Art at Stone Lake

Sketchbook Project

I've recommitted to do a LOT more visual journaling.  This is one of the projects I've taken on to keep me limber!   I signed up for the Arthouse Coop Sketchbook project a couple of months ago.  My theme is "The View From Up Here'.  I have to say that I almost backed out because the themes didn't initially call to me.  However, I decided that the challenge was to STRETCH my Imagination, so I jumped into it. 

Link to the site:  Sketchbook Project

The finished sketchbooks will be housed at the Brooklyn Library in New York City, and will travel to other venues.  Quite exciting!

I started out in this sketchbook by turning to my dictionary and playing with each word in the theme.  I collaged in copies of dictionary pages, wrote comments about the theme and even wrote a short poem.

On the left, you can see a piece of fabric that I just liked...nothing to do with the theme.  I just needed to start out with some texture.

This next spread includes shots from a moving train.  On the right hand page, I have a comment that reads: "From the train window, the horizon is clear, sharp.  It's only the near distance that passes in a blur."
 

 

Next spread--I collaged in a monoprint --acrylic paint on glass and then monoprinted onto watercolor paper.  One of the prints looked like mountains and forests from an airplane (left hand page). I made a note that this is an 'interior landscape'--one visible only in my/your imagination.   I love this type of monoprinting. The right hand page is also a monoprint, but the paper was crinkled quite a bit.  More texture.

 

 

I'll post more in a couple of weeks. 

 

 

Artquilting in Costa Rica!

Hi,

 

I think I mentioned on an earlier post that one of my quilts is being exhibited in Costa Rica!  It's part of an exhibit curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, who is a truly world class quilt curator, historian and artist. In addition ot the exhibit, several of the artists also traveled there to conduct talks and classes.  Here is a link ot the FABULOUS blog by Marion Coleman that is a moving documentary.  Please click below to share their amazing journey.

Costa Rica Blog

And, here's a detail of the artquilt that was in the show.

 

 

 

 

New Collages -- May 19, 2010

More new work!  Playing with painted papers, found text, purchased scrappy stuff and my own photos & poetry.

This one is a self portrait titled "Joy in the Music 5-16-10"

This one is titled "Doorway Dreaming 5-19-10".  It's a spiritual journaling page.  I love doorways....

My MiniStudio is Launched!

Well, I had an epiphany on Sunday.  Although we are in small, temporary quarters, I realized that I COULD make art!  I would simply have to focus on certain types of materials and techniques that would be easy to clean up, compact to store, etc.

I decided that using watercolors, pencils,  and the like would be safe enough in the apartment.  So, off I went to buy a few supplies, and a work table.  A couple of hours later, I was up and running.  I decided to focus on making collages using watercolor, found and purchased papers, other materials and my digital art.

Here's one of the first pieces:

Title of this one is simply #101.  I painted tissue and watercolor papers, collaged them and added snippets from an old book of Japanese poetry.

Here's another experiment that went rather well:

TRANSFORMATIONS: 102 AND 103

These two pieces are siblings.  I created 2 collages on watercolor paper.  Then placed one on top of the other, cut them into 4 pieces and reassembled them by using 2 parts from one with 2 parts of the other.  You can't see the cuts in this photo.  I like them both and plan to continue to transform them.

I am building my stash of painted papers and this weekend, I'll start working on photos that I will print on various papers to be used in collages.  I also plan to scan some of the painted papers to use in digital collages.  Wonderful!!!

Sometimes a limitation can lead to greater freedom.

Stay tuned as I continue on this Journey. 

Long Time, No See!

Hello Everyone,I should explain the very, very long silence on this blog (in case you're wondering...).  In the past 6 months, I have been in a long process of selling my house.  That's all done now, but we're living in temporary quarters and I am without an art studio space.  The withdrawal has been difficult....and I may not be back in my art space until this fall. 

In the meantime, I am reading, thinking and dreaming about all the wonderful times to come in my new studio space.  And, I plan to jump back into taking photographs.  I'm shopping for a good, new lightweight digital camera.  I also plan to upgrade to the new Adobe Creative Suite.  It can do magical things and tinkering with software is fun! 

All the best to everyone out there,

Regards,

Carole

Shrines and Memory Boxes

I'm back....and I want to give a Shout Out to The Queen's Ink--a wonderful local shop here in Savage Maryland. If you live inteh Baltimore Washington Pennsylvania area, please check out their website of upcoming classes.  Every class that I've taken there has been absolutely full of useful information.  The Queens Ink Website--click here!

 I had a 'breakthrough' weekend at the shop, taking part in a Tim Holtz workshop where we learned at least 1,000 techniques....Just Kidding!  We only learned about 150! 

Anyway, it was a breakthrough for me because I really learned a lot about completing my assemblages.  Here's an image of my first completed work, and I plan to make many more of these using all kinds of personal and found memorabilia and objects.

I've decided to call these my   Shrines to Past and Future Memories (a name I have copyrighted, by the way).
because some of these works are about dreams of a past that may not have happened yet. 

Here's the first completed Shrine in a Shadow Box. It's called Secret Dream.  You may not be able to tell, but the key says "Secret".   It's spoken for but I will be posting more that are for sale on my website in the coming weeks. 

Artomatic Exhibit Photos

Hi Everyone,

Well we put up the show yesterday--all fiber art!  Here are a few photos to help you locate my space.  I'm on the 7th FLOOR, my space is on an end of a row along the walkway (not on the end near windows).  Can't miss me--you'll see all the bright colors!

Be sure to check the Artomatic site for the fabulous entertainment schedule and hours. And, it's all FREE!!  

 The Venue is located at 55 M Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 and opens May 29.  Hours: 

Open W-TH Noon-10 pm       F-Sat: Noon-1 am             Sun: Noon-10 pm

GETTING THERE:  Take Metro! Located directly above the Green Line Navy Yard Metro Stop, West Entrance.  IT VERY, VERY EASY TO GET THERE BY METRO AND PARKING IS VERY EXPENSIVE, especially when there's a ball game.  You exit Metro right outside the Artomatic building.  The building is wheelchair accessible.

OK--here's a shot of my wall......sorry that it's a bit dark...

HERE'S A CLOSE UP:  I am finally working on my doorways series in fabric after collecting photos of doors for about a year....You can see an early in progress photo in an earlier blog. 

Here's the second doorway piece in this show.

Artomatic Washington DC -- New Work on Exhibit in May 29 to July 5, 2009

Hi,

This summer, I will exhibit artquilts at Artomatic.  Click here to go to the Artomatic Site  for all the details about this wonderful monthlong event. Artomatic is run by volunteer artists, and there are several hundred artists on display, along with bands performing and workshops all month long.  Best of all, you can directly get to the building by using Washington DC's Metro system becasue we are right over the Navy Yard station--Note that there is very, very limted parking in the area so Metro is definitely the way to go!!  DATES: May 29 through July 5.

In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks at in progress photos.  I'll post finshed photos here and on my website when Artomatic opens.

Artquilt made with Batik fabrics.

What do you see?  A seascape? landscape?  moutains and villages?

   A detail view of another Batik artquilt.This is a wild variation on the traditional 9 patch...smile....

When you look very closely at the completed piece, you can see the 9 patches--all of which are the same size. From a bit of distance, the 9 patch grid is almost invisible, but it does give subconscious structure to the piece.  And, I am quite proud of the way the intersections of the 9 patches actually line up...I know that my early quilting teachers would be sooooo proud....

A very early stage of another Batik artquilt.  This one is an abstract based on the central image of a doorway. At this stage, I am working from a base drawing of my own, cutting the shapes indicated by the drawing, and then playing, and playing with shapes, values and color. The final piece may or may not be close to my original drawing.

I love doorways....I photograph interesting ones that I see on my travels. 

Watercolor!!!

For the past 2 months, I've been learning about a new medium...new for me, that is!  I've been taking classes in watercolor painting with  Marilyn Evans, a teacher here in the Baltimore/Washington area.  I'm excited to say that under her mentoring, I've actaully begun to undersand what this fabulous medium can really do.  In previous classes, I walked away feeling discouraged about my ability to learn to use this medium.

Now, I am still very much a raw amateur at it, and I don't intend to abandon textiles or acrylics.  Nonetheless, some magical things are happening because of this study.  First of all, I am begining to SEE the world differently.  I can actually see watercolor paintings everywhere I look these days.  My sense of value and design is sharpening.  In addition to the classes, I've also been reading great watercolor instruction books from the library.  I'll share more about that in future posts, but in the meantime, here are some of my first attempts.  I still find it miraculous that I can take water and paint and come out with something close to my intention.  

 This is a monochromatic landscape using burnt sienna.  My own design.

This is a detail of an 11 x 17 inch painting. 

I used a drawing from one of my instruction books but then deviated a bit.

It's a spring day with bluebells.

Another detail of the Spring day painting. 

I'm just tickled that I can DO this....I love the delicacy of watercolor and its emotional qualities.

My best so far....I did this in about 2 hours in Marilyn's workshop.  It's based on a drawing from Terry Madden's workbook. 

wow...so much fun and sooo much more to learn as I just sit and paint, and paint, and paint......

War Honor Freedom: New Work on Tour

I just completed another work in the War, Honor and Freedom Series.  This is a small piece (about 24 inches square) that just left home (smile....) to tour the U.S. and other countries.  Judy Howard, of BuckBoard Quilts and Heavenly Patchwork has organized a show of small artquilts called "God Bless America".  The show fees and sale profits support a project for creating quilts for wounded veterans.  If you would like to book this show for your organization, please contact Judy Howard at BuckboardQuilts@cox.net

My piece is titled:  War, Honor and Freedom: African American Veterans,  2-27-09.  I've now started using DATES as part of the series titles. It's just easier.  The date is the official completion date of the piece.

Here is a full photo. the photo with the word HOME on it is of my Mother and Father.