scribblenscratch

new and improved studio

2011-06-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

my working environment has been in a disarray for quite some time. some of my posts (including my profile picture) include shots of my dining room where most of my painting takes place. well i'm happy to say that my dining room has been returned to the dining part of our lives and the painting and everything else art-making wise has been appropriated to the "studio". we are fortunate in this city to possess a detached 2-car garage in which we store bikes, scooters, skateboards, luggage, hand me downs and everything else imaginable that does not fit in our flat - all of which resides in one side of the garage. my studio has occupied the opposite side and has been a STRUGGLE to keep as such due to the overflow of kid-equipment and debris that blows into the space. it's been a total nightmare to keep clean - which is why i do all my "mess-free" work indoors in our living space. i have recently however, converted my studio into a more private space and created a very obvious border between kid-stuff and my-stuff. i've even organized every single screw, stick of graphite, adhesive, solvent, pigment, paper and so on and am working on the labels simultaneous to completing this post. i thought i would include some shots so i can one day look back on the space in it's clean and orderly manner and "tisk" myself in the coming months as the orderliness reverses and it becomes more mine and less an idealized version of what that means.

this is the garage - in it's entirety.

the studio - i forgot to mention the immense quantity of materials and supplies i own. these storage drawers are full of such

inside looking out

okay - this is the cave, it exists behind the wall (shown below) and is also full of gawd know what....just in case

these added walls are from Open Studios 2 yrs ago, they used to be leaning and were unfinished wood - not no more

the wall straight ahead covering the cave is a moving wall that i will be using to photograph the work on

my most exciting addition is the TABLE in the middle - $25 from scrap and it extends to 10' and weighs is solid wood (and it's level. the garage resembles the topography of a sand dune with rolling hills - rather, our entire property is a sand dune. i guess after 110 yrs the buildings have "settled". anyway, my working surfaces are LEVEL - and i'm damn proud of it as a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making it so.

and yes, more "supplies"

a view of my beloved work table.

i think this was a bit ridiculous, but i feel it must be stated that this is the first time since my time in grad school where i had a work space that i can actually work in. the table is rad, i have so much room to lay things out, it's clean and i don't have to clean up before dinner or risk my sweet children's hands signing the works in progress, and i don't have to eat with splatters of paint under my water glass. i'm happy. chris is happy and i can't wait to get cracking!

outburst

2011-06-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Here are the shots of this piece (each panel is 6"sq). This was the very first series - ever - of the screen prints and gouache on paper and some ways it is my favorite. Please be advised, the orientation shifts in the 1st and last images.

totally finished with stain - hung on my studio wall

the Compound

2011-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be interesting to include a couple of shots of the workspace at the Compound. This place is really awesome as it draws in a very talented and committed group of artists - in both the studio space as well as the lockers (which is the route I went). The have some great shows and Lena and Matt do an incredible job curating. I wish we lived closer or they were closer to me so I could continue to work there.

my locker and screens

one of 3 very large work surfaces with a peek into the back area

print mania

2011-05-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

These shots are from the latest round of printing at the Compound. I splurged and stocked up on what seems like a million wood panels and printed all of them at the same time. One of the enviable perks at the Compound Studios is the enormous table space to lay work out - it's awesome! and very rarely have I had to share the tables with anyone while doing this print sessions, which is priceless for me. I also printed a STACK of paper and will enjoy painting them for months to come ;)

the beginning

3 rounds of prints/screens


session over

Slate

2011-01-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

I've been given an awesome opportunity to show my newest series of pieces at Slate on Telegraph in Oakland. Admittedly, Danielle invited me last year to show them for the month of December, but given the dates of my posts, it's probably a little obvious that I'm WAY behind on keeping business updated. The good news is, the work will be up through January.

Here are a couple of shots of the space:

The titles of this series are "Screen Tapestries". The are each 10"sq but 1.5"D, the ones with black around them are actually framed and are coated in resin. The unframed pieces I call "matte" are also not resin-ed. Each piece consists of 4 6"sq abstracts of 4 larger print-drawings. These are in a way, a larger version of my Fingerprints, and instead of digital prints, they are hand printed and painted - my current M.O.

I also sell and show my digital prints series - available only through Slate. For inquiries about pricing, please contact the gallery.

PS Thanks for looking!

Rainy Day

2010-10-23T16:45:00.001-07:00

It's a wet and chilly first day of Open Studios. I thought the rain would have seriously deterred traffic, which it probably has, however the flow has been quite nice and I've been anything but lonely.

Here are some shots of the studio today - the fruits of many weeks labor are up on the walls and have received good response. Now, let's hope it continues over into to tomorrow. Fingers are crossed.

just too darn pretty

2010-10-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

to cut up...not that the ones that get the chop aren't nice, but some I just can't bring myself to divide.

summer

2010-08-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

so it NEVER occurred to me that summer meant, no school. duh. well, with that said, i had the opportunity to take Zander, my 5 3/4 yr old with me to the MCCLA to print, one fine sunny and scorching hot day. it was quite an exciting adventure as the fire dept showed up and evacuated the building as one of the alarm sensors was having some "issues". no fire, but who knew that the fear of it would such a thrill ride for a youngish child.

These pics of of tmy digital drawings. I have been hoping to step away from the digital process and get my hands back into the messy stuff and have
found screen printing to be a perfect solution to replacing the digital media.

once the drawings are finished (i'm done layering), I'm dividing them up into 6" squares and reassembling them on 10" or 6" panels. I'm letting the lines and color dictate how they are reassembled.

summer studio

2010-07-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

This summer has been amazingly productive for me, which is a bit shocking since this is the first summer in which I had my kids home more than not. I've also started working again part time which also eliminated many of my "free" days when the kids are off on adventures on their own (no, this doesn't mean I give 'em a bus pass and direct to go explore aimless through the city) (it's an organized thing). Regardless, it's all good stuff and has really allowed my to use my time as efficiently as possible. I've been learning screen printing as was fortunate to meet a fellow named Ryan McJunkin through the Compound Gallery (of which I'm one of the Art In a Box Artists). I really love his work and the line quality of his prints and he graciously facilitated a private workshop for me to teach me the basics.

This view shows the prints underneath the FingerPrints pieces that are comprised of digital drawings. These drawings are 27x32", and are layers of the screen printed drawings with layers of gouache and dry pigment.

I'm pretty happy with this so far. I hope it's not beginners luck. ;)

more from the wax

2010-06-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

When I started these pieces I used an ink dropper to make small circles with various inks, and then would rotate the paper around creating a freeway of lines and drips, allowing the ink to merge into itself. Where the lines would merge, I would inject more ink with metallic flecks and various colors which would give depth and iridescence to the lines. Once the inks cured, the water would evaporate from the lines and surface of the ink line would be striated and reminiscent of an oil slick. I then added dry pigments such as pastels and graphite to the negative spaces between the lines, pulling forms from the lines.

now...they've evolved into entirely new creatures.

I promised Chris I would stop futzing with them....I will do by my best.

threadings

2010-06-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

I began this little body of work early this year when I was really deep into the sewing-my-drawings phase. These 9 little pieces are sewn from a drawing on the other side of each piece of paper. Done by hand and experimenting with black and white thread only, I feel a sense of calmness when I look at these. I'm a wee bit reminded of Charlotte's web, when her baby spiders fly off into the world, carried by a single thread, with nothing but enthusiasm and vigor to lead them into the unknown.

Perhaps I will revisit these in the upcoming months. It's hard to say, I haven't touched my sewing machine since spring. Somehow, despite the pleasure sewing gives me...I've moved on.

the studio

2010-04-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

This my "working wall" - currently covered in wax pieces.

These little ditties are a new series I'm creating for Compound Gallery's Art In a Box.

I'm still interested in boxes and crates. I've got quite a collection and am getting closer to actually finishing something. The black pieces on the bottom are soap/bath trays from Ikea and the top natural box is a flatware organizer (with the organizer part removed). The artwork inside are pieces from the inkjet-gouache series.

The "wall" and the wax table (the chopping block). The long plastic container is the "catch-all" for my latest process - scraping off the wax and starting over, which is precisely what I did. More 'bout that to come.

back tracking

2010-04-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

A lot of things have been happening since Open Studios last fall and for the purpose of my own need to document this stuff, I will spend a few posts on covering those events...

In July of '09 I was contacted by SF Perinatal Associates about showing a large series of work for a 6 month period of time. Ironically, I had all of my prenatal testing for Desmond done at this amazingly beautiful and contemporary space in 2006. The clinic itself is located on the 2nd floor of a high rise condo building on the corner of Van Ness and Daniel Burnham Court, and the clinic sprawls throughout 3 space, 2 of which are the exam/medical rooms. The lobby has beautiful light and is surrounded by windows. anyway, the needed a lot of work so I decided to show my encaustics, which were before, ink drawings that I showed at Lotus (aka: Sproos) in 2007. While ink drawings they were very colorful and vibrant and one of the Perinatal physicians found me there while getting her hair done. The transformation into encaustic took the drawings from vibrant into a more organic and visceral place - one that in hindsight, I think wasn't really a good fit. Whatever, hindsight is the past and going forward I will approach an opportunity like this in a different way. The only other thing to note is the beeswax in the encaustic caused a bit of a disturbance in that it was too fragrant for pregnant women. Duh. Personally I would have been the crazy lady licking the paintings, however, that was not an elicited response from the other and more current prego ladies. Going forward, and note to self - no beeswax for pregnant audiences

...some shots of the pieces in the Perinatal clinic can be seen in a much more previous post.

So what I am doing now is showing a few before and after shots of these pieces. They've really changed a lot:

heads up

2010-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, how embarrassing that it's been 6 months since I've visited my own blog. I'm trying to recall what exactly I've been doing this whole....oh, yah: WORKING!! Okay, so things are good, actually great and my New Year's resolutions are just kicking in as the beginning of the year has been a s*&tstorm. I've got a lot of pieces and their progress to write about so heads up! For now, here's a shot of one of the series I've been working on...

These pieces came back from the SF Perinatal Show from last year. The white drawings are new - I think it may be important to note that I've been layering these pieces for nearly 10 years. One of the next posts will be about their "finished state".

back to the basics

2010-03-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

Because it has been so long since I've kept up with this little project, I feel I need to reflect on all that has gotten me to now. I feel like I've participated in a lot of events and show, relatively speaking and each one has offered me an opportunity to mutate a bit and grow. My work has changed substantially in the past couple of years and each time I present my work or sell a piece, something in my overall interest in what I make, changes. I also get bored quickly, so maybe that's what's really going on.

At Open Studios last fall, I focused primarily on the thumbnails Fingerprints, collaging a bunch of different drawings together. Now, I'm taking it back a step and instead of chopping them all up, I'm leaving the drawing once it's been sewn as is, and adding resin. I'm using the 10x10 finished as the thumbnail though I haven't quite collaged them together yet. It's still just an idea because it seems like when I finish enough to do so, I sell a few and then I have to start over. What a conundrum, eh.

BTW, the glossy stuff is resin. These have all been sewn and are now framed and the property of the BaySide Oral Surgery Group.

the aftermath

2009-11-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

i feel as though i've been hit by a train over and over again. i think this may be the worst hangover - hung from too many late nights and early mornings and sick kids. not that other kind of hangover - who has time for such things?!

i can feel the winds about to change and i'm going to get my groove back. i finally put everything away in my studio - what a mess. like a hurricane of paper and nails and adhesive experiments.

i know i'll find my way again soon.....

ahhhh, open studios

2009-11-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

it's been a long while since i've posted but life's been absurdly crazy. however, getting to the topic at hand, OS was awesome. we had a gazillion more people come through our space than if we would have done it alone and hallelujah for that. oh, the "our" is the 4x4 collective - a drawing group that has inspired me and gotten me working like mad to make new work, only 4" square work, so not too much pressure. we rented a nice big room at fort mason and spent 3 months figuring out how to install our work, as we weren't able to hang on the walls. we had a brilliant solution and damn! if it didn't look cool too! (clockwise from top left: me and me, ellen burgin, kathryn clark, jennifer kelley, victoria veedell and neile royston).

....

woo hoo!

juices are a flowin'

2009-08-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

i feel like i'm sort of on a roll. i've not written anything here in so long and with each one i add pics to, i realize how much i still have to do. i am intending to publish them in chronological order, however i may skip one or two. bear with me. there's a lot of ground to cover.....next.

inkjet transfers have been a fascination of mine for years. i've never really mastered it to a point where i'm comfortable using it in my work until this earlier this year. for a long while i was drawing all the time, like everyday and accumulations of these drawings that are just doodle-y swirls starting creeping into every crevice of clutter in my house and studio. and with the move, i sort of decided that something's got to give. i need to use these "spider webs" as zander refers to them, and incorporate them somehow in something. usually i scan and they are the foundation for my digital collages. great, i've got like 4,317 of these things - digitally i can't keep up. so i cut back on drawing and never really resolved a way to de-clutter our space of these little artworks, however, i have begun to use digitally rendered drawings in other ways. they are the foundation of my new favorite mixed media pieces. i've been using a 4 different drawings, all cut up into thumbnails as a transfer onto canvas boards. the thumbnail is the departure point for a sort of painting collage. these pieces give me a great sense of release when making them as they fulfill my interest in transfer techniques, they indulge my new love for gouache and finally satisfy my obsession with shiny, gooey surfaces which i seem to stumble upon in many local and contemporary artist's work.

what is most interesting to me is how one little drawing which is replicated 5 or 6 times can inspire a vast array of outcomes within a series. it's one of those things that i just don't see myself becoming bored with for a while.

i love the scale too. they're small yet in a series of 3 or 4, they have the potential to be a respectable size. i'm playing around with how to present them and i've sort of fallen for mounting them on a board and framing them in with small 1/2" wood. i think it gives a finished looked, but more importantly gives each the space they need on their own without cramping them with their siblings. oooh la la.

the best discovery yet, Zander and Desi LOVE to paint with me, even better! here's a shot of the older concentrating on his own process of mixing colors

a story of a sewing machine

2009-08-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

a very, very sad one indeed. my mom gave it to me i think in college, or maybe it was grad school. regardless, i've busted it out once in like 20 yrs it seems like. no really. it's very sad. i remember chris' mom gave him one about the same time, a much older and heavier version. so for years, literally we've schlepped these sad and useless machines back and forth across the country, from town to town and house to house. each of us making a pact to use them, or at least try to learn how to use them. did we? no never. until a couple of months ago, after moving the darn thing around AGAIN, i decided that i'd needed to do this and now. somewhere along the way, during another move we ditched one of them (not mine). i knew that mine was next if i couldn't make this happen and soon. so, the poor lowly singer - emerged from it's case. dirty and sticky - who can imagine why. anyway. i immediately dove right in. bear with me as a turn a very short story into a novel.

right after moving i got it in my head that i wanted to be a street artist down on the embarcadero. well, believe it or not, there's actually a very comprehensive screening process, in which each artist has to present a fairly large number of completed and half-completed pieces to a committee. so, i had a TON of prints made in preparation for this wild, hair-brained scheme. i've been trying to re-work the digital print pieces in such a way that they pass from pen and ink, to digital rendering, and back to a more "real" vice, such as a third textile element, maybe fabric or paper or something. it's been this open-ended conundrum for me as i haven't been very certain as to what the thing should be. and then i realized that my fantasies of sewing my drawings would be perfect for this.

so anyway, after detailing and semi-restoring my poor singer, i attempted this drawing with sewing-machine layer for the first time. what a disaster. i had so much to learn. who did i think i was? i haven't used a sewing machine since 8th grade. really. i know i used this machine for something before, but i have no idea what it was. anyway, defeated i decided i needed different needles and thread and i really, more than anything else needed a mentor. well, mentorless, however fully loaded with a variety of needles and thread, i attempted again and quickly learned that it was so much more satisfying to simply use the machine to make holes - regular and perfectly spaced. i liked this. it wasn't what i imagined i'd be doing with this idea, but it was nonetheless totally fun and liberating. as i may have mentioned in other posts, i am not a perfectionist. in fact my ability to create something that has flawless utility or more relevant in this case, is masterfully created is horrible. for me, it takes the fun out of the job. i have rules and guidelines, but usually, they are mine and mine alone. technical applications, such as sewing a functional anything is beyond my interest. getting the thread and needle to work harmoniously with the paper was disenchanting. i lost interest completely. HOWEVER, drawing with the machine was AWESOME and the result was really exciting for me. i will always admire and one day hope to acquire a piece of tucker's work, but for now, i will simply stick to this new fun tool.

i saw a book exhibit at the Legion of Honor years ago and a local artist created these unbelievably simple, yet delicate and beautiful landscape drawings on thick white drawing paper, using thin, white thread. it was love at first site. it's rare that i'm completely smitten by someone's work without knowing anything about them, but there i was. totally dazed. of course, being the disorganized person i was/am, wrote her name down in some random place, never to be found again. i walked into dick blick a couple of weeks ago, and there she was, a book of textile artists. random and thrilling all at the same time. ahhh, the inspiration i needed. i had no inspiration. i will never be able to create pieces like her's but i do admire them and am absolutely taken by the idea. it's brilliant.

i've taken the holes and used them as a template for needle and thread - by hand, layered with paper and glued in such a way that the paper has it's own presence, not resembling paper. then i have to ad yet another element which is the premise of most of my series' and that is that they each (drawing that is) run into each other. the lines always connect. so i'm chopping the drawings up in quarters and collage 4 different drawings together to make one. the lines of digital ink eventually converge, but ultimately connect by thread and paper. It ain't no Tucker Schwartz, but it is very much a Renee DeCarlo Johnson.

drawing, drawing, drawing

2009-08-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

i've made it back in the studio - FINALLY. and i'm all over the place. i must have 300 projects going on and i want to work on all of the simultaneously. it's nuts.
i think the best thing to do is just write about each one a little bit at a time.
starting with: the sewing machine

moving sucks

2009-08-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

well doesn't it??? i've moved so many times in my life, as a child nearly every 2 years, as an adult - i've not done much to break that tradition. in fact, sometimes i increased the frequency, doubled even tripled it. since living in SF, we've moved 3 times - to SF, from the hood to the city burbs, and now to the most amazing neighborhood in city (in our opinion) and i swear it this time, NEVER AGAIN. it was so hard, the hardest and i don't admit it that often. it has taken me 3 months to write about here, and in 3 months, very few of our closest friends have actually seen our place or even know where we are. shame on us. i do apologize, sincerely.

i think the only reason i'm even writing about this in the first place is so that when the discussion to move comes up again, i can reflect on what i write here to dissuade our decision to entertain the idea. IF it comes up.

i must admit, the kids love it here, we actually really engage in the outdoors with more frequency and we are lulled to sleep by fog horns. ahhh, the romance. we live on the same street as the Palace of Fine Arts for crying out loud! i'm not bragging, i'm simply reflecting. since moving we've had swine flu, respiratory infections, and Zander has had 3 viruses in 30 days - woohoo. there should be an award or something to accomplish so many illnesses in such a short amount of time and not really have anything major wrong. not that an award would make me feel at all better. in fact, i'm ready to move on and pray for the best of health and jump on every healthy tidbit bandwagon that comes my way. really, i am.

needless to say, i love it here and actually feel like this is my favorite place i've ever lived, ever, ever. and the boys are happy - so that's really all that matters. now that i've documented this, i'll shut up about it. don't move, don't. never. it sucks.

SF Perinatal Associates

2009-08-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that I am currently showing my ink and beeswax pieces from now until January of 2010. There are 13 mixed media pieces that are hung throughout the offices and lobbies at One Daniel Burnham Court, Suite 230C San Francisco, CA 94109. For more information on hours and access to the show, please email me.
Here's a sneak peek of a few of the pieces:

for more pics, you can find them on my flickr page.

where have i been lately???

2009-06-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

so it would seem i tripped and fell off the map...but i didn't, i'm still here. just terribly behind and it's my hope that this week i will re-invent my agenda/calendar. so those of you wondering i've not jumped ship or given up on the blog-land. i'm just on hiatus, for few more days. i've been cracking the whip on making and planning and organizing - all good stuff - all of it. lots of changes, tons. good ones too.
oh, and by the way, i fully intend to post pics soon.

111 minna

2009-05-02T23:54:00.000-07:00

well, the time has come to get out there and SHOW the work i've been making, and not just virtually. i've been invited to participate in a group show, celebrating spring, happy hour and a little downtown flavor. i may even dress up a little and put the sweats and running shoes away for the afternoon.

scoutie girl

2009-04-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you Jan for writing a wonderful review of my drawings. I am forever in your debt...

http://www.scoutiegirl.com/gifts_between_2550/page/2/

Jan DiCintio is the amazingly creative artist behind ScoutieGirl.com and Daisy Janie. I feel so lucky and completely honored for her kind words about my Etsy pieces.

minis (round 2)

2009-03-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

here are the 2 set of minis. this time around i did all the transfers with Kodak photo paper, and the results were much less colorful. the transferred images had milky film over the top, which dulled the colors and details. i applied another coat of modeling paste to see if the film would disappear, and it actually did. there are 50 total in this series, and i imagine about another 500 - woohoo!

minis

2009-03-23T19:17:00.001-07:00

so i thought that since i've moved my "drawing studio" into the dining room that it might be fun to document the view each session. this is an endeavor that i hope to be able to remember to do. for now, mid march this is the what's going on at the beach. we live about 10 block from the ocean and the views of the water are breathtaking most days. today's pretty mellow.

i am delving into a HUGE series of mini-panels. by HUGE, i mean that i see no limit in sight. i would love to install them some day in a really long room, as a chain growing around the walls.

more pics are available on my flickr site.

here they are, from beginning to an idea or two of the end.

the smallest are 2"sq and the largest are 2.5x3.5". the begin with a thumbnail size inkjet transfer of a much larger drawing, mounted onto each canvas in a random position. i then go into the drawing with a very fine pen and create a new drawing - using the inkjet as a point of departure. finally, the pieces are finished with a layer of gouache which is applied colorfully and 3-dimensionally, pulling forms out of the lines, creating bulbous, pod-like, spirally shapes. the ink and gouache work magically with the surface of the transfer and the texture of the canvas and modeling gel. the surface is much more sketcherly and un-refined, giving each piece a life of their own. i am thoroughly pleased with these and love that each is a quick sketch, but one in a production of many. despite the fact that they each are begun with a different part of a line drawing, when assembled in a row or cluster, they all connect beautifully to each other.

4x4s

2009-03-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

i guess it was last fall or maybe a wee bit earlier, i joined a drawing group of mom's. there's were only 4 of us at the beginning and now we've grown to 6 (woo hoo) and plan to create a flickr page showing what we've been up to.

anyway, each month we get together and review our drawings - which we create based on theme chose in the previous month. the only real stipulation is that we need to try and keep our drawings within a 4x4" format - otherwise any materials, surfaces, etc are open. i will post pieces from the previous months soon, but for now these were the results for the month of february. the theme was to work around something that meant a lot to you. i chose inkjet transfers, as cj made me aware of the fact that i have been obsessed with the process for years. it's true, i cannot deny it. so of course i had to incorporate my latest discoveries into these pieces.

you can see the actual 4x4" transfer on each (there are 2 per panel). the panels themselves are 6x8" canvas covered. of course i had to turn them all into little mini series, but they are definitely fun to make....the one that are 2 by 2 are detail of the series of 4 shown below it (i hope that makes sense).

titles are stil to come....

shop news

2009-03-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

so i'm trying to streamline my shop to sell affordable art that's ready to hang or sit or whatever. basically framed prints and prints. one day i'll sell some of my latest canvas panels, but i haven't really figured out how to present them or how they should be finished ie: framed or mounted.

here's a few shots of the shadowboxes (framed prints). i've been testing 'em out on my dearest and most beloved friends and family, and they seemed to have been a hit. let's see how they end up doing in the shop. :)

the latest ideas

2008-08-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

this one will be brief, especially since i haven't actually made anything that relates to any of these ideas yet. they're brewing though and there will soon be an explosion of creative merry making that will completely take over every square inch of workable space in our house. poor cj - he desires so badly to live in a modern, pristine environment. i'm packrat and becoming worse at my house keeping skills as my time to make far exceeds my desire to clean up the house or clear off the dining room table.....

so first, i've been really wanting to incorporate letterpress into my drawings. the idea of combining multiple processes in each drawing is alluring to me to no end. every drawing starts with a hand-drawn image, then digitally comes to life with color, and finally are printed digitally.....but something is lost in the digital "outputting"....i'm a texture girl. sculptor by trade and way too many years of education and student loans repayment ahead of me to throw it all away for flatness. so letterpress seems like an interesting solution.

i met a most helpful and patient letterpressman (?) who runs dependable letterpress here in the city. he guided me through the process involved with non-text printing and suggested that i just take a class. of course, i had entertained the idea prior to meeting with him, but i wanted to know more about it before i signed up for a workshop that in the end, wasn't what i was looking for. on the contrary, i think it's exactly what i need to do and what i love about it is the incorporation of digital technology with a most exquisite and archaic craft. anyway, it's called photopolymer letterpress and it really lends itself to drawings. i'm ecstatic and counting down the days til the class which i'll be taking at the center for the book .

so preceeding that workshop, our little mom's group teh motherloded, is doing our own little workshop on gocco printing. another woman in our group is struggling with the digital aesthetic as well. i've been thinking about eliminating digital printing all together, but screen-printing doesn't entice my sensibilities. gocco - a notoriously simple and space-efficient screenprinting process has quite a different effect. so i'm thinking about multi-layered/colored prints, topped off with a layer of letterpress - probably the thicker black line drawing or the more finite lines that accentuate the edges.

i'm also entertaining ideas of sewing and textile printing. gocco-ing on fabric and finishing with an outline of thread, done with a machine, and lots of loose strings. i'm not certain about how to frame them or mount them yet, but just busting out the sewing machine would be a miracle and i'm sure i'll have lots of time to think about framing and mounting while i'm wracking my brain as to how to use the machine. surprising (to me) i made a lot of my clothes in jr high and highschool. i kind of suck at sewing by hand and my level of finish was never something to brag about. if i could combine my stylistic sewing abilities with the overall aesthetic of the drawing, then that could be interesting.

ahhh, what else. i feel like i'm missing something. ...oh, my newest friend kathryn clark. her work is exquisite and inspiring. she's an amalgam of eva hesse, ann hamilton and robin seloover (an old friend with the same delicate approach to her work). ironically, kathryn and i met through our motherlode group, her daughter is the same age as my oldest and we definitely hit it off. seeing her work and her studio kept up 2 nights in a row with dreams of an organized workspace, and a forgotten yearning to get back into knitting. she's invited me to take part in another group of artist/moms who's objective is based on drawing projects. i just received the 1st assignment which is to sketch from the refrigerator/freezer everyday until we meet in late september. all drawings are to be 4"x4" and dated. i'm excited and am hoping that i will find a new appreciation for my fridge/freezer..... i'll post the drawings in the days to come.

enough for now.

repeat, repeat, repeat

2008-07-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

months back i read a totally inspiring post on design sponge (which, btw has the coolest diy projects). julia rothman gave a great detailed guide to creating repeat patterns, which of course i delved into immediately. follow this link to julia's awesome guide through the process.

since getting back into the studio, i've been almost obsessed with using the same drawing in as many applications as possible. i guess i just like to re-work things a million times until i'm either sick of it or have taken it to a point that i'm actually afraid i'll really destroy it if i touch it again.

when i began to work on the repeat project, i opted to use the originals, which meant cutting them apart and reassembling them. i then, digitally scanned each one and reassembled them as a repeat using photoshop. i've done some touching up, but for the most part the final repeat still needs some fine tuning.

here it goes:

one

two

three

that'll probably do for now. hopefully i won't walk into target and see these on a set of sheets...

anyway, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. i've got a lot of ideas regarding color and other such options for finishing them. i'll save that for another post. it only took me 2 months to get this one up :)

daisyjanie - a seller on etsy, co-writer/founder of scoutiegirl and amazing textile designer has essentially captured my dream of printing my drawings on fabric and then creating a more utilitarian object with the fabric - such as handbags, which she does - and they are gorgeous. i have taken the month off from etsy as far as updating my store and re-listing items - just to see what happens. so far, i've had hardly any traffic through the store, however have actually had a few people "heart" me (which aside from the term, is actually a very cool way to find other artists of like mind and such). ironically, daisyjanie "hearted me" most recently and my heart skipped a beat with excitement. woo hoo.

grizzled construct

2008-07-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

so i'm not sure why i chose to use the colors i did for this drawing, and though i made a few different versions in other color ranges, nothing really appealed to me. frankly, i don't really like this drawing, i do like what became of it. my eye in constantly focusing on the 3 lines that run off the edge on the upper right side and then the bottom areas and their small, narrow spaces.

i cropped it and flipped and reproduced it with taking away most of the color and continued repeating those things until i came up with a variety of layers that include or exclude color. transparency plays a huge role in giving the piece depth and filling in the gaps, so to speak.

i don't really have a story fro this piece, however, the image on the right side is reminescent of a boy or a soldier. having 2 boys and the imminent possibility that one day they may decide to become soldiers is a thought that chills me to the bone.

or maybe, and most likely, it's simply the incessant argument-conversation with z about the necessity of his wearing a helmet when he skateboards....i doubt he'll become a soldier, he's way too argumentative and stubborn - even for a 3 yr old (i mean "almost 4 yr old"). d will do whatever his brother does so, hence the ongoing argument-conversation.

caterpillar crash

2008-07-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

butterflitic retrospect:

so i think this piece was inspired by the butterfly habitat i ordered for one of the many birthday parties z was invited to back in may. i never imagined having to come up with 6 gifts for 5 yr olds - but thankfully, amazon.com came through and i ended up ordering a plethora of paper airplane kits and 1 butterfly habitat - which we kept. what a cool gift and not just for kids, i think cj and i have been more interested in it than the kids. anyway....a long story short, you order the habitat when you recieve it you send away for the caterpillars which come in a little jar and for the next week or so, you watch 5 little minis voraciously feed on the mysto-waxy food that lines the bottom of the jar. just like "the very hungry caterpillar" story by eric carle, the caterpillars quadruple in size in just like 5 days - it's crazy! cool, but crazy (this is why it's perfect for a child's 5 minute attn span). anyway, so after a week or so, they build their chrysalis' and hang from the lid of the jar for like another week or 10 days. you remove the lid and pin it and it's hanging bundles to the habitat wall and wait.....

unfortunately, our first batch died mysteriously...they all grew and then when it came time to build their coccoons, only one succeeded, but he fell off the lid and died, i guess. so to avoid difficult questions and unnerving disappointment, we ordered some more caterpillars and these were successful and are now sitting in their butterfly habitat, eating sugar-water on lisianthus flowers as we wait for the outside temps to exceeed 65 degrees (though it only needs to be 55, it's been dropping below that at night - so we're playing it safe). the butterflies are painted ladies and they are beautiful. they are quite friendly too and i much enjoy feeding them and letting them crawl on my arms as i do so.... what i didn't know about caterpillars as they're feeding and preparing for the next phase, they spin webs all around themselves and seem to use the webs to climb. they also are pretty comfortable with climbing on each other.

the inside of the jar becomes pretty webby and sort of messy as they molt and do what normal living things do when they eat a bunch of food, though it's difficult to differentiate food from other stuff as the food gets granulated.

the sides of the jar and the lid become covered with webs and once they molt into a butterfly are left with a piece of tissues paper and 5 empty coccoons, covered in webs....

here's a link to the store: http://www.insectlore.com/

incre-mental again

2008-07-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

maybe i need to start thinking up other names just for blogging sake, to keep it all straight. the concept is this...incorporate a part of the original line drawing's title. be true, stick to it. it works...i think. and then i think the time of day that i work in my studio is also reflected, unintentionally.

the line drawing

ahhh, okay, so multiple versions of the same chunk. oooh. a light bulb just flashed. see below for note to self/another duh moment.

ok, i lied in the previous posting about not replicating the black and white thing. here it is, not so minimalistic, but then this is not that kind of piece.

simple, simple...

this is an example of one of those haphazard moments where it is what it is. i don't know what happened, but alone i hate it. not alone, don't hate it.

the 3rd layer repeated and twisted about

"nighttime infusion"

metamorphic recitation

2008-07-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

this line drawing, once colorized became "sapphire in bloom". i wasn't happy with it, at all really and removed it from my shop but then i started to work on because i like the circles in the little circles and once i started fussing with it, i changed my mind about it completely.

here it is as "metamorphic recitation". i reminds me molting winged insects. there are 3 versions of it where the black lined-layer is closer or further from the surface:

incremental infusion

2008-07-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

my husband prefers the the final "twilight infusion" to some of my more chaotic pieces. i'm partial to the busier stuff, i feel myself getting sucked into the chaos - which is sort of indicative of my personality and life. i love drama....

incremental infusion was started on our last road trip to grandma and grandpa's in orange county. usually i drive, but at about dusk, i give up the wheel and let cj take over. this time i gave in before my eyes started crossing and actually was able to start a nice group of drawings which kept me busy for about month following our return.

and then there was color....

i'm not sure how this part happened, but i've been trying to re-create it with each new drawing. it's never been the same.

this is taken from the top left side, twice and rotated.

"twilight infusion"

circumstantial oxidation

2008-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

here is accumulated proposition in another series as it becomes circumstantial oxidation....

in this drawing i used more than one cropped area.

the original

this little chunk is taken from the lower middle right side and inverted. color fills in the spaces between the lines.

taken from the same area, but from the left side.the colors and transparency levels are manipulated.

the bluish-white parts are a combination of the previous 2 layers, and the color is muted and turned monochromatic . this part is taken from just below the previous 2 layers.

the final drawing.

drawings, panels, drawings

2008-07-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

so the project that has been consuming all of my awake and quiet moments (which are rare, but they do exist) is the drawing series that i've been broadcasting across my store on etsy, my table on poppytalk and in my modish ad. when i started to draw again, early this year, i found myself filling my sketchbooks with my usual web-like drawings. pages upon pages....doodles upon doodles.

i started to play around with the drawings in illustrator and photoshop, to clean 'em up a bit and discovered a whole new world of toys with the new adobe suite. unbelievable tools, things that just make a girl giggle - and probably a boy too. now it is important to state, if i haven't already done so somewhere else, that i NEVER thought i would be working digitally. i am a dirty hands on kind of girl and that's the way i've always been. i also say NEVER all too frequently, as i almost ALWAYS end up doing just what i said i would NEVER do. ALWAYS. my husband laughs and secretly loves it, though his initial response is irritation. he loves it. so i never would have thought that i would use photoshop or illustrator for anything more than designing cards, fliers, etc. now, i'm hooked. i can actually create drawings similarly to the way i made drawings with ink, encaustic and pigments. the results are almost identical - minus the texture, and the need for a nice big open space to create such works. which brings me to my next minor point about my limited studio space right now.

since the birth of the z, who will be 4 in october, my studio has gradually gotten smaller and smaller, to the point of which it's at now. i've got a collapsible system in which i build tables pretty quickly when i need to work on the panels. i laminate and trim the drawings at the dining room table, and when they're ready for filing and sealing i return them downstairs and then prep them for finishing. it's a multi-step process, which works out well with the space i've got. one day i will again have a nice little private space . but for now, i'm doing the best with what i got and fortunately cj is keeping the computer technology working perfectly.

so back to the process: each final drawing includes anywhere between 3 and 7 layers of drawings. all of which are the same ink drawing - actually the drawing i use is cropped down a part of the original larger drawing - more abstracted. a tool i always loved to introduce my beginning drawing students to was to take a slide mount and use it to crop down what ever subject they were using to draw. i apply the same principal to my own drawings, though i use a digital marquee that is always proportionately the same throughout each replicated version.
Here's the Acumulated Propagation as it becomes Preciptous Retreat:

this is the original drawing

same drawing, but the black lines and white spaces are colorized

this is the cropped image from the top part of the original black and white

this is the first collage of the previous images. the colors and lines are tweaked, deleted and enhanced with adjustments to the opacity

and again, a variation

and finally...Precipitous Retreat.

so that sums it up. i am hoping to do a few more of these because i think it's good for my own reference - and of course i'm thinking about years from now, to look back and see what i was making and how.....

food chain

2008-07-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

so it's time to start posting art stuff...images of my current projects. i've got one that's been in the works for about 6 or years - seriously. of course i forgot all about them for about 4 of those years - but no matter. after grad school i moved to dc for about a year and then cj and i moved to denver for year following that. we were exploring new territory to settle down. neither of those places were quite right for us, however during that time i was more prolific than any other time in my life. for the first time i really started to focus on drawing and encaustic work. i drew on every scrap of decent paper i could scrounge up and filled sketchbooks that had lived contented half full lives. i have bins of drawings and the walls in house are covered with some of the finished remnants.
anyway, a few months ago i came some of those sketchbooks and rediscovered a serious of about 10 drawings that to me, with fresh eyes, seemed to connect despite their separation by pages. i removed the pages from their bound home and laid them out on the floor and connected them together creating a creature made of beaks and claws, nibbling on web and sticks. here are a couple of glimpses of what's been started. i want to re-work parts of the drawing and really connect it and finish the lines that need it. eventually i'll colorize, print and laminate it. so far, i've just been looking at it from afar while it rests on the dining room table. soon....

and for the layout...at least the first version:

total chaos

2008-07-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

i may be exaggerating but i feel like my little world of making art and being a mom is spinning a million miles an hour - and i'm just barely getting started. so many things are happening right now, i'm beginning to think that the past 4 years of not focusing on art-making are catching up with me like wild fire. developing and maintaining my etsy store been a wonderful and unpredictable ride. every day it seems, i receive emails and random inquiries that have led me to all sorts of opportunities that i never expected.

amidst, the etsy stuff, i've been working on my drawings - the digital elements and opening up my mind to promoting myself. blogging has become a part-time addiction - and by blogging, i mean reading other bloggers posts and clicking through the links and ads. what a great way to lose track of time. i'm officially trying to keep up to date with my own blog and during the lapse between the previous post and now, i've decided that this will be my process journal. i've experimented with so many processes and i like to try to remember how i got to where i am now from where i was before - of course i lose track of about 2/3 of the events that occurred during each creative experiment. accidents rule my world it seems...so far all have been good, so much so that i can't even begin to consider implementing more control.

the NEWS so i can look back on this time and know what it was i was doing with all my time. for starters, i've been invited to a fellow etsian's new brick and mortar gallery venture Pivot Gallery. Wendy - owner/artist is located in Covington, KY and is opening her new space august 1st. i can't wait to see the space once she opens. i'm sure she'll get some good publicity on one of the many blogs who love this kind of thing - at least i hope she does :) anyway, i'm sending her 6 panels, which has opened up room for new work in my studio.
so there's that, very exciting.

also, i decided to take out an ad on modish. it's a pretty big ad and it took a couple of weeks to create, but wow what a lot of fun it was to make. i was going to have cj do it, but being the determined do-it-yourselfer, i took it on. i learned a ton about imageready and have been applying it to the layout for my website. another huge project that i was going to attempt to do on my own, but the reality of the complexity of dreamweaver hit me pretty hard last week as i was cramming to get my website finished so my ad could link directly to it. by the end of day 3, and a substantial amount of depressing frustration, i gave up on trying to finish it in time. my new goal is to have the site up by aug 1st - much more realistic and i WILL be letting cj take over on that one. you can see the ad here: http://modish.typepad.com/

one morning last week i woke to a message from the Naughty Secretary Club who included me in her blog http://badassical.blogspot.com/ . i was shocked at the collection of imagery she put together. i was so excited to see other people sharing the same reticulated obsession including the author!

on another happy note, i have a table POPPYTALK from july 7th-aug 8th. the them is "home sweet home" and i'm really excited to see what come of that. jan and early the masterminds behind poppytalk have done a super job with their site and making it a snap to put the artist table together. here's a link to the market: http://poppytalkhandmade.com/ yay!

in august i'm planning to advertise on sfgirlbythebay - one of my favorite reads. so look for me there!

the purpose of it all

2008-04-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

so i decided to start this blog to let those who are interested know a bit more about me and my artistic practice. it's almost a guarantee that non-artistic jibber-jabber will flow out of my hands into this work in progress, which can only enlighten my readers more as to what it is i'm all about.

right now, my practice is this...i draw every free second i get. it's a struggle for sure, but it's absolutely necessary for me to at least try. when i say draw, it's not what one might think of in a formal sense, it's really more like doodling - but that term is so degrading and it's really hard to take a person seriously when they describe something that is so personal to them as such. so, i draw and i take it seriously.

my father (in law) who is a gem of a guy, always gives me a hard time about most of the things i do - which is a reciprocal thing so there's no hard feelings. anyway, he always asks me (while i'm drawing) if i'm still "scribbling" or "scratching" away. hence the name of this blog, and the name of my etsy store ( http://www.scribblenscratch.etsy.com/ ), which i just launched and am OH so proud and excited about. it seems that blogging is the natural progression of artists (amongst other professions) who distribute their work or knowledge online, so here i am attempting to follow suit.

i hope to keep up with this as much as i can, or at least when i find something that's worth writing about. i'll definitely share my experiences and cool findings, so check back when you get a chance.

helloooo world

2008-04-23T10:58:00.001-07:00