Tuesday, May 29, 2012

3rd Annual Artist Retreat - Monday part 2

What to say about our Monday? It was a blast! As mentioned in part 1, the previous first day of our retreats have been total disasters. Truly. Whatever Pam and I tried just didn't work and didn't work on a huge scale. At some point late in each day, we'd stop, think, discuss and light upon a plan that, in the end, was the right one.

This year, my plan was to figure out what to do with my rusty fabrics and to go home, not just with ideas, but with the bones of pieces that can be completed later. 

 After a show and tell

 of the rusty sort


we each set to work. Pam in the annex and me at the display board.


Inspired by the way two of the fabrics were laid on the floor [see second photo], I started with the rectangular grid piece. It went through several iterations before arriving at this one. Pieces are pinned and a bit of hand stitching may be needed, but the bones are there. So...here's #1.


#2 went through two or three versions before keep it simple starting playing in my mind. So, I did.

Meanwhile, in the annex, Pam was painting on a lovely translucent cloth that is scrumptious...



and has me wondering how it would rust, truth be told.

In between, in those moments of rest or just times when it was necessary to step away, we played with...what else?...rusty bits. And paper. And tea.





And talked of Fiona and Susan, wondering what they would think of our experiments.

At the end of the day, we were tired yet thrilled with the progress we'd each made.


#3 was pinned and hanging, waiting for a final decision to be made while


water and words danced in the annex.

6 comments:

  1. thrilled indeed!
    rusty paper and tea - yes...

    xox - eb.

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    Replies
    1. Thought you would enjoy the tea rusted papers.
      Keep seeing the wonderful journal that accompanied you on your travels recently...the rusted pages are sublime.

      Delete
  2. Oh my goodness. I turn my back for what seemed like a minute and look at all that has been happening in your corner of the world. I simply adore all that I seein this post but two things appeal to me as a paper lover - your rusty bits and tea on paper Jennifer are delicious and make me want to run outin the dark and try some of myownrusty bits on paper. All I have doneisrust the actual paper but not place rusty bits on. The other thing I adore isPam's soft subtle blue watermarks on fabric. Has she tried anyon paper??? You are having fun aren't you! Excuse all the blended words - I have blogging gremlins. X

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    Replies
    1. A most resounding YES to your query of whether or not we were having fun. From beginning to end, the week was wonderful.

      Pam has some unryu paper that she was thinking about trying her water technique on. When I left, it was yet to be explored and will be. She has made artist books before and kept commenting that it would be great in a book. Her books are masterpieces...just as the rest of her work is. I'm a bit biased, can you tell?

      As for our rusty explorations, it was great fun to pour a bit of green tea on the paper, plop down a rusty bit for a while, lift the bit up and then let the remaining tea run as it would across the page. The unpredictableness [is that even a word?] of it really appealed to me. I've yet to try rusting the full page as you do. Another day when there's more time...

      Hope the blogging gremlins have moved on by now. It was fun to read jumble of words though!

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  3. i keep coming back to your pages and posts of this last week or working with Pam. There is so much really suggestive play between your rusted pieces, cut and overlaid. All adding new beautiful layers. And just when you think something is beautiful, I sense that you play again and something even more beautiful arises. Smiling ....... nay, grinning is more like it!

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    Replies
    1. Feel free to visit as often as you'd like Susan. Anca Gray left a comment, forget which day it was, about last week with Pam. The first two lines were

      Haven.
      Heaven.

      Anca wins the prize for most succinct, yet most incredibly insightful and accurate description of the week all round.

      As I said in one post, it was a week of what ifs, just do it, keep it simple, focus and crop it. I found that the pieces that seemed incredibly busy as a whole were those that exuded life and energy and joy when cropped. It was so freeing to stand and tear piece after piece. To hang the results, stand back and view... Well! Grins all round! And more than one happy dance too.

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