swallowfield

crazy weather + pigmentary portraits

betsy and i headed off to the opening at artstream last night shortly after i posted here. i didn't mention it at the time, but there had been some pretty severe stormy weather going on during the afternoon - torrential rain, strong winds, thunder and lightening, and even some hail thrown in for good measure. it was giving me a little bit of weather ptsd after the renegade fiasco last month! but there was a break in the weather right when we were heading out last night so i didn't think too much of it. turns out we headed right into the thick of the storm, as evidenced by the super crazy sky that turned black in the matter of one minute and reminded me of the giant overhead dome in the truman show. had we not been in such a hurry, i think we both might have liked to pull over and draw the crazy clouds we saw, because the light coming through them was spooky and very interesting to look at. we saw a lot of downed trees and power lines, and kept laughing at all of the obstacles and delays we came upon because it seemed so riduculous. we were two slightly desperate mothers away from our kids for the evening, just trying to see some art + some friends and have a good time. why make it so hard? i mean, really.

((lisa c, lisa s, and susan from artstream))

we finally arrived at 6:55 - the opening was slated to end at 7. luckily for us no one was in a hurry and there was still a bit of wine left. the show was lovely - so much fun to see it up close and in person.

there have been plenty of pictures online but it was a treat to see the little details. i loved the way it was hung with each color pigment pairing side by side, and really enjoyed seeing lisa congdon's brush strokes + great use of color (i loved her use of an excellent silvery colored gouache in most all of the paintings) and lisa solomon's incredibly dainty and delicate stitching and the multilayered bits in each of her pieces.

it was so interesting to read more about the thought process that went into each piece, too.  we got a chance to meet the lovely and talented lisas, which was an absolute pleasure for me after knowing them for a few years in blogland. they were just as great as i imagined them to be.

we enjoyed a delicious dinner with the two of them and the artstream gang after the show at this place, which i'd never been to but would definitely go again. yum.
and to make it all even better, tonight there is another dinner with the ladies, here in town.  spending time together like this with other artist friends is so inspiring and  fun, and makes me love the internet for bringing kindred  spirits together in the excellent way that it can.   

ut-oh, i think i hear thunder and an emergency management radio warning. time to go + hide under a chair or something.

friday night

here are a few new pieces i've been working on.  i guess i am sort of liking navy blue these days.

i'm headed down to new hampshire tonight for the pigmentary portraits opening at artstream - and really looking forward to it.

i hope you have a great weekend.

quick drive-by

just a quickie update today:

i did a small shop update today with six original collages. you can take a peek here if you're interested.

lena corwin's new book was released today. i am super excited about it, from what i've gleaned here and there. 

i am actually going to attempt sewing a garment for myself, which will be a first. amy  at angry chicken made it look easier than i'd thought. (i've been reading her blog forever - in internet time anyway, ha - and it always makes me feel both happy and amused.  she's interesting, wicked talented and totally funny to boot.) i tend to forget to comment on things like this once they've become a routine part of my life, but her blog is a keeper.

that's all i've got. by the way - i was glad to know many of you feel the same way about the word fine. :)

girls weekend

last weekend i got the chance to head to brimfield with meg and betsy for 33 hours (who's counting?) of totally fun grownup girl time. we had some excellent thrifting adventures, happily poking around until we were tired and sunburned and ready to go back to the hotel + grab some dinner. i couldn't figure out why my back was aching so much by the end of the day...turns out i had accidently carried a bunch of rocks around in my shoulder bag all day - they'd been in there since the kids handed them to me on a recent beach trip. d'oh!

after a sound night's sleep (rare around here, since most nights one or both kids seem to wiggle their way in with me before morning) we headed back to brimfield on sunday morning for a few more hours...and we landed on a flurry of good finds all at once. meg makes a super-cute high-pitched humming sound when she finds something excellent, and we heard that sound several times on sunday.  brimfield is absolutely huge and overwhelming, but so much fun. i enjoyed carrying my newly lighter, rock-free bag as well. :)

all in all, a perfect time. ((and you can see meg and betsy's great finds here and here.))

from top to bottom, my finds:
::  a nice white round planter, filled with assorted vintage trims and a lifesaving patch (and you can see a bit of a celadon green homer laughlin bowl in the backround)
::  a west german vintage vase, which i LOVE, and two white divided dishes (we eat a lot of carrots and hummus around here, so they'll be perfect)
:: a rad set of vera pillowcases
:: assorted ephemera for art-making
:: four patterned and nicely sized glasses

unexpectedly good stuff all around

my painting class was great fun last weekend. i got to do 16 hours of encaustic painting over two days, and i loved it! i have long been drawn to encaustic work, and had tried at one point to figure out the technical stuff on my own so i could give it a whirl, but it was too much for my little brain.  i'm glad i waited - the instructor was terrific , and  i learned proper safety precautions to boot, which is probably a very good thing. it is not very often that i love the smell of art supplies (i don't share the love some friends have for eau d'permanent markers - you know who you are) but the wax used in encaustic painting has a delicious aroma. plus, all of the  steps involved in the process and tools i learned to use made me feel kind of cool - i admit it. i wasn't a girl who was super handy with a paint stripping heat gun before, but now...you should see me. :) i think i might need a holster for it or something.

here are some experiments from the weekend:

being at the art school all weekend reminded me of how much i love school, and the occasional chance to step out of my everyday life from time to time to try something new.  it made me feel kind of totally giddy. and when the class was over i had an excellent  mothers day sushi dinner with my family, who even got dressed up for the occasion. i can't get chase to take off his sweatband to wash it (it's totally gross + crusty, but he loves it,) but the rest of him was unusually clean + dressed in completely random clothes that he thought i would like.  my heart melted into a puddle on the floor, joining the miso soup that was also spilled under there. 

other things:

• my art space(s) are on modish this week. thanks jena! things aren't currently looking so tidy. you're not invited into my basement until i do a little cleaning, okay?

• i've recently noticed that waxed handlebar moustaches are back in fashion. who knew? 

• my friend betsy brought me back some stumptown coffee from her trip to that other portland. my favorite!  and while she was out there, she happened to meet one of my favorite bloggers. i love small world stuff like that!

• i planted some seeds today. what do you think the chances are i can nurture their little souls into something + not kill them? time will tell.

• my good friend nicole's funny + excellent parenting zine, hausfrau*, was adapted into a one-woman show by another very talented friend who performed it for the first time last night at portland stage company as part of their little festival of the unexpected. i got to go, and it was incredible. local people, i highly recommend you go and see it on saturday if you can.  (*and did i tell you she has a hausfrau book coming out next year? i can't wait.)

more plus than minus

a little monday morning +/-:

+ a great overnight to boston this weekend with my mom and stepdad
+ we all saw a terrific production of annie - so much fun
+ goofed with my camera from the 28th floor of the hotel

- unbeknownst to us until we got there: the hotel pool was closed for the weekend
+++ a visit to the apple store and a new laptop for me, wee! (i've been contemplating it for ages. i am giddy. )
+ finished up the pillow i was working on

-my sewing skills are questionable at best - don't look too closely
+finished a new collage

+snow is melting...melting! finally!
-there are small muddy footprints all over the house, all the time
+went to an adult party on saturday night with good friends
+i made a new pattern, and i like it

+appreciating kid lunch as art this morning

+i see more pluses than minuses

how about you?
happy monday!

putting it on fabric

if you've been reading for awhile, you might know i sometimes dream about ways to put some of my more patterny stuff onto fabric. there's a lot i don't know, and  i feel plenty busy as it is, so this is a far-off 'someday i might like to ...' kind of goal. i've been fooling with some different inkjet fabrics when i have time (with mixed results,) and today tried a new sturdy canvas one that i liked the end result of, so i started working on a pillow with a little bit of my own fabric in the middle. i am a pretty beginning seamstress, but it's fun to experiment with. i'll show you it again if/when i finish it.

i also made another pattern that i like, so you might soon see it showing up in collage or on a wee bit of inkjet fabric, or somewhere. it's sunny + yellow in that mustardy tone that i love.

i'd like to say thank you to dear ada for a nice little blog review yesterday. i love her blog and find a lot of inspiration there, so it was a surprised little happy to see my drawings on her pages as i went through my morning reading. 

it is almost friday. that's a good thing.

gocco, gocco everywhere

good morning!  in case you were wondering, we are having a snow day. i think the kids will be in school until july at this rate, but they're happy to be home today.

if you're visiting here for the first time because you came over from house on hill road, a big welcome + hello to you! :)

i got a new tool for my gocco recently and tried it out for the first time yesterday - a stamper. this allows a lot more flexibility in printing on fabric or larger surfaces, and now i am busily dreaming of  making small bits of wallpaper and wrapping paper.

i used the stamper to print on paper and fabric - it was my first time printing on fabric and i had mixed, interesting (and at times frustrating) results. i quickly discovered that fabric soaks up a lot more ink, so i kept remixing and reloading the screen as i went. it created an uneven print, which i liked for the sort of antiqued, worn look.  fun.

salt air

happy 5th of july! if you celebrated things yesterday i hope you had a nice day.
we went out to visit some friends on chebeague island, a place i'd never been but instantly fell in love with. we had a great day and i came home with with my pockets stuffed with seaglass; the kids came home with their pockets stuffed with candy from the small and excellent parade we watched. a thrill for everyone!  linda, if you're reading this, many thanks for a great day!

i put a pair of summer prints of original collages in my shop this morning. these are two of my favorites and i love how they look together.

here are some other things inspiring me this week:
untitled 
umbrellas
untitled
::
felted wool
untitled

happy day to you, friends.

gocco, i'm in love

i love gocco. well, i love when other people gocco. i have spent many happy hours looking at etsy and blogs and admiring other people's gocco handiwork. a year ago or so i bought a used gocco printer and supplies from ebay in hopes of having some luck with it myself, but once it came in the mail i kind of choked. i have read many tutorials and heard from several good friends that it's really not so hard, but it wasn't clicking for me. the blue box actually started to mock me a few months ago, seeing as it was sort of disappointed to be only a space-filler in my dining room. grumble grumble. our grumpiness was mutual.
this morning i discovered a little video on the papersource website. the video is pretty basic, and i kind of liked how snarky the woman was in it. thank you, ms. papersource  - i guess i really am a hands-on visual gal, because you have changed things dramatically for me. you provided the means for my first date with my gocco printer, which i enthusiastically dragged out, dusted off and went to town with this afternoon.
it was love on the very first date.

i will probably start boring you all to death with gocco projects soon.  sorry in advance.

happy 4th of july tomorrow too!