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Smell this . . . . . .ahhhhhhh

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GINGERGRASS

 

Raise your hand if you know about aromatherapy — wow! That’s more people than I thought! It’s a wonderful practice, one that I’ve taught since 1990. Shortly after that, my biochemist friend Dr. Bill Kurtin and I began work on a new educational aromatherapy website called Chemaroma. We’ve just updated and expanded it, and we’re really excited about it. We may even get to participate in the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy conference later this year.

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So what’s in it for you? First of all, there are a bunch of free resources on the Chemaroma site, including a recipe called Stinky Sneaker Zapper that makes your track shoes smell like lavender. There are also some neat skin care recipes and such. And you can get essential oils at Whole Foods and Sprouts. There is even a special essential oil for creativity called Clary Sage – I’ll tell you about that one later. Essential oils are easy and fun, and you don’t have to be an aromatherapist to experience them.

So, if you want to experiment, here’s one of my favorite ways to use  essential oils – an aromatherapy bath salt project. I made this video about three or four years ago. Once you make these artistic little bath salt packets, you can use them for gifts, for craft markets, or just to store in your linen closet or underwear drawer until you are ready to open them and use them in the bath tub or shower 🙂 They make lovely aromatic sachets.

Got questions about aromatherapy? Visit Chemaroma or just email me. And the first person to contact me through the Chemaroma home page gets that packet of Gingergrass Bath Salts at the top of this post. Happy Friday!!

Jane Davies workshop, Day Three

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Driving to Gloucester from Salem on Sunday morning

Driving to Gloucester from Salem on Sunday morning

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow could stop these two intrepid artists from heading off to the final day of Jane’s workshop. It really was something of a shock to be in the middle of a snowstorm in April!

Our assignment for the day was to incorporate the techniques we had learned into new layers on previous work and to begin a new piece (or two) from scratch.

It still amazes me that all of us were able to complete at least six or seven paintings during Jane’s workshop. Of course, the goal was not to produce finished works, but to explore the process-directed techniques. To quote Jane. “You can’t like it all the way through the piece,” and “You can’t plan more than one step ahead.” Sorta like driving through the snow and fog.

Here are some of the photos from our last day – you can see how pieces have changed and evolved. (By the way, if you are reading this as an email and can’t see the images, just click on the title of this post to take you to the blog site.)

Thanks beyond words to Jane Davies for a wonderful workshop – if you ever have the chance to work with her, do it. Thanks to my co-pilot, Gloria Hill, for her intrepid navigation along the Massachusetts roads.. We’ll be home soon to Texas!

Working with Caryl Gaubatz

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Caryl Gaubatz: Allein auf der Welt 2015 Deconstructed silk screen printing on hand woven linen (Linen woven by Käthe Weber in der Nähe von Bremen Germany, 1947)

What a pleasure and honor it was to be invited to Caryl Gaubatz’s studio yesterday to explore new techniques in fiber art and surface design!

I am a huge fan of her work – her newest series of story-garments, A Meditation on Aging and Loss, touches my heart on every level.

I watched Caryl demonstrate a technique called Deconstructed Screen Printing last year at a Fiber Artists of San Antonio meeting. The results were fantastic and mysterious (see the example on the left), but I couldn’t figure out how she did it, even as i watched her demonstrate. So when she offered to teach the process to me and to calligrapher-friend  Bonnie Davis, I jumped at the chance. And as a bonus, we also got to practice some indigo/shibori techniques!

Caryl is a master. You can see some of our explorations in the photos below . .  .

Deconstructed Screen Printing is fun to do but hard to explain – Caryl learned from Kerr Grabowski. Here are some of my my results from yesterday – as Caryl said, it’s unpredictable! 

If you want to learn more about how it works (and it can work on paper as well as fabric), watch Kerr Grabowski’s video below. Many thanks to Caryl for all of this wonderful information, for her time and patience, and for a fantastic lunch – visiting her is a delight!

Snacks and wax!

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Two great workshops raised the bar on creativity this weekend at the Studio – Saturday, Lesta and I did a four-hour marathon of “Art Snacks” – small protects that were quick and fun to create and give:

1 2 3Sunday, the Wax and Fiber Talisman workshop exceeded all expectation – what a great project! Everyone put together remarkable combinations of fabric, clay, wax and cord to make a rich assortment of mixed-media masterpieces! This is one we will definitely do again – thanks, all, for helping me test-drive it!

1 2 3Last, but not least, the winner of the Friday Freebie Free Bee dish is . . . tah dah . . . the lucky subscriber whose email is candm46@roadrunner.com – send me your info and I’ll send you the bee!

Happy Monday, everyone!! And I hope to see you San Antonio pals at Thursday’s booksigning for Linda Shuler 🙂

 

First, the Studio — then the Alamodome!

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stIf the Saturday Show and Tell gets any bigger, I’m gonna need to rent out the Alamodome! More than 40 people came to the Studio on Saturday to share creative ideas, show recent projects, and brainstorm solutions to works in progress. Many thanks!

One of the favorite “shows” was David Chidgey and his amazingly informative presentation regarding his work in mosaics. He brought examples of his work in glass and tile and described his course of mosaic study in Chicago.

David’s website, Art Glass Mosaics, is an excellent resource for information about his work and the art of mosaics in general.  I was quick to ask him if he would consider doing a mosaic workshop for us at the Studio – and he said yes! We are working on a possible November date, so stay tuned.

Another fascinating share was from Lynn Maverick Denzer – she brought an oil painting she is restoring that was done by her grandmother, artist and conservationist  Lucy Maverick.

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Lynn teaches at Inspire Community Fine Arts Center, another great art education resource.

Other presruenters showed fiber art, including this mixed-media piece by Rosemary Uchniat (left). Questions and answers were flying around the table – lots of creative buzz going on. That’s why I love these Saturday Show and Tell get-togethers – there’s a wealth of talent in our community, and such generous people willing to share.

So I’m either going to buy more folding chairs or rent the Alamodome, because this informal Show and Tell event is a keeper! Hey, maybe next month we can expand out into the parking lot! Surely the first cool front will be here by then. Right?

Have a great week, everyone. And come to the next show and tell – date to be announced soon!

Monday two-fer – beautiful bones and beeswax

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You get two art reviews for the price of one (yeah, I know, they are all free) but still –  I wanted to post Part Two of my Colorado Trip while it was still fresh in my mind, and I couldn’t wait to show you the video of yesterday’s Beeswax Collage workshop at my Studio (see the amazing video, below)!

Colorado Trip Part Two –  Georgia O’Keeffe at the Colorado Springs Art Center

Horse’s Skull on Blue – Georgia O’Keeffe 1931; Oil on canvas

Georgia O’Keeffe and the Southwestern Still Life is not strictly a “Georgia O’Keeffe show”, (which I should have known had I done my homework before we visited the exhibit). And thank goodness it isn’t, because when her work is placed beside that of her contemporaries – including modernists like Stuart Davis and Marsden Hartley as well as more traditional painters who were also lured by the Taos light –  O’Keefe’s cutting-edge brilliance shines.

One of her quotes that ran across a bright orange wall at the CSAC gallery read, “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at – not copy it.” That, to me, was huge – and her work showed this journey into interpretation and abstraction through the loose structure of “still life.”.

I was so impressed by the juxtapositions and inclusions that I searched to see who had curated the exhibit. It was Charles C. Eldredge, former director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, who placed O’Keeffe’s work in the context of other artists who were influenced by the Southwest at the same time she was. The exhibit raised thought-provoking questions such as “What is a still life, really?” and “How does an artist chose represent an observation?”

I loved the show – my favorite painting was this one (below) – and my friend Carol Mylar and I talked for a very long time about why it was included as a still life, and why its powerful simplicity is so mesmerizing. For a much more educated and detailed review of Georgia O’Keeffe and the Southwestern Still Life, read Gayle Cement’s enlightening, enjoyable discussion of the works.

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Georgia O’Keeffe Black Patio Door 1955

22And now . . . . .Fabulous Sunday Workshop – Wax and Layers and in Beeswax Collage

The smell of the beeswax, the roar of the crowd – what a workshop! Every single participant took the notion of wax enhancement on monochromatic collage and ran with it, creating evocative personal statements. I’ve recently added another hour to my workshop format, and three hours instead of two makes a huge difference. We have more time to critique and discuss – it obviously worked yesterday. Take a look at some of the inspired pieces the students created. Nice work, Y’all!

Colorado notes, part one – Carol and I visit Pueblo artist Karen Wallace

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Carol and me in an earlier visit in the pursuit of art!

Carol and me in an earlier visit on our everlasting art quest 🙂

It never fails – every time I visit my dear friend Carol Mylar, I come home over-the-top inspired. Carol lives in Colorado Springs now, but we still share the same close ties in art and life as we did when we shared a studio on Queen Anne Street back in the 90’s. For example, we discovered we’d bought the same iPhone and the same iPhone case without knowing it – I’m sure you have friends like that, too – it’s kinda spooky but fun.

One of the best times we had during my short trip was a drive to Pueblo just south of the Springs to visit artist and writer Karen Wallace. Karen and I go back a very long way, but hadn’t seen each other in a few years. She’s amazing – her house, her life, her artwork are woven seamlessly into a fulfilling creative existence. You can get a glimpse of this in Karen’s book, Visions and Verse: Along the Path.

Karen lives in a small adobe casita that’s filled with her own art and that of friends, some nationally known painters. There are little altars and stories everywhere. Karen treated Carol and me to a lot of these stories before we went of for a lovely lunch in downtown Pueblo. It’s always so inspiring to see how other artist live and work – take a look at the home and studio of Karen Wallace (and her dog, Chamaya):


I’ll give a report on other parts of my Colorado trip soon, including the Georgia O’Keeffe show – too much for one post!

 

Back from Boston, and summer at the Studio

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artwalk

Setting up in the little courtyard off Charles Street in Beacon Hill, Boston

Boston was great – I met lots of interesting people at my third annual Beacon Hill Art Walk, had a number of folks recognize me from last year (“Hey, Shard Lady!”), and sold some art. Interestingly, the encaustic pieces got most of the attention, but the Citra-solv landscapes got most of the bucks.

lsThese little mixed media landscape collages are always popular with art buyers, and  easy and fun to construct. As a matter of fact (what a coincidence), I’m having a workshop on Sunday, June 21st from 2-5 to show you how to make the collages, and there are lots of spaces left. You’ll learn how to create some amazing decorative artisan papers using Citra-solv cleaning solvent, and you will learn a lot about composition, as well. All materials are provided, as usual. Here’s a link if you’re interested. Come join me!

There are other summer workshops coming up at the Studio, including a Goddess Banner class on Sunday.goddessbanner That class is full, but I have had so much fun developing it that I’ll offer it again later. I’ve combined small-space dyeing with transfer, paper “quilting,” and other fabric surface design to make a layered banner that celebrates the idea of the Divine Feminine in whatever fashion pleases you. Here’s a first look at the prototype. When you hang a banner made with intention, like this one, the wish or affirmation is supposedly sent by the wind in all directions. I like that!

There’s a Spirit Box Workshop in July, and a Mixed Media Collage workshop in August – that one may focus on Goddess Banners again. Any takers for another Goddess Banner session? Email me!

It’s strange to think that I won’t be going back to Trinity University in the fall to teach, and it’s scarily liberating. FYI, Friday Freebies will return next week.

speedyFinally, one of the nicest things that happened during the Beacon Hill Art Walk was a Close Encounter of the Dog Kind – I was walking down a crowded street in Beacon Hill when a little doggie on a leash dragged her human over to see me, and began jumping up and down. It was my son’s dog, Speedy! Rick and his family were out of town, but Speedy recognized me and came bounding over to say hello. The pet sitter was very surprised, because he didn’t know who I was, and Speedy is usually a shy dog. But she is a good art critic – she looked at my art and licked my face in approval. 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone – hope it’s filled with dog licks, ice cream, and fun.

 

 

 

 

A must-read poem from Maripat

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maripatLucky me to have dear friends who share their creative insights. Maripat Munley is one of these. Maripat is an RN with a masters in Art Therapy who has made art all her life. She studied oriental brush painting while living in Seoul, Korea, and her life reflects a balance of eastern serenity and western practicality.

Currently, she’s working on a poetry project with incarcerated women – she practices the healing power of art every day in every way – pretty cool. Maripat was a joy to work with in the recent workshop I did with Lesta Frank. Afterwards, I sent out the video to the participants, saying how proud I was of their beautiful folding handmade books. Maripat wrote back with this heartfelt poem, which I have permission to share with you. Thank you, Maripat, for all you do and all you are!

How to Be an Artist

Be still; silently breathe in my studio
wherever that studio is.
Use simple tools and colors that draw me.
Remember, making art is my spiritual practice.

Begin by releasing attachment to outcome or product
Bless eyes, hands, tools, paint and mixes.
See, touch, hear, smell everything I use.
Become one with the materials.
Remember, making art is my spiritual practice.

Immerse myself in the art process.
Let it be my prayer and my calling.
Draw and paint for the joy of it.
Be patient, able to stand back and gaze.
Remember, making art is my spiritual practice.

Get up early to walk, to meditate, to create
Draw EVERY day.
Spend time in the company of other artists.
Learn from them.
Remember, making art is my spiritual practice.

Let my quiet breathing prayer
mirror images beckoned from that silence.
Accept these images from the depth of my soul.
Remember, making art is my spiritual practice.

Maripat Munley

Sumi-e painting by Maripat Munley

Sumi-e painting by Maripat Munley

 

Easy color-to-sepia photos for beeswax collage using iPiccy

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Sunday’s workshop at the Studio is Beeswax Collage (it’s sold out, yay!), and I’m going to ask the participants to bring a sepia-toned photo to work with. I’m sending them the link to this post to show them how to do a sepia effect with iPiccy, and you can find out, too, by following these instructions!

First, you need to choose a photo that you want to transform to sepia, and remember what file it’s in so you can find it to upload it. Then go to iPiccy and choose Start Editing!

sepia

You’ll see a window that asks you to upload a photo.

sepia0 Browse to the file on your own computer that has the photo you want to change from color to sepia and select it

sepbird    Your photo uploads into the editing window.

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Look on the left side and find the bar that says Colors.

sepia5Click on it and scroll down that list until you come to the bar that says Sepia – choose the sepia tone that you like.

sepia3Once you’ve transformed the image to sepia, you can click on the Save icon at the top right and save it back to your computer

sepia7Give it a different name so it doesn’t overwrite our original color photo. Now you are ready to print it out and use it for your beeswax collage – or whatever creative purpose you desire!

Happy weekend, everyone!