fabric doodle

even though this is  a teacher exemplar, i'm excited about this process for myself. it's another one of those "i've been meaning try this out for an embarrassingly long time" things. turns out, it's fun and almost exactly what i had hoped for. the watery painted shapes is a common element in my work so this is also a sampler for myself as well.

first, i brushed some clean water onto some spare fabric. i added more colors after i took this shot:

i expected it to spread a LOT more. i might have to soak the fabric and let it drip dry for a bit when i do this again for myself.

i skipped some steps here but i added more color and water. i was really try to get a tie-dye effect. now, you could just draw and sew right on this and it'd look pretty cool. but i think this next step is going to be a hit with the kids. i used some fusible webbing and ironed it on the back of the painted parts i thought looked the best. then i cut out those patches from the fabric. fusible webbing is great!

then i cut out shapes that i wanted, peeled off the paper and ironed them on my final fabric. since it's a "doodle" i didn't plan this out too much.

i used a mark b gone pen to doodle a bit. the lines disappear with water.

the drawing and colors are all made with kids in mind so i don't think i picked colors and the doodling i would have if it were purely for myself. not too much drawing either because the more lines you make, the more sewing you have to do! i don't want students to see something i might work on for weeks and go nuts drawing lines they won't have time to sew. eventually this will be turned into a small "no sew" pillow that the kids will make. again, fusible webbing is awesome.

applying myself

my application for an artist residency has been submitted. i have no expectations and would be completely shocked if i were accepted.

the gathering of work, pushing myself to finish somethings and finally, stepping back and coming up with why i made them in the first place was an important process. so either way, i win. it's also like "it's been 1 year since i basically stopped teaching full time and here's some stuff i did instead." 

could i have done more? sure. but it took about 6 months to even get to a point where i was making things that interested me. 

there was an image limit so my workaround was to put multiple views in one photo. the photo quality isn't perfect but here's some submissions i finished this year. i've also updated my website (current work and past projects specifically).

working title: im there; youre hungry. 2015. hand embroidery. 39 selected texts that i've sent to my husband this past year.

bed head. 2015. silk screen.

what is next. 2015. hand embroidery on paper.

sprout. 2015. hand embroidered painted paper shown with chlorophyll beverages.

diamonds in the sky. 2015. painted & folded paper with cotton candy.

there's about 9 more slides in the portfolio besides these, and i'm hoping they show my versatility but also seemed connected to each other. 2-3 pieces are OLD, but i think they still work. 

the most challenging part by far was the proposal. what the heck am i going to do for a year long artist residency? i have ideas but explaining their function succinctly was extremely tough. i don't think i actually did it, but i certainly tried.

i wonder what will happen.

spring has sprung

i finished the 100th sprout today!
it'll be a little more time before i can install them the way i'd like, but i haven't posted in a week and wanted to put something up.

loading spring....

50% complete.

early sprouts can be seen here.

sprouts

without thinking about it, i still make things that coordinate with the season.

this one has just started and will take some time but i'm excited about it. not because it's an awesome idea--it's just okay. but i'm excited about it because i think it'll be pretty.

it's fairly technical  in some ways. color matching, specific stitches. but then other parts are pretty loose. size of "sprout," size of paper, torn edges, stitch pattern.

i estimate i'll have at least 100 of these. i already have a good idea of how i'd display them (differently than shown).

they'd also be good in the same room with this piece --if that piece were hanging on a wall with puffs of cotton candy in them that you could of course take and eat. there'd be a cotton candy machine in the room too...

also, without realizing the connection until now, i started taking chlorophyll with lemon juice this week (thanks Paula and Jenny for telling me that's a thing that happens). so obviously, in my hypothetical gallery, there'd be shots of chlorophyll nearby so viewers can truly drink in the green-ness.

all the greens

i'm stalling. but at least i'm pretending to make progress.

we were in a forest in costa rica right after it rained. green seemed to envelope us.
nick told me that humans see more shades (hues?) of green than any other color. i totally believe it. we began to think of all the "official" names of the color green we use. like "mint, sea foam, spring, sage, lime, olive, hunter etc." most are food related and there's lots.

but i tried look this up for scientific back up and if it isn't on a forum that's pretty dumb, then it's on wikipedia articles that are way too complex to be fun anymore.

so without being willing to find a trusted source or prove that's it's true, i just simply tell myself that it's an adaptation because, not only are we (or at least we were) surrounded by plants of all sorts, we had to figure out which was what in order to use them without dying. like for food or medicine. being able to differentiate between all the greens became a way to survive.

i suppose if we ate rocks, we'd be able to identify and cleverly name more colors of grey and brown.
yummy yummy rocks.

ANYHOW:
this is all me figuring out why in the world i'll care to spend so much time doing the next few projects i have in mind. it helps to remember that green is a pretty important and "loaded" color.

in preparation, i made another one of these color charts using most the blues, greens and yellows i own so i can see the variety i can get. turns out i don't have that many.

these charts are easy but require lots of brush and palette washing to keep colors pure. the results are useful though.

unknown untitled

shelter flipped

recently started reading the accidental universe: the world you thought you knew by alan lightman. it's probably over my head and i think i'm not absorbing it because i'll spiral into an existential puddle. but it seems to be setting up the idea of multiple universes and the science of things for noobs like me before it gets into the relating it to nature, spirituality and the emotional fascination with understanding the universe(s). this is very untypical reading material for me and i think i might hate it.

the "tent" idea came weeks ago (before the book). at first seen as shelter or camouflage from an unknown, or maybe the opposite? at least that's where the ideas came from; it's unclear where it's all going!

the pins on top were to have a tiny flag on them but for now, i'm leaving them a little more dangerous to the touch. i've poked myself a few times handling them carelessly.

tried using my very cheap light box kit (again).
i basically have to use it "wrong" for it to even come close to making a picture that's decent.

tiny skies

i'm not sure what these are yet but they're fun to make.

starry, dark skies pretty much don't exist here in chicago. most of the time i'm okay with this simply because clear, dark nights remind me of the ringing vastness of space---it's suffocating and causes some panic.

but the night sky is so beautiful, romantic and mysterious. i prefer it to all other types of sky even though it scares me.

so maybe these are just bite size galaxies that i can hold and comprehend. they're safe, lovely, a little accidental and maybe even adorable at only 2" diameter.

probably more to come out of these ideas soon.

in progress: experimenting with acrylic gloss medium.
it turned out to be a fun game letting it ooze within the circles' borders just by tilting the paper.

in progress: the white dries clear. this has potential for lots and lots of layered effects.

not glossy is really pretty though.

flat out

i love all these together in their flat state. to me, the colors and textures are beautiful. i've been putting off assembling them into the diamond shapes because then i can't hold them all at once like mysterious playing cards.

the flat shape folds into the open diamond. neat, right?!

"UNO" card colors on the back

the backs of them are just okay. i wanted something darker and a little ugly for the inside to contrast the other side. recently i've come up with another paint treatment that i like a LOT more, but i'm going to just move forward with these they way they are. it'd be too difficult to paint them all separately and keep the edges and fronts sides from getting messed up.

braids in blue

i made this early on during the  30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!

green

i made these weeks before the 30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!

threes

just playing around with composition. and drawing hair the exact same each time is much like trying to actually style you own hair the same each day: nearly impossible.

(i made these weeks before the 30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!)

final day: 30

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." --Leonardo da Vinci

though this particular 30 day challenge has ended, i'm just beginning. with what---your guess is as good as mine!

quick 30 day challenge reflection:
cons:

• unsurprisingly, developing & finishing a drawing everyday is tough work, even with clear basic rules to help take off some pressure. 
• it didn't provide a "warm up" situation for the day like i had hoped. these drawings turned into the main and only event, which still seems like not enough. at the minimum they took 45 minutes, at most and very rarely, 3 hours. i'm probably still in the "working long = working hard" mindset when maybe the actual minutes don't matter as much.
• i actually don't know what i'm going to work on next.

pros:

• i have much more done than i had 30 days ago.
• i even like almost 1/2 of them.
• leads into other ideas...i think. i mean---it must, right? maybe in a few days something will present itself.
• felt purposeful to have some accountability to myself...good practice in feeling worthwhile enough to keep promises to myself.
• a little more confidence that i CAN be self disciplined if i really want to be.

for a reward? maybe i'll FINALLY purchase this written by one of my favorite art bloggers, the jealous curator. she is really talented in so many ways, one being finding amazing artists and making a beautiful website i look forward to viewing on a regular basis.

day 29

"When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg." --Guillaume Apollinaire

i try to avoid quotes that use the word "man" to mean "human" but i made an exception this time. 

day 28

"The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art."
--E. M. Forster

not feeling great today. allergies? a cold? can't really look down without my nose running all over the place. also feeling a little low--- just couldn't finish this today. hint: it wasn't going to be another blue circle in the empty space! or maybe it's done, i can't think about it right now.

day 27

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." --Helen Keller

another unintentional shape association: granny smith apple.

day 26

"If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar."
--John Henry Newman

didn't occur to me while i was painting this that i was painting a caution cone. a flat one. i sorta don't mind that.