Keeping Cool in the Studio

We lost power for almost five days due to the big storm that ripped through Ohio and on to the east coast last Friday.  The hardest part for me was not being able to wake up and head into the studio as I’d been doing since my son finished school at the beginning of June.  I was really enjoying getting in there every day and making progress on things.

I have been painting a lot since taking the class with Carla Sonheim in April.

Today I finally got back upstairs.  And I was lost as to where to begin.

So I cut circles.

Of course I left my little Fiskars in the bag I packed to take with us to the church where we had shelter during the power outage, so I had to use these scissors.  That meant I couldn’t cut out the centers yet.

I kind of like how they look piled up here waiting for me to finish the cutting.  Nothing like cool blues and greens on a hot hot summer day (we’re looking at temps near 100F for the next several days).  It helps that the air conditioner blows at my art table too.

I’ve been taking every July for the past several years to work on personal projects.  This year July has sure gotten off to a weird start.

What have y’all been doing to stay cool?

Now for Something Completely Different

I have been working on a few different things, mostly involving painted paper or paint on canvas or sometimes a little of both.  Ironically some of these experiments were to get away from the fiddliness of working with patchwork.  Gluing is still a lot faster than sewing. :) 

Summer Carnival, painted paper on canvas.  I use Golden gel medium to attach the paper cutouts to the canvas.

Detail.  Here you can see the different mark making tools I use to make the painted paper.  These include Print Gocco (the fish), linoleum prints (the red dots in the upper left area are a frog), and carved stamps (the white star-like forms and the white stars).

Autumn Lotus

This is one of those things where I got a crazy idea to cut a bunch of lotus stencils out of a sheet of painted paper.  I am unsure whether this is in process or it is complete.

Koi Spring

This technique was so cool that I decided to try it on a larger scale.  My fingers weren’t too happy with me, but it was worth the effort.

Detail, you can see the dots from the sequin waste I used as a stencil and the detail of the red koi shapes I painted onto the original paper.   This piece is definitely still in process.  Stay tuned for updates.

Into the Void  Acrylic on canvas with graphite drawings added.  I am unsure whether this is complete or whether I want to go back into it with some india ink or liquid acrylic to emphasize the lines.

A detail showing the graphite drawing in more detail.  I like the way the paint washes blur the lines of the drawing.

The texture in this piece comes from some rice paper that I had initially adhered to the canvas, again using the Golden gel medium.

And today, after a several week hiatus due to mom duties (hockey and school), I was able to get back into the studio and begin a new painting.

In the Between, acrylic on canvas, and still very much in process, though it was nice to get back into the studio and just play with paint and color.

Free Falling

I have gone from working in the studio with no idea of where the work is going to hanging three shows during the month of June into July.  For the first time in years I can see space in my studio because so many pieces are hanging somewhere else.  It’s exciting to revisit the old work when I am picking it for the shows and I am loving the extra room on the art table.

The third show hangs on June 19th, and I am working on some new pieces for it.  Here’s what I have so far:

Painting supplies.  Some of my favorites are the stamping materials to add texture and shape.  I’m also really liking the use of the pure pigments to help in mixing specific colors.

I am painting on 22” x 30” Fabriano 300lb Cold Press watercolor paper.  I am making a series of larger collages based on the idea of a summer carnival.

One of the most exciting discoveries of this series so far is the use of foam pipe insulation as a stamping tool.  It  makes wonderful circles.

The pipe insulation also can be squished to make these great ovals.  That was an accidental discovery, which happened when I was on the phone with my daughter and gripped the tube a little too tightly.  The frog is a linoleum carving I made in undergraduate school.  I have used him for many things now.   This is painted in contractor’s paper which has been treated with gesso first.

Another take on the frog motif, this time on a recycled cereal box.  You can also see the fish silkscreen I made in the background of this one.  I just love the contrast of turquoise with the warm orange and red.

This piece is waiting for some yellow dots made using sequin waste as a stencil. 

I am really excited to see how these pieces come together. 

Where’s Your Brain At?

For the past two weeks I have been participating in the Right Brainers in Business online video summit.  This course is offered by Jennifer Lee, author of the fantastic new book The Right Brain Business Plan.  Each day a different creative entrepreneur offered their insights and advice on ways for people who are more right brain oriented to overcome their stuck around creating a workable plan for their business.  The presenters have included the wonderful Danielle LaPorte, Tori Deaux and Goddess Leonie, and have inspired all of the participants to get their hands dirty and have fun while planning our various businesses.

One thing that I’ve been playing with in my head is taking my designs out into the world on a larger scale.  Licensing my work is one avenue I intend to explore this year. Another path I am looking into is to follow Natalie Chanin’s model, and supply work to the people in my community by offering them the opportunity to assemble pieces in their home.  I live in a rural area, without a lot of opportunity for traditional jobs, and I believe this could work.  I am especially excited about being able to help people who may not be able to take a job outside the home, either due to transportation restraints or because they are taking care of small children or ill relatives.  I also want to keep as much of the process local as possible.

Of course this all scares the pants off me.  After all, who am I to think so big?  But after spending time with Jennifer’s book and with the online community at the summit, I am ready to allow for the possibilities.

With that in mind, I created my first right brain business plan.  It’s an accordion book, which I made using a strip of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, torn down to size.  I painted the background with acrylics and then silk screened and stamped on both sides.   Here is what I have so far:

The whole plan.  I used images from magazines as well as color copies from some of my more traditional work to lay it out.  One of my role models is Mary Engelbreit, whose colorful, inspirational and whimsical images are licensed on products from fabric to puzzles and greeting cards, and I put an image of her at the beginning of the plan. 

Jennifer talks about finding what values are important to you, and I keep realizing that “Fun” is something that is important to me.  I want to create objects that make people smile, even while going about every day chores such as shopping or working at their computer.  I also wanted to remind myself that it’s never too late to start, and that there will never be a shortage of ideas.  The crayons and markers represent the fun tools I can use in creating the designs.

In order to see this vision through, I will need a team of people to help bring it about.  I included images of this in the middle of the plan, including one of a group of women sewing together and a sewing machine.  I hope for the business to grow, and also to have fun while growing it.

Finally, how is the finished product going to get to the people who want it?   I love this image from a UPS ad, because packing and shipping generally freak me out.  Eventually someone else can be in charge of “expediting” (or is it “logistics”? I can’t keep the terms straight LOL), but this image reminds me that it still can be fun.  The best part of creating is the dialogue that happens when someone loves a piece and purchases it to take home with them, and these smiling faces remind me of that happy feeling.

There is a lot more content in the book and I will be sharing my process with you in the coming weeks and months.  The next step is to work on the details, which go on the back of the pages shown here.  I highly encourage you to look into getting a copy of The Right Brain Business Plan if this looks like a process that could work for you. 

And remember to leave a comment for a chance to win a prize pack of Kathy Cano-Murillo’s novels!

Time Travel

Twenty years ago when I was in graduate school, I wanted to do a series on water towers.

I took reference photographs.

Water towers on Route 33 near The Plains, OH.

Water tower on the grounds of Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

I took my two toddlers out and parked in the parking lot of the local credit union and drew in the back seat of the car.

Water towers, Route 33, Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons on Arches Cover Black paper.

Water towers, Route 33, Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons on Arches Cover Black paper.

And I drew from reference photos, in my studio.

Gaffney, SC, Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons on Arches Cover Black paper, 40” x 30”.

(I couldn’t find my reference photo to put in this post.  Ironic, isn’t it?)

That’s as far as it got at the time.  There were a few false starts at paintings that ended up covered over, but these images were all that I had for a very long time.  Then I decided to revisit the imagery in my quilts (blog posts here and here).

And, while searching for a way to make some images that fit the parameters of a show calling for pieces no larger than 5”  in any direction, I remembered a technique described in the book Freestyle Machine Embroidery by Carol Shinn.

Carol took her source image and printed it out onto transfer paper.  She then ironed it onto a stiff fabric and filled in the image using machine embroidery.

Which I decided to do with the old drawings.

Route 33, Autumn Afternoon  Machine embroidery and photo transfer on twill.  5” x 5”

Detail, showing the layers used to create the feeling of the undergrowth.

Gaffney SC II, still in process.  You can see the twill on the borders.  I also use several layers of interfacing to stabilize the fabric and minimize distortion during stitching.

Here you can really see the texture of the stitches and of the twill underneath the iron-on.

I am using Golden Extra Heavy Body Gel to adhere the finished stitching to the canvas, pressing the work between two boards weighted down with paint jars.   Once the gel is dry, I trim the image close to the canvas and then paint the edges of the canvas with a coordinating color of acrylic paint.  In the future I may experiment with making the edges of the canvas covered in machine embroidery as well.

I really enjoyed working this way, and am eager to make new source drawings (of various subjects) to work from.  What treasures do you have in your studio that could provide a springboard for new creativity?

Come Sail Away

“Safe Harbor” 15.5” x 15.5” 2010 available at my Etsy shop

New year, new blog.  Or as Cobra Bubbles put it, (in the Disney film “Lilo and Stitch”) “New job.  Model citizen.” 

I’m not sure how I will fill either of those criteria, but I felt it was time to change things up and become a bit more focused.  I had outgrown the “AndiBeads” label, and, let’s face it, most of my blog posts there had nothing to do with beads. 

So what are my plans for this new start?  Well, obviously, to share my art with you, but also to provide some tips and tools to help you along in your creative journey.  Look for downloadable worksheets, some step by step “how to’s” and more on our travels together.

I am a firm believer in free-range creativity and allowing things to develop organically, so for now there isn’t a set publishing schedule.  Over time as themes develop, days may be designated as “time management Tuesday” or some such, but for now, just sit back and enjoy the ride.