Review

Yesterday, I went several places where I wanted to take pictures to share with you here.  But the memory card in my camera decided to go haywire and not function.  So I did not get any pictures to share with you about Salt Tears, the restaurant at which I had lunch, nor Green Chutes, the artist co-op which shares the space with the restaurant, nor the Fresh Air reception which I attended, nor the TVAA artist open studio which I also attended. (Yes, it was a busy day.)

Instead, you will get a recommendation to go see the King's Speech movie which we just took Anna and her friend to see this afternoon.  It was excellent and really should not be rated R.  There was just some cursing at one point in the movie, which was part of a funny scene.  Don't miss this one.

Fabric Drawing

Some more thoughts about a thing-a-day to do in February.  Previously, I mentioned a drawing a day.  Then, I thought maybe I could do a fabric drawing a day.  Above is the stitching I did during my demonstration at the gallery in December.  I really didn't have anything in mind.  I just started doodling on the fabric and trying some different things.

If I decided to do a fabric drawing a day in February, I was thinking I could do the stitching and later go back in and add some color with paint or something.  The color could be a March thing-a-day.

My other thought was to create a block a day using the new Twelve by Twelve challenge colors which are blue, sage and brown.  At the beginning of March, I would put them together in some kind of composition or two.

Organize

I'm still thinking about what thing-a-day I would like to do in February. I think that organizing one thing a day would be very useful. There is always something that needs organizing. I think I might have mentioned before that I like to use plastic canvas to create custom organizers for drawers. I made one for my bathroom drawer to hold hair items and it's been keeping things organized for years. Here is one of my sewing room drawers.


I did two drawers last year but I have a couple more that still need help. I made six separate sections for this drawer so I could just take out one to use the thread elsewhere.

It's easiest to decide what is going in the drawer first, make measurements of those things and work out a plan for the sections. Sewing the plastic canvas together is the easiest part and really doesn't take too long.

Would I be able to find 28 things to organize? How many drawers are in our house? There are other things that need help, too, so I'm sure I could find plenty.

Thing-a-day?

The new year has started out just as fast as 2010 ended.  I can't believe we are near the end of January and I haven't gotten much done.  Was knocked off my feet this week with a flu/cold and didn't do anything but lie on the couch and watch Australian Open tennis. 

I have been thinking about starting anew in February and came across this Thing-a-day idea. Here's their description:

"Thing-a-day is a collective creative blog that lives for one month every February. Participants commit to create new things every day and share them with the rest of the group".

Some of their suggestions are: knit, cook, upcycle, paint, document and destroy.  Not sure what they mean by that last one.  On a more personal note, I was thinking about maybe doing a drawing a day.  That seems obvious.  Then I thought what would be really helpful is to organize one thing a day.  Not very exciting and maybe not something  to share with you all.  How about a walk a day with the camera?  Hmm.  Any other suggestions?  February is a good month to do since it is the shortest.

Valentine Preview

 Spread the Love

hand dyed, commercial and wool fabric

machine pieced and free motion stitching

hand embroidery

9" x 12"

© 2011 Lisa Flowers Ross

I've now finished my second piece of the year.  This is the piece that I will be donating to Flying M's Valentine for Aids auction.  The free motion stitching is reminiscent of handwriting.  I wanted it to look like handwriting, but not be readable.  As I was stitching, I did use love quotes and poems but made it very messy and also did some lines upside down.  Even I can't recognize the majority of the words now.

I decided to finish this piece a little differently than usual.  I wanted to try using a pre-stretched canvas. I've seen several different ways other people have mounted their pieces on canvas.

I purchased one at the store in the size I wanted the finished piece to be.  Before I did the quilting, I lightly traced the canvas frame on the back of the work where I wanted the edges to end up.  Then I cut a piece of batting to the same size.  I placed the batting within the drawn lines, pinned and then quilted.  I did this so that there would be no quilting or extra bulk on the side edges.

Before finishing, I chose to remove the canvas from the stretchers bars. When I was done quilting and hand stitching, I aligned the piece on top.  The next step was to pull the fabric to the back and stretch it just like a regular canvas.  The raw edges also got folded under to make it neater.  I purposely left the back exposed because I like the idea of being able to see some of the stitching which we usually so carefully try to hide.

After stretching the piece, I tinted the edges with an oil paint stick and brush to give it more depth and make it look more "old fashioned" or more like a yellowing letter. All that's needed now are some hangers attached and a label.  I like how it turned out.

The Owls

Over the years that we have lived here, we have seen a few owls in the neighborhood. It's a rare occurrence. Last weekend I went into the kitchen to start dinner and glanced out my wonderful big window that looks out into our yard. I saw the back of an owl sitting on one of our trees.

I called Anna to come look. We tried to take pictures from the kitchen window. Then, she decided to go outside to get a better view. I told Frank and he also went outside with his camera. I stayed inside to get dinner ready but watched as they crept up on the owl. It didn't seemed to be too bothered by them. His head spun around many times to check on them, but he (I'm just assuming it was a "he") did not fly off. They managed to get pretty close to take some pictures.

I wanted to watch until it flew away, but missed that event while I was busy in the kitchen. Anna stayed and was startled when it did finally fly away. Afterward, we looked in our bird book to find out that it was a Barred Owl (related to the Spotted Owl). In the past, we have seen a Great Horned owl.

Then, on Friday morning after Anna had left for school and before I went to the museum, I was reading in the living room when I heard a "wreep" sound and then a "hoo . . . hoo, hoo . .hoo". It sounded close by on the side of the house. I carefully pulled up the side window blind in the living room to see if the noise was coming from the tree that is right next to it.

I looked out and searched the area. It was just dawn and still dark. Eventually, I saw a bird fly off. I think it was a smaller bird of prey, probably the one that had "wreep"ed. Then, I heard the "hoos" again. It was more toward the back of the house.

I went to our bedroom and pulled up the side blind just a tiny bit to look out. There was an owl sitting on a branch right outside the window. I think it heard me and swiveled its head. I couldn't see its details very well since it was so dark. But I could see the silhouette and the "ear tufts" on its head. It was a Great Horned Owl. I saw its thick legs and talons on the branch.

But then a neighbor's car door slammed and the owl flinched. The car engine started and the owl took off before I had much time to enjoy it.

Two different types of owls in a short period of time was a treat. I love living in a place where I can watch wildlife in my own yard.

New Work

My first new artwork for the year . . . is almost finished. I just have to finish the edges. It's been good to get back "to work."

This piece is another Twelve by Twelve group "play-along" piece. The color theme this time was Eggplant, Burgundy and Emerald. They revealed their pieces today (click on link to see them) and here is mine. Once again, I did not restrict myself to a 12 x 12" size.

Sky Lines
© 2011 Lisa Flowers Ross

I found these colors hard to work with because they were all the same value.  My original thought was of berries and an idea I had had previously.  I thought I had made a sketch of it, but could not find it in any sketchbook (maybe I never got it down on paper).  Nothing was coming to mind about how to do that, so I moved on to another idea. 

I decided the colors either needed a neutral or some lighter colors to go with it.  I started pulling out fabrics and what you see above is the result.  There is actually some dark eggplant color in the sky lines, but it is hard to see because my photo is not very good (will try to get a better one when it is totally finished).  The quilted lines are done in different colors of burgundy, purple and pink which is also hard to see.

Sketchbook Project

Remember months ago when I had talked about the sketchbook project? I showed you my first four pages and said I would post more. Um, well with all the other things I was doing, I basically forgot about the project. After Christmas, the sketchbook surfaced again and I began to do rapid-fire sketches. Not my original intent, but I only had 4 pages out of 40 done.

They mostly look like coloring book pages as I was using a black pen for outlines and colored pencils to color in. Then, I did break out the crayons, hoping that would make me color faster. Eventually, I decided to forgive myself and tore out 9 blank pages. It's not cheating, they said so in the email the sponsor sent reminding us all of the Jan. 15 postmark deadline. I ended up with 31 pages filled and mailed it this past weekend.

Here are a few of the pages:

Fallen Leaves

Fallen Leaves

Country Lane

 

 

Beach

Art Around Town

Yesterday, I took some time to see what art might be hanging at BSU.  There was nothing up in the Liberal Arts building, so I headed over to the Student Union building.  First enjoying a chicken sandwich from Idaho's one and only Chik-fil-A Express restaurant, I then continued upstairs to the gallery space.  I was delighted to find the exhibit, Katsura: The Photographs of Ishimoto Yasuhiro (click on link to see the Boise Weekly's blurb about it, if you need more information).

The gallery was filled with these black and white photos the artist took of the Katsura Detached Palace located on the Katsura River on the outskirts of Kyoto in Japan.  The building dates from the early Edo period (17th century).  I found this information in the free handouts and booklet provided.

The majority of photographs were taken from the inside of the pavilion.  The simple architecture and lack of furnishing gave Yasuhiro the means to create strong visual images with graphic lines and geometric shapes, bringing the three dimensional architecture into a flattened two dimensional realm.  This, with the addition of the abstracted view, was really what appealed to me and made the historic architecture modern.

There were also some photographs of the surrounding gardens which showed great texture and detail of stones, mosses, trees, bamboo fences and the other elements that make up the traditional Japanese garden.  The picture below, which demonstrates the planned placement of path and stepping stones, reminds me of several sketches I have in one of my sketch books which I had done after studying a book from the library about Japanese gardens.

I really enjoyed the show and thought the photos were beautiful and yet, because they were in black and white, the interior pictures were austere in a somewhat severe way, not necessarily portraying the calming beauty I tend to think of in the Japanese aesthetic (although the artist was born in America and studied in Chicago before becoming a Japanese citizen and I doubt the traditional Japanese aesthetic was what he was aiming for).

The show is only open through Jan. 9, so if you are in town and want to see it, you need to go in the next few days.

Resolve

I went to my Nia class at the Y yesterday and we always notice an influx of people at the beginning of January through about the middle of February.  People resolve to get healthier and the parking spots get harder to find. 

I've been thinking about my own resolutions (which I prefer to call goals) for the year.  But in Nia class, my teacher said something that made me think about them in a different way.  At the beginning of class, she always likes to give us something to think about during our class for the day.  Maybe it's concentrating on properly bending our knees or the expression of our movements, etc.  Sometimes it's not a physical thing. 

Yesterday, she was talking about a goal for the class and resolutions in general.  She said to ask ourselves, "What can you commit to today? When will you start and when will you end?"  An example might be that I can commit to cutting out desserts starting tomorrow and ending on Monday.   I thought these questions really made the resolution/goal setting more realistic, more specific and more attainable.  At the end of class, she had us think about one goal and tell another person in the class for accountability.  Good food for thought.

"What can you commit to today?"

Happy New Year

It's 2011 and I finally got around to doing some review of last year to see what goals I have accomplished.
As I looked over my art business goals and crunched numbers, I found that I accomplished most of the art business goals I had set down for myself.  I also discovered that some of those goals were a bit subjective and needed to be a little more specific.
Here are some things I accomplished:

- My goal of working an average of 10 hours a week in my studio over a 48 week period (that's allowing 4 weeks off for travel, visitors and other misc. events) was accomplished averaging 10.47 hours a week.  I would like to try to increase that to 15 hours a week this year.  It really doesn't sound like much, but gosh, it was kind of hard for me to find the time to average 10 hours a week with everything else that goes on.

- In addition to the studio time, I wanted to average 3 hours a week working on art business/technical stuff.  This time was spent on stuff like marketing, getting documentation ready, applications, installing exhibition and artwork at gallery, etc.  I didn't quite meet my goal by only averaging 2.64 hours over a 48 week period.  Will try again this year.

- I didn't have a volunteer time goal but I did about 70 hours of volunteer time over the year.  That's not as much as usual because I really cut some of that out to concentrate on my own artwork.

- Another goal was to have my income from art sales and the extremely minimal BAM work cover all my art expenses.  That did not happen as I have a bit of a loss, but it wasn't as bad as I initially thought.  Someday, I actually hope to make a nice amount of money from my art, but small baby steps occur at the start.  Will have the same goal for this year and hope to have some net gain.

- I had hoped to create 20-30 pieces of art over the year and I accomplished that by creating 30 artworks (in varying sizes, of course).  Would like to increase that amount this year but will probably stick with 20-30 pieces again.

- I did keep track of monthly expenses/sales/studio time, etc. but not in a computer program as I had hoped.  Old fashioned paper and pencil worked just as well this year as it did last year.  Maybe this year I will get it on the computer so I can print out lovely pages.

There are quite a few other art goals I accomplished by won't list them all.  Some things occurred last year that were not even on my radar at the beginning of the year, like being in the gallery at the end of the year and doing a commission piece. Nice additional accomplishments.

 Since I was concentrating a lot on my artwork, many of my personal goals didn't get done (ie. getting caught up on scrapbooks).  I'll try again this year. 

The one major thing that didn't get done in the art goal category was getting my website up.  That is something I should have done.  Frank set up a site and I was suppose to learn Joomla so I could create my own website.  Um, I really don't like spending time to have to learn a new program, I'd rather create artwork (that would have eaten up more of my studio time).  This year I will be realistic and look to pay someone to set it up for me.

Besides what I've already listed above, I now have to sit down and create new goals for this year.

Last Day of the Year

The sun is setting on another year. After a false start on Tuesday, the in-laws left on Wednesday. The Christmas decorations silently sit around us, waiting to be put away. There is a mountain of laundry to conquer.

I would have liked a few more days here at the end between holiday events and the beginning of the new year, as it is a time of reflection of what has occurred throughout the year and what has been accomplished. For me, it's also time to check what got done on the many to-do lists and what didn't. A time to make new goals and lists for this new year coming. An activity for which I have yet to have the time. It's also the time that I want to get everything in the house organized and cleaned for a fresh start to the new year (I don't usually accomplish much in that endeavor but it goes on those lists). All in good time.

Now it is time to wish you a Happy New Year!

On the Trail

We had a beautiful day one day last week. The sky was blue and sunny. The temperatures were in the low 40's and we decided to get out of the house. We drove to the outskirts of town and took a walk along the muddy Oregon Trail. Even though it is winter, there are still colors, plants and patterns to see in nature.

4Q Gallery's last days

Just wanted to give you a heads up that this is the last week the 4Q Gallery will be open.  It will be open Mon. - Wed. this week.  Check it out, if you haven't already, and the blurb about me and the gallery over on the Boise Weekly Cobweb.

Happy Winter Solstice

Did you see the lunar eclipse last night?  Anna wanted to stay up to see it.  It was suppose to be around 12:30 to 1 a.m.  I didn't want to stay up and went to bed.  I did not hear Anna come in to wake up Frank.  But I naturally woke up at 12:55 a.m. and said, "Cool, I'll go see the eclipse." 

It was a beautifully clear night.  We were worried because there had been clouds throughout the day.  But there was the moon with a reddish shadow across it.  We had to step out on our upper deck to be able to see it straight above.  Even in pajamas, slippers and a sweater, it didn't seem too cold to me (it was probably in the thirties).  We'd stand outside for awhile looking at the pretty sight with lots of stars and the cool air on our face, then come back in for a little while.  Frank discovered that if we lay down on the living room floor with our head right in the very corner of the room by the windows, we could see it from inside.

It was so peaceful and beautiful, a wonderful way to celebrate the solstice.

Phew!

I dropped off the commission piece last night and they liked it!  They wanted to hang it as soon as I had unrolled it.  I do have to say it looked great in their space.  I was too tired to set up lights and stuff to take a really good picture of it before I delivered it.  But here it is on my design wall. It turned out very, very close to the original drawing. It is about 49 inches square (for some reason it doesn't look very square in the photo), the biggest piece I've done.

Now it's time to pack up the sewing stuff again and turn the studio back into a guest room.  Frank's parents and Uncle Bob arrive tomorrow.

Big Sigh

It has been a little like "Silent Night" on this blog lately.  But behind the scenes has been like Christmas Eve for the elves at the North Pole!  I have been working like crazy on my commission piece.  Some might ask why wait until so late to start.  I did not procrastinate.  I had so many other commitments, events, visitors, etc. that I just really couldn't start it until last week.  I was confident it would be done because I knew I would do whatever it took to get it completed on time.  I did and it took a lot!

Last week I was only able to spend about 24 hours working on the piece because I had to work at the gallery a half a day, do a demo at the gallery one night, get at least the 2nd floor cleaned up and decorated before my book club meeting on Saturday, wrap and mail gifts, go to a meeting, take Anna to get a haircut and other daily things.

This week on Mon., Tues., and Wed. I spent 11-12 hours each day working on it and about 6 hours yesterday.  At one point, I was on the verge of a break down.  I missed yoga, Nia and racquetball at the beginning of the week and have been living on diet Coke and chocolate (until the chocolate ran out).  It always amazes me that the things you need most in times of stress are the first things you give up.  Yesterday, I felt I was far enough along to go to my Nia class and play racquetball and I really, really needed it.

Frank and Anna have had to put up with me this week and I am grateful to them.  Frank told me the things I needed to hear when I needed it and knew when to leave me to myself.  Anna tried to cheer me up when I was stuck on a problem and unhappy.  They both had to endure mac and cheese and pizza dinners or make their own.  Hopefully, I can make it up to them by making fudge.

I drop the piece off tonight and I really hope they like it.  If not, then I will just bring it back and that might be a little hard.  But as Frank said, "This is a learning experience."  Oh yes, it has been and I will share my thoughts with you about that a little later.  I think I need a little distance from it as this as been a very tough roller coaster week for me.  I'm ready for a little "Peace on Earth" or just a little peace in my mind.

Recycled Holiday Ornament Tutorial #2

I know it is almost too late to be making holiday decorations now, but here goes, anyway. Tutorial #2.

Cut a cardboard tube leftover from wrapping paper, toilet paper or paper towels into sections. I used scissors to do this and it did get squashed a little, but I was able to make it round again. You could try using an Exacto knife if you don't want to squash it. I had some leftover from the window project which were painted. You can paint yours or leave it au naturale. Here is what it looks like.

The next step is for an adult to do. Make evenly (somewhat) spaced slots around the edge of the tube in the middle with an Exacto knife. It should look something like this.

Next, I used some big paper clips I had leftover from one of the elementary art lessons I did a few years ago. But you could also try using strips cut from plastic lids or containers, or cardboard strips from food boxes. You just want to make sure it is something a little stiff. Push the paper clips or strips into the slots. You will end up with something like this.

Then I cut some circles to go inside the tube from some food boxes. Some I decoupaged on wrapping paper or magazine pages, but I also left some just the way they were. You will need to cut two circles, one for the front and one for the back (you can trace the inside of the tube to make a template before putting in the paper clips, if you want). If you would like some variety, you can cut shapes out of the circles.

When you have the circles the way you like them, you will put glue on the backs of each and glue them to the paper clips and each other (sandwich the paper clips). I suggest using tacky glue for this as it works well for gluing disparate materials together. This should be enough to hold the paper clips in place, but I also put a little white glue on the outside edge of slots to help reinforce holding the paper clips in.

Below shows the back of one I made where I left the food box just the way it was. My grocery shopping one week was largely based on the color of container. There are quite a few things with red containers or boxes.

After this point, you can glue more things in the center of the circles to spruce it up even more. Some ideas are buttons, bottle caps, stickers, a smaller circle cut out of a different container, beads, etc. I recommend using the tacky glue again, unless it is a sticker or paper item.


The selection of beer for that grocery shopping week was based solely on this very cute polar bear cap.


Tie a string around one of the paper clips, hang and enjoy.  A bunch of these would look great in a window.

Recycled Holiday Ornament Tutorial

I just wanted to give you a quick tutorial on one of the decorations I made for my Winter Window. It's super simple and uses recycled materials.

Start with some plastic lids from yogurt or butter containers (or whatever else you can find). You can also use the bottom of the container if you choose. Cut off the edge of the lid (or cut circle out of bottom of container). Make sure the piece is completely flat. Then cut lines in toward the center, about halfway in, all around the edge. Be sure to cut an even number of lines. You should have something that looks like this.

If you want two layers, do the same for a smaller circle. Then, bend one "arm" forward and one "arm" back, alternating all the way around the lid. You can also cut the "arms" into different shapes to create variety. Now, you should have something that looks like this.

Next, you can put a piece of string, yarn, fabric or pipe cleaner around the lid between the arms. Tie or twist and trim ends. You can also do the same for the smaller circle if you want.

Find different items, such as pieces of old wrapping paper, colorful food boxes, cut felt pieces, etc, to decorate the very center of your ornament. Cut a slit in the center of all the pieces and push a brad through all to hold it together. Punch a hole in one of the "arms", tie string to hang and enjoy your decoration. On the first picture, I used a piece of scrapbook paper for the center.

If you want a two-sided decoration, just put two lids back to back. After placing the brad through (and opening prongs), you can glue something over the prongs to cover. Here are some I did for the window.

Demo Day

I just wanted to let you know that I will be giving a free-motion stitching demonstration at the 4Q Gallery this Thursday from 6-8 p.m.  The gallery is at Eighth and Bannock in the Idaho Building on the basement level near Superb Sushi across from the inside stairwell.  If you are not as busy as I am (or even if you are), stop by and say "hi".