Some whining

I've had sick kiddies at home since last Friday, and now I'm sick--miserable fever all day yesterday--strep! I'm on antibiotics, now, and can feel I'm getting better, but this reminds me that fevery, delusional sweating is not fun. I've been out in the studio for half an hour now, and I think I'm going to head back up to the house and make myself another cuppa tea. I'd like to think I'm going to come back down here and work, but I don't know. Pretty worn out, already, and I've only been out of bed for an hour!

The Garden of the Wind

Here's a piece that wasn't finished until I added the text:

Spiritual artifacts
wait silently
outside the
garden
of
the wind



My apologies for the non-functioning link...It's fixed now, I think.

More old Journal pages

Part of the same old journal I dug out of a box a few days ago--Hard to imagine how I struggled through that 2-3 year period of post-partum depression. One section of this reads:

"the sadness rolls through me in waves; unexpectedly catching me and sweeping my feet out from under me. I want to give in and drift out to sea--to float on my back and stare at the blank blue sky until a wave takes me down forever."

More Journal Pages

I've posted some more art journal pages on my web site at ksmithey.com. Just click on the Journals link.

Cloudy Monday

Cloudy Monday, in more ways than one! As usual, I'm having a little trouble getting started this morning, or at least feeling like I'm getting started. I've actually done quite a lot--started a large canvas by pasting down lots of papers (dictionary pages, etc.)--I'm going to experiment with making the canvas a little bit more abstract and colorful--we'll see how it works out--

I've also put some transparent layers of color over a smaller canvas I had that didn't seem to be going anywhere, and glued and painted a couple of journal pages. If I prepare them ahead of time with clippings and paint, I can write on them whenever I want. Gel pens are the only things that really seem to work well over acrylics, so I'll need to dig those out--

This particular journal consists of spiral-bound manila envelopes. I started it three and a half years ago (!) in spring of 2003--just dug it out of a box and decided to work on it some more...

I keep lots of different types of journals--a scribbly "daily pages" one in a cheap spiral bound notebook, a more arty one in hand-bound journals that I make with decorative papers stitched on each page, and messy, completely art journals like the one on the manila envelopes. All of them are good places to make lists, try out new rubber (hand-carved or purchased) and doodle.

I'll close with a three-and-a-half year old quote from my journal,

"This kind of journalling is good for me. It's not about being perfect. I wish I'd have been able to do this when I was young--just to know that imperfect is okay, even good, would have made a big difference. No one would have ever said that to me. Sad."

another critter

Here's a monster bunny to go with the rest of the family. I made fewer mistakes on this last one--as with anything, I'm getting the hang of it as I go along.

Updated my subscription to Teesha Moore's Art and Life this weekend. I love her zines--they always make me feel like playing, and I think that perhaps that attitude (of play) is more important than anything else.

three critters

Puttering around last night, looking for something to sew since that's what I usually do in the evenings, I spotted the scraps of fabric leftover from my slipcovering adventure. I'd just read about some funky art dolls in the latest issue of Artitude, and thought, "Why not?". these three are the result, whipped up in an evening, no patterns, but very cute. I especially like Miss Bighead on the left.

Postcard Series

Came out to the studio last night, which I don't do very often, but had lots of fun cutting and pasting--ended up with three little postcards, pictured here. Isn't it odd how sometimes I just crave color and sometimes black, cream and white are more than enough?

Smitten

I found this dapper gentleman in an antique store on one of the darker days in my life. I didn't have much money to spend, but for $3.50 he's brought me a great deal. I'd like to give him a name and adopt him; I'd like to have him be part of my family--my dashing great-great uncle over whom all the society ladies simply swooned! I just love this guy, and the likes of him certainly have been "Discontinued".

Studio

I also bought an old loveseat at the garage sale this last weekend. This slipcover is a purchased, two-piece one from Target. I moved it out to the studio to get it out of the way, but now I'm thinking I really like it in the studio...

Little Red Chair

I finished the slipcover last night, and I'm so excited--I even put in a zipper, which I've never done before. I may put a skirt on so that it goes all the way to the floor, though I really like the old wood legs with the cool brass wheels... We'll see.

Slipcovers

I bought a little chair at the thrift store last summer. My intention was to learn to make slipcovers, using a simple chair as a test run. Yesterday I bought four yards of red canvas at WalMart ($18.00) and today I'm going to prewash/shrink the fabric. I'm hoping to have the slipcover pinned onto the chair today, do the cording tonight, and then sew it (at least partly) by tomorrow night. I've been keeping sketches and pictures of cool slipcovers for years, so if this turns out to be something I can actually do, then I'll be off and running making some funky slipcovers. I'd like to use different fabrics on the same chair, maybe do some with rick rack in a contrasting color... I've got lots of ideas.

Dot Steals a Bike

This is my offering for this week's Illustration Friday. I've had all the components of this little assemblage sitting on my desk for three weeks, now--the hill, house, bingo chips, and dress--the only thing I couldn't figure out was Who and Why. When I saw today's topic, Trouble, I thought of my mom and the story of how she stole her brother's bike when she was four and he was at school. She got on and started to ride, but as she headed down their hill towards the candy store, she realized she didn't know how to stop!

She's been gone for five years, now, and I miss her lots. It's been nice to use pictures of her in my recent artwork.

To see more of my artwork, visit my website at ksmithey.com.

an experiment

I printed out a reversed word, then simply poked holes thru the paper into the foam, then used the wood burning tool to 'carve away' what I didn't want. Here's a pic of the foam stamp (temporarily mounted w/double stick tape) and the result when I stamped it using acrylic paint.

Craft foam...

I've been collecting ideas about how to use craft foam and thought I'd share them here. When I speak of craft foam, I'm talking about a whole class of products, including, but not limited to, the sheets of craft foam you can buy at Walmart and Michael's. Yesterday I went to the dollar store looking for kneeling pads for gardening. Of course, I didn't find any (it's a dollar store rule that you don't actually find what you're looking for) but I did find some thick foam door knob hangers and some of those foam puzzle pieces they use on the floors in pre-schools...

I've also nabbed the foamies that my kids used to play with in the tub (when wet, they cling to the tile wall, but my kids mainly just used them to gnaw on..) Amazingly enough, there are loads of ways to use these things to paint and stamp!

1) Reusable texture stamps. If you hold these over a light bulb or heat (carefully!) with a hair dryer/heat gun, then press quickly into something with shape or texture, these will pick up the texture--I've copied carved pieces of wood, carpet texture, wood grain--you name it. They won't pick up fine detail, but they're wonderful to use with paint or pigment ink and you can reheat them and use them over and over! I've even made intaglio images of bold rubber stamps using this technique. One of the rubber stamping companies (maybe Colorbox?) sold these several years ago in the form of thick foam blocks--I believe they were called penscore, as you can also draw on them, though that would be permanent--expensive, and easily replaced by the cheap bath toys...

2) Mounting for unmounted rubber. I got this idea from Michelle Ward's web site. She attached large, trimmed rubber alphabet stamps to garden kneeling pads using contact cement--washable, durable, padded, and cheap!

3) Make your own stamps by cutting foam sheets. I wanted a very big, kind of antique-y alphabet last year, and made my own. I typed the font and size I wanted using Microsoft Word, then traced the letters onto foam sheets, and cut them out. Perfect for using with messy paint! I temporarily mounted the letters/words I wanted using double stick tape since I try to save storage space, but these could be permanently mounted on thicker foam using contact cement. I've also made design stamps this way as a cheaper alternative to handcarving my own stamps.

4) Make your own stamps by burning the foam using a woodburning tool. This came from Traci Bautista's new book and works great. The fumes are a little strong, so I'd open a window or turn on a fan or work outside, but what a fun, easy way to make a stamp!

Collage Unleashed

I ordered Traci Bautista's new book, Collage Unleashed, and WOW! Almost too full of new ideas to try! I've been playing in the studio all morning, having so much fun... She taught at Art and Soul in Asilomar last February, and when I saw what her students had made in her class I knew I wanted to take a class from her if I ever got the chance.

another house

Another house, and this one's finished, I think. Really enjoyed doing this--Fun, and out of the box, for me, at least.

Another Monday

Shouldn't be a surprise, I know, but it's Monday and here I am, spinning my wheels in the studio. I've got the Dinah, the 55 pound puppy, in here with me since she was chasing the goats... Actually, the goats don't run, only she does, around and around them in circles, but it's not very relaxing to watch and probably not good for the (pregnant) goats, so here she is with me. Not tremendously conducive to work, as though anything would be on a Monday morning! So she's alternately whining and chasing her tail (kinda like what I'm doing, now that I think about it!).

The one bright spot of the day, quite ironically, is that it rained, hard, last night. First rain since we've had since April, and I love cloudy, rainy days. It's the first time I've had to turn the lights on in the studio (other than at night) since I moved in, and it's wonderful.

So off I go, to work and listen to the water drip off the roof. It is a good day, and I'll get back in the groove. It just takes time, and maybe another cuppa tea...