A Newer Piece - from the summer!!

Can't believe it's been 4 months since I worked on this one!! It is so hard to find time(whine, whine!) This one is part of a series called 'Burials'. I used the modeling paste and salt on gessoed watercolor paper and wrote(RANTED) and drew in the mix. The colors just don't show up in the pictures, I need to try Dan's camera before I blame the camera, but this is a huge room and it has old style fluorescent lighting. Anyway, this is so pretty up close. I drew some shapes, and then just wrote and wrote and wrote over the writing, then drew more over the writing, I had 3 pieces of w/c paper tacked down and drew around those too. That's the flat areas with the copper and wire with the key (notice I've only finished one!) I have the others, just haven't finished. I have the paper ready for several more, but the writing/drawing is a one time process, it dries fast, and there are no 'do-overs'. The painting part is more relaxed and it's a nice change from the frantic 'vomit' of the first part. I've done this sereral times now, and there is much serendipity with the process.

Updates on artwork!!!

Here's an update on this piece. Should have been done a long time ago - isn't that a line in a song?? Color is a little off in both of these. Closer to the bright one, but it's washed out. Tags are nearly done, still haven't decided how to attach them...
I really love this piece, it is the most personal one I've done. Once school starts I can hardly find my butt with both hands, much less find time to work on my own art. AHHHHH.....retirement!!!! In 8 years, or TEN if I wait until I'm 65....hmmmmm....that's such a long way off....I need to make time to do what I love, and I LOVE working on my own artwork!!!
Anyway, this is a special piece, I'll get it done this month probably over the Christmas holidays.

Maybe I'm getting somewhere...

More on the mixed media piece. Played with silver metal duct tape and Adirondack alcohol inks. I wrote a letter to my mom on the metal over foam core, then applied the inks. Got a great metallic brass color, more like it had been polished and the left out to tarnish.

I have since gessoed the BLUE board - it was driving me crazy, way too blue! I have to work on the gessoed papers I'm adding, probably off whites, cremes, browns, etc, my colors with a hint of blue and fushia. I need to make some new stamps, but the designs escape me. Also the edges of the foamcore need modeling paste and color or collage...
I have about an hour today after school, so I'll get a bunch done.

Three months in a nutshell!!!

Long time, here I am again!!
My 79 year old Dad had surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm on September 17, and Dan and I went to Seattle for that - very bad, he was in ICU for nearly 3 weeks and on a ventilator for much of it. He had renal failure, lost part of his colon and ended up with a colostomy and for a while we weren't sure he would come back at all. I went back for 8 days the middle of October and he was starting to come around. He was in a regular room, but unable to sit up or feed himself. After a week of my nonstop chatter and sneaking him 'medicinal' McD's sausage,egg, and cheese biscuits and coffee, he perked up enough to start feeding himself and get off the feeding tube. His one good kidney has come back to life, but he is now being treated for insulin dependent diabetes... My brothers Marc and Pete, my sister in law Lisa, Dad's friend Claudine, and I have tag teamed him so he'd have constant company, and it has helped tremendously.
Marc, who lives there in Seattle (he's the artist who's link is the first on my list) is the primary care person, since the rest of us are so far away, so much of this has fallen on him. Dad's in rehab there at UWMC and progressing ever so slowly back, we all hope, to his pre-surgery self.

And of course, I also started back to school in August. I have 165 Art 1-4 high school students, absolutely the most wonderful bunch I have ever had!!! This school year has been so nice!!

I am also a Nana again!!! Jillian Grace was born October 17th!! My pictures won't work on blogger, so I'll get the other disk from school.

My cup runneth over...

I'm back in college this semester, behind as usual...I don't know why I ever think it's going to be any different, it's always going to be something that makes working on my masters nearly impossible. But I will keep going, no matter what, as long as my dear instructor Carol doesn't throw me out!


These are 2 technique photos, this is modeling paste over salt and lace - fun stuff!! Click on this one, it looks cool!











This one is modeling paste over crumpled pattern tissue that has had photos and letters xeroxed onto it - it didn't smear, I was shocked!!!















This is my journal -
Like I say, it's a lifesaver for me - I did the design on the way to see my Dad. Five hours of flying gives you lots of time to think and plan.












This photo is the center piece from the journal before it's glued onto the foam core, it ends up 2 thicknesses of foamcore for this part, 1 for the piece below it and matboard for the base. It'll be about 22"X28" unmatted.
























I finished up the spring semester with 7 finished pieces, and I'm trying to find the pictures to upload for that.
I'm grabbing 15 min. here and there, whenever I can. Again my journal has been a lifesaver!!

New Work in Progress

Here's the original sketch -
















After several long days, I worked out the background, and some of the foreground - I had a drawing as you can see, but the difference between a sketch and making it happen on canvas or whatever - wow - a million miles sometimes. I can see it, almost touch it, but when I reach for it in my mind it dissolves like a mist - and when I back away from it, it materializes again...dang...so I'm hanging in a limbo but, little by little, it is becoming a reality.

This piece is a representation of the 'meeting of minds' and the way that people come to a discussion or participate in a relationship bringing all their baggage with them - 'patterns' of behavior, 'scripts', maps for mapping out our reactions...

Anyway, here are some of the parts - who knows how they will turn out in the end. I do have some cool stuff to add to it when I'm farther along, and I have this GREAT piece(the one with the single gear)that I intended to cut up, but I like it too much, so now it's got to be something on its own. It has such pretty color and texture in it, and the gear is cloudy, almost under a layer of gauze, but it's just turp-y paper towel and rubber gloves over very wet oil paint stick and oil pastel - the gear was drawn with dark colors that stained the paper, so it still shows up - almost like encaustics or glazes...cool...


I don't know exactly what I'm going to do now, the head with collage around it is me - the other one will be my mom. I've copied several old letters to her from my Dad when they were first married, pictures of her parents, her journals, etc. for her collage.













I love the heads, but the faces are still blank, I'll see what the 'muse' says tomorrow, I was listening to Coldplay today, maybe I'll listen to Leigh Nash tomorrow- hmmm, my gear there looks a little flat on the bottom...

Any ideas?????

Think I'm Finished??

Classwork status-
I worked more on this yesterday - changed the colors in the 'balls' by rubbing gray and/or coral soft pastel over them and rubbed it with my fingers - there's so much texture in those areas(used the end of a paint brush to scratch back into the still soft oil pastel/paint sticks) so the under colors still show, and the color is dulled by the pastel. I added the stitching on the pattern pieces and across the kimono - it's oil pastel also, scratched back out nearly with an xacto knife. Added a little more collage on several flower petals, and just over all cleaned it up. I didn't want to loose some of the original color or the multicolor edges of some areas, I personally like some of the unfinished look, but I do fuss over things too. But I THINK I'm done. My friend Laree and I are going to Alpine on Monday to let our instructor(talented watercolor artist college instructor Carol Fairlie) see what we've been doing for our class. Have to be finished in 2 weeks!!! YIKES!!!

Collage ramblings-
I also took pictures of some old work - 2 oil pastels on roofing paper and a c. pastel on newsprint. I'm going to use these in the newbie ATC's as background papers - I'll probably make them b/w and hand color them, or turn them into 'colorbook' drawings and handcolor them....or something. Old sketchbooks make awesome 'stuff' for backgounds, xeroxed on cool papers. I have an hp 1210xi all in one, and I have yet to find any paper or cardstock thickness paper I couldn't run through it - I have run painted papers and watercolor paper and of course my pattern tissue. Forgive me if everyone already knows all this!! I feel I have 'discovered' all this on my own - but of course - great minds think alike, so many of you may be doing the same thing!
I am trying to only use only my own images and family photos, I LOVE collage, I like to xerox until the detail is nearly gone, then xerox onto weird papers, old stuff, maps, etc. Also, I do like to make my own stamps. If you haven't tried the blue stuff - made by Penscore - you need to - you can make and remake your own stamps, using old medals, jewelry, words written with hotglue, cardboard letters, etc. the stuff is only 3X5ish, but you can overlap and connect in 100 ways!
Misc. stuff-
Thanks to whoever recommended Blogarithm.com - it is awesome!!! Several of you posted to your blogs yesterday and I got this handy little email with a direct link to your new entry! Fantastic!!!
Have a great weekend!!! Deb

Working in my artroom at school today -

I am working on my classwork (for SulRoss) today- collaging bits and pieces of xeroxed pictures, Japanese newspapers and maps, crossword puzzles, a kimono linoleum I copied onto old pattern tissue, and the definitions of daughter, journal and journey(Bought a very old dictionary at the library, but only ended up with A-K half of it, so no 'traveler, seeker, pattern, etc!!)...and xeroxed all of it on old pattern tissue - I like the transparency of it. I've tried elmers, matt medium, and now glue sticks - any other suggestions for working with flimsy paper - it is layered on my finger tips, I had to quit, because it was a loosing battle between me and the paper - more on me than on my 'flowers'.

I forgot to bring Dan's camera over here today - I want to see if I can get truer color - the pictures I took the other day were awful...incorrect color and too light or too dark. This room has tons of fluourescent lighting, but not right for photos.

I also printed on an 8X10 transparency, an old picture of my parents and me - I don't know what to do with it yet, but it's cool. I also have a small picture of me at about 1 1/2 yrs. and I want to make a pin with it, but it needs light colors behind it because the face except for the features, is blank - no shading at all...just found a card my mom sent me that has the word daughter written in it and it fits on my shirt...hmmm...
I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a japanese-english dictionary, I made a stamp that says 'pattern' like sewing or design for something. I made 2 more stamps too, two designs in the kimono linoleum blown up to about 3X4 each. Yesterday,I sat around and designed a dozen more, I'll take the stuff home to cut them out tonite. I don't know what I want to do with them yet, but it was fun!

I need to go home, but I can't work there yet, studio isn't done. It's a true dilemma - my classroom which I have 24/7 access to 365 days a year, is 30'X60' with 16' ceilings and I can spread out everywhere all summer...and I love the openness and size, but I need to move my self to a much smaller place-10X20, my studio that's in my backyard so I don't have to put everything away every day when school starts - I'll need to get the absolute most efficient storage for all my stuff - and room for a computer and copier/printer. A TV set to watch all the how to videos I've purchased...but first I need a new floor!
I need help - wonder what my art kids are doing this week??? ^_^

New Art Room Blog!!

Well, I did it!! I made a blog for my artroom - I'd like a different profile and picture for it, does anyone know how I can do that? Do I need a different email address?

http://ahs-artroom.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I'll email it to my upper level art kids so they can check it out! I got email addresses and cellphone numbers before school was out - it'll be fun. I'm happy, thanks again to everyone who has given me suggestions, pointed me in the right direction, and most of all for the encouraging comments and emails. You are the BEST!! Art Techniques folks, do you mind me linking your blogs and/or webpages to my blog??? Let me know! PATA (posted on Art Tecniques Also) Gotta pack and do more laundry for the trip! I'll ahve to check at least one suitcase so I can bring ocean water back from CC - Have a great weekend!!
I love the new save feature, I thought I'd lost this!!!!

Blogger Help Group

Went there to get all my posts to show on the page, so for at least a while all my carefully chosen words will show! I'm so proud of myself!!
I also found several art teachers who use the blog as a class webpage...what a cool idea for those of us with no knowledge of these things! And those I've seen have LOTS of pictures and info - eventually, I want an interactive webpage, with printable assignments and rubrics, syllabus(syllabii?) for every level, etc...but I don't know how to do it myself, and don't really want to learn either, I just want to know what I need to know to change or update it, FOR FREE of course! Art $$$ don't stretch far enough, I am always using my own money for things. Tech people say 'someday', and computer/multimedia teachers don't have time for it either. This is the most fun I have had in a long time - thanks for all the help out there!

Is it still Thursday??

I HAVE to take some pictures of my artwork to post - I may try the Art Techniques (Yahoo group) newbie ATC challenge. Question - how do you get such clear closeups? Just cropping? I wish my studio was finished, I either work at school or on the kitchen table and both of these are temporary solutions... I have a 10X20 building that needs to be resided and redone inside(I'll take before pictures - it is a mess right now!!) I've sanded most of the floor, and I have some cool ideas for the walls - I want to collage over the old icky paneling, not too fussy, but maybe old sketchbook drawings, xeroxed family photos, pattern pieces, maps, etc. and some old picture frames painted bright colors with cork inside, so I can pin up everything nearly, because I really do suffer from BSS (Bright and Shiney Syndrome) I am so easily distracted by ANYTHING!!! It's a joke, but then again...and then there's a terminal case of OSOM(Out of Sight, Out of Mind) - if I don't see it, it doesn't exist(guess my mental developement stopped at Peek-A-Boo when I was a baby!)
Well, time to spend an hour in the garage - have to make a stickie note(I LOVE STICKIE NOTES!!!) or I'll forget to go get tortillas for fajitas and my medicinal chocolate(Russel Stovers mint patties - awesome)

More Thursday ramblings...

It finally worked!! I'll be adding pictures of my art work, classroom, studio, travels, etc. I really think it would be imposssible to keep up with this during the school year, but I will try...it's fun, that's for sure! It will be a good way to keep up with family things, once I get it going. And I hope to have a real webpage for my art department this year too. Most folks out there don't care what I'm doing here in West Texas, but maybe a few fellow teachers and artists will be inspired by the links I'll have eventually, and the art tips and workshops. That's my hope anyway. Is anyone out there??? ^_^

First day all alone!!!

Every one in the family is back at work BUT ME!!! My first real day of summer. I cleaned and washed clothes and looked up realestate in Galveston, TX, Cloudcroft, NM and Texas City, TX…just for fun…we’ll be looking this summer.The first week off, I clean house. Clean out the house actually, having done a superficial job of it at Christmas, this is really a once a year thing - who has time the rest of the year?My Mother died May 6th…we’ve been going through her papers, trying to find personal and financial things she ’squirreled’ away. She kept a planner nearly every year since 1963 - couldn’t find any earlier than that - that was the year my dad went to Germeny for 2 years, and she stayed home with 6 kids. Guess I’d write alot too, especially since there were no relatives in El paso, Tx -so anyway, I got all my school papers and cards and letters I’d given her - my Dad wanted to burn it all - all of us(there are 7 ) got all our things she’d kept. It is still the most surreal feeling that creeps up now and then - my mother is dead - I don’t cry, and I don’t really know why, I just can’t, not yet.But the reason I want to clean now, the reason it’s so important, is that I don’t want my kids to get their papers when they’re 53, and I don’t want my life reduced to paper sacks, of ‘keep’ and ‘burn’. So I will get rid of 1/2 of everything I own this summer. And make scrapbooks, and give things away, because, it’s better to do it now while I’m alive, than to wait until I die.I don’t know much about how this blog stuff works - I’ve checked it 20 times since I wrote the first time…guess I thought the community would be instant…

Summer is here!!

As with every summer for the past 10 years, I HAVE A LIST!!! Not just any list, but the list from 2004, with the years crossed off, so I can reuse it AGAIN…now this might seem depressing, but it gives some comfort - no new giant projects have appeared and I have made some progress on the old projects. Maybe I should start fresh with a new list, but then I’d find the old list 5 years from now and think ‘Oh my GOD!!! I am still working on the same old things, I just THOUGHT I’d accomplished things each summer!!’ This way, I know what’s coming, and am not afraid -mildly amused, a little sad, but mostly, fired up!Every summer is like every new school year - bright and shiney and NEW, filled with potential and so very long - this year especially, because Texas has school starting a week later, so we get an extra week of summer! Kids don’t come back until Aug 27 - woo hoo!!!So I’m pinning hopes on this summer to be the best ever, and not sit on my behind playing on the computer or watching TV(except the 200+ hours on Crafters across America, scrapbooking and B’original I’ve Tivo’d since January..)I’ll meet with my incoming Art 2-4 kids and get some individualized plans for each of them, have a swimming party for my art club kids(I don’t get wet - the ‘poof’ doesn’t ‘do’ wet!), clean out the garage, remodel my studio, clean the artroom at school, clean out Prom storage, take on the dandelions(again), and do some fun trips to Corpus Christi, TX, Dallas Metroplex(visit grandaughter), Cloudcroft, NM, and Half Moon Bay, CA - can I do it all??? no way!! But with such big plans, and a bright shiney NEW summer, the possibilities are endless! I’ll keep you out there in blogland posted - maybe some art teachers, procrastinators or packrats who want to brag, challenge and/or commisserate will write to me.