Adventures in Living!

Artistic Validation on a Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday, I spent a few hours taking myself out on an Artist Date. If you've read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, then you know what I am talking about. An Artist Date is time spent on something "out in the world" that serves to renew your creative spirit and gives you inspiration and possibly ideas for your work. For my Artist Date, I spent the afternoon at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond's Craft + Design Show. It's a higher-end show held as a fundraiser for the Visual Arts Center, and it is really fantastic. I have to admit I had never been to the show, even knowing about it and living in Richmond for just about eight years. This year, being in the position I am in with my artwork, and trying to develop myself artistically, I knew I had to go.

It was all that I expected, and more. I saw some extremely fine works of art from an outstanding variety of artists, including one of my very favorites, Joseph Craig English, a printmaker whose work I first saw when he created the piece that would be the poster for the Washington International Horse Show in, I think, 1993. I owned a copy of the poster, and I think he had signed it, but as with a number of my things, it was lost when Kira's dad and I split. I think the poster might be in the barn, but who knows? Anyway, I love his work, and if I'd had the money, I would have bought one of that print. As with all his work, he produces a number of prints and when they are gone, they are gone.

There were a number of fine jewelry artists, and beautiful wearable art, glassblowers, potters, and woodworkers. I chatted with all of the glassblowers, of course, and most of the jewelry artists. It was wonderful to see how so many people took ideas and turned them into beautiful artwork. I thought the jewelry-maker who showed a line of work that was based on renewable energy sources was really interesting, as well as the silversmith whose jewelry was made of cabochons of felted wool. I spent a long time talking beer, Upstate New York, and the fun of going to college in the pre-internet era ("college kids these days!") with Allie Dryer of Pistol-Stitched, who makes the coolest funky handbags. She sews them and makes the wooden handles, too, and I loved them all! Very cool. And a fun person to chat with as well!

Then I discovered the only lampwork artist at the show, Jasmine Keen, who works out of her home in Quincy, Massachusetts. Her work was fantastic, and I think I spent about a half an hour talking to her about glass, getting her recommendations for glass to buy and torches to consider, and sharing my suppliers for silver and copper wire. I had on one of my new necklaces, and she admired it, so I took it off for her to look at. She was amazed by my wire-wrapping and asked if I'd consider doing some wire-wrapping for her if she sent me beads. !!!!! Of course I would!!!!!! I gave her my card and hopefully we will be able to connect again by email and be long-distance glass buds. One of the things I like best about her work is the clear, clear bright colors she uses. She also has a line of earring that are similar pairs, but not identical, and that si something I have wanted to do too. Of course, Richmond is a funny place....very conservative at times, but also very funky, so I don't know if that would go over very well. I'm going to try it though. The conversation Jasmine and I had was outstanding, and I felt SO much better about my own work, the direction my work is going in right now, and what I want to do in the future. She urged me strongly to upgrade my torch setup so that I could expand my working possibilities -- work smarter, not so hard. I have to get the cash together and get my torch and oxy concentrator. I. Have. To. The things I could do with a fast, hot torch...oh, the possibilities!

On my way out of the show, I stopped to complete a survey, and the woman at the exit noticed my necklace. She asked me where I got it and when I told her I made it, she wanted to know why I wasn't an exhibitor. That alone made me feel good, and I gave her my card so she could look me up. Wow.

Oh, this was the necklace I had on. It's called "Gaslights" and it's one of my Industrial Revolution series.

It's a quick and dirty picture, so I didn't catch the focus on the beads. Here's a better picture of the beads:

They are hollow, and the wirework is all copper with a dark patina. And no, it doesn't turn your neck green.

I finished up my day with a quick trip to Barnes and Noble for a new magazine, and then spent the evening in comfy clothes, looking at artist websites and drawing my new ideas in my sketchbook.

All in all, a really fantastic day. Like I said, really validating for me as an artist. I needed the shot in the arm, so to speak, and now I am redoubling my efforts to get my work out there.

I need a better webpage, and a better online shop, and I need to take better pics of my work so I can apply to better-quality shows. Much to do...

A little better today

Still sick, but with a better attitude today, at least. So that's something. Right?

I'm going to take this opportunity to remind everyone that my husband is in fact the BEST. So there.

Random pictures from our household....

MY adorable dog, Ruby. Newest member of the Brandel dogpack.

Wren completed her first session of gymnastics. She's going back for another session.

Kira completed a wonderful project on the Lewis and Clark expedition for her Honors Social Studies class.

And that's all I've got for today....more later, I promise.

Playing in the Kitchen

So, my kids really like to play 'kitchen' and use their (and my!) pots and pans and plastic food to make dinner and serve snacks and all that. We used to have a big, upright Little Tykes kitchen for Wren that we got from Craigslist, but over the year or so we had it, it got kind of trashed to the point that it wasn't fun to play with. Plus, it was a fairly good size, and took up a lot of room.

Once we started the remodeling of our living room/library area, it had to go. I kept all the nicer pots and pans and utensils and play food in a large fabric bin for the kids, and just ignored the fact that there was no kitchen. I noticed recently that both Noah and Wren were getting into kitchen play, and this time, they were using all kind of flat surfaces for their stove. I thought how nice it would be if they had a kitchen again, but there really isn't room for one, even in our larger living space.

Hooray for the internet! I found a blog, Balancing Everything, that featured a tutorial for making a fabric roll-up kitchen play mat!  It was really cute and looked like something the kids would love, so I read through the tutorial and adapted it for my own purposes.

Took me about two days and I am especially proud to say that I bought nothing to make it. All the fabrics and embellishments were already in my stash! Yay !

Anyway, here it is:

 

It has a grill in full flame, a sink, and four stove burners. I used bleached muslin for the top, with cotton fabric for the appliances and various ribbon and felt scraps. The electric burners are detailed using a big fat Sharpie marker, and there is dimensional fabric paint for the stove knob tops. I drew the sink drain with the Sharpie, added a few water droplets with a glitter paint pen, and used packaged tubular bias for the grill grate.

The whole thing is backed with a layer of cotton canvas and a cotton print. I sewed a strip of bias binding to one end to use as a tie when it is rolled up. The three layers of fabric have a nice weight, and it rolls up and stores in the fabric basket with the kitchen toys.

Best of all, the kids love it!

Here is a detail of the stove:

 

and a shot of the sink:

 

and the grill:

 

Noah really liked it; when I took this picture, Wren was busy gathering her 'gredients' for the lunch she cooked.

 

I have to say that normally I HATE machine applique, so in making this project, my skills were definitely tested. However, it really came out nicely, so I am not complaining. And it kind of encourages me to do a few more projects with machine applique.

Hmmm....maybe Noah needs a toolbench....or a soft busy book to practice dressing skills...

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To all of my friends who are traveling to Charlotte this weekend, safe travels, and give our love to Valharic. Please let him know we are thinking of him.

Aaarghh!

I haven't posted in a while, mostly because every time I thought of something good to write about, I would forget about writing it by the time I sat down at the computer.  I hate when that happens.

It's been an interesting few weeks, creatively speaking. I have been getting all kinds of fantastic ideas for new work, both glass stuff and other stuff, but I have been having a hard time making the visions become reality. I keep running up against a number of factors that are limiting my art-making. To begin with, I can't draw. Well, that's not entirely true. My drawing skills are...unrefined. It's not a simple task for me to sketch out an idea and have it look like something I can turn into a piece of art later. I can rarely make my sketches match my visions and that frustrates me.  I always see other artists' sketchbooks, where they work out ideas and plan projects, and I can never seem to do that. I know I shouldn't judge myself too harshly...I'm self-taught in everything I do, pretty much, so any drawing I can do that even remotely looks like what it's supposed to is a good thing.

Anyway....so.....what I really think my artistic issue is, is that I am having a hard time finding my 'voice'....making art that has depth and reflects my inspiration or thought process for the piece. Some of the work seems random and disconnected. I guess I shouldn't judge here, either, because art is truly individual and I know I spend too much time comparing myself with other artists. I just have such a hard time getting a project going and keeping it going and seeing it through to the end. I'm working on it though. I think it all just takes time to develop.

I have to say that I am also kind of sad about missing out on a glass class with someone I kind of idolize a little. Brad Pearson is a local glass artist who teaches fairly regular beginner classes at the Visual Arts Center (used to be the Hand Workshop, which I liked better...). I have been totally struggling with my glasswork lately, so I searched for and found his class....hooray, it starts in August!....and I registered and paid for it. Then later I got a phone call from the center that the class was actually full, so I'd need to call back and get a refund. I was upset, more than I thought I would be, actually. The likelihood that he will teach another class in the fall is pretty high, I think,  but I am feeling more than a bit desperate for some technical and creative help and inspiration and a chance to try out a dual-fuel torch. NOW. I have been burning and breaking glass and destroying colors and copper foil like a crazy person...everything I touch lately has turned to crap. Blah.

Hopefully when I call the art center, they can tell me if he will have classes in the fall. I hope so.

It's taken me about twelve actual tried to get this entry down, and although I am not sure if I have completely emptied my brain of all the junk flopping around in there, I need to be done. Noah has been in here at least six times, dragging me off the chair, and we need to get to the store for some things, too.

Picking up Kira for the weekend tonight! Hooray! I miss my girl.

Drop everything and DRAW!!

Tomorrow! Saturday, June 6th 2009

 

What are YOU going to draw?

Ketchup and Further Thoughts....

Ok, not ketchup....just catch-up...

Let's see....to start with, we're not going to Sapphire Joust this year. This will be the first one I've missed in nine years, but there is nothing fun about taking two rambunctious and highly curious little ones to an event right now. I'd rather entertain them while wearing shorts, and let them play in the pool with access to air conditioning. We've discovered that Noah, at least, did not benefit from my olive skin genes.

I could only imagine how many times I would be grabbing one or both of them off the listfield right before someone needs to yell "HOLD!!".

I'll miss all of you guys, but there wouldn't be any hanging out anyway, more like fragmented conversations while I run after either or both of the kids. Have fun for me, and somebody drink a beer or three in our honor.

Next....I finally finished the two large custom orders, and managed, kiln issues notwithstanding, to get them done and delivered early! Woo!

The daisies, for a parent of a child at a local school:

And the boats, for another school-related thing:

I'm starting my local market season this Saturday, with a market at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. It's a brand new market in Richmond, and already it is popular. I hope it really takes off and I do well there. I won't be doing my previous market, the South of the James market,  and that's a shame. I loved that market, and this year it is wildly busy, but due to communication breakdowns, I wasn't able to be a vendor. I was angry, but I am over it now. I think the new market will be popular, it's in a nice section of town, and it's also a community outreach project of the church's, so that's a good enough reason for me to support it. Plus, the vendors have some really nice things! Come see me, if you're local.

And check out my A Hot Piece of Glass page on Facebook!

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And now for the further thoughts.....

I posted a little while ago about thinking about going back to school.  I realize that I always feel this dichotomy in my life, between art and a 'real career'. In one incarnation, I imagine myself in a high-powered, high-paying, very important career, administrating or managing some crucial organization, being the Director of Something Really Important, or the Chief of Whatever We Need. But when I think about it, there's nothing, except the thought, that really appeals to me about having a job where full-time equals more than 50 hours a week, where I might be expected to (gasp!) wear a suit and heels, where I'd have to use words like 'accountability', 'productivity', 'contribution to the bottom line', and 'revenue-based'. 

I never really was the corporate type.

In the other incarnation, I find myself dreaming about daily work involving creating, helping people to create, and teaching some of my many skills. An art therapist, or art teacher, or even using art therapy and speech therapy combined. And then there's this idea I have that doesn't necessarily require I go back to school. I don't want to share the idea yet, because it isn't fully formed, but it does have to do with art, and with people.

I'll tell ya later.

Lots of crafty goodness!

So, yesterday I did my first public demo of lampworking at the ArtWorks Gallery here in Richmond. It went really well, and I had a decent number of people attend the 45-minute workshop. About the only things that didn't go the way I would have liked was the fact that my new sparklighter failed to light my torch, and I had to borrow a barbecue lighter from the gallery owner, and I was sitting a little higher than I usually do to work, and couldn't rest my elbows on the table like I usually do. Shaky hands make for imprecise bead decorating.

Oh, the beads. I think I made some of the crappiest beads I have made in a while while doing that demo. Out of practice. My bulk tank was empty and I haven't made beads for a few weeks. We got the tank filled on Saturday, so I should be remedying that situation this week.

What else?

Been doing some more sewing....Kira has been reading devouring books from the Warriors series. It thrills me to no end that she is obsessed with reading at the moment, so I am doing all I can to encourage that habit. I made her some fabric books covers for her books, and she loved them.

The outsides....actually, I made the one at the far left for me....now I need a book to put it on...
And the insides. It's a great quick little project that doesn't even use a whole fat quarter, which is nice.
I've also been doing some baking....bread, this time...honey-wheat...
MMmmmmm...there's another couple loaves in the oven right now.....

And Kira and I started a new weekly tradition...Kira and Mom Night! This past week was for origami, which Kira is insanely good at. Here's the proof...
Folding.....folding....

Ok, so we cheated a little bit and use a Flash animated folding guide for some of the more difficult ones. Some of those diagrams are impossible to figure out! (for me, anyway, Kira nails it most of the time)

The crane gave both of us fits!

But, then we ended up with these, which was fantastic!
It was a really fun evening! We laughed a lot, and Kira told me how much fun she had about twelve times on Friday. This week's evening is going to be a Movie Night, I think. Gotta remember the popcorn!

I've worked some more on The Skirt, but I haven't photographed it yet (so yo'll have to wait!). It's sort of at a slow spot now, while I ponder it some more and design the buttons for it.

Ok, time for the bread to go in the oven, and to enjoy a cup of tea and some blessed, blessed silence before Kira gets home and the little ones get up. I think Wren must be getting sick or something....she is actually, no-shit, honest-to-God asleep upstairs. I can't remember the last time she had a nap.

I so needed her to have a nap today.

Progress on The Skirt Project

Here are some pictures of the progress on The Skirt. I haven't decided what to name this project yet. If you've got any ideas, definitely let me know!

Here is the bleach treatment on the front of the skirt....
I actually love the way the letters came out....it's my handwriting, but it just looks so, I don't know...iconic, and crisp...I am really pleased with it. The bleach wasn't too difficult to handle, either, since I am using the Clorox Bleach Gel Pen, and there is a wide tip and a fine point tip on it. There was a bit of a learning curve to getting the right amount of consistent pressure on the body of the pen to make a clean line without bubbles or blobs. Here is a picture of the back, with the remaining text:
One of my discoveries about working with the bleach pen is that the thicker the line (i.e., the more bleach on the fabric), the whiter the "stain" will be.  You can see that "hope" is whiter than "play", and I know it's because the lines were thinner with less volume of bleach gel when I wrote "play". It's ok, I can always go back over it if I want it whiter, but I don't think I will.

I also got some of the imagery drawn in for the panels, too. Here is the front:

My favorite has to be the tree on the "create" panel. That image and text is what inspired the whole project, actually. The spirally tree and branches just speak to me.
I worked on the back as well, but I am not totally sold on the images I have there. It's hard to come up with solid images for concepts like "hope" and "play" and "laugh" that are not related to Barack Obama, board games, and clowns. I'll think of something, though. Just have to let it percolate in my brain a bit longer.

I'm searching for good quotations for each panel related to the theme, and so far I think I have most of them. Paint and embellishment will go down first, then finish with the quotes written in my handwriting in black fine-point pen. I used to write a small message in all of the baby clothes I made for Kira using a black .05 point pen. Wish I had those clothes now. I think they are boxed up in my ex-husband's barn, hopefully not ruined.

I think I am going to thrift-shop for a classic-style denim jacket. That will be my next project. I've got two hours before the kids get home from preschool...I can make a run to Goodwill in that time.

creative overdrive

I love to sew.

My name is Christine, and I am a fabric addict.

I own three machines, all Bernina brand, and tons of notions, equipment, and fabric. I love taking a flat piece of fabric and shaping it into something three-dimensional that I can wear, or use, or display. I don't quilt (not really), but sometimes I incorporate quilting techniques into apparel or other items.

My sewing space, when we moved into this house, was the largest bedroom upstairs. I had a HUGE cutting table on sawhorses, space to set up all three machines, and a walk-in closet for fabric and supply storage, and our SCA garb and equipment. Gradually, we added children to the family, and dogs, and cats, and my sewing room moved to the smallest bedroom, then back to the largest bedroom to share with the baby Noah, and then finally in January, it came to it's permanent home in a corner of the office. Hooray! It's been a bit of an adjustment, but the space is working well so far, even though I haven't had much opportunity to spend much time working there yet.

Except for Sunday. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that last week was so hard or that I finally felt relaxed because I got a few hours out of the house on Saturday, but all of a sudden, my sewing muse hauled off and kicked me in the head.

I had gone thrift store shopping Saturday and picked up a couple of skirts with the intention of altering them. At two bucks a pop, it was worth the effort to remake them, and if I screwed it up, well, it was a total of six dollars. No biggie.

Well, I got started on the first skirt, a black, long, skinny, knit thing with an elastic waistband. I cut that sucker right off at the top, made a casing, and put in some 5/8" elastic. It was done, but plain. I wanted to try my hand at embellishing my clothes, but I had always been too chicken, in case I screwed up. But, how can you really get upset about screwing up a $2 thrift store purchase?

So I got out some bleach.

I found a Celtic knot stencil, and my bleach pen, and this is the result:

Pay no attention to the cat hair and assorted other crud that may be on it, I was so excited that I wore it all day! It's comfortable, and different. I was so inspired, that I went after the $2 denim skirt I got also. That one is inspiring a larger, more elaborate design, though. Here is a sketch I made of the concept:
I adore words, and I love inspirational words used in a creative way. The skirt has eight panels that go all the way around, patch pockets on the sides, and a button and zip fly waistband. I didn't sketch the back, but the words going around the back are: hope, play, breathe, laugh. Each panel will have a design motif that will reflect the word at the bottom. I am using bleach to write the words in, and maybe also to lay down the framework of the design, but then plan to incorporate permanent marker, fabric paint, and maybe some embroidery to round out the design and add a little color.

I'm tired of my clothes being boring, and I don't always have the cash to buy a boatload of new fabric to make new clothes. Restyling is hot right now (OMG, I am actually on-trend for a change!), but it also makes good economic sense AND is a fantastic outlet for creativity.

I have reached the stage in my life where I want to wear what fits, looks nice on me, and is something I enjoy wearing. I don't care about style. I can't even wear most of the current styles (skinny jeans!?, empire-waist tops!?).

Emboldened by my success this far, I also started on a small wall-hanging. I had taken a piece of denim and written "create" on it to try out the bleach pen and see the effect on the denim before I dove into the skirt project. After I saw how cool the denim sample looked, well, I went a bit nuts after that...
It's not even done. I want to add more embroidery and more beads to it. I love mixing quotations in with things, too, so I chose the Picasso quote for this one. See my eye bead at the top left? Do you get the message?

This was the project that nearly had me up all night on Sunday. I didn't want to put it down, and I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it on Monday at all. It's going to have one or more of my tassels on the bottom, too, and some wirework in there as well. I want it to be as over-the-top full of my art as I can make it.

I also have an idea for other words and other designs. So cool. I love it when my creative mojo comes back. Thank God the kids are all back in school today, I'm practically hyperventilating to get into the office and get to work!

The bleaching has started on the denim skirt....I'll post the progress of the project as I go.

And now cabin fever sets in.....

So, the kids have been out of school for THREE days now. The snow is still beautiful, but starting to melt in great big wet globs. Slush covers the streets, and some people (not us!) in Richmond are still without power.

In our house, we have exhausted the possibilities of play-dough, movies with popcorn, video games, and toys. We have built with blocks, colored with crayons, painted with chocolate pudding, and attempted to teach Wren to use safety scissors to cut paper snowflakes.

I think we're done.

Cabin fever has officially set in.

I would be happy to be at home for three days with nothing to do but be domestic. Think of the sewing and the baking and the creating! However, I am not home with nothing to do. I am home with three kids, and trying to keep them from trashing the house while they entertain themselves while I work. It's a challenge. I've been fairly successful at it, especially today when I had to run a conference call at lunchtime. More movies and popcorn. Poor Noah. He has watched more Barbie movies and Disney Princess movies in his one year of life than he should have to watch. Hopefully he will start to make his preferences known before too long.

I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. Tomorrow, all three should go, giving me at least the morning to get some things done that I want to do.

Although we did enjoy the chocolate finger paint.