Green Glass

An invitation

I am entertaining a thought.

A challenge. 

Can I spend a week (let's start with a week) using only a few supplies - as if I was traveling - and really use the stink out of them and see how I do?

It's the kind of challenge I hear repeated by all the people who know (which I do not).  Don't go out and buy everything.  Start with just a few things and really get to know them.  So of course I went out and bought everything, and know nothing.

So I am just entertaining this thought.  I've invited the shadow of this challenge into my house, into my over crowded space, and we are having a chat. 

We'll see how we get along, this challenge and I. 

You have permission to laugh too

YACK!  I missed my knitting group last night.  Clear fell out of my head and sat at home all unaware.  I blame all the school snow days that are making everyday seem like Sunday without any Mondays in sight.   Next week will be a rude awakening when someone has to actually go to school for a whole day.

But what a wonderful two weeks for me, all Sundays without Mondays, plus that face.  

But that is not the point.  The photo above the handsome face is my newest hat project since I finished the last one.  I am trying a new pattern, but I've gotten distracted, so I'm not sure exactly how I've adapted it.  That would be the point of note taking, to help know what you've done after you've done it.  And maybe my project notebook should kick in about now and nudge me into documenting what I'm doing.  Hmmmm…  It's a thought.

Here is the last attempt.  I love the basic shape, but it didn't' felt down as much as I expected, so it may need another spin in the the washer/dryer.  Below is how it fits, which is fine for a really cold windy day when you don't want any bit of forehead/ears/neck exposed.   We don't get too many days like that here in the Carolinas.  Except for the last two weeks. 

And yes, those are a few laugh lines at my eyes, since I'm amused by my own nonhat head.

I wobble and wonk

I've been admiring Liz Steel's tea cup sketches, and since I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, decided to give it a go.  This was my first attempt.  Not only was my hand rusty and wobbly, but I was very underwhelmed with my color choices. 

However, I persevered.  I persisted.  I plodded on.  

The second time around, I decided to forgo my all time favorite black .01 micron pen, which is my go to sketching tool.  This time, I gave the watercolored pencils a try.  

And although I can see more wrong than right, I still love it and all it's wobbliness.  

Tonight we're having snow and another snow day.  Maybe I'll do another teacup.

Up close and personal

Last night, for whatever reason, I could not sleep.  Usually I got to sleep pretty easily, but often wake up in the witching hour (between 3-4) and end up prowling around a bit.  Up to no good in the woodshed (as my father would say).  But last night, I could not fall to sleep.  

On of the funny things that happen is that I can only wear my glasses for so long before the focus goes all wonky and they don't really function anymore, so I ended up doing some painting without any lenses at all, which means about two inches from my nose.  Which makes granulating watercolor the perfect choice. That and non-waterproof ink. 

All that action up close and personal.  I'm learning to trust the water.

Lunar blue.  Shadow Violet. (both by Daniel Smith)   Even the names make me smile.  

Days of rest

I moved my desk and put a pillow out for the one cat, but the boss lady decided it had the perfect blend of bird viewing and sun catching.

Greens and grey wood

I don't do this a lot, but the other night I pulled up a photo from camp and decided to sketch it.  I prefer sketching live (as opposed to dead?  no, as opposed to from photos).  I suppose because depth perception or light or something.   But it was the middle of the night and bitter cold, so a photo it was.

For my first go around I used my neocolor II crayons to sketch the outline.  I mostly use a micron pen, so I thought I'd give this a try.  I don't take neocolors out with me since the time I tried and they melted in their plastic case.  Mushy mushy.  So I'd forgotten how much fun they are to paint over.

The second time I woke up I was in a bad mood, and decided to vent with watercolor pencils.  I've never really tried that before, or if I have I don't remember.  Well, I probably have, but that's my brain.  

Anyway, the effect was more subtle.  I had some slightly different paints, and didn't get the dark I wanted but still, it was fun.

I hadn't planned to do two versions, but I love that I can compare them.  Of course, I'd have rather had a full night sleep, but I'll take what I can get.

Camp is all about foliage and grey wood, so I'll have to work on my choices before our trip this year, but as a midnight venture, I'm satisfied.  

I'm lucky I listened

It was a grumpy day, a restless day, an I-don't-know-why-I'm-irritated-but-I-am kind of day.  Then I pulled out my Cousin Maude journal, which has been sitting patiently waiting for me (I like that about Cousin Maude).  Cousin Maude and I have not seen eye to eye recently.  I wasn't sure what I was doing with her.  But on this day, this dissatisfied day, she revealed a secret.

First, begin with a pen you love.  A pen that fits your hand and does unexpected but satisfying things.  A Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, for example.  Then choose someone you love.  Someone that might be keeping a close tab on you during a cold snap.  Finally, add a little watercolor.  A playful amount, that might run off an ear when no one is looking. 

Be a little bold in your color choice because it might turn out not to be too bold at all, but just satisfyingly strong on a drab day.

This is what Cousin Maude whispered for me to do on that day.

I may never know

What would happen if I didn't succumb to these yarn impulses - if I resisted the thought to just stop for a moment at the yarn shop?  I may never know.  This selection has a potential knit/felted hat, a new pair of fingerless mittens and possibly a scarf.  Yup.   

I've been looking at my yarn stash (huge pile) and wrestling with what to do with some of it.  I have a tendency to buy one or two skeins of yarn on impulse, and the resulting hodge podge is a sight.   So one tact I've decided to take is to make some more felted hats.  I have a non-hat head, and I've tried a couple hat patterns with minimum success.  Sometimes it's the wrong shape.  Sometimes I mess up the felt process.  This time, I'm going to use my mix and match stash to really explore a shape.  Who knows - I'm hoping I actually come up with something.

And I finished another pair of fingerless mittens.  The pattern was shockingly off (I have no idea how long they think my fingers are, but I took off a good inch off the top and they are still up there).

They are not to be confused with these puppies.  The weather outside might be frightful, but me toots are toasty.

Home bound

 

We've been hit by cold and, as is usual with us, ice, which means activities have ground to a halt, including people's school and work.  Today all day felt like a weekend day with people home.  A nice slow don't-have-to-go-anywhere weekend day, and we have very few of those.

I continue doing LIz Steel's workshop exercises.  Since I haven't been doing much painting/sketching, it's much needed practice, but I'm feeling a bit sloggy. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's my frozen shoulder, maybe it's just a passing mood.

One element that I find interesting is this - using different colors.  I am using the watercolor palette choices that she recommends and her go-to blue is ultramarine.  This has not been my primary blue, but of course the colors it mixes with and the mixes that result are different, and therefor interesting to me.  The greens in particular.  Of course the class doesn't require her choices - she gives them just to give people a place to start, but that's what I like about delving into another person's work - the effect of their choices.  I'm a very slow learner, so it takes me a while to really absorb and understand the possibilities.

 

I also bought a new expensive brush.  It's only semi-expensive but it's a world better than what I've been using.  I feel very decadent.  Doesn't take much, does it.

That's all I have to say about that

I set up this palette for an on-line class by Liz Steel, Sketching Now.  Of course as normal for me, I didn't go along with the class live, but this past weekend I worked through a couple of the first lessons.  She gives a limited palette and I wanted to work with her suggestions, but as it turns out, while I was shifting little pans around I realized a had several variations of the ochres/siennas, so decided to include them. And Phthalo Turquoise, for reasons that are both impulsive and deeply felt.   I'm hoping I can actually limit myself to those and see how they work.  I'm not very good about that (kind of like dieting- which I've never done since I know myself too well).  Maybe that's what I like about travel sketching - no recourse to my stash.

Above is one of the supposed exercises, but I subverted it.

I'm going to tell a story now, which has nothing to do with this except in my mind.  MANY years ago I went to a three-week floral design school class with my mother.  We were supposed to stand at our stations (which increases productivity), but I was perched on a stool when the instructor came by.  She chided me.  "I work for her, " says I and pointed to my mom, who was regally reclined in her space.  "It's my shop," says she.  

Actually I didn't work in her shop.  Taking the class was a birthday gift from my mom so we could spend time together and really I was there to drive her to and from lunch and  class, which was from 10 am to 10 pm.  We had a blast and I learned how to make a dignified funeral arrangement and a killer corsage.

But as I take these on-line classes, I figure - It's my shop.  I get to take and discard what I want.

Robots and Ink

Have to have a proud momma day.  My two girls were in a robotics competition this past weekend.  I'm raising a couple geek girls (don't let the tutus fool you) - couldn't be prouder.

One was the manager/coach of the team, the other helped build the robot.  They did stellar, especially since it's only the second year of the team.

For once there were relatively comfortable seats and I thought to bring a little sketch kit, however I had a hard time focussing.  My lines were going every which way.  I realized quickly how little sketching I've been doing.

I'm going to have to remedy that.

Days of rest

Funny thing

The other night when I was out of sorts, I decided to make another page of splotches. Instead of pulling out my newly constructed watercolor palette, I pulled out my 'left over' tin with a complete random assortment.  Then I used the wrong brush.  I made a really boring arrangement of muddied colors.

And yet when I was done, I was happier than when I began.  Go figure.

Flowers are appearing.

Winter is getting to me.  I can tell because flowers are popping up in my watercolor playtime.  

The other day I saw crocus coming up in someone's yard.  I'm ready for the whole shebang.  And I'm not even under feet of snow, but there it is.  Flowers are appearing.

Serendipity restores us

I like to think I have patience.  I don't, but I like to think so.  Sometimes reality intrudes on my carefully contracted version of myself, then things get unpleasant.  In this case, I decided to paint some random cardboard to make covers for my new envelope journals. Version One

Version Two

Luckily at this point (because there were actually middle versions we don't need to discuss or document), a wild idea introduced itself into my little brain.

My son recently told me, under duress when I was grilling him if there was ANY art he was willing to do with me, that he actually liked blowing ink blots with a straw.  So I painted out most everything and...

This is his favorite bit (although he was pretty happy with them all).  He liked the little curl that happened on the right.

This was my favorite.

I could not be happier.

Gratification without too much delay

I knit on Thursday evenings with a couple friends.  We were part of a larger informal knit group, but over the years (and it's been about a dozen) the group has shrunk down to three or four of us.  This is the longest I've ever lived in one town, and I really enjoy knowing these women - getting the details of their lives week by week.

I guess that means I've been knitting for a dozen years, since I'd just learned when I first started going to this meeting.

I've knit scarves, hats, bags, mittens,  shawls,  sweaters (for children),and blankets.  These fingerless mittens are my most recent obsession, and perhaps - perhaps- the most useful.  Plus I get the gratification of completion without too much delay.

I am all about gratification when it comes to my hobbies.

I'd be happier without her

Somehow my art journal usually belongs to someone else.  I'm not sure who, but that lady has ideas of quality and high aesthetics and she has chocked all the life from my journal.  I've decided to distract her by pretending I'm working in a different book.

  I found my cray-pas and neo-colorIIs and scribbled.  Then I added watercolor

My hope is that boring lady will go away, distraught from my childish squabbles, and leave me in peace.

While I was looking the other way

Since I was going to make covers for my next envelope journal, of course I decided to make a cover for something else instead.  I have a lot of text blocks from books I've ripped apart for the covers.  I love the texture of good old book paper, so I have a hard time just chucking them.  And no, there isn't much I have a easy time chucking.

Since I had been looking for potential cardboard covers, I came across some I'd spray painted.  Or really, this was the cardboard I used to blot the stencils when they got thick with wet paint.

Anyway, a bit of left over paper and some duct tape later… voila.

I'm not sure how this might hold up.  It will be interesting to see, and I guess it's a bit of a test.  I don't have anything to stitch through to more securely fix the block to the cover, which is what I want to do.  I'll have to observe and consider.

The last salvaged book I made like this, the text blocks just floated inside a shell cover I made to protect it.  I made it to give myself something  to just junk around in, but in the end I loved the texture of the paper with neo-colors and gouache.

Days of rest

Hanging out, enjoying a break in the weather safely from indoors.

Enjoying the reshuffling of my supplies.  Thinking about some serious play.

Just not thinking too seriously.

Rich in my heart

All of this neatening up puts my supplies front and center.  I'm trying to make sense of my art space and make things available without being overwhelmed.  

I really enjoy all those people's studios who are minimalistic and/or supremely organized.  But I don't kid myself into thinking that's going to happen to me.

I like a little messy exuberance.  Makes me feel rich in my heart.

Keep this coupon

What's not to like about envelopes?

Put stuff in them.  Put stuff on them.

What satisfies the soul

Amongst my many pathologies is the inability to throw out little scraps of paper (or big ones for that matter, but that's another post).  So along with making new 'catch-all' journals, I'm using my current one to clean out some of my accumulated pile.

These are a mix of some kind of aesthetic arrangement (what kind, I couldn't tell you) and plain old scrapbooking (in the sense of scraps in a book, not the current beautifully-arranged-and-documented-life style 'scrapbooks').  

I find these amazingly pleasing to my soul.  Even the one below which is anything but aesthetic, is still deeply satisfying.

I actually am working my way through a backlog of scraps.  The pile, for the first time in years, diminishes.  And, gasp, some of it ends up in the trash.  I pick up pieces, turning them around and laying them down and considering.  Somewhere in that process, when I know that I will never actually use a piece, into the trash it goes.  

Shocking but true.

How it goes

Took a long trip this last weekend, across a state or two, to visit relatives.  SO enjoyable.  I haven't been able to do that much but I need to do more.  My son was less than thrilled to spend so much time traveling but I stocked the car with new graphic novels (which sounds naughty but wasn't) and he managed.  However, I was exhausted by the time we returned.  I've been on a medication for the last year, and I keep thinking I'm going to have more energy, and it keeps not happening.  Argh. I also seem to have developed a bit of frozen shoulder on my left side (I had a bad case on my right side two years ago).  I am DONE with even the mild cold around here and just FULL of complaints.  

Last night I woke again in the middle of the night, and for the second night running  decided to rearrange my art room shelves. I do recognize that if you don't actually throw things out (or use them up) no new space will magically appear.  However, this organization sweep was mainly organizational.

And today I took it the next step and pulled out the pile of envelopes I've accumulated from when I go threw the mail.  

I do believe I may be headed into catch-all journal construction.  The first step is preparing the envelopes so I sorted them, and then began deconstruction.  To bring the lovely security printing to the outside, I pull them apart and re-glue them inside out.  It's surprisingly easy to do this.  As I cleaned things out, I found some book pages I had prepped the last time I made envelope journals.  

Next is cover construction.  Maybe tomorrow.  I found some of the cardboard I spray painted, but I also found other boards I may use instead.  I like having a selection to choose from.