simple things

it's been a week of simple things

sometimes i get caught up in making work full of detail and intricacies, as if that somehow will make things even better, yet more interesting

i am coming to understand that is not always true, in fact - it is almost always exactly the other way around

lately i've been trying to find a way to paint ice but the results usually look more than a little contrived - the other day i got out my gelli plate, rolled a frosty looking array of white, black and blue acrylic paint and ink and dabbed at it with crumpled tin foil

a sheet of whitish vellum placed on top and a quick rub with a bamboo baren and there it was

ice, in all it's cracked and frosty glory

in the same vein, i've been hankering to stitch some wild queen anne's lace flowers

when i was in the yukon this summer i pressed and photographed them to my heart's content... on close examination they are comprised of dozens of tiny florets with small ruffled-looking centres surrounded by heart-shaped petals

impossible to stitch really

instead i made mine with french knots, first stitching tiny random straight stitches in a green-gold colour  over the area where the flower head would be

for some of the knots i mixed a gold thread with the off-white

the combination of the three led to a flower that may not look exactly like the real one but it's a step closer than if i had stitched white french knots only and a whole lot easier than trying to do a realistic rendition

and still on the mountain front... another of my rapid, scraping the paint around the page in a seemingly random way i came up with this

best yet i think

someday, just for fun, i'll try copying this with a brush and see how well i do

working quickly, finding a simpler and direct way of telling the story is finding me in a place of joy and discovery

i think i need to start a "favourites" book and place some of these things in it, mounted on a page nicely... something i can look through when making gets hard again 

and i can remember what can be done in the simplest ways

process...

winter... ice, branches, snow

mostly ice these days

the more i work with this theme the more i realize there is to explore

lately it's ice, specifically cracked ice

last week i sketched a number of patterns of cracked ice - this is the first one to be stitched

a fairly open pattern with an area that oddly enough looks a bit like some of the branches that were trapped in ice

i have a page full of various designs and tonight will get to work stitching a few more of these in a variety of thread colours

there's also been a bit of collage and the one below almost looks like a real scene... the paper I laid it on for photography purposes is khadi paper and through an odd trick of light it looks so much like a painted faint winter sky

then some tissue paper, cloth and lace collage from a while back, painted with some of my own watercolour paint and then pin-pricked and stitched in a pattern reminiscent of wave foam - not wintry at all really though perhaps a storm just before the ice forms???

i'm working away on a couple of pieces for an upcoming member's show at our local arts centre, one is a concertina book that will hang open and the other a wall piece, a collage of sorts - maybe more an "assemblage"... not sure yet exactly so a lot of sampling and stitch/print trials going on just now and some paper-shuffling of the best kind

i think if you click on the images an even larger version will open up and you can see more of the detail... this piece is inspired by winter images collected over the years from the shores of our little lake, in the centre of town... ice, trapped branches, snow, frozen, snow and ice encrusted cattails and tall grasses

another view...

 not all of this work will factor in to the finished piece - some is just there as a nudge, a way to get an internal dialogue going... what might work, what's needed - what is the story?

in addition to the ice patterns i've also sketched some branches and will be stitching those in the coming days and when those are done things will get interesting... big decisions will need to be made, a narrowing the scope will likely be needed, and then how to bring it all together into something that is not just a collection of parts

good times

this has been a good, good week 

i've been putting into practice some of the things i've been reading - understanding the ways of working that can get in the way of moving forward

one thing i used to do that got in the way all the time was having too many choices - I liked nothing better than to pull out all my supplies that might relate to or be useful in whatever I might be working on but I see now that having five different white embroidery threads to choose from made getting a strand of one of them into the eye of the needle almost impossible

now maybe two get selected and if there's no obvious choice I blend them

and so on

the collages are really helping too, and the more i do them the more i enjoy them

the one below began with the two strips of watercolour-painted paper that looked like water, a fragment of another that made me think of wood and an off-cut of embroidered silk... the drawn markings taken from a piece of silvery-grey driftwood

later in the week i was experimenting with painting silk and burning the edges - trials for a piece i'm developing for a member's show at our local gallery

i had read of this process in yvonne porcella's book "colours changing hue", first published in 1995 

she painted silk with acrylic fabric paints, burnt the edges and made beautiful things - the flowers were my favourite - i had always wanted to try it but back then i couldn't find the silk fabric nor the proper paints and eventually i forgot all about it

i was reminded of the technique by an artist on instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/robertawagnertextileartist/?hl=en

she posted a piece she had made using a piece of ink-painted organza with burnt edges that was dipped in beeswax - right away i remembered the painted and burnt silk from yvonne's book and off i went to try my own version

i burnt the edges first, then painted the silk with the woad watercolour i made while back, laying it on parchment paper to dry... i didn't have any beeswax so instead i rubbed it with cold wax medium

loving the watery look of it, i laid it on the collage i had made the day before to see what it would look like - it was perfect so there it stayed

the collage below was today's effort - came together in a minute or two so i was very pleased about that - interestingly enough, after it was finished i turned it this way and that and found i liked it better if i gave it a quarter turn to the left so that's how it went in the book

i think it's the colour combination i love so i'm going to swatch it with paint and play with that 

and then there's embroidery... flowers, of course

queen anne's lace, one of my most favourites

i drew the stems but am free-stitching the flowers

i was thinking of painting some linen backgrounds to stitch more on but then found a piece of heavier weight cotton fabric with a soft, subtle floral print on it... yesterday i got out some of my pressed flowers and laid them on it, playing with composition and angles etc

pattern drawn and threads pulled, all ready for stitching

good, good times

snap, snap

some of my best ideas fall flat, others are good from the get-go and then there are the ones that require patience

not in the doing, more in being patient to let the results and/or effects reveal themselves over time

in early August I started a new daily practice

if you've been following me for a while you'll know this is nothing new, in fact, if you've been with me long enough you're likely rolling your eyes already...

"Again?" you say?

I get these great ideas and get my kit all organized and after a couple of days, three or four at best, it fizzles out

usually because I overestimate the amount of time I have/wish to devote to it and/or I underestimate how much time said practice will take

I suppose the reason I keep trying to find something that will work is because I have had three very successful ones over the years that helped me a lot

so, back in August I thought I would try doing a paper-based collage one day and a similar thing in fabric and stitch the next

four days in and it was over... the stitched pieces were taking way too long and neither were anywhere near done, and the collage pieces were a struggle - couldn't make my mind up about anything

stubborn though I am,  I ditched the stitch and kept the collage and shifted the schedule to every other day

it worked fairly well - the collages were still a terrible struggle but at least I had every other day off from it... it was so bad I wanted to just quit altogether but I didn't want to be a quitter so I told myself I needed to make snap decisions, if you like it, stick it down... I kept at it and after about ten of them they started to get easier

limiting choices (sort of - I am me after all) and telling myself "snap, snap" when deciding helped a lot

I don't make marks if I don't feel like it - most are just assemblages

some I'm ok with, some I quite like and others I find rather intriguing

these are in the order of recent to the last one being done August 22

I have all sorts of pieces of painted watercolour paper, painted tissue paper and painted copy paper - the one above is acrylic paint on watercolour paper - not a good idea unless you put gesso down first which is why it ended up in the collage box

I cropped it and added a few scraps of papers and a piece of lace - it's busy but I find I quite like busy at times

the next one is another piece of watercolour paper - I had made a gelli-plate printed paper with a part I thought looked like a cliff so that's glued on top of an earlier failed island, part of a greeting card, a torn piece of paper I stamped with a fern stamp I made and then strips cut to look like fern leaves

the one below is one of my very favourites

I just love it but don't ask me why - I don't know

maybe the shadowy grey mountain in the background (random scrap of paper I painted with a scraping tool), the brown piece cut out from a separate paper painted the same way, a torn piece of "map" wrapping paper and other random papers

it came together quickly and easily... the best ones always do I think

the one below makes me think of mountains as well

I want to draw lines on it but haven't made up my mind where so it sits

I've done four or five that are mountains - they all have sharp angles and bold lines

it's given me a lot to think about - why this? why now?

but then I don't want to get hung up on the why's or wherefores right now - I just want to do, and in doing, over time, those questions will be answered - in their own time

and to be truthful, I'm afraid if I think too much about it I will get "tight" in the making and will lose them

and lastly, something else

early in the Spring I was painting with watercolour on tissue paper and got some interesting effects - this was a favourite so I tore it down and glued it to heavy paper

as I was looking at it yesterday I saw a leaf shape in the lower right and also a few random petal shapes here and there

I debated drawing on it but decided not to; instead, I laid tracing paper over top and then drew what I was seeing, following the edges and also the shapes

I did add some extra definition afterward, here and there, just to emphasise certain areas and make it a drawing of a flower rather than just a representation of one which was where it started

so much fun, done on impulse, less than ten minutes

acting on impulse will sometimes give the best results; the excitement is high and the thinking fresh - I read that a few weeks ago and since then I've had a few interesting ideas such as this and I've got at them straight away 

think it, try it

leaning in

for more than a year I've been stumbling... creative pursuits have been a struggle, the desire has never waned but the doing has been a different story

I've read a lot of books on making art, creative blocks, why we want but can't do

some have been so wonderfully well written, so full of thoughts and insights - I seem to be alternating from putting the books down, gazing off into the distance, puzzling my way through what I've just read or clapping them shut and heading upstairs to finally give something I've been toying with a go

I've learned many things but most of all I've learned the only through this is to keep going

keep working and stop trying to make it perfect

don't try to get it right

just do it and see what happens

then do the next thing

I won't say I'm completely over being blocked but I am certainly flirting with being on the other side

and along the way I've done some different things that have given me a lot of pleasure - nothing amazing, just interesting things that have given me the impetus to try what comes to mind

such as the print I made from when I was mulling paint - made into one of my every-other-day collages

it reminded me of a harvest moon so I combined it with some painted tissue paper from last year, in dark greens and burnt umber with shots of black - I noticed it had paint marks that looked almost like leaves and dark lines that reminded me of leafless trees

a few scratched lines 

and then thinking about water... 

(the subject of an upcoming member's show at our local Art Centre)

I've painted a few watery-looking papers with watercolour over the years but nothing that has excited me

 

 I decided they needed texture and since I don't yet have the skill to paint that I added some to watercolour paper using a artist's medium and once it dried I painted it with some of my own paints, ones I made from wood and from rocks

a very interesting effect, beautiful marks

 

and I love the graininess 

I love this section, almost like tidal pools, but I used a low-quality paper and it's buckled

I tried again on higher quality paper but used too much of the medium so the results were not great but I know now to use a light hand so will try again

I was always so afraid of wasting supplies, both from an environmental and a cost perspective but have come to learn there's a little thing called "gesso" which can be painted or scraped on top of failures, allowing the paper to be used again

the other day, whilst reading one of said books I got the idea to draw stems with a gold metallic pencil crayon and add leaves in a green-gold colour using a palette knife

don't ask me why, I have no idea

the book I was reading was not about painting at all, just about whenever you can, get your creative carcass into the studio and do what you're thinking of when you're dreaming it up

don't wait while you think about if you really should use that pencil, or are you sure green-gold paint would look good as a leaf

or what kind of shape the leaves should be

so I hauled myself up the stairs and ten minutes later I was looking at this

after I did the stems and leaves I thought 

"I love this! I should add flowers..."

and immediately the "No" started... adding flowers would be too risky because I don't how to paint flowers, and I could wreck the whole thing - and what colour would they be anyway? What colour would be best with this green? Are the angles of the stems going to work for flowers or will they look awkward?

???????????

I grabbed the closest tube of paint and squeezed it out, mixed it a bit with the green and started

nope, they're not that great but they're a start and I can work with them

if I choose to

or I can leave it alone, put it in my sketchbook and write ideas down beside it as I think of them

but I don't have to keep trying to make this into a finished "perfect" thing

it can be what it is... the embodiment of an idea

 a thought that occurred to me and wasn't afraid to try

and now I think this is one I could try to interpret in embroidery

stem stitching, French knots, appliquéd leaves... hmmm

the wheels really haven't been at all rusty - it's the fingers that are stiffened with disuse

but as I lean in to this new of way of thinking, of working, I feel the nimbleness coming back

and hot on it's heels, the joy

fiddle faddle

for me summer is not a time for studied explorations, heavy thinking, serious reads... it's a time to lighten things up and embrace the transience of the season

a bit of fiddle-fiddling around with no serious intentions

letting things flow freely, as does the water in the mountain streams all around us, filling the lake, and flowing out again

always coming and going

lately I have found it easier to work in paper, paint and ink - it's certainly quicker which allows for a less considered approach than when I work solely in stitch

there's something about it that encourages me to just get going, gluing and painting in quick succession, and though I haven't yet figured out why that is, I am enjoying it very much

likely the impulsivity of the inner child at work

I do like a slightly more considered approach with stitching - probably because it takes so long I hate to get it wrong

a week ago I started experimenting with doing both; one day a paper-based version of whatever comes to mind and the following day I interpret some aspect of that work in stitch

below is a collage I made using gelli=plate printed papers, a scrap of tissue paper previously collaged with a bit of lace, and a piece of paper I had dome some random lettering on

the next day I gathered up all my lace scraps and tacked them on to a piece of vintage linen

I'm debating adding some embroidery in off-white, something simple - right now I'm leaning toward either  straight lines extending from the lace to the outer edges in the upper right area only

or

detached fly stitch scattered in the other area

your thoughts?

in the next set (which was actually the first one I did) the collage is a bit of a mess but I do like the stitched piece that came of it... it was enjoyable to stitch, varying the number of threads in the needle and randomly couching the branches as I went

very freeing

yesterday it was back to collage, this one a mountain scene

 the foreground paper is one I bought and represents water...  the others are, from the bottom up, the lighter green "grassy" section was stamped with a stamp I carved, the mountains were cut from a larger piece of paper where I had dripped on random blobs of paint and ink and then pushed it around with a painting scraping tool and the sky portion is cut from a gelli-print

I love making scenic collages using random papers I have painted - I don't have to try and paint a mountain, I just look at piece of paper and see what I see in it and work with that - the results are always unexpected and something I could not have done if I tried

no idea how long I'll keep at this - daily practices are hard to sustain, but they have such a huge value I do find them worthwhile

regardless of how long it lasts I think it a good exercise to draw on when need arises

and a very nice thing to fiddle around with on a hot day

Layers

been a busy few weeks here in these parts...

lots of "doings" as my Grandmother would have said

I've been mucking around with trying to abstract something and it hasn't been going very well so yesterday I had a think about why not and decided layers was the answer

 I've been using a previous piece of work as an inspiration/starting point - it's handmade textured paper embedded with rose petals and ferns to which I added scraps of lace and fabric followed by machine embroidery on top... trails of tiny circular stitches meandering here and there, catching the edges of the lace and fabric, holding them in place,  adding texture to the whole

I began my first few samples with a piece of muslin and then added scraps of paper and fabric to create a base followed by bits of lace added here and there

I didn't like them much - too contrived I think

I tried added some random stitches, creating and then breaking up patterns but that wasn't working either

yesterday I got fed up with trying to force things so after a bit of finger drumming I realized what I wanted was layers... glimpses of lace and cloth here and there, with scraps of paper... hints of things caught in layers

I gathered up a pile of lace and cloth scraps and then rooted through a box of paper and started tearing strips and chunks... some plant-based glue, a soft brush and several sticky fingers later I had collaged/assembled/layered half a dozen small surfaces that once dried would give me a new playing field

this morning they were finally dry

all in a stack... layers yes, and edges too...

tissue paper, scrim, broadcloth, silk, lace, handmade paper

it was a sticky, messy job layering all of those bits and pieces but the results are what I wanted and now comes the stitching

I love how the lace shows through the tissue paper on this - softened but still very visible

and on this one a few hints of blue

seems layers are all around right now... I went to Margaret Falls   a few days ago... a beautiful canyon across the lake,  a waterfall at the end of the short hike in... 

to give you a sense of scale... here's an image where my son's girlfriend climbed along one of the leaning trees

as I walked the trail I noticed the sides of the canyon were composed of thin layers of rock that crumbled easily... some golden brown, others almost black

I emptied a zippered pocket in my bag and filled it with a variety of small rocks found on the edge of the path

it's my intention to grind these up and make watercolour paint with them...

and then I can paint the rocks

with the rocks themselves!