Little Big Challenges

I'm typing one handed with a baby on my lap amongst other hinderances, knowing what I want to write, and also knowing I don't have the time to write to my quality satisfaction.
This is life.

It's easy to show my process when life looks pretty and put together, and harder when I have more time to think than act. This is a really crucial point in my work, I think. I've never felt more assured about direction, more certain of my mind, more confident in my work, or more supported by the people who count in my life. If only I could get into the studio!
In my twenties I was really honing my technique, I just didn't know what to do with it. Now I'm motivated, but the same little people who are arranging transformative life experience are also the main reason I can't get a move on. Here's to taking the scenic route!

 

Succulent Painting

When I am working on a project I desperately want to be able to write about it one day and show you the next without a pause, but art labor intensive, and it takes time. Factor in making meals and taking kids to lessons and parks and libraries... well, here's what is left!

I have been working on a silk painting for a while now. My idea was that the girls love to paint too, and maybe they wouldn't interrupt if we were all painting together. Hahaha! Sheez, I crack myself up.

The original sketch itself was in progress for the months of February and March through mid April:

I drew succulents afternoons, evenings, and whenever I could steal a moment while binge watching Beauty and the Geek Australia on Youtube. As I am a beauty married to a geek I consider this to be pure research, not reality tv. What I mostly learned is that self tanner has magical transformative powers. Never mind that, what is important is that I finally ended up with a 36" square pattern of succulents. It is a repeat, meaning that if you lay the pattern side by side in any direction it will fit together like a puzzle.

As I said, the pattern is one yard square, but my fabric is 45" square. I traced the pattern onto my fabric lightly in pencil making use of the repetitive properties. You can kind of see the faint pencil lines in the picture above. The fabric was then painted over with wax, then the wax ironed off. This is what the paper looks like with the wax ironed onto it. I always think it is rather beautiful.

  I had to do the wax/iron step twice as I ironed too thoroughly the first time and not thoroughly enough the second. Applying wax is fun. Ironing the waxed fabric is pretty much my least favorite job, pretty paper notwithstanding.

Then I paint. And paint. And paint. I am trying to watch as many of the American Film Institute top 100 movies list as I can stream while I paint. That, and looking introspective. You can't spend enough time trying to look introspective.

 

Such is my progress to date!

Artist? Craftsman? Designer?

By now I have read enough blogs, listened to enough podcasts, and watched Lost in Living so I know I am not the only one asking “Am I an artist?” and “Am I still an artist when I am not making?” For me there is another foundational question I have to ask before that: Am I an artist, designer, or  craftsman? It's a loaded question because these are different paths. By far the option with that takes the most courage to look in the eye is artist. Growing up I was “the creative one,” shirking my responsibilities to draw and manning many a craft booth to make cash. I won a few little prizes, but nothing exceptional. My parents paid for years of watercolor lessons and I am still a terrible painter. Since my mom spins yarn and sells it, that was the family business, and definitely a craft. 

My real talent and passion after the baby-seal-drawing phase was in clothing, so I had the gaul to apply to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. I didn’t know how bad the odds were, I just knew that I had read every book on costume and fashion in my small town library, and they were written by FIT professors and/or referenced the FIT costume library, so I scraped together money I didn’t have to apply to a school in a scary city I had never visited. I got in. I thrived. I worked myself into the ground. I still don’t think I was exceptional, I just had a good sense for design honed by years of reading and making, and I worked exceptionally hard. There was a lot of talent that burned brighter than mine, but I struck a decent balance and I won bigger awards, had bigger opportunities and teachers who believed in me.  

Then I got married and moved to Texas. I was completely lost. I Drowned in a sea of the infinite possibility of time and absolute impossibility of place, being remote from all things creative. Remote, really, from all things. 

I am grateful for the time of experimentation I had in that painful solitude. I am thankful for the forge of motherhood and just generally growing up. I began to find my voice. But then there is motherhood and stuff. I haven’t put in the hours I need to. 

My studio is calling me now. I am serious enough about creating that the first room you see in my house is the one dedicated to making. Making a mess, mostly. Should I seek my voice again? Is that even right or responsible? How serious am I? Where is my place? I have asked the questions thousands of times for more than half of my life. Sometimes in my head I say I am an artist because what I have to say is not just practical, not just a thing, but a living idea. Sometimes I call myself a craftsman out loud because I am not making real art. But the-buck-stops-here reason I am not making real art is that I am afraid. I am a decent and dedicated craftsman but a designer with no market and no heart for mass production, and a poor artist. A dabbler, really. 

Being the worst at something scares me more than anything else and I have no credentials. 

In fact, I have trained and refined taste, so I know exactly how bad I am. I don’t even know if I have a dream. But there are things I must do. Things I must make. Things I must say. Things that have nothing to do with alphabets. Can I be an artist if what I am doing is knitting and sewing? I don’t know. I tried self-identifying as an artist at a party the other night and I wanted the heat in my cheeks to sublimate my whole self and all claims on artistry into the heavy air. I didn’t, not because it is impossible, but because I caught my breath and the crush of imagining denying this part of me held me in place and time. 

That is why I am still here to ask the question. 

Henna Alphabet Letter "Z" Printable

 Can you believe this is the last letter? I started this alphabet in the Fall of '13, so it's been a long time coming! Soon I want to get them rounded up so you can see them all at once, but until then, all of you Zs out there have something nice for a change.

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Blue Green." 
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Sage."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Getting Unstuck

This popular meme summed up the creative process in 6 steps:

1. This is awesome.
2. This is tricky.
3. This is crap.
4. I am crap.
5. This might be okay.
6. This is awesome. 

You know it's true. In the past 2 weeks I find myself hanging out in the vicinity of steps 3 & 4 wondering if all the collagesI have made  –which are so many more than these–  were all flukes!

That's just how projects go sometimes, and the best thing to do is go for a walk, soak in the tub, have a dog pile/tickle/cuddle extravaganza with my kids, sing Shake It Off karaoke style (go big or go home), and tell ridiculous jokes.

Here is the one I cooked up:
Q: Why did Cinderella's soccer coach bench her?
A: Because she is always late to the ball, and half the time she loses a shoe!

Here is one my daughter shared in the style of a knock-knock joke:

Her: Salmon!
Me in a stage whisper: What do you want me to say?
Her: Whoa!
Me: Whoa!
Her: Wait. I'm a salmon, not a horse!

So there you have it.
Now time to get back to work, because the main thing is just to keep showing up!


 

Henna Alphabet Letter "X" Printable

Guys... I'm almost done! One more to go! I have nothing else to say about this.

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Gold." 
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Sand."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Dance Collage

This past year I spent my efforts on writing outside of this blog, but as 2015 comes in I find myself eager to get back to this. Hobby blogging can be a distraction, but it is also a way to record the small progress that goes otherwise unnoticed during the year. Because of the anonymity of it, I don’t actually know who if anyone reads what I write, but it is not important that anyone else remark on what I do, but that I celebrate it myself: to say “I did this and I am glad!” 

This piece makes me ecstatic. For me this is what dancing feels like. I started working on it when I was expecting my youngest daughter and I actually finished it in the spring. I love the impossible fairy tale light quality of collages done like this, and who doesn't love dancing? This really lifts my heart. It is a gift for a friend, one of the dancers in the piece.

The collage material is from magazines. The background is blown, brushed, and layered inks on bristol board.

I just love their hands.

If you attempt something like this, please get it framed with UV protective glass, or it can really fade.

Happy New Year!  

Henna Alphabet Letter "W" Printable

The last 9 months are conclusive proof that I cannot multitask!
I had every intention of finishing out the alphabet and I stalled out with only a few letters to go. Here's to rectifying that.
In the intervening time I have been creating curriculum for my church's junior worship program and dancing. Guess what I discovered? I really miss this place!
Blogging is kind of a juggernaut: It's hard to get all the photos, writing, and editing started, but once I do, it takes on a life of its own. Maybe I'll be in the groove for a little bit, just to keep things fresh.
You will find the links for printing at the bottom of the post.

Click to download and print in Brights Pallete "Angora."

Click to download and print in Naturals Pallete "Spring."

Click to download and print in Black and White.

Henna Alphabet Letter "U" Printable

The letter U is one I can't see getting used too much, but you can't skip letters. I suppose that if you need it, nothing else will do! This week I have been working on a second doll, finishing up a piece I have worked on for years now, and drafting a new top for myself. It's been years and years since I have made myself anything, so that is quite a thrill! Somehow I squeezed this in too. I'd like to thank the academy, play dough, and my husband for his unflagging support!

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Blue Green."
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Mouse."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Henna Alphabet Letter "T" Printable

With only a handful of letters left to go, I am amazed that there are still new patterns to make. That's the beauty of having a huge body of traditional work to draw from– get it? Every week I think I will be stumped and I will have to repeat myself, but there is such a vibrant history and no end of things you can do with paisley! 

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Orange."
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Sage."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Henna Alphabet Letter "S" Printable

Maybe S should have been for swan instead of peacock? As a child one of my art teachers always laughed at my chubby animals, and these birds continue the tradition. I've never seen fatter fowl! 

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Pea." 
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Fawn." 
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Wood Burned Oars

Done! I intended to hang them in the hall, but I really love them propped in a corner. They make good props for maritime adventures involving cardboard box boats on rug-ged seas. Someone asked me why I made these... 

The only reason is that they exist and they should be beautiful. Happily, beauty finds its reason in God and needs no other! 

Henna Alphabet Letter "Q" Printable

Thanks for the love on the letter P! Q was significantly easier to edit, though I suspect it will be less of a fan favorite. That's okay, I am really feeling an internal push to finish up.

Number 1, the process leading up to opening our home for fostering has dragged on... and on... but we have got to be close now, which means I will soon be a mother of three.

Number 2, I have a strong sense that after 6 years of blogging God is asking me to stop, but I need to get the alphabet done first.
I have taken breaks before, and this isn't a break as far as I know, it's an actual halt. That's something I will talk more about later but it's on my mind and I wanted to share it with you. I'm going to do my best to finish well though, with high quality content to the end. I still have plenty of ideas, after all! Some of you readers have become good friends starting with this odd form of communication, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to know you. Thank you.
 

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Gold."
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Sand."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Henna Alphabet Letter "P" Printable

So how are you holding up in this crazy weather? Here in our household we are very ready for some sun and warmth! Personally I am loving salt and sugar scrubs with coconut oil to help with winter crocodile skin. In the 6+ years since moving away from sustained winter, our cold weather clothing bit the dust and we hadn't bothered to replace it. Last winter, which was relatively mild anyway, we just kind of hunkered down in our dark apartment being cold and miserable. This year we acquired many of the things we need to adequately walk through the cold to the car, like enough long sleeved shirts, long underwear, tights, hats, mittens, and boots. Next year hopefully we will get the things we need to actually play in the cold like snow bibs. Moving from a place where the summer clothes never get put away and you just grit your way through a few cold weeks, it is a hard mental adjustment to actually invest in a second wardrobe for the year!  

 Last Sunday after church we went to Longwood Gardens to let the girls run their hearts out in one of the tropical greenhouse rooms. Other snowed-in child coping mechanisms include lots of baths, lots of art time, and lots of reading. Those are all full attention jobs for me, so I haven't had so much time for creating, but I did manage to gather up all my scrap moments and make this letter P. I love it so much. Maybe I need to have another girl just to give her a P initial. Just kidding! 

If you are wondering where O is, it's back here with JOY. 

Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Tangerine."
Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Thyme."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

Henna Alphabet Letter "M" Printable

Technical difficulties got the better of me with posting this so I am a little late, but here it is!

Click to download and print in Naturals Palette "Fawn."
Click to download and print in Brights Palette "Blue Green."
Click to download and print in Black and White.

How and Why to Use Rubber Cement– and Get It To Really Work!

So you like the idea of collaged flash cards, you want to make a picture for your wall, a birthday card, or a visual teaching aid. You don't have schmancy software, or maybe you just like the sheen of magazine glossies, so you pull out your scissors and paper. Then it hits you. Glue sticks don't work, spray glue is a scary mess, and acrylic medium is gross.
How do you stick two pieces of paper together neatly and permanently without buckling and bubbling the paper?
We have put a man on the moon, surely the right product exists!
How right you are. The perfect product is out there, but no one knows how to use it. That's why you need to read this rubber cement tutorial.

 If you like to craft, knowing how to use rubber cement for good and not evil in this world is a great tool for your repertoire. Forget all of your past experiences of science projects wilting off the presentation board at the wrong moment and accidentally gluing all the wrong things together all wrinkled up and stuck for life. You can do this, you just need to know how.

Let's talk product. Pitch the gunky Elmer's crap, or better yet, let it dry out sans-brush in a well ventilated spot. I'll show you why in a moment. Go to your art and craft supply store and get Best Test. It has the right consistency and it won't get all boogery* on you. I also need to mention that this should be done with good ventilation. Windows open, fans blowing. Glue sniffing makes you dumber, and who needs that?

 

Step 1: Cut out whatever you are collaging and prepare the paper or cardboard surface you are collaging to. Figure out how you want to place things and trace ever so lightly around the pictures in pencil. Soft touch here, folks, and it doesn't need to be exact or complete. Just give yourself a way to know where to put the cement.
 

Step 2: Spread a very thin coat of rubber cement on the paper you are gluing onto, completely covering inside the line, and just a little to the outside of the lightly traced pencil lines. Sabrina Fairchild could easily have been talking about rubber cement when she said "More isn't always better Linus, sometimes it's just more." Test me on this if you must, but multiple coats do not grant a firmer hold, they just invite lumps. Also coat the back of the picture you are gluing.

Step 3: Give the rubber cement a few minutes to dry. You want any puddles to have cleared up, but no dust and fuzz to have settled. If you move forward before the cement is dry your pictures will peel off the paper at the first critical glance. This is not the time to cut corners! On the other hand if you leave and do something else for 6 hours it won't stick either.

Step 4: Grab a piece of junk mail and lay it over most of the rubber cement on your foundation. In my example you can see that only a little corner of flag has an opportunity to touch the cemented foundation paper. I will use that corner to carefully make sure that the flag is within my traced lines. When I get it situated I press down on the upper corner and jiggle the scrap paper down from between the glued papers, smoothing down the flag so there are no air bubbles as I go.
If you are gluing an image with thin parts sticking out, like a human for instance, you get the head set first and then work down toward the extremities. Otherwise you will get the feet set in the wrong spots and have some very unsightly folding in the crotch, or wherever the picture branches from. Once the layers of cement touch together you will not be able to pull them apart without destroying one or both pieces of paper, so take your time.

Step 5: Lay your scrap paper over the top of your papers and vigorously rub the handle of your scissors over your picture to press out air bubbles. You can do it without the scrap paper, but I like to shield my hard work from the streaks and skid marks that result from overly enthusiastic burnishing.

Step 6: Cleanup phase. Here is where that cheapo Elmer's rubber cement comes in. If you rub your finger across the dried rubber cement that is showing on your paper you can make an increasingly bigger ball that cleans the excess even faster. You can cheat this one by purchasing a rubber cement pick up that looks like an eraser made of rubber cement, or you can use dried up lumps and clumps to give yourself a head start. The ball in my hand is one of two that prove I am an expert at using rubber cement. It's like a black belt that looks like, well, green gold.**

There you have it. A professional, permanent glue job.
Now what are you going to glue?
Do you have any embarrassing rubber cement or glue stories?
Tell me all about it in the comment section below.

*I do know that boogery is not a word, but if you have had a bad experience with rubber cement you will know exactly what I mean.

**You learn something new every day. Thesauruses do not recognize the word booger. We have no viable alternate term in English!