Giveaway, the Big Reveal

Today Duncan made his selection from the names I'd faithfully written out on bits of paper for him to play with, careful to include everyone who'd asked to be in on the drawing for the little watercolor of the orchid.

We were a bit delayed, since he had decided to sleep instead. He's feeling his age, nearly 15, and the warm weather.  So I let him finish dreaming.


Once he woke up and got alert, and after he'd had a drink of water and a trot about, to get in good picking form, 

he consented to wander among the paper bits, playing, until finally his paw came to rest, and I rescued this slip

So, watch the mailbox, dogonart! too funny really.  But there were no rules about relatives and employees being ineligible to enter this valuable drawing.  Duncan got right onto it, wonder if he remembered doing this once before.  Thank you everyone for your interest, and the nice email comments I got.  This was fun.

Duncan is back on the sofa resting up after his exertions. Then, after the excitement abated, I got on with a bit of plain sewing I have been failing to do for ages.  

These are lovely linen jackets, name brand, but I'd rather have them as overshirts, so I'm shortening sleeves and the body.  They're too long for me, and I don't need the buttoned cuffs.

I did get the blue one finished, and looking much more useful. No need to get too rushed about this, tomorrow I'll do another. I get lovely linen items from the thriftie, probably because people just can't be bothered to press linen, beautiful as it may be.  I don't press it very often, either, but a bit crumpled is part of the look.

Some other summer stuff I have finally had to admit is way too big for me now, the opposite of the usual situation, I know, so there are several items for the Giveback Box now on the spare room bed waiting to be filled.  I appear to have settled on being permanently small, no point in keeping nice items other women could use.

May the Fourth be with you!! perpetual motion

So just for the silliness of it, a few little figures in motion

As you see, one on the nearest piece of paper, which is a decorative notebook thing

 People in the park

 Cats, dogs, mice, spiders, people

High time we had a giveaway, so here it is:

Long time since we had a giveaway, as a thank you for your faithful following and commenting and emailing and tweeting and chatting in person.

So here it is:

Watercolor, wet in wet, on Arches cold press paper, 8 x 5 inches, painting of my friend Helen's currently blooming orchid, her pride and joy!

To take part, please comment here, or in person, or by email, I'm open to all, and I'll put the names on slips of paper, and let kitty Duncan do his thing and pick one out.  He's pretty good at it, and I think it's more fun than software doing random choices.. 

I'll give it a few days to let you have the chance at it.  Please make sure I can reach you by email, so that I can notify you if you're the winner, and get an address from you to mail to.  If you're on Twitter, a dm will work, too.

New adventures in art and poetry for you, thought of you right away

Recently I made a couple of great finds, via radio, and I really want you to know about them in case you didn't.

One is a wonderful documentary, A Change of World, Poetry and the Women's Movement,  narrated by  Meryl Streep

Do go and listen. I remember so much of this from the time, though I was not at all in the poetry world in any sense, but it was clearly a big wave of change, and very heartening.

Go here 

And the other adventure originated with Wisconsin Public Radio, which pretty much saved my sanity in that first long winter when we came here and were finding our feet.  This is a great one, part of TBOOK, To The Best of Our Knowledge, from Lynda Barry, yes, that one, the cartoonist, on  making art even when you don't think you can, and why it's important.  

This was a great adventure even for an ancient artist like moi, and I would love you to give it a try. Her ideas are great.

Go here

I tried a few of her prompts, and had a wonderful time.  Here are a couple of drawings I did with eyes closed, yes, really.  

And here's one I did eyes open

You can see that it's more coherent, but look at the difference in energy and life in the eyes shut ones. There's a lot more going on there.  It's a great thing to try.  And listen to Lynda when she explains why you need to avoid dismissing your efforts within two seconds of seeing them, this is important.  Drawing is not about copying something to look like something.  She understands this profoundly.

Anyway, there, a couple of gifts for you for Earth Day!  it's about celebrating all sorts of human energy.

New stitching adventure

What with one thing and another, the transparency of some of the antique quilts at a recent display for the embroiderers' guild, thanks, Lyna, and the transparent images I made a while ago from my own artwork printed on fine silk, and then some recent views of goldwork, thanks Evie...

It all came together in a rush, and here's my new stitching, set up and ready to work with.  

I have here a backing of a satiny sort of fabric with a sparkly fleck in it, with two transparent layers, one a photograph I printed on silk, the other a line drawing of a tree from the same trees in the photograph, but at a different season.

So I need to put in stay stitches first, to stabilize it for work.  Then I might rehoop it in a smaller hoop, I'll see.  My stitching will go through all three layers, so they need to lie well together.

I already did a choice of threads to use, maybe not all of them, but this range anyway. Silk, and some actual gold thread for goldwork, and other metallic threads.  Starting it at stitch-in this evening.

Easter, Passover, Spring in General wishes from the Dollivers

The Dollivers broke out the Easter eggs for 2018, and posed with them, plus the Dolliver Kennels denizens.  NameMe, the wrangler, preferred to pose with her dogs, since there were small cats in the display and she did not want a commotion.  This year's eggs are currently in the possession of the Dollivers, each of whom commandeered one.  There will be screams of rage when they find it's only a loan.

Three go to my cleaning crew, who tell me they're amassing a nice collection, one to Handsome Son, and one to Me. 

In the display you'll see a pink and a blue sort of sparkly pair of eggs. Gift from two little girls down the street last year! what a treat.  Their mother told me they were playing Easter Bunny.. The resident Boehm bunny failed to show up in time for the photoshoot. He's there now, but I declined to reshoot for latecomers.  He's probably been reading Alice in Wonderland, I'm late, I'm late..

 
And if you can spot the tiny blue and white Wedgwood teacup and saucer, you'll see in there some of dear cockatiel Emily Hope's  eggs, decorated and kept for years and years in her honor. 

Little display, packed with memories and fun stuff.  Hoping your weekend, whether it's Passover or Easter or just a nice restful secular weekend, will be the same.

Apron revisited and improved

Margaret, a stitcher friend, gave me this all-cotton apron a while back, white, ready for any decoration. I dyed it a while ago with turmeric, random dye, and finally today I got around to altering it to give it pockets.

Just turned up the hem, using fusible web to stitch the sides, added in two more inner seams to make three pockets, then played with stencils.  

A food related motif seemed about right, using marker. I may actually stitch those seams to reinforce them, too. 

Hanging in the kitchen, here, showing how the three pockets work.  Like a carpenter's apron.  But in use, they don't flop open. 

 

Graphite study from Michelangelo head of a warrior

Today's golden rectangle drawing is from a golden age of drawing, a study I made this morning of Michelangelo's study of the head of a warrior.  

I think he used red conte, and the head is one of a number of small studies on a single page.  That's why it's facing left.  If it were the main subject, it would more probably face right.  But here it probably would be directing our attention to the center of the action.  If you want to study it for yourself, go here

It's great practice, to teeter valiantly on the shoulders of this particular giant, and explore how he modeled the face and how the tilted angle affects the shadows and proportions. See how that invisible eyebrow juts out? and how the lip turns? and the bony ridge above the eye shows as a light area?

It's a good idea now and then, not too often, to copy a master drawing.  It's like replaying a great chess match, where you can understand better the underpinnings, from having walked them yourself.  Your own drawing, or chess, really improves from doing this sort of practice. Better to do it only occasionally so you don't lose confidence in doing your own original work.

I did this in 4B graphite stick, and rubbed with my fingers to soften and model the shapes, then lifted out areas with a kneaded eraser.

Drawing again, dieffenbachia

Today's drawing is a golden rectangle 8 x 5 in, of a couple of dieffenbachia, done in graphite and charcoal, shapes lifted out with kneaded eraser.

This technique is fun to try, if you haven't before.  Just tape off the area of the drawing, then swipe your graphite stick or soft pencil back and forward to cover the entire area.  Then lift out shapes by using the corner of a kneaded eraser like a pencil, just draw the shapes you want.  Then a few touches of charcoal pencil to give a bit of definition here and there.  This is a bit like reductive monotype making, and that's fun, too.

And, as always, don't use a photograph.  That will guarantee any drawing will be dead on arrival.  Go from the actual model, in this case a giant dieffenbachia rescued years ago from the dumpster by a neighbor and brought to me, since he thinks I'm the local EMT for plants in distress.  I had to do radical surgery on the original, to result in three flourishing plants.

More golden rectangle adventures, drawing this time

I taped up a few pages of my drawing paper with golden rectangles, 5 x 8, for a few drawings.  One drawing a day, not too ambitious.

Along the lines of just draw what's there, don't agonize over a subject, I drew the ficus and Chinese evergreen aglaonema, using a fine Pilot pen

and today used my 6B (very soft) carpenter's pencil for another corner of the living room.  

I sprayed this with hairspray to fix it, since it smudges instantly if you don't. 

Paper's white, but the ambient light affected the pix.

The CQteers made my day

After the excitement of the last few days of weather and other events, it was so great to find this in my mailbox today:

Total surprise, three wonderful art cards from the CQteers, the group in which I have honorary membership.  Largely because they meet about a thousand miles away from me.  It's the least labor intensive of all the artist groups I'm in, and as you see, they are great fiber and collage artists.

Such a treat.  I think I really have to frame this collection. But first I have to handle the pieces and look on the back for the good wishes as well as the front for the art. 

Thank you, Mary Ann, Sue, and Irene!

Plainsboro Artist Group meeting, show and tell

Big group for last evening's meeting of the Plainsboro Artist Group, and the usual wide range of art shown.  This is a knowledgeable group, and you never go home without learning a thing or two!
So here's a random showing of artists wearing their art, and showing it, too.  Works in progress, asking for feedback, completed works ready to enjoy, this is a lively group.  You'll see oils, pastels, charcoal, acrylic, poured work, knife painting, watercolor, collage and mixed media.

 They were not posing for pictures, but deep in discussion of techniques, advice, planning, and you can see their intensity!

Way to spend a late winter Sunday afternoon

Membership meeting of the Princeton Chapter EGA, and with the return of a member from the sick list, and an introduction to a potential new member and skilled stitcher, and a lot of stitching forms in progress, a lively afternoon happened.  Full disclosure: your humble blogger does not have a stitching in progress, so worked on her cashmere sock.

And brought in Mittens-sourced items for presents, which went home with half a dozen stitchers.  Rug hooks, for a member, seen below in quilt mode, who teaches many stitching forms, and has added them to her toolkit.  Bone crochet hooks to another, laying tools to another.  All went home happy.

Anyway, if you'd been there, you'd have enjoyed all these works:

Florence deciding on the background color for this artwork, and considering the dark blue
 

Carol almost done with another needlepoint pillow, I think a Kaffe Fassett design
 

Other Carol, center in great jacket, teaching today's counted cross stitch project

Lyna, modeling a great shisha stitched top
 

Above and below, wonderful fine needlepoint work, yes that's stitching, not a printed design!
 

If anyone's counting, there was an approximate 70 year difference  from youngest to oldest in today's group.  Kindred spirits don't see barriers there!

So it was fun, and I almost fell into guild blog mode here, but it's just my art blog, don't get carried away...

 

 

More adventures in looking, picture books

I've become interested in picture book illustrators lately, not a form I want to try particularly, just to learn about and enjoy appreciating.

And I found a great book at the libe which is a kind of buffet of artists writing about themselves, showing drafts and finished works, all directed to children.  

So they write simply and in a friendly style.  It's very enjoyable for adults to browse through, too.

Especially this lovely entry towards the end. 

 I was surprised because I had been skipping the prose and looking at the pictures (!) and when I opened this, not knowing what to expect, it had the full effect on me!

I really recommend this book for just fun, no matter whether there are kids in your life or not.  You might be the kid in your life. 

The people behind this book can be found at the Carle Museum in Massachusetts, Amherst to be exact, and their website is here 
They have a blog which shows various programs they offer, mainly to children, but very good for beginning artists of any age. You can access the blog through their main website, and sign up for the RSS feed, which I have now done.