Winter Window

Back in October, I signed up to decorate a window for the Downtown Business Association and Boise City Department of Arts & History's Winter Window Gallery. They match artists (and pay them) with downtown businesses to decorate their windows to make the downtown more festive for the holidays.

Before I knew which business I was assigned to, I had some ideas about creating a 3D display instead of just painting on the windows like many do. But I needed to see which business I would get. I was assigned to do the windows for the Idaho State Historical Museum. And the contact person was someone I knew from yoga class (what a coincidence).

We met to look at and discuss ideas for the windows. The challenge with the museum's windows is that they are tinted and are dark. Even holding a piece of notebook paper right next to the window on the inside was not very visible from the outside. Total bummer for me and my ideas that were brewing! I looked and we discussed options. I discovered I could do something on the outside of the window because there are screw holes on the sides of the windows at top and bottom for the museum to be able to hang banners.

New ideas started to form and I also found out that their featured exhibit in December will be "The Power to Play -- From Trash to Treasure". It is an exhibit of toys made by children around the world who are poor and use trash to create play things. This was good because I wanted to use recycled items and it would tie into the exhibit.

I went home, researched ideas and drew a sketch for the approval of the museum. I would create different items (i.e. snowflakes, beads, birds, etc.) from recycled materials which would hang from strands of fishing line on the outside of the windows (tied to poles that would be screwed in at top and bottom of the windows).

I've been spending many hours working on these components. Since this is going to be on the outside, I've been concerned about weather conditions. I've coated cardboard and paper items with a coating of Mod Podge and spray clear acrylic to make them sturdy enough. Some things are made from plastic and fabric so I am not as concerned about those.

The strands are ready and I install everything tomorrow morning, just in time for the BLIZZARD that is expected to hit Idaho on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yes, I predict much rain and snow and wind for the month of Nov. and Dec., the amount of time this Winter (and I do mean WINTER) window is suppose to be up).

Below are some of the component parts (will post tutorial later).

This picture below is a test piece. It is just part of a component that is made with two layers of thick paper glued together and coated with Mod Podge. It has been sitting out in the snow and rain for two days and still is managing to hold up. So that gives me hope that this whole thing I have spent many, many hours working on is going to hold up through the weather.

Learning New Tricks: Part IV (commission agreement)

The last thing I needed in preparation for my meeting with the patron was a commission agreement.  I had some things I wanted to include but didn't really know how to start.  So I started researching.

I knew the Boise Art Museum had a program where they try to match patrons with artists in commissioning artworks to be made, resulting in a show at the museum.  I asked if I could see a copy of their agreement to get some ideas.  Then I went online and searched "art commission agreement" and found examples different people had put on the internet.  This was enough for me to start drafting my own.  But I also could have contacted the city or state art commission and they might have had some examples or instructions.

What I included in my agreement:
-names and date (of course)
-sketch # (since I had several)
-explanation that final artwork may vary from the sketch as design decisions are made during process of making piece
-size selection (I had a choice of 3 ft. by 3 ft. or 4 ft. by 4 ft. with a price listed next to each)
-payment schedule (a deposit of 30% of price was to be made on acceptance of sketch.  This covers my time even if the artwork is rejected in the end.  Many people had a 50% deposit)
-deadline date (and what happens if it is missed)
-right of refusal (the patron can refuse final piece and forfeit deposit and can refuse if deadline is missed)
-ownership explanation
-copyright explanation
-signature spaces

It was two pages, well spaced, and I think I covered everything I needed. Some of the examples I looked at were simpler and some had more legalese wording.  I wanted mine to be simple and understandable.

And the result is . . .
The patron selected a sketch and agreed to the commission! Now I have to make a 4 ft. by 4 ft. piece by Dec. 17.  That doesn't sound too bad except that I am having my parents visit over Thanksgiving for about a week and a half (sewing room is guest bedroom).  I've been spending a lot of time recently getting ready to do a Winter Window for the Idaho State Historical Society (more about that in another post) and all the other usual activities and holiday-getting-ready activities. It has yet to be started.

Etsy

I have put quite a few more things in my Etsy shop and I am offering free shipping until Dec. 9, after which my shop will be closed until the end of the year.  It will re-open after the new year.  Check out the other artists and crafters as well, they might just have that special present you need to get for someone.

Learning New Tricks: Part III (final sketches)

After many obsessive hours and small thumbnail sketches, I narrowed it down to four to show the patron.

To make a nice presentation, I created a generic sketch form on my computer.  At the top of the page was a space for the patron's name, a space for my name, a space for the sketch number and the date.  Then I created a square box that the sketch would be drawn in and on the bottom of the page I had blank line for notes.  I printed out several copies and drew the final designs on these. One design for each page.

I used colored pencils to fill them in with the palette choice (which I drew from the inspiration photo).  Since I wanted to show how the quilting lines would be but didn't want to draw them directly on the colored design, I traced the box and design on a transparency sheet in permanent marker and drew the quilting lines on that, again with permanent marker.  Now, they were all black which was not the color I was going to use for them, but it was just to get the idea across.  Since the transparency was a separate piece, it could be removed to see the design better.

Then I also created a fabric swatch palette because the fabric colors don't exactly match the colored pencils.  I cut a little rectangle of each from different fabrics and stapled them to a piece of card stock.  I didn't put a swatch from every fabric I have, but the ones I thought would work.  There were enough fabrics for the patron to have a good selection.

The two fabrics that are turned sideways are the only commercial fabrics.  The rest are my hand dyed fabrics and I explained to the patron at the first meeting that I dye most all my fabric in the summer so I probably wouldn't be dyeing any extra now (although if absolutely necessary, I would dye more if needed).

I think this seemed like a fairly professional presentation of ideas.

Next installment: the commission agreement.

Learning New Tricks: Part II (sketches)

Usually when I'm working on an idea for an artwork, I am abstracting from something I've seen, a photo I've taken, or an idea that's just popped into my head.  Sometimes I will just take some fabrics and play with them without any preconceived notion.  That's pretty rare, as most of the time I am working from a sketch.

I think I've mentioned before that I have a harder time creating something when there are "outside" limitations imposed on me.  For example, the themes and color palettes used for the "play along" pieces I do with the Twelve by Twelve group.  Also, years ago I tried some fabric challenges (where you are given a specific fabric to work with) and those where really hard for me.  I decided I would not participate in any of those again.

Size restrictions are sometimes hard.  I definitely have a harder time with a square format, which is what the Twelve by Twelve group uses and I have yet to adhere to.  I have done some square pieces but most of them just started with a square and I started playing with fabric to fit on the square.

So, creating sketches for a commission piece was quite challenging for me.  Some of the reasons why?
1) The patron wants a square piece.
2) The patron wants bright colors (I usually tend toward earthy colors)
3) The patron wants a piece with "high energy" (In many of my pieces I am trying to go for a calm effect).
4)  I don't know the patron personally or his likes, except for the picture of the painting.
5) The patron wanted something abstract (maybe meaning more like non-objective)
6) The patron wants a minimum size of 3 ft. by 3 ft.  (I don't usually work that large.  But I was thinking not too long ago that I should try a really big piece just to see what it is like.  How serendipitous that an opportunity to make a large piece arose!)

After seeing that, you may wonder why he approached me at all.  I wondered the same thing, but he must have seen something in my work he liked.  He did say he wanted me to do my own work.

I was trying to think of where I could possibly start since I didn't have any ideas.  What I decided to do was look through some of my photos hoping that I could get inspiration that way.  I poured over our photos on the computer, printed some out, racked my brain, obsessed, looked through books and did many, many thumbnail sketches to try to come of with just a few I thought would be good enough.

From our first meeting until our meeting where I was to present my sketches, I had about three weeks.  Almost an entire week of that time was when I was away for my college reunion.  I brought sketch books, pencils and photos with me hoping I would be able to work on it, but I could not.

Below you can see some of the thumbnails and sketches in progress.

 

Next installment: finalizing sketches.

Learning New Tricks: Part I (the offer)

Does anyone else feel like the days are going faster and faster as the year winds down?  I'm pretty busy right now and part of the reason is something new to me. I am going to write about it here, in case anybody else might be in the same situation.

I was contacted about a month ago about the possibility of doing a commissioned artwork.  The person had seen my work in Meridian.  You would think I would be elated about this offer as I have not done one before.  But my first reaction was panic.  Not so much because of the idea of a commission, but more so because the person wanted me to do a piece based on a painting that he saw in San Francisco.  A picture of the painting was included and to me it was totally opposite of my own work.  My other thought was that perhaps he really wanted that painting and nothing I could create would be good enough.  I've also heard stories of other artists getting burned with commission work.

After the initial panic had faded and I started to mull over things, I decided this is a great opportunity even if it doesn't work out.  So I asked to meet with the person to find out more about what he was really looking for before I started working on any sketches.

Before the meeting I prepared some questions to ask him to get a better idea of the specifics of what he wanted.  I typed these out because I know I can't always rely on my memory.  I also brought the picture of the painting and some pictures of my work thinking that I should discuss what I perceived to be very real differences between the two.  I also had a business card and my calendar.  In addition, I had brought some small works to show the difference between fused applique and piecing as well as different quilting lines.  Was that overkill?  Maybe, but even though I have never done a commission piece before, I certainly want to appear professional, even if I have no idea what I'm doing.

The meeting went well.  The person is very nice and he did say he wanted me to do my own work.  He also told me what he liked about the painting and which aspects he hoped that I could incorporate into my work. We scheduled another meeting time for looking at the sketches I would create.

Next installment: Sketches

Back to the Beach

Before I left Michigan, I had to go to the beach on Lake Michigan, where we used to go sometimes to take a break from studying.  So before the long drive back to Illinois on Sunday morning, I went out to Holland State Park.  It was a lovely morning - cool, but not chilly.  The sun was peaking out between the clouds.  There were a few other people there, but it was calm and quiet.  I was enjoying it so much, I stayed an hour, which I was not intending to do.  It was a nice, reflective ending to the weekend.

Vienna Reunion

During the reunion weekend at Hope College, there was a time for those who had participated in the Vienna Summer School to get together.  It was a reunion for all the years.  Two of my housemates and I attended Vienna Summer School in 1989, the year between our Junior and Senior year.  Dr. Stephen Hemenway was the director of the program when we participated and he is still the director today.  I was excited to be able to see him again.

 Lisa, Doc, Michelle

Michelle and I went to the event.  There were only two other people from the year we went, Andrew and Greg.  We didn't hang out with them much during that time, but it was nice to talk to them and compare memories and try to remember the other people's names from the group.  Doc had a photo album from our year to try to help us refresh our memories.  Michelle and her husband had gone on a Vienna Reunion trip back to Europe in 2006 and she recognized one lady from that trip.

In one of the buildings they built after we had graduated (the Martha Miller building), the auditorium is dedicated to Doc and his predecessor.

When I came back home, I read my journal that I had kept during the time.  It's interesting to read it in retrospect 21 years later.  I'm glad I had kept one because it does help one remember things that get forgotten.  Although I'll never forget what a great experience that was.

Reunion Photos

My trip back to the mid-west included a weekend in Holland, Michigan attending my 20 year college reunion.  Things have really changed since I went to school at Hope College.  Both the town and college have expanded.  I drove into town and didn't recognize anything. 

I was staying with one of my college housemates who still lives in town.  When I drove up to her house, I did recognize the sign she had hanging out front.  It was the exact sign that we had hanging in front of our college house when we graduated.  Her mom had it made for us and had stored it all these years.  Below is four of us with the sign (the other three couldn't make it for the reunion).

We spent some time walking around campus and visited our old house.  It is no longer called Smith Cottage, as it was when we were there.  It is now the Marguerite Prins French House.  It looked a little nicer and they had installed new railings in the front.

At the reunion brunch, one of the staff talked about all the physical changes the college has undergone.  One project was the remodeling of an old building, Graves Hall.  At one point, it was a church. Another time is was the library.  When we were in college, we had classes in the building.  It is still being used for classes, I believe.  But now it is much nicer.  The picture below is looking out one of the stained glass windows.

 As we were wandering around in Graves, we went down to the basement and saw this stack of boxes.  On one side is a sign that says "All files long-term storage".  Then we noticed the second box from the bottom listed 1990, which is our graduating class.  A funny (and kind of sad) reminder that it has been 20 years.

Rusty Revealed

Yellowstone Impression IV
hand dyed fabrics,
machine pieced and machine quilted
13-5/8" x 11-3/8"
© 2010 Lisa Flowers Ross

The Twelve by Twelve group has revealed their Rusty challenge pieces. Once again, I am amazed at how varied they are even though using the same color scheme. My play-along piece is above.

You may have been following along with the process of this piece here on the blog. I rearranged some of the pieces from the last view. Since the "ruffle" didn't work, I did the little circle "bubbles" in stitching and then went over those with a white crayon. I'm undecided about that part. It might be a little too much as it reminds me of lace. But it does work pretty well for the look I was aiming for.

The Return

I arrived back in Boise Tuesday evening from my trip back to the mid-west. It seemed like a very quick trip, probably because two days were spent driving from southern Illinois up to Holland, Michigan for my 20 year college reunion and back.

But before I tell you about that, you must endure pictures from the Missouri Botanical Gardens where my parents and I spent a lovely autumn day. I haven't been there in years. I would have liked to have seen the Chihuly exhibit that was there several years ago, but enjoyed seeing the few pieces that remained behind.

Quote of the Day (On the Road)

Yesterday, I made my way across the country, via airplane, to "land" at my parent's house. Tomorrow I will be hitting the road to drive up to Holland, Michigan to attend my 20 year (yes, that's right) college reunion. With that in mind, I bring you the quote of the day.

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead."

Mac McCleary

THAT Project, Continued

For a while now, the process of making my artworks has been going smoothly, until this "rusty" one. After I took out the "ruffle", I sewed a new seam and it looked like this. Looks like a landscape. Not what I was going for.

I looked back at my inspiration photo and realized what I had done. Once again, a seam or two came out. To be continued . . .

It's One of THOSE Projects

This is part of the "play-along" rusty piece I'm working on (no, there is no rusty color on this part). I had what I thought was a great idea, until I actually executed it.

That ruffly piece was some silky, crepe-like fabric I had leftover from another project. I cut a strip, folded it in half and sewed along one edge (you can see that part hanging off the end). Then, I pulled the thread so it would get more ruffly (is that a word?). I thought it would be a great texture for what I wanted. But, after sewing it in the seam like a piping, I didn't like it. I think it was because it was much smaller in width afterward and it make the seam line really bulky. Out came the stitches and the ruffle.

I still like the idea but not sure for what application it would be suited.

Congratulations . . .

. . . go to the North Junior High Girl's Junior Varsity Volleyball team for being the City Champions this year with a perfect undefeated season! (Who said Bronco football was the only game in town?) Yippee!!!

Sketchbook Project - Page 4

I finally got around to doing another page in the Sketchbook Project. This is a drawing of a leaf that is pretty dry. It has been a long time since I have done a drawing like this with my regular art pencils (maybe you can tell). I've been using colored pencils and other things, or just not doing this type of drawing at all. I noticed that I like the softness of the colored pencils better, even though I did have the range of H and B type pencils for this.

This is only the second actual drawing in the Sketchbook. I am really way behind if I hope to fill all the pages. I've been thinking about it and I know why. When I signed up to do this project, I had so many ideas in my head about my theme "the view from up here". But after I received the book and realized that it was something other people were going to see, then in my mind, it had to be "good". Well, I want it to be good and therein lies the problem.

Too much pressure on myself and not the freedom to just get the ideas down, like I have done in my regular sketchbook. But in my regular sketchbook they truly are sketches of just lines, enough to remind me of what my idea was.

Hopefully, you will be seeing more of these pages here more regularly. I'm not sure if I'll get over that self imposed pressure but the project must go on.

Another 4Q Artist

I haven't had too much time, yet, to really take in the artwork of the other artists in the 4Q Gallery. But there is one that I would like to introduce to you. Her name is Nancy Hoyt and she makes lovely jewelry. Come down to the gallery (Thurs. - Sun.) to see some of her work or click on her name to go to her website.

I like her work because she uses a lot of silver, which is my metal of choice. You can tell her pieces are very well made and the designs are unique. Anna, of course, enjoys the designs with cats. She would really like this ring.

First Thursday

One of my evening events this past week included First Thursday downtown. It was the 4Q Gallery's "grand opening". I made some chocolate truffles to take for the reception. Anna and I spent some time there along with some of the other artists. There were quite a few people there and I hope more showed up later. I wanted to take in some other galleries so we didn't stay too long.

One space in the 4Q gallery.

The Idaho School of Art and Craft was doing a metal work demonstration at the 4Q Gallery as well. Anna tries it out.

In the same building as the 4Q Gallery, also on the lower level, is the Gallery Alexa Rose (for now). That was our next stop on our First Thursday tour. There were several installations done by artist Star Moxley.

This one above was titled Red Sea.

Anna looks at another installation piece.

On the main level of the same building is the Idahostel which opened this summer. So far they have 12 beds available, with the possibility of future expansion. I guess to make it more interesting, they had some people come in to paint murals in their space. Anna and I went in to take a look.

I wanted to visit a few more places but the hostel was the last stop on our tour, besides picking up some dinner at Mongolian BBQ, because Anna was hungry.

Friday

It's almost the end of a very busy week here. Every night this week I have had a meeting or event to attend, except for one night. That was the day that Frank had to go to San Diego and he got back later in the evening. Anna also had school off yesterday and today.

This morning we got up early to go take down my artwork in Meridian. It seems like I just put it up not too long ago. It all came down pretty fast, as usual. Since the store we wanted to go to afterward wasn't open yet, we decided to stop by Krispy Kreme to waste some time.

Anna is ready for some doughnuts.

Doughnuts going through a waterfall of glaze. Yum!

After we finished our doughnuts, we headed over to Hobby Lobby and arrived just as they were opening. Perfect timing. We did a little craft shopping there and then went to Craft Warehouse to do a little more.

Here are a couple of the things I found. At Hobby Lobby, I found these cute little felt Christmas stars (yes, they already have tons of Christmas stuff out). They are stiff and I'm not sure what I will use them for just yet, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them.


At Craft Warehouse I found the little Scrabble tile pendant that says "Keep Calm and Carry On". (I've seen that phrase as a poster on line and I really like it.) These Scrabble tile pendants seem to be all the rage. Every time I've been in a thrift store and remembered, I've looked for an old Scrabble game so I could use the tiles to make my own pendants. But apparently Scrabble is not a game that you get rid of very often or everyone else already has the same idea. I haven't found any yet. So I just went ahead and bought this one. It might be a good reminder to have throughout the holidays. Anna got one with a cat.

The Blues

Originally, I thought the title for this post should be: What kind of parents are we?

A while ago, Anna asked if she could get blue streaks in her hair. I've always thought that she should be able to wear her hair as she liked (although I will give my unwelcome input often, especially when we can't see her beautiful face) since it is her hair. I pondered the question and said, yes. But that doesn't mean I have to pay for it. So I told her she would have to pay for it.

We inquired with the hair dresser about how much it might cost for a few streaks of blue. It was going to be around $20-30 dollars, plus maybe the cost of the dye, since blue doesn't seem to be a common color to have on hand. To save some money, I told Anna that I would be willing to try to do the streaks at home for her, but she still needed to buy the dye. Also, she would be doing it at her own risk since I am no hair dresser.

One day we went to the beauty supply store and asked the person there what she would recommend (and as Anna said, of course she recommended the more expensive dye). Since Anna's hair is dark, we weren't sure if it would work.

One night I put the gloves on, read the directions and we dove right in. It didn't work very well. Anna's hair had a slight blue tint, but it really just blended in with the rest of her hair. The directions did say you might need to bleach dark hair first. But we thought we would try it without. Nope, didn't work.

Round two: I bought some hair dye at the store to bleach Anna's hair first. I put the gloves on again and went back to work. Here's what we ended up with.

Round three: Reapply the blue dye and see what happens.


It didn't turn out how Anna had hoped it would. She was looking for a dark royal type of blue. She ended up with a robin's egg type of blue. She was quite upset about it, even though we did have a laugh about it (o.k. mom had a laugh. What kind of parent am I?) I actually thought it was a pretty color, but not Anna. She wanted to try doing the blue again.

After two or three attempts, I was ready to set aside the gloves. But Frank took up the cause and did three or four more blue hair dyeing attempts (why didn't I take a picture of that?). The last time they left the dye in for three times the amount of time it said to leave it in. It did end up more blue, but despite the fact that it is suppose to be permanent, it is washing out each time she washes her hair.

Robin's egg blue is a very pretty color, don't you think?

Rusted

I tried the rusting fabric technique. I just wrapped some fabric soaked in vinegar and water around rusty nails, screws and an old tool. I like how they turned out. Before I use them in a piece, I want to try coating them with some matte medium to make sure they don't continue rusting. I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.


Although I like these pieces, I don't think I will be using them in my "play-along" piece for the Rusty challenge. I have something else started for that. But I do have an idea for these pieces.

What is it?

Is it modern art? Is it trash? It's creative wrapping for a present because . . .
it's Frank's birthday today! Since he thinks birthdays are just like any other day, then he should have no problem with me announcing to the world that he is 43 years old, and posting his picture (this is from last year).

Happy Birthday, Frank!

4Q Gallery

There is a new gallery in town. Downtown Boise, that is. Vicki Stevenson asked me to be a part of this cooperative gallery of local artists. I am happy for the opportunity to show my art in Boise. 

This past week, I've been helping her to get the work hung on the walls, since I have some experience with that.  The gallery opened yesterday and is located in the Idaho Building on the basement level (that's why the pictures aren't the best).  There are several rooms to explore. The gallery will be open until the end of the year, but that is all that is planned for now.  Hours will be Thurs.-Sat. 11-6 p.m. and Sun. 12-4 p.m.  This coming Thursday, it will also be open late until 9 p.m. for First Thursday.

Go to the Idaho Building

Go down the stairs to the right of the elevators.

Enter space.

Explore rooms.