Studio Overload

Here is the chaos that is my studio right now.  I have gotten out all the pieces in my Color Fields series.  I am checking to make sure they all have sleeves, adding some to the bottoms and double checking labels in an effort to get ready for a solo exhibition.

It is interesting seeing them all in the same small space, albeit on every possible surface.  Some pieces work together better than others.  Should be very interesting to see several of them displayed together.

There is another stray piece behind me in my new profile picture.

More Plants

Here are some more pictures of plants I found interesting while at the nursery.

Happy Memorial Day!

Plants

Last week I was finally able to get to the nursery to get some plants.  I took my camera with me and took some pictures of various flowers and plants.  I could have spent more time doing that but my battery was dying and I really was there to get some plants.

I think I need to go again one day with my camera and no intention of buying anything.

I was surprised by how many different types of Japanese Maple leaves there were.

And there were other interesting leaves.  I am very interested in all the different types of leaves there are in the world.

North Junior High Art Show

The North Junior High Art Show was last night.  This year they held it in the gym and it was much bigger.  They also had an art auction for the first time to help raise money for the art department.  You know that the arts are always the first to get budget cuts.

Anna is in Art 3 this year so she had her own panel with her artwork.  I think they must have displayed every project they had done in all the art classes for the entire year.  There was a lot of art there.

Around Town This Weekend

Anna and I were starting to break in our new hiking shoes this weekend with a "hike" on Saturday and a hike with Frank on Sunday.

Stairway to heaven?

Color Blocks 5

I know I haven't posted much art here lately, but I have been working on some.  Today I'm showing Color Blocks 5: Totem which was completed quite a while ago.

Color Blocks 5: Totem

fabrics hand dyed by artist,

fused appliqué, hand and machine stitching

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

(Available for purchase)

My friend had suggested on the previous Color Blocks piece that she would have liked to have seen some stitching using a contrasting color of thread to add a little spice.  So I tried it on this one and added a red violet-ish thread color.  What do you think?

Screen Printing

For Mother's Day, my friend and I gave ourselves the gift of an art filled day.  We drove to Weiser to visit another artist friend, Linda McLaughlin, and play in her studio learning about doing some screen printing and printing with Thermofax screens.

Kathleen and I brought lunch to share and we spent the whole day there.  It was very nice and Linda gave us way more information than we could process.  Linda's friend, Barbara was also there.  We had a great day.

Here Linda is showing us how to print with a Thermofax screen.

 Kathleen printing a length of fabric.  

I like how she combined two of Linda's Thermofax screens below.

Some of the fabric I printed.

This is a small section of the "drop" cloth on top of Linda's table.  Some day she can take off the cotton fabric and use it to make something.

This past week I have been working at the Boise Art Museum helping to install an exhibition.  The exhibit is Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth.  It is a more labor-intensive installation than the usual.

We are installing the artist's "sound suits", "hair suits", some large sculptural figures and two tondos.  Here is a link to a video that explains a little bit about these costumes.

Lots of mannequins and armatures are involved in displaying the pieces.  It takes about 5 people to get one suit installed.  This exhibit takes up more than half the museum.  It's been a very interested installation.

Lest you think it is a glamorous job, I spent time crawling around on my knees, lifting heavy items, working in my socks (for standing on platforms), standing up all day on a concrete floor base and grooming hair suits for a pittance pay.  And I love it.

I can't show you any of the pictures of actual pieces  because of copyright issues.  But I can show you that a fork lift was involved. And we had extra people helping us.

If you are a local, this is a show not to be missed, just because there is really nothing else like it.

Cyanotype Printing

This past Sunday, I spent a lovely afternoon with Mary Donato learning about cyanotype prints. She was kind enough to invite me over to her place to show me the process. She has a great basement studio in her house with lots of storage.

Here is a simple definition of a cyanotype from Wikipedia:
"Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints."

I think most people recognize the cyan blue color that results.  What surprised me was that when you mix the two chemicals involved and paint it on your paper (or fabric), it is a yellow-green color. Below is Mary preparing some fabric.

Once the solution is painted on the surface, it needs to dry (preferably in a dark place).  After dry, then you can start placing objects on the surface.  It is then exposed to ultraviolet light (we used the sun).  Wherever the objects block out the light, the color of the paper or the fabric will remain. 


Here is an example.  In this picture, you can already see the color changing from the yellow-green to the blue color.  

After a short exposure time, you put it in a bath of water to develop.  Then you let it dry.  


I brought some of my dyed fabric to try.  Because this was a gold colored fabric, the cyanotype print comes out more gray green.

Below is an example we did on white fabric.

I had a great time learning something new and we had a really nice afternoon.  

Take a Hike

Sunday morning, Frank, Anna and I went for a hike around Tablerock.  We can walk there from our house.  It was a lovely morning for a hike, although not too leisurely.  I had to do some very fast hiking back to the house to make sure I wouldn't be late for the time I had set to meet up with another artist.  (I'll tell you what we did in another post.)

First Thursday in Boise

There were lots of arts events going on yesterday for First Thursday.  The biggest event was the annual Modern Art event at the Modern Hotel.  My friend and I decided to avoid the crush of people (thousands of people trying to see art in small hotel rooms) and did not go to the event this year.

Instead, I wanted to visit all the City of Arts & History Department's Artist in Residency suites (AiR for short).  Here is the description of the program: "The 8th Street Marketplace Artist in Residence (AiR) program selects emerging and established artists for six-month residencies in donated commercial office spaces in downtown Boise."

The spaces are open on First Thursday and also Saturdays 12 - 5 p.m.

The first space we went to was under the Renewal Consignment shop.  It was a little bit of a maze getting to the space.  It was a large space and great if you needed to work on sculptures or large works.  But it seemed too dark to me.

Then we went to the 8th St. & Broad locations.  For the Northrup building, it is best to enter from the Broad St. side. The studios are upstairs.

Tuesday night I was helping to package prints for the Leftovers III print exchange and got to talking with Cassandra Schiffler, another artist.  I found out she is one of the current AiR artists and I told her I would try to stop by.

She is in this building with several other artists in the same space.  There are some large common areas and the artists each have their own little room to work in as well.  Although the ceilings are little low, the space is very nice and has good light.

Below is Cassandra in her studio.

To the right of Cassandra are some little painted blocks.  She is working on this great idea for next month's First Thursday where she will have painted blocks that visitors can rearrange to get a sense of how the objects relate to each other and the negative space surrounding them.  By moving them around, one can discover different relationships of the objects and what kind of compositions may or may not work well.

Of the four artists in the space, she will be featured next month.  All of the artists had work up this month.

Below are two of Cassandra's small, very affordable paintings.  There was a whole row of these across the wall.  I'm guessing the painting is maybe three inches square (not including the black border).  Also displayed were some of Cassandra's great prints.

Another artist in the space that I know is Theresa Burkes.  She works with all kinds of different media. Below she is explaining about the collage in progress that is on the table.

She also works with encaustic and does monotype prints.  I especially liked these three encaustic pieces.

Kate and Sarah Masterson were the other two artists in the space and also had interesting work.

In the same building, the Idaho Book Arts Guild had some workshops going on.  Below Kathleen learns how to make an envelope book.

Across 8th St. in the Mercantile building, there were two more studios.  One was being occupied by a film maker creating a documentary.  The other was being occupied by costume designer, Star Moxley.  She had created an installation piece in the space.

Our art adventure also took us to the Basement Gallery.  Then, we were done for the evening.