Monday, July 27, 2020

Experimental Sketchbook Class: Time & Space to Create




Some of my work during the weeklong class.
It was perhaps the best art class I've ever taken at University. 
We were encouraged to experiment.
Push out of our comfortable ways.

I started getting scribbly & messy (not shown here)
so it was a relief to do some minimalist drawings.
Zoom grids became an integral part of my experience.
I wandered out of my familiar box.
I cut up one of my watercolor "still life" grids
and pasted fragments into a booklet.
And then, relief, back to the familiar~ 
except with a bit of a grid.
A grid containing The Tiny Fears of Rita
Les miniscules craintes de Rita
We tried a wax resist/ink wash/charcoal layering technique
that Maine artist, David Lewis, uses.
(His drawings are very sophisticated & refined...) 


We collected shadows by tracing actual shadows.
Some of the students turned their results into imaginative
imagery, unrelated to the original subjects, and then 
turned them into handmade books.
I loved my Swedish Ivy design & didn't transform it,
except to put it into an accordion format.

Last class exercise: Do 20 versions of the same object, 
using various papers & drawing materials.
I got 3 done in our half hour allotment...

But THIS is the idea which I most want to continue
at the moment...20 objects? 50? 100? 
Maybe they would be painted and drawn, then,
hand sewn together into a paper quilt that folds 
into a book. We shall see...

The beautiful thing is that I have SO many wonderful
inspirations & directions with which to continue.

Thanks to my instructors & to the class, composed of
young undergraduates, graduate students,
& some oldsters like me. 
So much inspiration,
& this is only the tip of the iceberg...

Monday, July 20, 2020

Summer School!

"Experimental Drawing and Sketchbooks",
University Class...
So motivated, so happy!
The assignment here:
Create a drawing of your studio space.
The scene chose me, grabbed me instantly.
After all this compartmentalized Zooming,
it was interesting to focus on relationships 
between objects. How my eyes play tricks on me, thinking 
that things farther away are bigger than they are. 
I was so rusty, had forgotten how much
I love to draw!!


Thursday, July 9, 2020

Art Journaling Group: Using a Grid


Art Journaling Group. 
It was my turn to present. 
I showed Lyn Frye's Smallies 
from her blog, A View from the Oak. Do visit!
I've mentioned her Smallies in a previous post.  
 For Lin it is an ongoing daily practice. 
I did it for one month last winter.
 I loved choosing my image or event at the end of each day. 
It was like having a special lens with me,
a way to pay closer attention.

(To see my previous post, click Here.) 

 The idea I presented this time, to our Zoom group,
 was, using a grid, to virtually invite 
one another into our homes 
by writing/drawing things that are close to us: 
literally & figuratively. 
Things we would show if we were having 
guests in our homes.
I loved the personal images & stories that emerged.
My own grid ended up fading into the background, 
but created a nice framework for little drawings. 

It was fun to teach a little something again...

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Cool Summer Colors. Vibrant Fabric Colors

A little road trip off the beaten path. 
Not the coastal route with tourists & cars 
& clusters of restaurants and hotels.
This was roller coaster ribbon roads, 
forests, farms, scattered country homes.
Occasional views of distant fields 
& faraway mountains.
Destination:
 A fabric store in the city, about 50 miles away.
I've been luxuriating in assembling 
vibrant colors of cloth.

And yesterday I basked in 
cool country colors 
on a wet summer day.