In the studio

Since returning from Pam's and my 6th annual artist retreat, time in the studio has been hit and miss. It will become even more so over the next few weeks as the school year ends and my little urchins are home until summer camps begin.

My plan for the summer is to rise early and get in the studio for whatever period of time the day brings before the girls wake. This means quiet, focused work. Don't want to wake the urchins too early! 

Over the weekend, I cropped the craft paper that had been printed at Pam's

and began sewing the sections together. What's happening in your studio?

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Saturday in the studio

Yesterday was another great day in the studio. 

Circles abounded as did creative energy and ideas for future work.

 

After piercing another line or two, 

 

 

I enjoyed hand stitching with the red thread - watching it play with the circles and skim the surface of silence to continue its journey. 

 

At some point in the day, X decided it wanted to join in the fun.

Pam continued to experiment with her newest piece.

White on white. 

Layered circles.  

It's stunning.

Space was cleared so it could be hung for better viewing while Pam worked on it. Lights were added behind it and the effect was wonderful. Sadly, my photographic skills are not quite enough to do it justice.

In the afternoon, we ventured into town to watch the happenings at the art center - steamroller printing on 4 foot by 8 foot wood cuts. More on that soon. There's a bit of time to be spent in the studio this morning before all must be packed. Time to head downstairs...

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Friday

What if? Just do it.

Those phrases are the basis of Pam's and my artist retreats. Our friendship is the true heart of these weeks together. At times, much chatting and laughter floats back and forth through the studio. At others, the silence is comfortable and signals serious work.

Friday morning, I went down first and took this shot of Pam's blue circle. It was lovely - the result of her experiments on Thursday, putting paint and ink on paper and letting it run into whatever pattern it deemed right. Knowing Pam as I do, I knew this piece would likely be cropped.

And it soon was. 

While she cropped, I played in my sample books, making marks that echoed stitching.

Thursday Pam had wondered what would happen if she attempted to sew these materials together. Would it be easy? Would they compliment each other? Just how would the merging of the two look?

So, she did. 

Meanwhile, I was back in the annex painting black gesso circles on kozo, tea bags, unryu, antique Japanese  

receipt book paper, craft paper, pre-made journal pages, rice paper, white gesso-ed book pages and vellum.

Back in the other part of the studio, Pam had cropped the blue circle even more.

Her marks sang on the paper and the sewing machine fairly hummed as 

 the accordion book was constructed.

While Pam and George stitched away at their end of the table, I contemplated what would happen if I pierced one continuous line in a Merchants and Mills journal that I had purchased from Christine Mauersberger's Hank and Spool shop.

With Pam's encouragement...telling me to just do it...I did. The length and hard covers made it a bit tricky, but it was successful. A single hand stitched red line runs through a third of the book so far. 

And that got me wondering what it would look like if I did the same with this roll of rice paper.

So...holes pierced, the red thread came out again. It looked so good wandering across the single row of black gesso circles 

that I decided a few more would be even better. What do you think?

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Thursday

Thursday in Oz began much the same way Friday is - rainy. And that's just fine because there's the most wondrous studio downstairs to spend the day in.

I decided to keep things fairly simple yesterday because there was this pesky little coptic stitch that needed to be worked out (fingers crossed - think I finally got!). The pages are some sort of rice paper that came on a roll from the local art supply store at home. 

While I jeopardized the sewing machine, not George, Pam started to print

on paper

and cloth.

She experimented with combining cloth and paper. Can you tell which is which?

And then the real magic began. I can't adequately describe just how much fun it is to watch 

when Pam puts ink on paper

 and begins to play.

We ventured out for lunch. If you're ever in the area, you've got to stop by 715. Get the cauliflower soup.

A quick stop in Sweet had me laughing 

over the messages on the tea towels.

This one nearly had me on the floor in fits. I will admit that there have been a few instances when my little urchins' antics had me speaking in tongues in response...only to think "OMG! That's just what my mother would say" seconds after the words left my mouth. As tempting as it was to take this little gem, I opted not to...yet.

Back in the studio, we worked away. Pam finished the 4th in the series that she's been working on this week while I began working in another sample book.

Thursday ended with a real treat - a skype session with our friend Fiona Dempster of Paper Ponderings. From Oz to Oz, the interpixies behaved well enough for us to chat and laugh, exchange stories and just visit in person/cyberspace for a bit.

Stay tuned...

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Wednesday

Wednesday began with me waking early as is usual when at Pam's. Partly due to the 1 hour time difference and partly because my waking mind was immediately running and jumping, shouting what ifs and let's just do its until there was no recourse but to get out of bed.

Tiptoeing through the house, I ventured into the studio to crop Tuesday's pages.

Once organized, they were simply bound into sample book 3. 

The day found Pam  and George continuing to dance their way

through completing pieces 2

and 3

 of a tryptich.

From time to time, I took my place at the other end of the table to sew on paper. 

Most of my day was spent what if-ing. Experimenting to see how different papers took similar marks, I worked with Rives BFK (above) and craft paper (below) that a local art supply store wraps around full sheets of paper to protect them.

Using ColorBox ink pads, letterpress, sponges

and my hand, it was fun to see how such disparate papers took the ink.

Tuesday's printing experiment was repeated using a piece of pierced Rives BFK as the printing plate. The craft paper took the print much crisper than the rice paper.

I learned that while acrylic inks and paints dry quickly on Rives BFK, the ColorBox inks need much more time than my impatience allowed to thoroughly dry. Light weight craft paper prints beautifully, but watery inks will bleed through to neighboring pages when working with a single thickness.

And, even though sample book 4 was completed, there's a universe to learn about coptic binding. Either that or I just cannot follow written directions no matter how simply written...