Fun with Instant Sketch

I'm always looking for fun and differenct (and free or almost free) apps to load on my iphone, and this one is a winner: Instant Sketch. It's just another variation on a photo sketch tool, but it does precisely what I want with a miminum of settings to tinker with. This will be a great app to share in my COMPUTER TO CLOTH workshop at El Cielo this April, since it's an easy way to go from photo or collage or artwork to a completely black-and-white line drawing. You can alter the line hardness and softness, and add or subtract deep blacks. 

The image above is from this letter collage set and shows the possibility for using this app with art/collage and text, as well as its intended use with photos. I've posted a couple of those examples below, as well.

You can choose an HD or SD (definitions high or standard) for your output and email the images or share via FB.

The sketch above is from a cropped version of this photo (you can crop and scale in the app, too, or take a photo on the spot).

 

Well, other than the wrinkles, it all works. And I did earn everyone of them!

Artist Journey/Artist Journal

What is it we want in our creative lives? Why bother with art? Working as an artist, whether as a full-time vocation, a parttime avocation or an occassional when-I-can-fit-it-in whimsy takes some measure of commitment. It's far easier in this era of consumerism, digital distraction and financial pressure to sit on the sofa or under the covers with one or more devices pouring words, images, sounds, stories and distraction into our brains. Easier, that is, than using our hands and minds to make words, images, stories and sounds of our own. I don't make judgements about the tools used or the media -- paper and pen, digital camera and keyboard, cloth and dye, paint and canvas, tabletop and kitchen stove -- any will do. 

But I do think we all need to keep our creative selves alive and thriving. That some part of us withers and dies without exercise. And that takes a plan. That's why its become a tradition around El Cielo Studio to offer a workshop each January to allow me (and those who come for the facilitated experience) time to reflect, plan and set goals. Make calendars. Imagine what's needed to make it easier to get to the studio. 

I confess, my January calendar-making reminder forms don't often make it through the entire year (but I know one workshop participant who has been a faithful adherent to the format she set last year), but I do know that even a few months of on-target, on-track creative work gets me off to the start I need for the year. GIves me momentum and reminds me to keep at it. Whatever it is.

In preparation for the January 20-21 workshop (see the last post for the full calendar), I thought I'd share one of the exercises that has proven helpful and insightful for the process.

Where I am right now - Make a circular pie chart of your life as you are living it now:

1. Start with a circle on a large piece of paper.

2. Divide the circle into equal wedges for WORK, PLAY, ADVENTURE, CREATIVITY, BODY, MIND SPIRIT. (OR any other set of categories you prefer. (Or make two different circles if that makes more sense to you)

3. Draw, write, collage fast images from magazines, add colors, lines, patterns to each wedge. 

4. Put a dot, star or sticker in each wedge describing how satisfied or how much time and attention you spend in that sector of your life -- the closer to the center, the less satisfied or less time/attention; the closer to the circle edge, the more satisfied, the more time and attention you spend. You might even want to do these as two different dots or stars, if time and attention is not aligned with satisfaction (oftenr the case). Then connect your dots with a bold line. What shape are your dot-driven circles? How wobbly is your life? 

5. On a separate paper, or on the areas of the paper outside the circle, list 5 things you could do in the  coming year to even out your wobbly circles. 

I don't think our lives are always in balance in the short term. I don't even think they should be -- sometimes work or family or adventure takes over. But in the long term, we want satisfaction in each of these areas. And it takes work -- mostly attention --  to keep the wheel round, the circle spinning.

Artist Retreats at El Cielo Studio

 

Coming to a workshop near me!

Finally I have determined my winter and spring workshops and looking forward to resuming these this January. I took a break during the fall -- partially for family duties, partially because I had some exciting contract work to do. But I'm looking forward to seeing a group of friends and artists here monthly and hope you'll be among them. If you want a downloadable copy of the flyer, click on the file on the sidebar (it will be up by the end of day!)

Here are the workshops in short:

"Nurture your creativity as you come away from a weekend with renewed energy, new  materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. Susie Monday leads artists’ retreats and workshops throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind;  free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, music and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. The fee for each workshop retreat is $175 for a 2-day event with discounts for early enrollment. Comfortable accommodations are available from $15 -  $30 per workshop. Most workshops offer a Friday night potluck option. Limited enrollment. Most supplies included. 

To register, call 210-643-2128 or email susiemonday@gmail.com

Susie has taught creative process and art techniques to adults and children for more than 30 years. Her art is in numerous private and public collections around the world.

ARTIST JOURNEY/ARTIST JOURNAL

JANUARY 20-22

(optional Fri. night potluck & critique session)

This annual workshop has become a tradition at El Cielo Studio. Spend the weekend in creative activities that help you set the stage for a 2010 filled with productivity, imagination, focus and artistic goals. Using original and time-tested exercises gleaned from sources around the globe, we’ll banish procrastination, make an annual love letter, work on a goals and artist date calendar for the year, and find ways to remind us of what really matters in our artistic lives. Meanwhile, you’ll work with mixed media and surface design techniques to start your artist’s journal.

FROM HEART TO ART; PERSONAL MARK-MAKING 

FEBRUARY 10-12

(optional Friday night potluck & heart-centered gentle yoga session)

In this workshop, you’ll start with common and familiar symbols -- like the heart shape of Valentine’s Day for example --  and through a series of creative generative exercises, you’ll make something new and different to incorporate into your design, composition and surface design. And then, in honor of the season, make some one-of-a-kind Valentines, too. Tools and techniques explored include paper lamination on fabric, hand-cut stamps, and gelatin plate monoprints.

TEXT ON  TEXTILES

ONLINE course at JOGGLES.com

MARCH 15- APRIL 12 includes 4 fully-illustrated weekly lessons, plus a bonus week, $45

Have you ever wanted to incorporate a favorite word, poem or quote into an art quilt, garment, art doll or other textile project -- going beyond simply writing or embroidering the text? This surface design/mixed media class will give you a set of process tools for making text and words an integral part of artfully designed fabrics that you can use in a wide variety of projects. Starting with design exercises, you’ll learn three specific techniques for transfers of text, words and writing to fabric using ink-jet printing, polymer medium and textile paints. 

CALLING ALL ARCHETYPES 

MARCH 23-25

(optional Friday night potluck & work-in-progress critique)

 Spend some time thinking and working on using your inner crew for work and support. In this workshop we’ll explore archetypes, inner voices, gut reactions and their influence on your art and art-making with lots of improvisational exercises to loosen up your approach to art. Make a small artist's altar using fabric and mixed media techniques including mono-printing, collage and digital printing on fabric to remind you of a practical and sacred part of your life. (artist altar frame, $10 supply fee)

MORE WORKSHOPS: 

April 13-15, FROM COMPUTER TO CLOTH.

And at Southwest School of Art: FINDING YOUR ARTIST VOICE,  Monday afternoons, Feb 6-March 26 

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT SUSIE’S CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:

“ The exercises we did this weekend were freeing on the one hand, but will also help me focus.”

“This workshop was a fabulous, uplifting, nurturing environment to create in. The journaling was particularly helpful, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.”

“This weekend was totally awesome! I am humbled by Susie’s talents, her teaching abilities and her hospitality. I will come back as often as possible.”

www.susiemonday.com

210-643-2128

3532 Timbercreek Road

Pipe Creek, TX 78063

Read Susie’s blog at http://susiemonday.squarespace.com

Filmmakers in the Making

Linda teaches Mass Communications at Northwest Vista College, part of Alamo Colleges (community college) in San Antonio. As a final (three-day!) project, her students had to write. produce or otherwise create a public service announcement that addressed both some form and structure instructions  as well as recent research information about the impact of texting on student sleep deprivation and school performance.

Several of her students did outstanding work, and I can't resist sharing it with you -- note, these are not necessarily done by students taking any courses in media production -- just the  I think they are a wonderful example of how new media, the technology of YouTube and Vimeo, access to inexpensive media tools and an understanding of creative composition, design and how to use them. These are the New World Kids, growing up. This is their language and it shows.

For more about the assignment, see Linda's blog at http://cuellarsblog.blogspot.com/

Night the Living Stayed Up Instead from Jorge Alvarez on Vimeo.

Best Toys

THESE?

"Treasure Box" photo by Flickr user Evelyn Giggles. Used under Creative Commons License.

OR THESE?

Dirt and Stick (sort of)

(I'm back!) Sorry for any access problems, I had a mix-up at my Squarespace account.

Here's a great blog post from Geek Dad about the best toys ever.  When was the last time you took some time to play with one of these? And what would you add? My friend Cindy says, "Bandana." I do the subset of Dirt, Sand. Also Water. These are all great examples of what we call scratch materials in our parent's book on creative thinking (PS, its being re-edited, added to and released by a new publisher next summer.)

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/all/1

Happy Thanksgiving, even if I am late with the wishes. 

Dia de los Muertos

 

 

Last night was Day of the Dead, dia de los muertos. We celebrated as we do every year with an altar and stories about those who have crossed the veil, whom tradition says are particularly close to us at this time of year. This year it took over the living room fireplace hearth, spreading out into the room, with a blue norther whistling in upon us just as the candles were lit.

My papa was honored along with Linda's parents, other relatives, and friends departed recently and long past. Julia, my dear friend and colleague of many years, was with us and added her list of departed creative mentors to the table. We had all the yellow flowers the drought-struck garden could provide, an amazing display actually, especially with the new button mum from HEB. Also gingerbread and hot chocolate and sweet stories and sharings. I am so blessed to have made this cultural tradition of the region part of my own life for so many years now. I wonder how others in our world do without this special time.  It is a special time and kind of memory honoring, both personal and universal, of story and shared poems and prayer, of images pulled out from the drawers, mementos of lives lived richly, now shuttered. A little teary, but mostly happy, recounting the laughter, the gifts, the unique human lives of those we have loved, and , if not here exactly, are never really lost to us. I am who I am from their guidance, their influences, their givings and boundaries, their lives taken as lessons. 

Working from Inside-Out

above: Milagros and Apocolyse

I was chided by a friend and sister fiber artist last night for not telling her (and others) about my recent award (first) at the Fiber Artists of San Antonio exhibition at Gallery Nord here in San Antonio. Not really false modesty -- I simply have not been able to get to the exhibit to take some en-site photos!

2009 NW Military Highway
San Antonio, TX 78213
GOOGLE MAP
T: 210.348.0088
F: 210.348.6862

Gallery Hours
Weds-Sat Noon-5pm
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

But since time is flying, and the exhibit goes down at the end of the month, here's the notice (Gallery Nord is open Wednesday through Saturday in the afternoons) and a bit of back story:

First, the work that was recognized by Juror Ilsa Aviks was one of the series I worked on this August about the death and life of my father, James Lee McAtee, Jim, who died earlier this summer. This particular work is called Milagros, and is about the gifts of spirit, teaching and everyday life that blessed my life through my father's care and conversation, from writing letters, to important facts of the heart.

Ilsa, I heard from one of the artists present at the judging, recognized the joy and meaning in this piece. I think I benefited from having her judge the show, as Ilsa is a strong proponent and advocate of working from a personal narrative, whether literal, figurative (as in my work right now) or abstractly, as she does with her own stitched works.

I am also really happy to have work in this gallery because of its wonderful modern design. The space was created by architect Allison Peery, who I had the privilege to know in my youth. This gallery is a wonderful space to be in. From the gallery website:

ALLISON B. PEERY, AIA

1924-2005

Allison Peery considered himself one of San Antonio’s few uncompromising modern architects. The exterior of the building is simply dramatic with its soaring, winglike roofline balanced by an abstract design of stained glass and mosaic tiles at the main entrance. The interior, with its plentiful natural lighting, consists of three gallery areas - two on the main floor and an upper gallery reached by a curved staircase. Peery’s modernist ethos of expressed structure, honest and coherent use of materials creates the perfect environment for exhibiting contemporary art.

Art Cloth Inspiration and Techie Photo Apps

I've been traveling and meeting with Art Cloth Network members in St. Petersburg, Florida. Linda Dawson did a great job organizing the meeting venues and Susan Ettl, our outgoing chairwoman, kept us on track. As usual the best part of the meeting was the show and tell galleries. We all went home inspired to tackily some large pieces of fabric, and hope I keep the inspiration in mind!

Some of the time was spent on tech talk and updating a commitment to post on the Art Cloth Network blog ( (http://artclothnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/10/art-cloth-inspiration.html) so I did, with a series of sunset photos that includes the one above.)

That one was taken with a great little iphone app that stitches together panorama photos almost instantly, it's called Photosynth and its free! Here are some other photo apps I've found helpful for design work, inspiration collections and simple manipulations that find their way into thermofax screens and stamps and stencils.

PS Express
Sillhouetter
PerfectPhoto
SketchMee
Instagram

Art Cloth Forever

We 22 brave souls are meeting in St. Petersburg this weekend at the umpteenth Art Cloth Network meeting for our annual show-and-tell and a not-too-painful business meeting.

we've been bumped from our Hampton Inn meeting room across the street to the SP Yacht Club, and it's quite nice if small, but a great poolside view over the marina.

What's even more spectacular to see is the array of art cloth shared by the artists. I'll try to get permission from the artists to add some of their work to this blog. Meanwhile check out the website at http://www.artclothnetwork.com.

What is art cloth?
It is cloth transformed by adding or subtracting color, line, shape, texture, value, or fiber to create a compelling surface.

If you'd like (occasional) updates, here's the blog url:
http://artclothnetwork.blogspot.com/
We plan to make this more active and welcome your comments!

What You Want to Learn

Are you stuck with your art work, or trying to build a better studio practice? Or maybe you don't have room to do what you really want to do in your home studio. Perhaps there is a surface design technique you want time to master, or a series of work that needs your committed attention... What do you want to learn, right now, at this time in your creative life?

You could solve those problems -- or at least take a stab at them by signing up for the class I'll be teaching this semester at the Southwest School of Art: Independent Studies in Textile Art.

Class Sessions: 8, Monday, Sept. 26 - Nov. 14, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm

Maximum: 10

Location: Surface Design Studio | Navarro

With the assistance of the instructor, each student will design a personal investigation of a surface design technique and creative approach to fiber art, making samples first, then culminating in the design and production of a fused, pieced and/or whole cloth art quilt. Techniques available for exploration include soy wax batik, screen-printing, dyeing and discharge, photo image transfer or combinations of several techniques. This class is suited for students who have had some exposure to fiber art, but any level of experience is acceptable. Supply lists will be developed with individual students. Some basic studio supplies are provided.

Fee: $240 (non-member)

This is how this course will work: the first part of class #1 will be devoted to discussion of what each participant wants to gain, whether a specific technique or motivation, inspiration, good practice or other less tangible results. With one-on-one discussion with me, you'll plan your 8 weeks of study, develop a supply list, and help me develop my schedule of introductory lectures and demos for the course.

The class is held in the spacious surface design/mixed media studio at the school, and there will be a large 8' by 4' work table for each participant. The wet studio is well supplied with dyeing chemicals and easy-to-use wash out area, and a washer and dryer are also available for use. There is a thermofax machine (I'll have supplies available for purchase) and a large light table, a Bernina sewing machine for free-motion stitching, batik equipment, and design boards to use as you work. Just access to this studio can jump start your work into a new dimension.

Thereafter, each class will start with 15 minutes of critique and discussion of work done the previous week, a 30 minute demo/lecture or slideshow of inspiration and examples, and then 2 hours will be yours to work with my advice, assistance, critique and demonstration of techniques at needed. At the end, we'll spend 15 minutes together sharing and planning goals for the week to come.

If you have a project in mind, great! If you want just to play with some new ideas, techniques and materials, that's great, too. Just think of this as training time for your creative practice. Hope to see you there.

P.S. I will not be teaching until November at my El Cielo Studio.

P.P. S. If you are a member of Fiber Artists of San Antonio and don't want to miss the Monday morning meetings, I will work with you to plan an individual make-up session for classes you miss for the meetings.

Round Top and Copper Shade Tree Gallery

We traveled yesterday to deliver art to Copper Shade Tree Gallery in beautiful Round Top, Texas. It was great to see Debbie and Gerald and to have my work in their new space. Here's what Gerald had to say about the move:

"Last month I reported our upcoming move. Well, that is old news, we have completely moved to the new space and we love it. The artwork looks fantastic. With the help of artists, family, and friends we began packing and moving on August 28th and finished on August 31st. The process very smooth as planned. The great news is that we did not break or damage a single piece of artwork... a miracle. We moved directly across the street to Henkel Square."

The first three photos above are some from Gerald, Linda and I took the other two, showing my work now in the gallery, and the three of us.

More Mermaid

The Lisa Call online workshop "Working in a Series" is doing its work on me. Deadlines work for me. Here's the first assignment completed. I won't give a lot of details as to the assignments, as that is proprietory information that is part of the course, but I will say that this one pushed me to a piece of work that I really like and that combines the kind of graphic clarity with my patterned texture work that is hard for me to find. 

Keeping at it, this will be the first of a new Sirena series, with five or six new large pieces to result (this [pieceis about 4' by 5'). I feel like I am breaking out of a long, slow slump into some new energy in my work. I find that the right teacher and the right learning experience for me can really help me in my studio practice. As artists, we spend a lot of time in our own little heads, solo. Having to interact in a creative setting, being the follower instead of always being the leader offers a certain kind of vacation, a kind of social interaction that is very valuble for my creative process.

I was once asked by a teacher/artist whom I really respect why I continue to take workshops. She doesn't, feeling that her focus is set and self directed, and that taking classes is a waste of energy and direction, can take her off her track. I don't feel that way -- first, I teach a lot of intro technique classes and some workshops are fodder for that mill -- I need to keep up on the latest and greatest. But others, like this one that I am taking now, are real soul food. Something I need to feed my artist self and to keep me honest, to keep me on task, to remind me of what is important in my work. 

Yes, choose carefully. Avoid being a workshop junkie, using courses and workshops to avoid forging ahead on a personal path. But a well-chosen workshop, retreat or class can be just what the spirit ordered. A time to give over the reins for a time, a time to refresh the creative flow, to have deadlines outside of one's own choosing (and divorced from "entry" deadlines that have their own baggage of procrastination) and even a time to make mistakes, to do "not-so-perfect" work and to have a failure or two!

Mermaids I have Known and Loved

Working on a Series with Lisa Call
I'm revisiting an early small piece, and several large textile paintings, all with mermaids, as the central idea to explore in Lisa's online course.
Since I love to do this kind of image research, I've been trolling around and found some interesting historical information about mermaids, both in European traditions and in Mexican folk art. Here' info from a research paper in Southwest Folklore:

The Mermaid in Mexican Folk Creches
Erika Esau and George A. Boeck, Jr.
SOUTHWEST FOLKLORE Volume 5, Number 1 Winter 1981

"The mermaid as a European concept may have had its origins in the Babylonian god Oannes, who is represented with a flowing beard and a fish's tail -- later as the Triton of Greek mythology. In an act of synthetic interpolation, this imaginary form was combined with another popular classical source: the siren, that creature originally portrayed as a half-woman and half-bird and who represented the souls of the unhappy dead. Their association with sailors and the sea stems from the fact that the sirens' singing was said to have seduced Greek sailors to drive their ships onto the rocks. A a very early date, seamen incorporated the powerful figure of the siren into their mythology. In this context, it is easy to understand the combination of the siren's attributes with the more appropriate form of woman-fish; the Spanish la sirena and the French la siréne, both referring to mermaid, attest to this transition."...

"Given this "hybridization process,"as Dr. Atl an artist and historian, describes it, one can assume that the mermaid figure was adapted by Indians who had at some time seen representations of her in Spanish sources; as Keleman states, "The leaf-sprite and the mermaid. . . may have entered the New World on maps and the title pages of books, where they are commonly found."19 The image began to appear in popular art as well as in colonial buildings and sculpture."...

"Among the Aztec deities, Chalchiutlicue was the wife of Tlaloc, the god of rain and moisture. The name means "Lady of the Emerald Robe," an allusion to the element over which she presided. She is associated with both fresh and salt water, having ruled earth during the fourth age of man, which ended in a flood, causing men to become fish; she was consequently considered to be the goddess of water sellers, fishermen, and sea-farers. Further, Madsen describes Chalchiutlicue as causing tempests and whirlwinds that resulted in the drowning of boatmen.Such associations support the comparison with the mermaid in the European tradition, since she was seen as an equivalent "goddess" of the waters.

"As for the mermaid-figure's presence at the birth of Christ, the association with Chalchuitlicue is even more convincing. The goddess was considered the Virgin Mother of the minor gods of the heavens as well as of Huizilpochtli--the god of sun, war, and one of the Aztec triumvirate. This link with Christian concepts is extended by Chalchiutlicue's connection with the "green skirt" or "jewel water" which denotes the "precious water of mortification" drawn from the Penitent worshiper and containing the "life substance" or "life blood.""

Piney Woods and Red Walls

Just some pics from the heart-healing trip:

Worth repeating

I've just added 99% to my Flipboard ( if you have an iPad or tablet, you need the ap). Here's just one of nine interviews that I am pondering today. 

9 Awesome Interviews with Creative Visionaries

http://the99percent.com/articles/7044/9-Awesome-Interviews-with-Creative-Visionaries

(Sent from Flipboard)

6. Arianna Huffinigton & Tina Brown, Publishers
Two of the prime movers in the online publishing world, Ari an na Huff in g ton and Tina Brown, founders of the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast, chat about coming of age as editors

Interview er: You've both been subjected to bad press along the way. How have you handled it?

Huffington: I definitely consider it a barometer of my spiritual progress how I handle it. I don't like the idea of a thick skin. I think we can be more child like. Children get upset and they cry and it's over; six seconds later, it's like nothing happened. That is my aspiration.

Brown: I much less care about it than I used to. I went through Talk magazine, and once you've been pilloried on the front page of the New York Post, you do go through a kind of liberation. I took a huge belly flop in a very public fashion. After that, it was like, "So what? It wasn't so bad. I'm still here." It was probably the happiest couple of years of my life after that, suddenly having permission to meet my daughter at school and go and see a friend in the hospital. When I did the Beast, it was really for fun, and I wasn't sitting there worrying about it. [Bad press] can ruin an hour of your morn ing - but I haven't had that expe ri ence for a while, actually. I don't have a Google alert [for myself]; I don't care enough [laughs].

Huff in g ton: That's probably the most important mes sage that we can give to younger women. I constantly talk to my daugh ters about my failures. publiishers. Because in the end, if you look at what makes people succeed, especially women, it's about not giving up.

Brown: You know, a friend of mine has a great saying: There's nobody more boring than the undefeated [laughs]. Any big career will have bad times as well as good. I'm sure, Arianna, your blacker periods have really been a source of learning

Living Large

Life and time are finite, our capability for imagination and wonder need not be.

My sweet papa passed away last week and time has been filled with all the family business and work of moving along, day by day. Grief is funny. I have been so fortunate to have my dad for 63 years, and he has been interested, interesting, loving and supportive of me for all that time. His pastor said at the simple graveside service, "Jimmy was simply the best man I ever knew..." He spoke of dad's love for us all, his loyalty, his honesty. And that was heartfelt and true. My dad never ever lost his capacity for wonder, intelligent inquiry, for making connections between art, science, life and spirit. I really can't process this loss yet, and I debated even posting about something so personal. but many of you who read this blog are close friends, and I wanted to say more about my dad than just a note that he died. He was fortunate, that having lived with heart disease for 40 years, he died suddenly without pain, suffering or fear. Even my mom didn't have time to be afraid.
I had been with him just 48 hours earlier, and,even though he was weak from an infection and on oxygen most of the time, he stood at the door with my mom to wave goodbye as I left the house -- something he never failed to do if he could.

A few of the things I learned from my dad:
How to camp and make a fire ( this comes first only because I am out here on the land right now)
How to study and learn new things
How to be married, to treat my beloved
How to see the big picture
How to remain optimistic and cheerful even when things look bleak
How to have discipline and focus
How to make funny faces
How to work with my hands and have respect for what is handmade
How to entertain myself and have varied interests
How to travel sanely
How to teach
How to look at the earth and see it's history
How to pass chemistry and physics
How to reconcile science and spiritual faith
How to live large no matter your physical, health, financial or any other conditions

We've taken off for New Mexico and are staying with relatives, letting mountain air and pine trees and storytelling do their magic.

Five Ways Travels can Enrich Your Art

As I plan a trip for the summer, I want to remind myself, that even on "vacation,"my artist /maker mind is not vacant! In fact, what an artist date, extended and intensive. We all know that, but here are my tips for making travel especially productive and mind-feeding. Let me know any other travel habits you have that awaken, energize and contribute to your artistic vision, tools and skills.

1. As a surface designer and art quilt maker, I don't take along too many tools of my trade, but I DO take the  makings for a travel journal that I add to along the way. My essentials: small format sketchbook (small enough and light enough to carry with), watercolor pad and brush, black ink pens, glue stick, scissors (packed in the luggage so I don't get them confiscated).

2. Take photos (and edit as I go, this is from past experience). Use them for inspiration, printing on fabric, motifs and designs to turn into thermofaxes and stamps back home. I usually don't post until I get home and have time to mull over the best images to share. Usually sorted by Sensory Alphabet theme. I try to take not just the long shots, but lots of details. Usually pick a theme or topic to shoot consistently (I have an amazing collection of manhole covers and street paving stones.) I think I'll look for shell design elements this trip.

3. Museums, museums, museums. Duh. Also historical sites, gardens, etc. I do occasionally (where legal) snip and press leaves from what are exotic trees for me,  to use for screens and thermofaxes back home.

4. Dollar stores, Euro Stores (or whatever the local currency equivalent) for a different set of (usually Chinese-made) stuff that can become stamps, stencils and texture tools. OK, this is sometimes a silly use of luggage space, but I am willing to take old undies and even slacks that I will leave behind in order to take home some weird, wonderful find. Oh yes, cheater readers in the fashion of the place. You gotta see, right?

5. Maps, brochures, ephemera. Also go into the travel journal. Also rich mining for future work. And helps the memory when others travel to the same destination. A network of traveling artists is a wonderful thing to have!

Two Weekends for Play and Passion

Not to mention: pears, peaches, pool (cool), plenty, and well, just lots of fun.

Coming up: July's Play Art and Attention and August's El Cielo Workshop will be hot-as-lava, fired-up with spirit and full of heat-based artcloth techniques that take advantage of the weather, the countryside and the grand vistas to inspire a new perspective on life, the artist's path and your place on the road.

First, we'll put play to the work of imagination and inspiration, with a variety of surface design techniques and creative exercises that open up possibilities for all kinds of new mixed media on paper and fabric. AND, we'll take a mid-year look at your annual art goals, how to reinvigorate your artistic studio focus, and set up some targets to hit with intention. Play and focus come together with a bit of yoga, some time in nature, and your hands in a zappy happy mix of new and fun materials.

In August, spend a couple of days exploring heat related techniques: textile paint sun-printing, rusting (afterall, a slow oxidation -- or burning -- process) and kitchen utensil and vegetable printing. We'll put your new fabrics together in a small art quilt art  Kitchen Altar, using a wooden frame and stitched work. Enjoy an August retreat from city's heat -- sure South Texas and the Hill Country are hot even up here in on the ridge, but it's always 10 degrees cooler at night than in the asphalt-ribboned city (and there's the pool, too). 

We'll be taking advantage of the  heat, with dye processes, using batik on fabric and to create screen-printing and more. Use the heat of the season to ignite your creative imagination, enjoy a convivial time with other artists and feast on the bounty of the season (some of it from El Cielo's own new veggie garden). 

If you're interested in making artcloth like the ones you see here

PLAY, ART AND ATTENTION

July 29-31

Making time to play with odd-ball materials; learning to focus upon artful tasks at hand -- sounds like opposite sides of the coin? At this exploratory and full-of-play weekend, we’ll explore the relationship between the time, play, art and focus. Where does time management intersect with open-hearted fun? Expect bubbles, playdough, sparklers, jello, yoga and seeing the world from new angles and attitudes. 

BURNING WOMAN WORKSHOP

August 19-21

Embrace your inner goddess of summertime. Design and make a small art quilt “altar” for kitchen or dining room with tools and materials that depend on heat, sunlight and passionate delight: sun-printing, vegetable prints, fusing, hand and machine stitching and “found” fabrics from attic, thrift store or kitchen closet. We will recycle napkins, tea towels and other like objects and design a thermofax featuring a meaningful symbol, favorite fruit, icon, saint, culinary heroine, angel or other meaningful design as the centerpiece for the altar. 

For more information, email me with the contact form on the sidebar. 

Developing an Idea for Textile Art

Thanks to my friend artist Rosa Vera, who sent me these shots after a recent workshop at El Cielo, I have a nice documentation of some design work "in progress." 

This workshop -- designed and executed for a group of four working artists who get together for occassional studio time -- was focused on developing an image through different tools and media, with drawing, cut paper, collage, etc. It was play time with a purpose. 

I was working alongside the group, demonstrating, but also taking my own image of a dried up cactus pad (dessicated after the hard winter freeze) though the process. The final result was a small art quilt -- you'll see that at in the final picture. The only thing I don't have is an image of the original cactus pad -- I'll try to find it and post it later. Thanks Rosa, for the photos.

Above is the final piece, still in progress. I made the thermofax from one of the pen and ink drawings, drew on the cut out shapes for the applique pieces and played with a color palette from some previously monoprinted fabrics. Will try to find the original and the final soon!

Art Quilt at Southwest School of Art

The Southwest School of Art All-School Exhibition opened last Thursday, and the show is a lovely, varied, strong one, and not just because I'm in it. It was great to see Rosa Vera's Crow piece open the show, a mixed media fiber and paper work she shared during a March workshop out here at El Cielo.

Detail of Rosa Vera's Crows.

With such a diversity of media and approaches, its remarkable how well the curatorial staff does at getting this show on the walls of the  galleries. If you are in San Antonio this summer, be sure to stop in and see the exhibit. You'll also so a beautiful piece of Lisa Kerpoe's art cloth, a fiber piece by Miki Rodriguez of Laredo (also a participant at one of my workshops) and a host of other beautiful masterly works of craft/art.

 This art quilt is titled Just Beyond My Reach. It is about 3 feet by 4 feet (measurements are somewhere!) and is fused, raw edge applique and free-motion quilted. I used fabrics that were hand-dyed, stamped, stenciled, batiked and created with monoprinting, as well as a few pieces of recycled ethnic textiles from thrift store finds. I decided quite a long time ago to only buy fabrics at thrift stores, with the exception of Indian silks, indigenous textiles and cotton batting. So far, so good! I use my own body as a template pattern (which in itself is an interesting process sometimes.) 

If you are a working, selling, making-a-living somehow artist you can probably figure out what this one is about. But I guess it even has a more universal text, as well. We are all probably living with that feeling, and it's one that generally does no one any good, but, hey compassion for one's foibles is a necessary kindness.

Here is a detail from Lisa's art cloth work:

 

 And here is a shot of Miki Rodriguez' work, Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice)