Art JournalingJanuary 26, 2014

January 26, 2014

Some of you may know already that I recently started another blog that is all about

my art journaling.

You can see it here.

If you scroll through to the first post, you can read about my personal journaling history

or click here.

I do post finished journal pages here on this blog,

but the other blog will take you on my daily (almost daily!)

journal adventures.

I believe it is really important for artists to keep journals.

I have several. 

If you'd like to read more about the different journals I keep,

and what spurred me on to start this new one click here.

The idea is to spend at least 10 minutes a day working in the journal.

This is a new practice for me,

or rather an old practice revisited.

Nothing is planned and I don't have to think about my personal style or

staying true to my aesthetic.

I do whatever strikes my fancy.

You'll see too that the blog itself is pretty bare.

It's just me and my journal.

In the past I would have found it to be way to much of an invasion of my privacy

to make my journal public.

But over the years teaching has become such an important part of 

who I am as a person and as an artist,

that sharing these pages seems quite natural. 

Right now I am just trying to catch up,

so you'll just see finished pages along with detail shots.

But I am almost there,

so stayed tune.

Here are a few pics of finished pages.

Remember to click on the image for a larger viewing.

December 20, 2013

December 27, 2013

January 22, 2014

These are the finished samplers from the batik class I taught last weekend at 

Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA.

We were using soy wax and textile paints.

By Kathy Shollenberger

By Kathy Shollenberger

By Kathy Shollenberger

By Regan Hall

By Kathy Shollengerger

By Mary Ellen Davis

By Mary Ellen Davis

By Mary Ellen Davis

By Mary Ellen Davis

By Mary Ellen Davis

By Regan Hall

By Regan Hall

By Regan Hall

By Regan Hall

By Sandra Reiser

By Sandra Reiser

By Angela Cimadon

By Angela Cimadon

By Angela Cimadon

By Angela Cimadon

By Deborah MacDonald

By Deborah  MacDonald

By Deborah  MacDonald

By Elizabeth Pasieka

By Elizabeth Pasieka

By Elizabeth Pasieka

Here are more pictures from my batik class last weekend.

I had seven great students who progressed very quickly over just two days.

 More tomorrow!

...then it snowed.

all afternoon and through the evening.

I had a wonderful walk first thing in the morning 

while I waited for the dinning hall to open.

Metal Work Studio

Fiber Studio

Fiber Studio

Main Building

Main Building

Main Building

Dinning Hall

Dinning Hall

Stone Sculpture

Metal Sculpture

Fiber Studio

Office and Farm House

Tomorrow I will upload some of the artwork my students created.

I had a wonderful time this past weekend teaching batik with soy wax and textile paints

 to a great group of students at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA.

Of course my intention had been to make blog posts as the weekend unfurled.

But at the end of each day I was exhausted.

So here it begins:

More to follow!

I'm still making samples for my batik class this weekend

at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA.

I'm using soy wax and Dye-na-flow textile paints.

I always start out neat and tidy, then the mess encroaches in

this still has the wax on it, but I cropped it out because I think it looks so cool

the samples

Don't forget you can click on the images to get a closer look.

Cher

I will be teaching a beginner level batik class this coming weekend the 18th and 19th 

at 

Snow Farm Art Retreat in Williamsburg, MA.

(Rumor has it there are still 2 spaces left)

Since it has been a while since I last did any batiking I thought I would make up some new samples to bring to class.

The studio is a total mess since I didn't really clean up the project I was already working on.

I simply moved it to the other table.

There is more to do but this is a nice start...

Everything laid out nice and neat. How long will this last?

Brushes and tjanting tools in the melting pot, aka an electric skillet.

Interesting tools I have collected.

This piece still has the wax in it. so hard to wait!

The other table...

Pillows or art quilt??

Don't forget you can click on the images to get a larger view.

More samples tomorrow!

I am finally getting to my end of the year paper work.

Ughh!!

I couldn't bear to just post a picture of paperwork strewn across my table so

I photoshpped it - a first for me.

But alas, a day without making anything is simply not doable!

So I very quickly started a new page in the art journal.

We shall see...

needle felting and...

needle felting and sewing machine stitches.

just starting.

this one came first. my favorite. beginners luck.

cut the edges clean on this one.

partial leaves.

just the beginning. 

but excitement brews just the same.

Today I have been determined to finish up some on-going projects.

Here is one I am ready to share with you.

The hand dyed background green of this fabric (silk broadcloth) was pretty bad.

I kept adding more to it until it was so bad I threw it into a corner to toss out.

Then one day I started working with this cranberry colored textile paint from the

Pro Chemical and Dye Co.

I just loved the deep richness of the color and 

realized it would be a perfect match for the ugly green fabric!

Thank goodness I hadn't been able to bring myself to actually throw it away!

At about the same time I was beginning to ruminate about fabric collections.

I had already carved the larger stamp for a fat quarter I had designed 

as a sample for one of my stamping classes.

So I decided to carve a smaller stamp to work as a companion.

Voila!

I'm really liking the two prints together.
And as you can see I used the element of ghost prints to keep
the smaller motif less busy.

My plan is to make a couple of throw pillows for my Etsy shop.

I have enough to make 2 pillows.

But I haven't decided if I should simply put one fabric on the back and

the other on the front,

or if I should somehow combine sections of each fabric on both sides.

What would you do?

Art Journal Post

the second page in my art journal.

interesting how it is dated the 27th of Dec., 

but I only just finished it today on the 29th.

I have been focusing so much on textiles for the last hand full of years

that now, the simple act of pen, pencil and brush to paper has been a joyous thing.

my heart sings

a lovely, rejuvenating respite from my large, wall hung art piece.

which I am now ready to finish.

thank you for your visit.
Cher

Yesterday's Sketchbook Fun

The last couple of days were to be days without work.

It is true that I had an incredibly wonderful time with family and friends,

 but by 6pm last night the need to create was so strong 

that I finally succumbed.

With the ideas flowing through my head, 

I made a quick trip downstairs to the studio,

 retrieved my sketchbook along with a box of pencils 

and made a hasty trip back to the living room and the rest of my family.

Here's what ensued:

                                      

                                      

I'd like to see these leaves as combination and multi layered stamps and stencils.
I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Cher

The Beginning of Art Jounaling

 I have been intrigued about the whole art journaling craze. I am not usually one to join a band wagon but it as just kind of happened.

It started with the purchase of a large mole skin notebook a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I didn't know why I was buying it.

Then, for the first in my life, I allowed myself to collect something. I have always been drawn towards old books, papers, writings and cloth. But have never let myself collect anything.It felt excessive and unnecessary, at least for me.

 However, my husband is a collector. Mostly of stamps. In fact a large part of his music room is dedicated to sorting stamps. I have watched him do this activity for the 27 years we have been together.
I love the old stamps.

 For some reason several days ago I started pawing through this large leaf bag that is filled with his rejects.

  I began pulling out the stamps that intrigued me. Usually it was the stamp itself that attracted my attention, but sometimes it was the the relationship of the color of the stamp against the color of the envelope. Or sometimes it was the pattern inside the envelope, or even simply someone's handwriting.

Now I have my own boxes of stamps.

I stared collaging the stamps with other art elements of my own into my new 12" x 16" mole skin book. 

Then I began thinking about how years ago, (before early rising children and a day job)
I would spend the first 30 minutes of almost every day writing my morning papers ala
Julie Cameron and her book "The Artists' Way."

 I found it be be an excellent way to start the day.
It was quite grounding and a completely different experience to journaling at the end of the day.I look forward to the time I can maintain that practice again.

So here's the thing though -I have an entire shelf of notebooks filled with those journal writings. I've often wondered what to do with them. It would be strange to simply throw them away.And they certainly don't need to be read. That's what's so odd.

Those notebooks are filled with words that begged to be written but oddly enough, they don't need to be read.

So I decided that the perfect thing to do with the written journal pages is
to incorporate them into the pages of my art journal along with painting,
drawing, stamping and writing.

And so it has begun.Here is first art journal entry. 

Please  click on the image for a larger view

Of course in the process of creating this collage, the original written journal page is now covered up with paint and paper - and that is as it should be.

There is history in this page -
that of my hand and the people who licked those stamps, 
and of the person who wrote the delicate hand written message on the tiny scrap of an old envelope I decided to include,
as well as the recipients of those letters and documents.
And that too is how it should be.

How did your art journaling begin?

I am so happy to spend some time dyeing silk.

Most of the pieces will be sold on my Etsy shop as simply

textiles for other people to do as they wish with.

They are particularly good for nuno felters as the weight is only 5mm.

The last 2 pieces are 10mm and are reserved for me.

Dye concentrates and 2 of my favorite books for dying recipes and instructions.

 The pictures below show the fabric scoured, bound and pre soaked. 

Dye concentrates have been added and I am waiting for the magic.

Everything looks the same at this point but that is not what the end results will be.

Here are some of the results

Smaller pieces anywhere from 15" wide to 45" wide by about 60" Click on the image for a bigger view.

I have 2 larger pieces each ( about 56" x 60") of these 2 fabrics below.

I have plans for them!

See ya!

Cher

New little mixed media painting

almost finished

In my sketchbook.

finished

acrylic inks, watercolor, graphite pencil and color pencil

my intention is to print these images on fabric to use as pillow tops.

click here to see the many stages of the piece on the top.

one of the wonderful things about our digital age 

is that i can have a working copy of these pieces at every stage of their development.

so i can go back and alter their outcome or even use those stages in

another piece altogether - like an art quilt.

in the case of these two sketchbook pieces i started with the same drawing.

just started.

i love how this one has a sort-of Mexican folk art feel to it.

graphite pencil, stamping using ink pads and pan pastels

the initial drawing is actually incorporated in the second piece above. 

but this is a tracing of it that i used to transfer the drawing.

so, this time i didn't actually transfer the drawing digitally.

i did it the old fashioned way.

Don't forget that you can click on the image for a larger view.

Thanks for stopping by!

... friday morning in the studio.

They are using water soluble crayons on silk screens.

We loved the way the colors looked against the grey November day.

Many new items on my Etsy site. Perfect for gift giving. 

Click here to see one of my favorite CherScapes Silk Scarves.

Happy Friday everyone!

Cher

...been really busy these last hand full of days working on
both my my artist profile and project deadline 

for the magazine Stitch-It...Today.

I'm still trying to get you caught up with the issues that have already come out.

Originally I didn't think I could come up with projects.
Formally trained in fine arts and never having been a crafter, the concept was a bit foreign to me.
But I am starting to really enjoy them.
I have always considered making art as work.

It is of course work that I could not live without.
It is my life blood. I work without a coherent reason and often without ideas.
I just know the work needs to get done and I'm the one to do it,
whatever the outcome and whoever it pleases.

A favorite quote of mine from the contemporary painter Chuck Close tells it all.
"Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work."
If you want to read the quote in its entirety click here.

But now I have the concept of "projects."
They are small, more often then not they are decorative,
pleasing to the eye and fun and lighthearted to create.

So here are the projects I did for the September/October issue,
and the November/December issue.

A Wood Nymph mask. Click on the image for a larger view.

A needlepoint Let It Snow banner. Click on the images for a larger view.

Here's the progress on this little piece in my sketchbook.

I'll show all the stages so far for those of you that haven't seen any of them already.

I'm working it in a much more bold and graphic way than I probably would have in the past.

And yes, each an every step of the way I think I've ruined it. In some ways that attitude is a plus. 

Since it is already ruined I might as well just keep working on it.

change is happening. i can feel it.

its just not always easy.

so i'll simply keep working.

work is the surest thing i have.

Watercolor on pencil

Acrylic ink over watercolor

More acrylic ink over watercolor and pencil

Stitch-It...Today Sept/Oct Issue

Trying to catch up here with my posts of the magazine Stitch-It...Today.

For the Sept/Oct issue I wrote the artist profile on Carla Madrigal and her lovely embroidery.

Click on the image for a larger view.

I'll leave you with my last photos of autumn.

This lovely tree is growing out of the middle of my front deck.

For this view I am simply looking up while standing just outside my front door.

Looking up

For this view I looked down.

And looking down.

And I wonder why I have leaves blowing around inside my house.

Fortunately for me, my kids and husband think that they are just as beautiful as I do.

Inspiration lurks in every corner.