Joyce Makes Art

My Find

Look at what I found!  We've needed a buffet forever and this one happens to be a perfect match for the antique table and china cabinet my inlaws gave us for our wedding.  It's perfect.

Look at all that storage space!  You could get silver in the top drawer, linens in the deeper drawer, and trays and pitchers and silver bowls behind the doors.  It's amazing.

But, I know you know me better than that.  Look closer.   Behind those doors?  Inside the drawers?



Ssssshhhh!  Don't tell the judge.  He think it's just some harmless piece of furniture to help with dining.  Little does he know how much yarn I can get in there!  Six kilo cones and a number of skeins in bags behind this door alone. 

Isn't it marvelous?  What a find!

I think it is the best yarn storage solution ever!

A last little bit of Art & Soul

My last class at Art & Soul was an assemblage class with Michael DeMeng.  He was a fabulous teacher -- I enjoyed his attitude towards power tools (ooh look, sparks, cool) and his advice about mixing paint colors.  Since this was my "stretch" class -- making a piece of art using an electrical outlet is pretty far out of my box -- I didn't feel any pressure to perform and just enjoyed myself.

At the end of the class, Michael puts everything out on a table, and puts on a spontaneous art show, including critiques.  This was very entertaining -- he was kind but insightful.

This is my more abstract piece.  I had made a little kidney bean shaped soldered glass piece in one of Sally Jean's classes, using the glass over the dictionary definition of assemblage ("a collection of people or objects"), think it might come in handy for this class.  It did, although I have since regretted the foofy piece of tulle at the top of the hanger, and removed it.



Interestingly, it's one of very few pieces of art I've ever made that the Judge liked.  Or at least, didn't look at and shake his head while saying "I don't get it."  You take what you can in my house.

My second piece was a bit more inside my box, using the images of a bird and woman, along with a piece of bamboo Ellie and I cut down in the backyard last summer (note to self: cut down lots more bamboo this year).



One of the best things about this class was being in it with Lou, (the sadly blogless) Judy, and Joanne.



Judy brought the best stuff....and, she shared!



Lou made a really super piece.  It was so wonderful -- the colors and the shape were so appealing you wanted to crawl inside of it, although there was something about it -- maybe just a hint of discomfort -- that made you slightly uncomfortable, like you needed to keep looking at it to make sure you weren't missing a hidden message.



I'm incredibly sad that I didn't get any photos of Joanne.  She went after big chunks of metal, using the power tools, with great abandon.  Sparks flying everywhere!

This class was lots of fun and a perfect end to a great retreat.

Seeing Red

I'm seeing red today.  One is a good kind.  The other isn't.

The good kind is Joanne's Red Book from the Colors Round Robin.  It's really a series of small canvases, not a book.  Joanne has sent them with holes pre-drilled, so that they can be hung as one large piece when they are complete.  I love the idea and the art is beautiful.

I had so much fun working on my background -- layers and layers, that at the end, after working through several collage ideas, I decided to stay with an abstract graphic.   It's very unusual for me and I enjoyed it so much, especially because I got to see Joanne at Art and Soul while I was in the middle of the piece, and came home from our visit with just the right inspiration to finish it. 



The other kind of seeing red is bad.  Very bad. I took my Juliet sweater with me to knit on the plane.  I got my set up rows done and started my lace on the way up.  I left the sweater, with the two extra balls of yarn on top of the dresser in our room.

I tend to get sort of messy and disorganized at retreats and I didn't have time to pick up my knitting all week.  By the time I had finished throwing away trash (lots of packaging from the supplies I brought along to teach my class) and packed everything back up Monday night, I realized my yarn was no place to be found (thank heavens Juliet was still sitting there!)

The only thing I can figure out is that I accidentally put my two balls of yarn out with the trash and I'm so made at myself that I'm seeing red.

This leaves me two balls of yarn short for the sweater.  I could just smack myself.  If anyone happens two have two spare balls of gray RYC Soft Tweed that they want to trade or sell, please leave me a comment!  Until I find more yarn for Juliet, I'm going to console myself by working on a Sea Silk scarf in a fan and feather pattern, but honestly, how dumb can a girl be?

Home From Art & Soul

It's 8:18 and it takes me ten minutes to get to work, which means I have to leave in two minutes.  So, what am I doing?  Why, I'm soldering in my kitchen.  Really.



The outlets in my dining room were two pronged, so I picked up my tray and moved to the kitchen.  Took a business call and propped the phone, on speaker, up on the cookbook stack and thought while I soldered.  Isn't it a wonderful world?

I need a lot of practice.  My worst issues right now are alignment and taping, so I plan to go on the charm a day program to get lots of practice.  I figure I can make little alphabet charms for all of Ellie's friends as end of school presents if I keep it up.



I have to give a big shout out to Brad a/k/a Mr. Sally Jean, because his wonderful tip about holding my soldering iron properly has made it possible for me to attach jump rings easily and in perfect alignment.  Thanks Brad! (and Sally too. If you ever have the chance to take a class with her, you should!)

I decided to make my Mother in Law an extra present using my new sort-of skill.  She loves dogs, so I made her a big goose egg charm with a dog.  Fortunately, in real life, he does not have the deranged mad dog look that the glare of the glass in my camera gives him in the photograph.  He's all rough and uneven.  I hope my soldering improves with time.  The good thing about making presents for Moms is that they like them despite, or maybe because of, the imperfections.

Dyeing To Collage

I had a wonderful time teaching my Dyeing to Collage class at Art and Soul.  It was my first time teaching at this retreat and I could not have had a more gracious, fun class of students.  This was especially important, since it was an overflow class.  Everyone had lots of interest and energy and the fabric that everyone dyed was stunningly beautiful.

We worked with Procion MX dyes on cottons, rayons, and silks.  We also dyed ribbons and trims.



Despite the surprise of finding that the staff had not covered the floor in our classroom, we managed to put together a couple of drop clothes and get to work.

It was fabulous watching everyone's sense of color and fiber come together.  De dyed beautiful velvets (with help from Gracye, who applied color to fabric with abandon and got stunningly beautiful results with vibrant color).



Elizabeth's faux shibori piece was incredible.



Denise's was too!



This is Gracye's crackle dye piece.



And my dear friend Judy, who took my class to make sure I had moral support (and snacks to keep up my strength) dyed some wonderful pieces, including her trims, which I didn't get a picture of, and this vintage linen napkin, which is going to be the perfect background for a collage piece.



Susi did this wonderful piece -- far more beautiful than I could get a picture of using my cheapie travel camera in the low hotel lighting, but just stunning.



I wish I had taken more pictures and gotten some of everyone's work in photos!  It was all so beautiful and the range of colors was lovely.  I had students who never left for lunch so they could just keep dyeing and students who ran out for a quick bite and were back in ten minutes.  That meant that the whole afternoon was full of wonderful surprises, every time someone rinsed and ironed a piece dry and we got to see the results.

It was a fabulous day and I am so honored to have had the opportunity to dye with such a wonderful room full of talented women!  There were quilters, collage artists, and wearable art people and it was fun to discuss the diverse backgrounds and uses everyone was planning on putting their fabrics to.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's fabric books, purses, art quilts and more over the coming weeks!

I'm a Day Behind!

I'm a day behind telling you about Art & Soul, but there's a lot going on here!  So here's a quick catch up from Friday and Stephanie Rubiano's Bedazzling Butterflies class.

It was such a great class that even my workstation looked pretty!



Stephanie was a fabulous and very kind teacher.  Her science-geek background made the class extra fun. The results were all stunningly beautiful.  This is Beth's piece, almost finished.



And here is Andi's.



And finally, mine.



It was a great class and I would definitely take anything Stephanie was teaching in the future!  I'm off to class, but will write about my teaching debut yesterday, in Dyeing to Collage, which was lots of fun, due to a fabulous bunch of students.

Yesterday Was Thursday

Yesterday was my first day of classes at Art & Soul.  I had Sally Jean's Soldering for Virgins class.  I bumped into Sally on the elevator going doing in the morning -- she was as nice as she could be from the get go and she and her husband Brad (his name tag read "Mr. Sally Jean") taught a fabulous class.

I am no longer scared of my soldering iron.  Flux is my friend.



My soldering was far from perfect, but I really enjoyed it.  I can see myself making little charms and babble to use in fabric books and assemblages.  This was a great class and I'm so glad I finally got to take it!  This is my favorite charm.



My sweet roommate Kathy Wasilewski stayed up late with me the night before making teeny-tiny collages to go under the equally small pieces of glass.  We had a a great time and I ended up with some wonderful little pieces.



Majesty is one of Kathy's little collages, and I just love it.  The strange looking thing on the left is a vintage button on top of a little snip of one of my silk ribbons.

I sat with the nicest table of women in this class!  It was one of those delightful groups were everyone shared everything and helped each other along.  I wish I could just take them along to every class with me! This is Chaundra, who was as in love with her soldering iron as I was by the end of the class.



Today I'm off to Bedazzling Butterflies.  We're making assemblage boxes using pictures and butterfly wings.  And then tonight we have the annual diva get together.  I'm really looking forward to it and hoping all my girlfriends will like the little presents I put together for them.

Countdown Mode

I'm in countdown mode for Art and Soul.  Since I wasn't sure about flying with chemicals, dyes, gas masks, and soldering tools, most of those kind of items are in boxes and winging their way to my roomate, Kathy Wasilewski, who lives nearby in Virginia and will drive them on down (if you're going to Art and Soul and don't have a Monday class scheduled yet, Kathy teaches The Clearly Visible Journal -- a very cool class that has a few spots still open). Some of the rest of my class supplies are sorted into little piles all around the house.  I've still got images to print out and wee collages to make for my soldering class on Thursday.

I took a few minutes out to put some of my hand-dyed yarn into mini-skeins for Vendor's Night.

I love this particular fiber, and have dyed it up in several different vintage-looking colorways for artists' use.

I also took some time out and made myself a comfortable skirt with one of those stretchy yoga waistbands to wear for class.  I also did a matching messenger bag.  Unfortunately, the only available photographer was my 15 year old Teddy, who managed to get only one picture with me even in the frame.  This is it:

"Mom" he told me, "I thought you wanted a picture of your top.  Kids with non-verbal learning order don't know what to do unless you tell them exactly."  This cracked me up and made me appreciate how much his school is doing for him.  That's the first time he has ever asserted his "disability" as an excuse, and he grinned while he was doing it.  One of the fringe benefits of having a special kid like Teddy is watching him grow into himself in the most unexpected ways.  Needless to say, we'll be having a photography class this weekend, to insure that he "gets it."  But for now, that's all of the skirt and messenger bag you get to see.

I suppose I should make a list, but I think it would scare me: collect, pack, create.  But I can't wait for Wednesday, when I'll be on the plane to Virginia and I can't wait to see all of my Art Sistahs.

Smelling The Roses

Today has been a day to stop and smell the roses.  Literally.

Can't you just smell them?  That is Souvenir de la Malmaison -- virtually thornless and with a pure, gentle rose scent.

I planted her while I was pregnant with Ellie, and every year, she rewards me: blooming through drought, never asking for fertilizer, and always generous with her beautiful flowers.  I love her, and couldn't resist taking a picture of yarn (ok, not just yarn, cashmere sock yarn) tucked into her leaves.

After I stopped to smell Souvenir, I stopped again on the way into the house -- there was an  envelope from my friend Angie.  She e-mailed earlier this week to say she had sent me a little envelope to thank me for a wee piece of silk I had popped in the mail to her.  Look at this!  Her "little envelope" turned out to be a world of art, itself.

It's all wonderful.  Especially the vintage German linen ribbon, which I am going to take along to Art and Soul.  I have plans to use it in my Girls Got Goth necklace in Sally Jean's class.  I really don't deserve friends like Angie and feel very fortunate have them.  Thank you girlfriend.