Thank You, Spring Flowers

It's chilly here this morning, but the trees and flowers are underway (finally!) this spring. I am sending off this thank you card to my niece, but the springtime theme seems appropriate here!

Happy Tuesday!

Flights of Fancy: Ottoman Dreams

The most recent call for artists at Fuller Lodge Art center was "Things with Wings". I finally followed through on an inspiration I'd had sometime last year: paint my living room Ottoman! The ottoman was old and showing wear, so painting would certainly not ruin it, and honestly, I think the scenes actually improve it quite a bit.

Flights of Fancy: Ottoman Dreams, mixed media, 2014. View 1

I thoroughly enjoyed the painting part, and continued to explore mixing printing, painting, writing and drawing on the panels. I was excited by the quote "The Affliction is Fiction" and had been thinking about it some time, especially because of the possile multiple interptretations of it. Is it the affliction (whatever it may be, from a physical malady to an emotional hang-up) ficticious and not really a threat to well-being or potential flight? Or is having the affliction itself a fiction, an imagined barrier or perceived impossibility that just simply doesn't exist? This idea not only applies to this ottoman– is it just that it's an ottoman that prevents it from flying, or is that we don't believe an ottoman can fly that keeps it grounded? (wink, wink)– but also to many, many other challenges in life. Being honest about what the roadblock is to a creative, fulfilled life can be enough to bring the barrier down.

Flights of Fancy: Ottoman Dreams, mixed media, 2014. View 2

In my life, I am fortunate enough to read a lot of children's picture books, since my kids are young and we read a lot in the family. I'm constantly inspired by the many fantastic illustrators who take simple stories and make them into visual oddysseys. The two scenes above were influenced by such books, though they look nothing like the pictures from which I was inspired. I'd like to explore more with the white wave doodles on a dark background.

Flights of Fancy: Ottoman Dreams, mixed media, 2014. View 3

For the above panel, I used a print of a woodcut I did in college. It's been hanging on my wall for so many years, and while I like it, I was ready for it to become more than an old print. After underpainting and adhering it, I printed wine-cork circles and doodled on the figure. The original concept was that one of the ottoman's wings would be coming from her back, and another wing would be painted on the panel to look like she had two wings herself.

Flights of Fancy: Ottoman Dreams, mixed media, 2014. View 4

Because I wanted my ottoman to reach for the stars (ha!), I painted a spacy scene on top. I looked through many gorgeous books about the images captured by the Hubble telescope, and other artists' imaginings of what distant solar systems and nebulae might look like, and wow! are there some beautiful ideas. It turns out lots of outer space isn't really all that exciting without some imaginative manipulation, which was an interesting thought to ponder as I painted a very densely packed star and dust cloud corner of my ottoman's universe.

The wire monstrosities attached to the ottoman are the basic armatures for wings. Thankfully, I was rejected from the show in preference for finished artworks, so I don't have to ever finish those wings. It turns out I'm just not a sculptor, and struggle with thinking and working in 3 dimensions. I have been wanting to do something with the pile of piano wire we have from a piano my husband gutted, but I think I'll stick to some homy sort of project like a piano wire wreath rather than try to sculpt with it.

The best part now is that we have a unique and fun ottoman in the living room! There's nothing like sitting back on the couch with your feet up, resting on a star-filled corner of space, contemplating your own potential for flight.

Happy Tuesday!

Lovely Spring Morning

spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and from moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there) and

without breaking anything.

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15407#sthash.vlVyUcYT.dpuf

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15407#sthash.2wvb2jOi.dpuf

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15407#sthash.2wvb2jOi.dpuf

– e e cummings

Peanut Butter Dough

A great afternoon or weekend activity! We made peanut butter dough last week, and it was a lot of fun. The kids created with it, then ate it! Well, they ate some of it. Even Alanna, who usually has no problems eating lots of sugar, ate a bit too much that afternoon.

Since Rhys is only 7, pointing with his middle finger is still charming...

I put a piece of their sculptures into each lunch the next day, which was a treat. But I admit, I threw away the rest because neither of them wanted to keep eating it after the 2nd day, and they didn't want to rework their own creations after they were made.

Alanna made a snowman.

We used the sprinkles I had in the pantry for decoration, but mini-chocolate chips or marshmallows, or other small candies would also work. We also used toothpicks. 

The beginnings of a peanut butter man that was shortly hereafter smooshed into a pancake.

 Peanut Butter Dough

1 cup smooth peanut butter (we used the cheapest)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup+ honey (enough to hold dough together)

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix. We used our hands. The consistency was surprisingly good and easy to work with. Next time, I think I'll wait to introduce the sprinkles/decorations until after they've sculpted for a while because once the sprinkles were involved, it was harder to keep working with dough that was full of little bits a pieces of hard things.

Have a great weekend!

Oregon Hiking

We're spending Spring Break in Oregon, and between the beach, the mountains, and family, we've been very busy! 

My only sketch so far I did this afternoon at Detroit Lake in the foothills of the Cascades. Absolutely gorgeous! 

Local Hike: Satch Cowan Trail

The start of the trail was chilly but clear.

A couple of weekends ago, we went on a unexpectedly adventurous hike on a rather simple and benign trail. The weather that day had been chillier than we expected (only in the low 50s instead of the 60s, as we had thought it would be), but the snowstorm that enveloped us was the real surprise!

The Satch Cowan trail starts at the Quemazon trail head in Los Alamos and is normally a moderate hike or run in a loop that goes up one side of a hill and down the other; a little more than a mile and a half in length. The dog and I had jogged it earlier in the week one sunny and warm morning. This afternoon, however, the fog rolled in, and the wind-driven snow actually made us turn around before we made it to the halfway point.

Luckily, I threw in some extra sweatshirts and hats, but no one really had warm clothing.

The temperature fell as we hiked, not only because the storm was rolling in, but also because we were heading up in elevation. It also got windier the further up we went.

Rhys's expression tells a lot.

And then the snow blew in. The surrounding mountains were totally obscured, and we talked a lot about what it would be like to be in a blizzard. I don't think Rhys was convinced that a true blizzard would be much worse. Alanna has gotten very competitive on hikes and was more concerned with being the leader than with thinking about blizzards. She stopped to catch snowflakes in her mouth by positioning herself facing into the wind so the snowflakes would fly in themselves.

Catching snowflakes– and leaning into the wind.

This is the last photo Aaron took of us, because we all ended up a bit cold and miserable; photography with cold, wet fingers is somehow not really an exciting activity.

On the way back, in the midst of the storm!

By the time we made it back to the car, we all had a layer of snow and ice on one side of our torsos and heads, due to the blowing snow. I swear I shook an inch of snow off my hood!

So it was an adventure after all. The kids took warm baths at home and we drank hot chocolate, which always seems to improve things. We'll make it back to hike this trail again because it's really a great trail with fantastic views of the Jemez as well as across the Rio Grande valley to the east and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. As spring continues and wacky weather can still surprise us, I'll be sure to throw in extra clothing next time. Just in case!

More about the trail, and about Helen "Satch" Cowan, a long time Los Alamos resident who worked at the National Lab, and with the community of outdoor enthusiasts here.

Stu, Who Took Over the World... eventually

I was lucky enough to take a couple of Saturday workshops with a local artist– on a technique/subject in which I have only ever admired others: cartooning! Jacob Spill is an illustrator and, I must add, an excellent teacher. We spent two mornings creating and sketching a cover illustration for a character, and a first page spread for what would be the story, if we were ever to finish it (ha!). We were given a short written character sketch, and from there attempted to bring the character to life. And so, was Stu (my version of him, anyway) given life.

Stu is an alien with a skull-like face and a pink brain bulging from his head. He wears a cape and bright green rubber gloves and boots, which now that I'm typing this, seems silly to point out, because you can see all of this in the illustration above. I can't remember all the details of the character description, but I think of him now as someone who sees himself as an evil genius, but who really isn't nasty or malevolent. Oh- he likes to play pranks, too, and build contraptions in his workshop. The little hints at sillyness made me feel like his pose on the cover should demonstrate a playful aspect to his character, and his little dance is meant to be a little campy. The big blank white space in the bottom left may someday be a planet-looking sphere, if I get back to finishing all the little details.

 

For the first page spread, I only got half of it done during the workshop. It's meant to be an introductory page (with someone else's words) describing some of Stu's character. The top half– above what's pictured here– might someday be an illustration of Stu in his workshop, tinkering and building impossible contraptions. The bottom half, shown above, is of Stu using his jet pack to fly leisurely through the cosmos. One of the many things I learned was that while accurate foreshortening of a person's body in real life, say in a figure-drawing situation, is difficult, making up an alien body and trying to illustrate it so that it's foreshortened is even harder!

Mr. Spill gave several excellent talks on composition and drawing basic figures, and more specific ideas about head shape (oval is so boring!) and line quality, as in quality lines are never all the same thickness. Although I have no plans on becoming a cartoonist, the general information and practice of creating something convincing out of nothing but a collection of words was exceptionally motivating. There were also a few technique-specific aspects that were important for me to think about, including planning a background before illustrating the main/foreground. The India ink used to paint the bulbous cosmos in the drawing above is not water-proof, so had I thought ahead, I would have done a green watercolor wash after having finished the figure, and then done the India ink over that. Instead, I used colored pencil to color in a light green background, and the pencil marks leave a lot to be desired. Oh well; live and learn!

As the non-trad student in the class (I bet I have at least 10 years on Mr. Spill himself, if not a few more), I was also the talker. Actually, I hope the teenagers in the room got something from our conversations, because I know I did. Jacob presented 4 things that make an artist, and I absolutely agree with him:

1. Productivity. Make, make, make!
2. Composition. Even average art is elevated if the composition is good.
3. Consistency. A sort of branding. Having a recognizable style, at least for a series of pieces.
4. Technique. The ability to render the subject. Notice technique is last, because the other things are more important than whether you can reproduce a face or landscape realistically. That can be so boring anyway. And without lots and lots of faces or landscapes with great compositions in your own style, you haven't made it yet.

Whatever "it" is for you.

Happy making!