3 in a row

It’s most unusual for this infrequent blogger to post three days in a row however here I am again reporting on my monoprint adventures.

Therewasn’t so much time to play today and there wasn’t as much success.  One thing I have discovered is that as much as I adore Hundertwasser’s paintings and architecture I think I have a long way to go in learning to manage strong and contrasting colours.

My successes came in the subtle colours or in the use of texture with bright paints.  That being said it is on the scrap paper where I rolled off the excess paint that I found small sections that delighted me.

Some of todays results:

A small section using big one-inch bubble wrap to create texture . . . I had painted the primary colours on the plate.   I’ll use sections of this and the one following but I must admit I’m not that keen on them.

Yellow and red, mixed on the plate and pounced with a plastic bag for texture . . . close but no cigar. Don’t think I’m giving up with the bright colours though, it’s just a matter of cutting some more paper up and taking some time.

Using shades close on the colour wheel worked best for me . . . and the ghost prints were most appealing.  Lime through to turquoise was my favourite place to play.

The next two are sections of the large piece of paper used to catch the excess from the roller.  I really like them . . . the colours, the way they lie over one another, their transparency and the lines from tilting the roller to clean off the edges.  I would probably not have put these colours together on purpose . . . but I will now!  I’m not one to give up when there is so much to explore and so much fun to be had!

still smiling

I’ve continued playing with the Gelli Plate and each time I’ve tried to be deliberate in what I do, the more likely it has been that it’s gone awry . . . the story of my life, I should act intuitively more often.

Results have been mixed and although the primary colours were a bit messy, the earth tones worked well.  There is one stencil (Crafters Workshop, Peebles) and a couple of my own that were really useful.    Today’s results:

This is the primary colour print I like best. The line across the middle is not really turgquoise, it’s more of a washed out green . . . my camera leaves a lot to be desired.

I was intrigued by the cell-like appearance after taking a print, removing the stencil and then taking this print, sometimes there was a really nice ghost print however they didn’t photograph well.  Whatever paints I used with this stencil . . . I liked the effect.

Just grey . . . with the pebbles stencil.

I hadn’t cleaned the plate off, nor the stencil so there are scraps of all the paints . . . I love it.

I kept a piece of paper handy to stamp off the excess of paint on the stencil . . . a happy accident.

Now, if I can just organise the ‘accidents’ to happen when I want them . . . and perhaps decide what I’m going to do with all this gorgeous paper!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

the fates are smiling

Do you know what it’s like when you go to the supermarket and all the wheels on your trolley work together . . . when usually one of the wheels keeps flipping out at 90 degrees at the most inconvenient moments.  Life isn’t like that right now.  It’s as if the fates have decided that I’m to not only have everything run smoothly, I’m  to be on the receiving end of some amazing generosity . . . and I have been.

On Facebook recently I was bemoaning the expense of getting some of the supplies I lust after here in New Zealand and I was thinking that I would just have to wait to buy a Gelli Plate until next July when I make a trip to the USA (I have a list forming and will need an empty suitcase).  I have previously made a couple of printing plates from gelatine and was thinking about making one using glycerin so it wouldn’t go mouldy, but because of the unexpected generosity of a wonderful woman . . . I HAVE AN 8 x 10 inch GELLI PLATE!   Quinn, you are a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, darling.

Like the shoemaker who had those elven night time visitors, I left everything set up before I went to bed so that the very next day, all day, I could play and experiment.  My results were mixed and often my best results came either by accident because I tend to over-think things, or from a final ghost print.  For the most part I limted myself to 4 or 5 colous and I used a quieter palette that I would usually work with.  So with no further ado . . . some of the results!

Triple printed using a commercial stencil.  The Crafters Workshop: Pebbles.

Overprinted using home made masks.

Overprinted using a hand made stencil.

Overprinted using hand made stencil.

Overprinted using a hand made stencil.  Rather too much paint but I like the effect.

And next up?  Stamps, scraping, and printing painterly layers.

yesterday was a busy day

I finally got out the paints . . .

Grumpy Mud Men

And then a needle and threads, some unbleached calico, a few washers and, most important, a paint stained baby-wipe.   It all just started from there really.

Once there was a baby-wipe that had aspirations of being on the cover of a journal . . . her dreams are coming true.

sailing . . . but where?

I love the vessel I’m sailing in, it’s sound, tested as sea worthy, and I’ve come to realise that I can land at any number of ports . . . thanks Quinn . . .  Quinn McDonald is a very astute life coach with a mind like a steel trap, ears that miss nothing and heart, lots of heart.

Spring is a time of change, particularly when it comes to wind direction here in New Zealand.  There’s not a lot of land out there to shelter us and the Roaring 40s are well named . . . we expect it but I have to tell you I am OVER IT!  I would like some nice settled weather to get out, walk the beach and think, I think better when I’m walking.  I used to think best when I was running and I had up to 64 kilometres/40 miles a week of thinking time!

I’ve thought so much about what I want to do, which direction I want to go, that my head hurts, and my good-sense-self says “if it hurts, stop doing it!”  So I will, I’ll stop the thinking and just do, do whatever I like, when I like and how I like.  Oh such luxury to be in this place . . .  but I am spoiled for choice. An apt expression, it’s that word spoiled, it brings to mind rotten meat or milk that has soured, eggs that have sat out for far too long, citrus fruit mouldering in the bowl . . . spoiled.

Yes indeed, a plethora of choices is not necessarily the easiest thing to manage.  It’s that whole, ‘to choose one thing is to shut out a lot of other things’ conundrum . . . a very black and white way of looking at it I know.  So like the Lord High Executioner, I have a little list,  sorry about the Mikado reference but it always echoes in my head when I say “I have a little list,” and I don’t even like most musicals!

Sometimes lists are great, you get a wonderful feeling crossing items off upon completion, keep you organised when times are stressful and they help sort out what’s important, especially when the items are arranged in the form of a PMI (Positive, Minus, and Interesting).  I wrote down everything I liked to do, as well as everything that needs to be done, on little bits of paper so it’s not technically a list I tell myself.  (How picky!)  I then shuffled around the bits of paper into the different PMI categories.  After that I put shuffled the items according to my level of enjoyment or lack thereof, and began to see that some of what I get the most satisfaction from work well together.  Of course there is no way to wrap everything into a neat package however a lot of things fit into bookbinding.

I looked at satisfaction level more than what I’m good at . . . I have learned that just because I can do something well doesn’t mean I have to.

Just some of what I like to do . . . before sorting. The ‘after’ will be clear in what I produce.

So there won’t be a change in what I do, just a slight shift in direction towards yet another destination.  I started small yesterday by refilling a notebook cover I made ages ago with stained sketch pad paper . . . I just felt like hoisting sail and going off in that direction.

A3 sketch pad paper, stained with blackcurrant and apple tea, salt crystals on the puddles, dried and repeated on the reverse.

And while I am allowing myself to be propelled by impulse for a time, there will come a point when I know I will need a goal, something big to work toward, because I know me, and I know the NBG (Next Big Goal) is not going to come while I’m thinking . . . I need to be doing.  Direction does not come in a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) as an adult any more than it does when you’re a young adult starting out in the world, you find your way through finding your way . . . somethings don’t change.

And the Christmas market? Not a raving success up on the school stage away from the throng. While a little disappointed I’ll try again, sell everything off, recoup my outlay, and then give away or donate what is left to charity.  And think again?  No, no more thinking.  As much as I enjoyed some aspects of the preparations, I don’t like the feeling of being on a production line so I shall make ‘one-offs,’ bespoke items, and then decide what to do with them.  Maybe take the odd request, but I shan’t use the word order, I don’t take orders at all well . . . it brings forth a strong rebellious streak.

On the positive side, my work was much admired at the market and I received many encouraging comments although one child was rather bemused that I had already painted the pages of the small notebooks . . . he thought they should definitely be white.

There’s just no pleasing some people.

Acrylic on sketch paper, recycled manila folders as covers.

And the winner of my giveaway? Using a random number selector Jo’s name came up!   Congratulations Jo, I’ll rustle up a box and have it ready to send as soon as I have your address.

Cheers everyone . . . kia kaha . . . stand strong!

a shift in the wind . . . and a giveaway

At one time I earned a living working with cloth but it was work and not love although the reason for doing it was love . . . now I’m returning to it, slowly.  I can still make things to sell but it’s ‘work’ and not so much pleasure as satisfying seeing the results.  There’s a shift in the wind though and I think it’s taking me to places I have only sighted, landed lightly and not explored . . . in my mid 60s this is exciting.  Jude Hill‘s recording on Small Journeys is an echo of how I am thinking . . . something new, or master one thing I do now . . . I think I’m about to be blown off on a tangent.

I should be content dabbling in all the crafts that give me some satisfaction but I want something more and I think it’s excellence or perhaps a way of drawing everything in together.  Rather than being, as I was labelled when a child, a ‘Jack of all things, master on none’ I want to master something . . . but I have no idea what.   There is a rant in that ‘Jack . . .” phrase but I’ll save it for another time.

Last weekend was the last big workshop for the raranga/weaving course I attended.   It was a wonderful experience that has left me with stronger hands, new skills and new friends.  Wednesday night is the Christmas Cottage sale at my grandhearts’ school that I’ve prepared for (still preparing for) and then . . . what next?

My question is, how do I bring everything together?  How to I muck around to my heart’s content and tie it up into a package . . . yes, it’s true, I want to be appreciated as an artist and not just a clever creative woman to seems to be able to do pretty much anything but is sometimes overwhelmed by variety that she can’t make a choice and just get started.

I just noticed that this is my 100th post so I will give away one of my kete to someone with a thoughtful response . . . this one I think . . .

Dyed harakeke container with dyed dry flowers, silver crimps and beads. 16 x 19 cms

A decision will be made on Sunday (NZ time).  I have already successfully sent one overseas (USA) and there didn’t seem to be any problem with customs as everything has been processed in some way and I’m sure I can package it so it doesn’t get crushed.

almost ready

I’ve made 12 school book bags and 15 pencil cases.  Cut out, I have another 6 book bags and 16 bigger pencil cases.  There are also about 40 little critters that will be looking for a new home.

Just some inspirational words to go on some of the super-sized pencil cases and I’m done!  And while I’m at it, a shout out to Alisa Burke as without her book Canvas Remix, I wouldn’t be making these things.