Red No. 3

Red No. 3

I tried something new in this piece.  I have targets that I have used before but thought there must be an easier way of cutting them out.  I have a one inch circle punch which does not cut tissue well.  The paper gets caught and tears.  So I tried a piece of tag junk make behind the tissue.  It worked like a charm.

I am letting much of the background be prominent in this series.  Even though I am adding focal points I wanted the background to standout more.  In a way it is more minimalistic.  One am sure one could debate that since the background is busy with lots of different patterns.

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Thought of You - an animation

by Ryan Woodward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYSXo5IzN8k

Red No. 2

Red No. 2

Many of the vintage photos that I have recently obtained were burned.  I am not sure if that means that they were burned in a house fire or that someone tried burning them but then they were rescued from the fire.  The person who gave them to me has no clue....does not know who the photos include or anything about the fire.  I really like the look, anything distressed is great in my book.  I love the New Zealand stamp of the old truck.  I have fond memories of a red truck that my father owned.

We lived on a farm with a well that was only ten feet deep.  Every day we had to drive to a gravel pit to get water.  My dad would fill the drums while I explored the gravel pit. We did that every day for years until we drilled a new well.  It is amazing what one will do for water when one does not have much money.  I did not know anything different in those days.  It was just part of my life.

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Year of the Rooster - Paper cutting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjNjsJ-Am_s

I had one of these portraits done when I was in China in 1985.  Where it is now, I don't know!

Orphan Boy or Red No. 1

Orphan Boy or Red No. 1

Orphan Boy is a first in a series of twenty where red is a predominate color in each piece with the exception of two works. Orphan Boy is one of the two.  Since I created the series as a whole I named this one slightly different but then I thought that it needed to be the first in the series.  Red is not a predominant color in this piece.  Thus you see two titles with a secondary title being Red No. 1.

There will be similarities in the twenty pieces.  For instance, I used butterfly graffiti in most of them. I also either stamped or stenciled the letters X, O, or Y on each of them.  I will chat about other similarities as the series is unveiled.

The vintage photo comes from a friend's family collection....remember Soda Grandma a while back? This photo was given to me during that commission.  No one knows who the boy is hence I am calling him an orphan. 

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This week a friend shared that her son was now a minimalist.  He has eliminated most of what he has acquired in life and now is very careful about the quality of what he purchases and the amount of his purchases.  I found out that there is a film called Minimalism that looks intriguing to me.  I watched the preview of the film and now have the full film version on my Netflix's list to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Co1Iptd4p4

February ATC - International Group

In 2017, our international ATC group decided that the six themes for the year would be given all at once giving the participants choice of which theme to do first.  Those themes are:

1. Paper
2. Scent
3. Haptic or kinesthetic
4. Silhouette
5. Rust
6. free choice

I decided to do the Silhouette theme first......

We use to have seven members in the group but one person dropped out last year.  We are looking for an artist from Latin or South America to join us.  I know someone will surface so I am making seven each time and will be able to provide him or her with any I have already made as the year progresses.

I especially like how the cowboy and the monkeys turned out.  After cutting out the silhouettes I gave them a bit of black spray paint.  That way no white from the cutting shows.  The backgrounds are all butterfly graffiti images that I created in Photoshop.  I gave each ATC two coats of faux encaustic solution.

Cowboy Silhouette

Elephant Silhouette

Geisha Silhouette

Girl Clapping Silhouette

Monkey 01 Silhouette

Monkey 02 Silhouette

Girl with a Watering Can Silhouette

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This morning Jacki Long (thanks Jacki) sent me a link for a short video.  I really like the filming of this video.  It is called  A LETTER by H.J.Park.



Here is the link:

https://vimeo.com/196920587

Belltown Bookies Round Robin - Black and White with a Splash of Red

Cover

This past week I assembled my completed Belltown Bookies round robin journal that I have been working on for the past year.  I published the ones I made on this blog each month and now all of the ones I received are bound in an accordion journal.  I thought you might like to see what the participants came up with for my theme Black and White with a Splash of Red.

Ann Blue

Nan Robkin

John Arbuckle

Jan Clem

Lou Cabeen

Meredith Arnold

Michele Unger

Selene Fisher

Selene Fisher

Sue Gruhn

Natalie Danielson

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I subscribe to a magazine called UPPERCASE.  It is a magazine for the creative and curious and it is published about four times each year.  I like the magazine so much that I now have been able to acquire all 32 issues with the exception of issue number 2.  I keep looking and it has taken me quite awhile to find the first twelve issues.  I have purchased from as far away as Singapore.  An art friend, Selene, has been on the lookout for me and she has found several issues on Ebay.  I have been very successful at those auctions.  Now to find issue # 2.  It will surface I am sure.  If you see it available anywhere please let me know.

http://uppercasemagazine.com/

Trammel Collages 04

These collages are the last three of fifteen bound in the envelope.  For the most part this project is complete.  I may add some hanging decorations to the twine yet.  Not sure.

Trammel Collages 04

Trammel (bound)

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Last Monday I was fortunate enough to spend some time at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum.  It is a grand place with a room full of handmade books as well as several galleries.  I discovered a book artist that I did not know but just love.  His name is Timothy Ely.  I got to hold one of his books and just about turned green with envy.  When I returned home I looked him up to see if one could purchase any of his completed masterpieces.  One can if one has between $7000 and $100,000 to spend on a book.  Unfortunately, I do not!

Timothy Ely - Vhor-text

http://www.abbyschoolman.com/ely-vhor-text/

Trammel Collages 03

Below is my third set of four in the trammel package.  This series of collages is very organic in nature.  Doing them was a "it just felt right" activity.

Trammel Collages 03

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http://www.codexfoundation.org/book-fair-and-symposium/book-fair-and-symposium-235


I am heading to San Francisco on Monday to attend CODEX.  I first heard about it from the curator of special collections at the University of Washington.  I am not sure what to expect except for what I have seen on the link above.  It will be an adventure.