Art Challenge on!

As I wrote before, I spent a week on Monhegan Island last summer with two artists friends, Carol- Anne Centre and Cindy Hendrick.  We rented a cottage with a studio and we all did our "art" for the week.  It was very special to be a part of this and I spent the entire week working on my new artistic endeavor, block printing (it felt like I was away at art camp but with wine and girlfriends!).

 

 

 

We loved it so much we are doing it again, actually this will be CA's 12th or 13th year going, Cindy's 3rd or 4th and my 2nd.

This past week we got together to chat, catch up and laugh about our time on Monhegan and to dream about this coming summer.  So getting into the spirit as we sit in the middle of snow covered winter, I suggested a challenge.  CA does watercolors and ink drawings and CH does oils and I do block prints.  I suggested we each pick a famous painting and choose from the selection - like a raffle - and then winner is the painting selected.  We then have about a month to paint or copy in our style.  The gals brought their selections over, and I commandeered Tom to make the selection.  I chose playing cards to represent each of our pieces, Tom suggested Ace, Two and Three.   Each card representing the alphabetical letters of the three of us in this particular order:  Ace for CC, Two for CH and Three for NT (me), he shuffled the three cards many times. (and he did not see all the submissions either, so he had no preference over one image or another)

and then drew the winner...the Two of Spades

Two for Cindy.  The visual on this particular Two of Spades is even more representative of our friend as she is a MAJOR gardener!
Here is the winning painting...

And these are the other two that didn't get picked this time, but if we enjoy the challenge we can do these as well...
Carol Ann's painting by Robert Henri (wooded path) I think we hiked through this path!

and my selection by Fairfield Porter's View with Sailboat

I challenge any one else to join us for the fun of it! Feel free to post your results on my Festive Fibers Facebook page

L-R CA, me, CH Watching the sunset over the Monhegan Harbor

The Printmaking Begins! Experiment #1

Here we go, I had a very productive day last week and am pretty pleased with my first trial.  I definitely learned a few things, and as students of mine know from classes I teach, have given myself a healthy bit of self-critique.  To coin Martha, "It's a good thing" (critiques, that is!)

As my inspiration was wood block printing, which I am still planning on doing, I thought it very efficient to try the block carving and printing using a much easier type of block to start.(mostly at the moment my spare time is so limited I am purely thinking of efficiency)  So I used rubber blocks.  They are super fast to cut and I can do the preliminary technique trials on them and then get into the wood idea - that pulled me into this new (but not foreign for me) medium - as I feel more confident.  In all color theory classes I teach I always encourage students to get to know the color range of your medium; watercolors, dyes, fiber, oils, pencils, whatever the medium, do some sort of color trials.  This is to know where your tubes or tubs of pigments will take you.  (I look for restrictions too, can I get my favorite brights?  Is color clean? and if not I try to find a different brand or do some more blending)

So things I tried and learned.  First was don't forget to flip your tracing (to reverse it)  While this scene looks basic, for many folks it really is an actual scene on Monhegan Island.  oops!  But for my first trail no big deal. Second, I tried brushing the color, watery, onto the block with brushes, but it was too soft -and while that can be pretty it was not the look I was going for.  So since I couldn't find my brayer, (I have one, just where it was? well you know how that goes) I used a sponge. 

Third is, find all your tools!  I don't mind the spongey quality of the inks but also not the look I am going for, so I went out and bought another brayer.  I plan on using the same block later in this week to try more color blending, so I will post the next grouping.  I also want the stamping elements (the little red flowers) to be more opaque.  I am using all water based inks and acrylics, so we will see how this works out. 

Happy New Year and Resolutions

      As I started this post a month ago I was wishing everyone a Happy New Year!  Now it is days away from Valentine's Day, and snow is coming down as we sit on the edge of an historic New England Blizzard.  This past of New Hampshire, often just lies on an outer edge, so we have about 8-10 inches rather than 18-24 inches (thank goodness!)  Probably like many of you, I have hopes that this coming year will bring new and exciting opportunities, bringing family and friends close-by, and maybe the strength to stay away from sugary baked goods and get outside and get physical!
      In January, I sat with two girlfriends planning a summer vacation.  Carole-Ann and Cindy are both artists/painters.  CA has been vacationing on Monhegan Island in Maine for years.  She goes to paint.  She has invited me the past few years to join her.  Last year Cindy joined her, their stories and art were, well - inspired.  So I promised the both of them, this would be my year to join in.  We looked through websites of cottage rentals and found one.   My goal for this week in July is to have the mental time and space to be creative.  The past two years have found me working at jobs rather than fiber or art or textile design, and my part time jobs have turned into working almost 7 days a week!  How did this happen? Opportunities, I guess. Yup and I took them.  So my New Year's hope for myself is just the same for you too, probably; hope that my opportunities shift a bit and I can get back into the position of getting income from creating.  I am working on it.
      What's on your creative to-do list?  While my list is large, time is very small. While that sounds restrictive, I am appeased by the gift Santa Tom gave me.  SIX! color inspiration books to keep me going.  Tricia Guild of Designer's Guild and Susan Sargent.   So how am I going to focus on that week in July?  I am planning.  When you think of it, it is like ony one of my students who plan all year to come to one of my workshops or Fling or any other spectacular organized event where one is surrounded by joy, creativity, fiber and art.  This year for that week in July I will be a student.  I am prepping, studying, learning gathering art supplies and then hope to use those 7 days wholly to create, and gather inspiration.  I am pondering wood block printing, and silk screening.  It has to be relatively portable as well.  I want to find out which inks are good for printing on paper and which are good on tees or silk scarves?  What kind of paper should I bring and print on?
      As a textile designer, my felt making was surface design in fabrication.  Now I want to revisit the printed surface process.  I loved silk screening in college and never pursued it. I really became intrigued in the idea of wood block printing after I watched a video of wood cut artist Carol Summers making one of his prints..  I grew up in a home that had a huge print of his on the living room wall, it is shown on the retrospective page called Aetna Alive 1964.  His process was not at all what I expected from wood cuts, and really resonated with me as how textiles would or could be printed. so I am planning on exploring this style of printing.  Maybe while I am planning and working out the process I will also use my images and inspiration from this last October's trip to Italy?  My photos from Venice are so spectacular I really need to do something with them as well!
     Meantime: here is my latest library shelf full of inspirational reading:  (I think there was lots of Ebay and Amazon involved and they are all used, but beautiful condition.) 

I would love to hear what some of your visual inspirations are for color and ideas?  Care to share?