books from them eventually.  Eventually is now here, and I figured out the logistics of attaching the pages, and creating and attaching the cover, so I'm involved in doing that.  There will be stitching and adjusting and more fun before it's done.

Here you can see the stages of the pages and the covering of cardboard to make covers, using mulberry paper, same as I used for the drawings themselves.  This book will be titled The Artist's Hand, and the hand drawing will be the front cover.

Here are the sets of pages, with an applied margin of mulberry paper which I'll use to stitch them in sets of two then in the whole group.

And the worktop, carefully kept neat so as to keep the glue where I want it, and not on the pages

The other is the series of ink and wash paintings on hot  press paper I made more or less alternately with the mulberry paper work.

  Either back or front cover, not sure yet, will be a rather anxious self portrait I made through two mirrors -- self portraits tend to be very intense, because the artist is engrossed in the work, and can't be looking cheerful at the same time! I really want to give a shout out to all the artists and blogistas who gave me their reactions to the parts of these books as I produced and showed them in here and on EDM. Very helpful responses, for all kinds of reasons, thank you.

That was then and this is now....

Too bad the artist can't develop as fast. Here are my finished "tiles". The original image was a closeup of my face, taken by obliging Tatiana, another of the artist group, and processed, with transparencies, varying degrees of intensity xeroxes, by Donna Senopoulos, the gallery manager and manager of this project -- she's an artist, as you can guess. So here's where it's at.

The charcoal drawing is one I did many years ago, not of my own face, but resembling it somewhat at that period, as most drawings of faces tend to resemble the artist. Then there's a paper weaving with a stenciled nautilus image, in another, and a "series" of artist faces in another, superimposed on paintings, and a painting of my workbasket packed with scraps and bits, in another. That last one is probably a good analog of the artist mind, come to think of it. Anyway, here it is.

And here am I. This is the day before my birthday, so I thought it was a good way of leaving the old year with a bang!

Portrait of the Artist as a Work in Progress...aren't we all

I'm part of a group project, referring to the town I live in, and the people who live and work and play there. One part of this, which will be exhibited in due course, once everyone's had his or her say, is a series of small self portraits, artist style, on illustration board. They'll be shown tiled, and I'm working on mine. The first three, one still to think about, are at this stage of realization:

More will happen, and they'll be trimmed down to squares, but this is where it's at right now. As I say, the artist is a work in progress, and so is the art!

Home and Away

At home, here's the big Douai bible and the little Douai bible (same bible, different print and page size), in their new covers, as planned yesterday.   Some fabric left over and I'll figure out what its destination will be at some point.

Then, a rescue work:  among the belongings of the local EGA chapter, one of the outgoing Presidents found the banner, unfinished, and all forlorn. 

So she presented it to me when I became one of her (three!) successors,and I've hemmed and dowelled and pressed it, and plan to hang it at our monthly members meetings, in case we forget what chapter we're in...I just wanted to honor the stitchers who designed and almost finished it.  There's a pencilled in place for an escutcheon, too, which will probably house a stitched emblem of the chapter, but that can wait a bit.

Catharsis hurts

Sometimes recycling hits home in a way that is hard to handle. This current piece is the opened up bag, which originally contained the ashes, in a container, of Handsome Partner. The ashes long since scattered in a favorite place, the bag, a dark blue velveteen, has been sitting in the coat closet on a shelf, because it was such a dilemma. You can't toss such a thing. You can't use it as a bag, though it was designed as a drawstring bag, so it has sat there, causing a stab of pain when I went in for a coat.

Then today it occurred to me that HP would have been very amused to see it given a new lease on life. I cut it open, and have stenciled, in metallic turqoise and copper, a natural design. This will be a book cover, probably for my Douai bible. And there will be more fabric left over, to use for some other respectful kind of cover.

This feels much better. And handling it when I handle the bible, will feel good, too. But all the same, suddenly I feel very tired.

The Pairs Project continues

Here's the latest pair which has emerged:  a film photograph collage, which I made some time ago, choosing subjects very close to my house, and a tapestry rendition of the same concept, using embroidery floss,crochet thread and beads. 

Marginal photo rendition, darkest day of the year, I guess, despite my adding light here and there.  click to see better, though.  Size of photo piece about 5 x 8 inches, of the tapestry about 5 x 12.

Silk dyeing for upcoming workshop

This is the later stages of my preparing for a workshop for my embroidery buds.  I'm leading them in a session of free form embroidery on silk.  I've taken habotai silk, handrolled squares, and hand dyed them with silk dyes, various techniques.  I did twenty, each an individual artwork, and probably there will be a couple of extras after enrollment is filled.  I showed a couple as a preview at the holiday party, and they went over well, so I hope this will be a good experience.  Click to see these better.

Many hours in the studio to do this!  after this I decide whether to use a fixative -- these pieces are for stitching and framing, not washing -- and I have to press all the pieces for best presentation. Then wave them about to release the static!  but great fun all the same.  And I have to wrap a bunch of hoops to protect the silk as the stitchers work on it.   And write the how to guide for seeing, deciding, choosing stitches, colors, areas to work in, and so on, for people most of whom don't have experience in the fine arts, but whose stitching skills are off the charts good.

Aside from the days I had to empty the studio in case the walls had to be cut into for the famous leak situation...but all is calm now.

This experience, of teaching a stitching group, is a real crossover for me, working in fine and applied art at the same time.  I already know the people, and they're very receptive, so it ought to work.

Local art association

By way of a complete contrast to the more formal event last evening with the embroiderers, we had a regular meeting of the local artists' group, with some excellent new artworks on display, and discussion.  Nice group, good friends there, too.  Tatiana, this means you!

The Embroiderers' Holiday Shindig

This is the main holiday party I'm going to this year. Everything else is low key and few people.  But this was the firstEGA holiday party I've been to since I joined the embroiderers, and it was great.  Wonderful dinner, all chef cooked, pastry chef did the desserts, wine, atmosphere, everything.

And a big turnout, most of the chapter came, and we had a business meeting in between present giving and awarding of awards for various activities, the extent of which would make a person's head spin.  This is a busy group, what with outreach teaching and membership promoting and donating needlework materials to people who need them.  And we did a show and tell of work completed this year, a fraction of what actually took place. Also in attendance at the bash were the husband of one member and the mom of another, caught them both in the fourth pic down.

All the members do embroidery in all its forms, needlepoint, cross stitch, hardanger, pulled work, crewel, and some also do quilts -- some miniaturized quilts seen here -- and my own door prize was a great pattern for pulled and drawn threadwork, one of my favorite stitching adventures.  I showed a few of the silk pieces I'd dyed for the workshop I'm teaching in early February, seen in the second to last photo, end of the table,and the participants perked up on seeing them, so I think this will go well.

Some of the pieces on the show and tell table are rescued -- including the Princeton chapter banner, stitched on heavy linen, and now in my custody for my term of office, newly installed tonight,the banner found in the general stash, nobody sure of its history, but we plan to take care of it. 

All in all, good to be us!