Spontanious Art Cloth, Shibori...sort of

After I did my daily collage yesterday as a warm up/creative meditation I took some silk scraps I had stuffed in a drawer and started building some layers in the manner of complex cloth. I wanted it to be very spontaneous, which is the total opposite of how I work when creating my silk paintings. No reading directions, following patterns or premixing dyes, I just wanted to "have at it" and see what happened. I started with some pole wrapping with elastic bands and built a few very subtle background layers on top of that. The last layer of the day was accomplished by just scrunching pleated fabric into an organic blob with rubber bands.
Each piece of cloth has approximately 2 to 4 very light background layers on it which I plan to continue building upon and then discharging. The best part is letting go of any attachment to outcome and just playing with it. None of the stress that comes with the paintings I produce to sell in galleries. Very freeing and stress relieving.

Pole wrapped silk with layer 2 added

Unwrapping silk

2 background layers so far

Peaches and browns...is that a face with a beak :-)

Adding layer 3

3 background layers so far

I like the wavy border

Unwrapping the second piece of spontaneous art cloth

  

First layer. I love the border

Bundled up and ready to add layer 2

Gaining some depth

I think there were 3 layers at this point

Don and I thought this creature looked like a praying mantis

The experimental pieces hanging on the line awaiting more layers. The Peach, blue brown one has four layers in this photo.

Day 4 Collage 4

I have been working on some complex cloth/art cloth experiments in the studio today and will upload some photos tomorrow. We have our last class on crocheting with plastic bags tonight so I have to get some dinner ready early so we can be out of here on time. I did want to take a minute to upload my collage for the day so here it is:

Day 4, Collage 4

Awesome Studio Reorganization & My Day 3 Collage

My studio had gotten really disorganized and cluttered. It was really cramping my brain every time I went in there to work and I felt like I had no room for anything or enough space to put things away. Thankfully my hubby is a master at organizing things I asked him to help me sort it all out and make it function better. Here are the before and after shots.

You Can Click on Photos to Enlarge

BEFORE: My drawing area

BEFORE: Shelves and storage bins blocked by items on the floor

BEFORE: Shelves are over loaded & disorganized

BEFORE: Clutter everywhere

BEFORE: Counters covered with stuff

BEFORE: Ok overwhelmed! Time to call in my master organizer Hubby.....Don Heeeeelp!!!!!

AFTER: Cleared up all the junk off the floor

AFTER: Drawing area decluttered & sewing machine is off the floor

AFTER: Hubby working on matting a painting for me

AFTER: No junk on the floor in front of the storage drawers

AFTER: Shelves are all organized and lightened up

AFTER: Silk racks all hung on the wall with care

AFTER: Don't ya just want to come on in and create something :-)

AFTER: Counter cleared off, dyes and resists organized

AFTER: Free access to my storage bins with all the stuff off the floor

AFTER: And best of all he finally made me DOORS for my cabintes!!!!! Whooo Hoo!!! 

AFTER: Loving those cabinet doors

AFTER: Look how tidy the counters are!

Sun is pouring in, hot tub is humming away on the deck...time to head out for a soak but first I will post my day 3 collage below

Well today was day 3 so here is collage 3. See ya tomorrow!

Day 2-Collage 2, Mounting Silk Paintings, Crocheted Hat

 

Day 2 collage 2. Had a lot on my plate today so I didn't have a lot of time to spend on my collage but it was still a nice respite from the chaos of the day

 

 Don measuring the silk for a mounting board, mat and foam core. Thank God I have him to do that part!!!!

 A few followers of my Facebook page have messaged me about this photo and how I mount silk. My hubby made me a tool that sticks through the silk and cotton rag board. It has a wooden handle and a very sharp point. I think he used a sewing machine needle for the point but don't remember. Anyway I use a acid free, double sided, needle point adhesive tape on the edges of the silk to position it on the board. Then I lay the mounted silk/cotton rag board on top of scrap foam core and pierce the edges all around. The foam core allows the punch tool to go through easily. Then I sew through the holes all the way around. After that I apply acid free frames tape all around the edges of the silk. The cotton rag then gets attached to a new piece of foam core and an over mat is applied over the painting

Last but not least here is one of the 3 hats I crocheted for my hubby on Valentines day. He has it on right now as we sit here watching a movie. He loves funky hats!  :~)

The War of Art, Cutting Up Art to Make New Art

I have been reading "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield and it is blowing me away. It came to me at the perfect time as I stand perched on the precipice of artistic exploration and excavation. For the last few years I have felt this incredible longing to give up painting what I know my audience and galleries  want in order to explore the deeper aspects of my creative roots. I want to paint from the source and not from my brain, struggling to paint what others want me to paint. Unfortunately I have only had the courage to do this occasionally and not to any great depth.  Steven Pressfield calls this "Resistance" and says it is the artists opponent in the war of art. He says “The professional (artist) tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself.” Wow! That is exactly where I want to be right now.

This spurred me to go through everything in my studio, reorganizing and getting rid of all the stuff I am no longer using to make room for this process of exploration and creative connection to Source. I found all kinds of treasures while cleaning out the nooks and crannies of my studio. I found piles of old partially finished paintings that I didn't have the heart to throw out so I decided that I would commit to spending an hour or so each morning in the studio cutting up my old, abandoned paintings and making collages out of them. I think it will be a great morning meditation and warm up exercise. Below is collage number 1.

While cleaning out some drawers I came across a collection of wooden knobs I had painted a few years ago. I had painted a bunch of these for our kitchen when we lived in Corinth and then I did up a couple of batches for orders. This batch got packed away and was forgotten until now.

 

 Tomorrow I have to mount and matt a custom silk painting I just finished but before that I plan to work on collage number 2. ;~)

FatCow.com Made an Error That Cost Me My Website Domain Name!

I am having the worst morning. I was using FatCow.com to host my website and I had transferred my domain name registration to them last year. I just found out that FatCow.com never properly transferred my domain name even thought the told me they did register it and that it had gone through.  Bottom line is they screwed up the transfer and my CrowHouseStudio.com web name has expired. When I called them all they said was "The technician made an error, we don't know what happened. There is nothing we can do." 

Now I am trying to reach the company that I had it registered with previously to see if I can get it back. This is a nightmare. I have had that name since the 1990's and it is linked to EVERYTHING related to my business. Use extreme caution if you decide to use Fat Cow as your web hosting service or domain name registry!!!!

Crocheting with Plastic Bags

Don and I have been taking a fun class with Jackie Abrams in Brattleboro, VT on making a tote bag by crocheting with plastic bags. Here are some photos of the one I am making.

Folding the plastic bags in thirds and cutting off the tops and bottoms

Cutting the folded bags into strips that form loops

Cut strips of plastic loops still folded

Crocheting the base of the bag

My crochet bag in process