In the studio

Lots of this going on the studio this week.

How was your week?

(best to watch full screen)

In the studio

The Connecticut chapter of Surface Design Association (SDA) met last week for our monthly gathering/summer party to share ideas, ask for suggestions, tell about upcoming exhibitions, etc. Anita Balkun shared Esther K. Smith's How to MAKE BOOKS.

The book is wonderful, beginning with the textured cover. 

Helpful diagrams are found throughout. 

This morning, while my not-so-little urchins were still asleep, I decided to try a few of Esther's instructions for making accordion books from one sheet of paper.

After folding and refolding per the diagrams, I turned the sheet over to begin cutting. The spiral is more visible this way.

The last step is folding this way and that to transform one sheet of paper into a funky accordion. The corners create a V in one place and an M in another which break the traditional accordion shape. I'm eager to try this again with more folds...and with paint on both sides of the paper. Stay tuned!

In the studio

With my not-so-little urchins in summer camp last week, it was possible to get back in the studio.

I've been thinking about my rusted stash lately and brought this piece out to ponder. The full piece is approximately 72" x 96" with crisp rust prints amid ghost images of the rusty gear. The whole is wonderful and I would like to keep it whole, but all ideas for what to do next just flee what viewing it.

After a round of printing on tea bags, the layers of text left on this sheet of freezer paper caught my eye. Wonder how an image of it would look printed? Hmmm...

And then there were the tea bags.

Stitching together a gathering 

of words from a few years ago.
27 of them. 

The Red Boat - in progress #3

There's been a whole lot of piecing materials together,

stepping back to look,

noticing little details and, of course,

sewing.

There's even been a curator's visit and selection for an upcoming exhibition so, while the full piece can't be shared yet, The Red Boat is complete. Well, as complete as a work is sans hanging device. Does that count?

My mind is now contemplating what to make of the remnants...

The Red Boat - in progress #2

Last night I dreamed of being back in Newburgh, Scotland and standing by the river's edge, searching for the red boat even though India let me know that as of her last visit, it was no longer anchored midst the Tay.

In my dream, a low, gentle sound could be heard in the background. 

Almost a low rumbling, like very far off thunder, 

but not quite. 

Regardless where I walked along the shore, this sound was present. 

 It wasn't threatening, but was insistent.

Sort of like the friendly growl one receives from a pup who wants to play.

Not an airplane though, nor cars driving through town. I woke from the dream shaking my head and stifling laughter (didn't want to wake the house too early) because my waking mind recognized the sound immediately. Can you guess? 

By Thursday night, I'd printed what felt like hundreds of layers and had sewn 6 panels. This was how the display board looked at quitting time. Good, but too many panels.

Yesterday morning, I decided to see if it would be possible to crop the photo so that the whole boat fit on one page. To achieve this, the paper needed to be 13 inches x 11 inches rather than 11 inches x 17 inches as the rest of piece is. 

It worked great - one panel replaces two, giving a less cluttered look and feel. As this is all one humongous learning curve, I've been sewing the photo in strips - or panels - as cropped in Photoshop. While I like the look of the uneven panels as well as the movement they afford, I still wonder at my original intention to sew it all together into one big piece, rather than it being one large piece comprised of smaller components. The jury is still out on that one.

The extras stack is growing, providing ideas for additional works.

My one complaint about my printer (Epson Photo Stylus 2200) is that it gives no warning when ink runs low. That lovely yellow in the middle should have been red. Seems I'd worn out the light magenta.

So, have you guessed the sound that was present in my dream yet? Yes. My sewing machine. Time for a break today, wouldn't you say? Enjoy!

The Red Boat - in progress #1

I've practically been glued to my sewing machine so far this week.

Once I overcame my fear

of totally screwing up when the sewing began, that is.  

At some point yesterday, after panel 2 was hung (left side of photo), I stepped back to look...and breathe...and admire. Is it proper to admit that? Yes. After all, if I don't like my work, how can I expect anyone else to? Still, there's something special at play here. Perhaps it has to do with place, people, memories.

As the stitching continued throughout Monday and Tuesday, my mantra was keep it simple, just keep it simple, let the photo be the focus, keep it simple, simple, simple.

After feeling stagnant all winter, the energy in the studio is welcome and wanted. The ideas are flowing, some so fast that they are only snippets or shadows moving across my mind. There, but not. Or there, but not yet fully formed...or formed enough to be cohesive yet.

Midst the whirlwind that is presently my creative mind, panel 3 was begun, bringing with it the first glimpse of the red boat.

The Red Boat

This past Wednesday I had an idea, a grand what if involving my favorite photo of the red boat that was on the River Tay in Newburgh, Scotland back in 2013.

I use this particular photo all the time when working with the tea bags - partly because of the beauty of the place and partly for the memories and profound effect that week in Scotland had on my art and life...and continues to have.

What if I printed that photo large? Not 10 inches x 12 inches or even 24 x 36 large, but L A R G E. Six feet wide type large. Could I? How? What would it look like printed on multiple sheets of tea bags? Did I actually have enough tea bags? There was only one way to find out - just do it.

Thursday found me sitting at the computer and figuring out how to do all the technical work in Photoshop. Friday I cut freezer paper to 11" x 17" and attached it to the same size printer paper to help add stability to the page when feeding it through my printer. Yesterday morning, I lightly ironed tea bags to the pages and began printing.

And printing.

And printing.

Between 35 and 40 pages. So far. 

Multiples of the same area to allow for depth, and possibly movement, when all is done.

There were minor blips, a few tea bags became wrinkled a bit going through the printer. 

The Red Boat, in progress

still attached to freezer paper

71 inches x 54 inches

The fun begins tomorrow when I start sewing...

Time

I've been sitting here at the computer for the past 10 minutes or so, trying to decide what to title this post and, well, what exactly to say. There's a part of me that wants to wax poetic about time and how it seems to have slipped right through my fingers even though said fingers have been trying their best to wrangle and contain it. I mean, will someone please tell me how it has come about that this coming Thursday is Thanksgiving?!? Seriously. How is that possible?

I feel a bit like my sewing machine...only my speed is closer to the turtle's pace and position - just near enough to catch a tail wind without actually being swept up in it.

Words and phrases keep floating in the swirl that is my creative mind at the moment - taproot, connectedness, being, serendipity, hope, peace, be present, be here now, who is Jan Baker?

Memories of Santa Fe and stitching summits play along side the words. Visions of work yet to be created beckon me to the studio while life pulls me away

and declares that it is time to do this or that or another thing before I can steal away to the studio.

I know that studio time will come but with the beginning of the holiday season upon us, my brain is screaming  
WHEN??? WHEN??? WHEN???

 

And that's when a little voice inside my head meekly points out that over the last few days the dining room has been my studio as I measured, pinned, cut, sewed and ironed slipcovers and sashes for our dining room chairs and that the time doing so was time well spent. And that little voice would be correct, but shhh....don't tell her.

In the studio this week

Urchins in summer camp = studio time! 

 This little page 

 spurred a lot more of this,

 which resulted in all those holes.

 And that just begged for its own bit of red.

What did you do this week?