nanke's stuff

Tuesdays are always full days for me.  It's the day I volunteer all day at our county health department, then get home, have dinner & do the clean-up, etc.  Then since Wednesday is recycle day, I finish bagging all the recyclables and load them into the car and take the dog for her last walk (at least I hope it's her last one ... if not, I'll be getting up at about 1:00 to take her out again) before getting ready for bed.  Somewhere in there is reading and responding to my email, which usually takes me quite awhile.  Anyhow, all of this is to excuse me from not adding to my Rafael drawing.

Instead, I'm posting the last 3 spreads in my round robin book.  The first one is by Tanya Peacock, and it's full of wonderful textures which, sadly, don't show up in the scan.  It even has a bit of braille on it - how cool is that?  The second one is by Pam Hartman.  What I love about this one is the fabric butterfly - it's very delicate, and the piece of lace.  It has interesting text relating to sewing, pattern pieces, and of course, the adorable ATC sized card on the right side.  And, last but certainly not least, is the spread by Candace Wareham.  Each book she worked in had small, hand made little fabric quilt block, embellished with the most wonderful things.  Mine has buttons, beads, charms, lace, beautiful fabrics and beautiful stitching.  It's simply exquisite.  What can I say?  I feel very blessed to have this special book and am so appreciative of all the effort each participant put in. 

I've been pretty busy the last few days and haven't done much with art except look thru some of my new books to decide on a new "masters"  project.  I've narrowed it down, but no decision, yet.  So, I thought I would share a couple of watercolors I did some time ago.  I took reference photos in a local greenhouse, then painted them in the studio.   They were hung in a solo exhibit I had a few years ago, and I sold both of them.  I have a hard time letting go of my paintings sometimes, and yet, I also have a nice feeling knowing they are "living" someplace where they are appreciated.  We are complicated little beings, aren't we? 

Long about September, 2008 a small group of artists decided  to do a round robin based on the book True Colors, A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals published by Somerset Studio.  Each of the participants (there were 9 of us) made a book, chose a color, did the first spread, and then sent it on to the next person on the list.  The round robin still isn't finished!  I have been a part of this sort of round robin in the past, but I must say, this one has taken the longest of any other.  The group was hand picked by someone who had experience with each of us in other trades and swaps, and she was certain that we would follow through.  Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we can find ourselves mired in situations we never could have anticipated.  Such was the case here.  But, the good news is that things seem to be moving along once again, and I think I'm very close to getting my book back.  I can hardly wait!

I have just one more book to work on, and I haven't received it yet.  However, I know that the person who sends the books to me has both mine and the one I have left to do.  The end is definitely in sight!  Today I finished working in the second -to-the-last book I'm doing.  The book is lovely, and I'm sure when it gets home, the owner will love it.  All of the entries in it are wonderful - poetic and beautiful.  I decided that I would balance some of that with something a bit edgy.  I don't usually do edgy, but I thought it would be fun to give it a go.  So, here it is! 

I hope she likes it!

This morning I was thumbing through last year's journal and came upon this page.  I had a similar period of "nothingness" last year, but it wasn't as severe as this one has been.  When it was over, I did this simple journal page that seemed to express my relief at finally reaching the end of it.  With this most recent episode I haven't yet reached the feeling that it's over - no elation, no real relief.  I don't trust that I'm out of the woods yet.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about all of this trying to figure out exactly what it is that happens  when I seem to just fall off a cliff.   All of the reading I've done over the years about writer's block, artists block, etc say the same thing:  you just have to do it (write, make art, compose - whatever It is), every single day.  The advice is not to worry about the quality of what it is you do, just do it.  It doesn't matter if you end up with only one sentence, one line, one mark on the paper (or not a single one) that you like, as long as you do it every day. I  once read that ballet dancers have to practice every single day no matter what, or their muscles lose tone and elasticity in just one day! I've become convinced that there is a parallel to that in art.   So, now I'm coming  to believe that these periods are caused by my self-indulgence, lack of self discipline, and the erroneous position that somehow it's not my fault - that it's caused by some mysterious force that's beyond my control. 

So, with that in mind, I'm planning on doing one thing every single day - even if it's just a 5 minute sketch of something.  I'm going to try not to care if I like it or not, if I think it has any merit - in other words, I'm going to try to keep my ego out of it and instead focus on feeling good about just having done it.  Baby steps, baby steps ..... then, just maybe, I'll feel like this again:



P.S.  For those of you who saw the original of this post, you no doubt noticed I spelled "Drought" as "Draught".  My pal Vicki wanted to know if it was a Freudian slip and that what I really needed was a beer .... hmmm .... could be .... except I don't like beer.  Now wine, that's a whole different matter!  

All of you wonderful readers have been urging me along, so I spent some time with my art journal doing a modest mixed media piece.  The photo is a copy of one that is from a really old album that my sweetie's mother had.  They are family pictures, but most of them have no names on them and there isn't anyone still alive who knows who they are.  I love that they are related to our children, and wish I knew something about each and every one of them.  They are fun to look at, wondering who they were and what their lives were like.
Anyhow, here it is.  I used gesso, Golden Acrylics, tissue paper,  postage stamps, skeleton leaves, various stamping images, French text, and a Pilot Gold marker.  The scan didn't really pick up the metallic look of the gold - it never does, though, does it?


Today is my day to volunteer at the county health department - I'm there from 9 to 4, then we're going to a combined Christmas/birthday celebration at the home of some friends.  I doubt I'll have much time for art, unless I whip something off between bites during my 1/2 hour lunch break.  Who knows, tho, miracles do happen!  

Well, I got some really cute pictures of CC in his costume from his dad, Ben (our son), and because I'm a bit squeemish about posting CC's picture on the internet, I'm posting one where you can see part, but not all of him.  Even though you can't see his face in this picture, I think he looks just like a Gnome happened upon by a giant (the giant being Ben in his "early 1900s" costume).  So, without further adieu, here they are!

It's been too long since I've posted - things have been pretty busy around here. Most recently, we discovered we've become the home for yellow jackets and another kind of wasp. Now I don't mind the bees and things, as long as they stay in their place - which is outside!! Last week I started seeing (and killing) bees in our kitchen. At first just one or two a day, but by Friday, I was killing several of them a day. Then I discovered the floor of the furnace room in the basement littered with their little yellow jacket bodies, and several of them hovering around inside the window. Time to call the exterminator!
It took several phone calls: "sorry, mam, we only kill mammals", "sorry, mam, we can't come for a couple of days", "sorry mam, we don't go out as far as you live". You'd think that exterminators would do a great business out here in Hooterville where all the critters live, but nooo. Finally this morning I found a nice man who would come out today! Yea!!! They're called Maples Exterminators, for anyone who lives in Livingston County, Michigan (they go to other counties, too). So, as the nice man in his space suit was outside spraying the dickens out of the little buggers, I stayed in the studio playing. I could hear the buzzing in the walls - it was a bit disconcerting, but I kept at it, working on a mixed media page in my journal. I had to go to the window in the guest room and watch from time to time, but I was afraid he would look up and be startled to find me staring at him and fall off his ladder, poison and all. He went around the house and ended up spraying 3 separate places outside and then came in to spray in the furnace room. He said it could take up to a week for all the bees to die ... I'm betting they'll be gone before then.
So, here is what I did while he worked. I like parts of it, and parts of it I don't like at all, but all things considered, it's a wonder I got it finished!


P.S. I just noticed that I spelled the name of the plant wrong .... it's Caladium!

Well, the Brat and I went 2 or 3 more rounds with colored pencil, and we both got really tired of it. She said, "enough is enough ... are you crazy?". I countered with my ultimate insult, "You bore me to tears". We decided to call it a draw and we will both move on. I'm sure after a bit of time has passed things will be better between us. ......... I'm pretty sure she's a teenager.

Well, this drawing started out to be a quick ink sketch in my art journal. She became really cantankerous and just wouldn't cooperate. So, I decided I'd show her who was boss, and I switched to acrylic paint. "I'll show you!", I thought, laughing to myself. Well, she became even more defiant - nothing I did could tame her. "Aha!", I thought ... "colored pencil will give me more control than a paintbrush", so I brought out all my Prismacolor colored pencils. I tried various hardnesses and a variety of colors - I even used metallic colors on her lips. She laughed at me, dug in her heels, and became even more stubborn. So, I told her I was going to post her overworked, unfinished, self on my blog for all the world to see and threatened her with my pastels! She stuck out her tongue, showing her true, bratty nature.
So, true to my word, here she is. If the pastels don't work, I have one more trick up my sleeve - it's called "GESSO" ...... don't tell her.