Channeling the Cool of Canada…

This past week the brutal summer heat finally broke in Bloomington.  After a week or so over 100 degrees, and as high as 106, we’re finally back down to normal summertime temperatures.  The best news for me was that my art studio was the coolest part of the house (in the basement next to the air conditioner) so I could work comfortably with my boys nearby.  I even had cold toes and needed my slippers!  As I thought about escaping the heat I began channeling cool Canadian lakes.  Of course I’m an American now, having spent my first Fourth of July as a citizen, but that doesn’t keep me from thinking about Canada.  It’s the only time of the year that I really miss my former home as I think about trips to Pinery Provincial Park and the shores of Lake Huron.  This thinking carried me through my ‘Father and Son’ piece, which features a mature birch tree and a sapling overlooking a cool lake.  It makes me think of the beautiful relationship and bond that’s developing between Jim and the boys, but that’s another blog post.  One of the new elements from this weaving is that the water has more sparkle, thanks to some silver cording I found at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago.  The three ply silver cord was too thick for incorporating into my canvas, but I was able to unravel it easily and use a single ply among the blue yarns to bring life to the water.  It contributes a brightness than I’ve ever used.  I found a lot of treasures at that yard sale, including some white lace, fabric scraps and a pink sweater that will translate nicely into sweater petals for fall shows.  To finish off the piece I combed through my rock collection and incorporated materials that had colors that work well with the piece.  I’m especially fond of horn coral for this kind of weaving because it has a large surface area that makes it easy to attach firmly.  I also like the texture it provides—it blends into the grassy lake shore better than smooth rocks. 

My other art news involves commissions and travel.  I’m ready to launch on my next big commission piece, due by the end of September.  I’m anxious to get started on a piece that’s tentatively called ‘Life’s Path’, which is a huge (45 by 25 inches) landscape orientation piece.  The path will be the focus through a forest background and the piece will present some new structural challenges for me.  I already have the frame, thanks to Tom Bertolacini, my frame-maker, so I’m ready to begin.  Traveling is also weighing on my consciousness.  My out-of-town summer art fair schedule begins this week.  I’ll travel to Madison, Wisconson, for the Art Fair on the Square this weekend—stop in if you’re in the area.  It’s supposed to be very hot for Madison (approaching 100 degrees), but it’s my best show of the year so I’m looking forward to it.  It’s also a chance to catch up with friends Wendy and Duane (and their dogs and new barn) outside of town in the quiet, cool countryside. 

The family news of the week was Jacob’s tenth birthday—hooray!  He kept a countdown of days to the big event, and he made himself some ‘happy birthday’ posters on the door next to his bed that he covered up so he could be surprised on the actual day.  We had a great day, beginning with a chocolate chip cookie cake and buttercream frosting for breakfast.  Yum!  We biked around town, visited the library and had lunch at the Village Deli.  Jacob had more decadent food when he ordered the strawberry shortcake.  I backed off my motherly responsibilities for a healthy diet, at least until dinner.  It was also the first day out of the hundred-degree range, so it was incredibly nice to be out biking and visiting the town.  I have a lot of friends that can bike in hot weather, but it isn’t me!  Here’s hoping we have a summer full of berries, bike rides and cool weather!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Eye of newt, wing of butterfly, and petal of flower…

I cooked up a real witches brew of artistic fun this week. First, I stopped in at Wonderlab to see the finished butterfly piece and I think it looks great. Paula Grez, the volunteer who helped so much and took pictures of the project as it came together sent me an image that I’ll share. I’m still waiting for the glue to completely dry, which I expect will take a month or so, and then we’ll give the piece a waterproof seal. The plan is to hang it on the outbuilding so it will be visible from the B-line trail. We’re going to do an experiment to see whether it will attract a giant pixilated bird!

I also finished my ‘Transplant’ piece last week, even though it isn’t really done (hmmm…). I came up with a strategy to make a pretty red cactus dahlia flower for the plant itself. I started by cutting lengths of my precious copper wire from a roll and wrapping them with red yarn until I had a charming little pile. I made a small red felt ball for the center and started attaching the petals to make the corolla. I’ll admit that in the back of my mind I had doubts that it would work, but with great confidence I leaped ahead and glued all the petals on before I turned it over to look. Wow, it worked—what a relief! It matched what I was envisioning, and that pleased me. Brimming with confidence I forged ahead to make the little rootlets for the overgrown root ball of the transplantee. Had a little too much 20-20-20 fertilizer and auxin (a root stimulating hormone) at the greenhouse, didn’tcha little one? Welcome to my garden of Indiana clay and overhanging trees! Anyway, I assembled the whole thing together on the weaving. I still want to add a few things to the soil for a more realistic look, so I picked out some broken terra cotta, a rusty beer cap, nails and a small geode from my extensive collection of soil artifacts. I couldn’t quite convince myself to add them permanently to the piece—I need to be in the right mood to make that happen. So now I’m on pause with the piece as it hangs in my art studio in a place where I can’t help looking at it as I work. After I decide which pieces really work and which start to bug me after a while I’ll whip out my hot glue gun to make it permanent, but I have to be in the right mood.

Lots of new stuff, or should I say newt stuff, is also beginning my studio. I began my salamanders, skinks and newts piece. That means I truck around a bag with needles and fleece in nice skin tones—that is if you’re an amphibian or a reptile with bright colors that scream a warning to predators. I sit and poke during my boys’ Tae Kwon Do class as I watch and chat, or anyplace else that I have a little time on my hands. Soon I will have summoned the creatures from my fleece pile, just like my kids do with their Yu-Gi-Oh decks when they have a little time on their hands. A lot of that has been happening with the snow days last week, and while they waited during the dress rehearsal for the Trashionista show. That was last night, but I’m going to wait to describe my experience until the whole thing settles in. Basically it was a big crowd, a whole lot of fun and a rewarding experience. I also hung a few pieces in the Indiana Fiber Producers show at the Monroe Bank in Bloomington, with a couple of my big pieces on display right behind the tellers. You can also catch the end of my shows at the two Bloomingfoods locations until the end of the month, or catch the last glimpse of my scarves at the Bloomington Bagel Company. If you buy a warm scarf now I will guarantee up to six more weeks of winter to enjoy it. As for me, I’ll be cozied up in my art studio with my new silent space heater, keeping warm until the snow melts and the flowers start popping up in the yard. I can’t wait!

Until next week...



Martina Celerin

Tomatoes in the snow…

This year Santa Claus brought the boys boogie boards for sledding on the snow. Ever since we’ve been waiting for snow, and not altogether patiently. Finally the snow started falling on Wednesday night, and the few inches we got shut down the schools for two days. The kids loved it, but somewhere in my Canadian hometown they’re laughing at us. We have since made several trips to Bryan Park to challenge the local hill. To get a picture of the fearsome slope, it’s about where the eastern most edge of the Rockies meets the western most edge of the Appalachians. With the steep gradient, and someone to launch you down the hill (thanks Bret!), you can get up a little speed. Somebody must have torn down the little posts with the black diamonds on them, and I think the rescue helicopter teams must have had the day off.

After a couple hours on the slopes, every good sledder needs hot cocoa. But a punishing day on the slopes also means cheese pizza—not all the shredding happens on the slopes. I discovered that I needed to replenish my pizza sauce supply, given the hungry hordes that were swarming the house, so I pulled the last of my frozen CSA tomatoes out of the freezer. They look a little sad, but they make great sauce, and now I’m ready to create all my tomato-based dishes for the rest of the winter. The shriveled little bodies are both the reminder of the riches of last summer and the promise of warmer days ahead.

Tomatoes have been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve steadily been producing needle-felted tomatoes for the commission piece I’m working on. The surface is going to be a collage of all the different tomatoes you might see at a late-summer Farmer’s Market. They don’t freeze well, so I keep them in a bowl to ripen up that last little bit as I make more. I’ve been using all of my tomato-coloured fleece to support the different varieties and shapes, so I’ve got everything from reds to yellows to greens. Then I delved into my tomato-coloured yarns. I even have some old red shoelaces of just the right shade that will end up somewhere in the piece. And so I’ve been joyously weaving a background for the piece this week. If you listen carefully you can almost hear the angelic choir in the background as I think about weaving after months of shows and scarves and ornaments. Have I said lately that I love to weave? Anyway, the background has kind of a smushed-tomato-on-top-of-the-stock pot look, bringing together all the colors of the surface tomatoes. You don’t really see it clearly in the piece, but where the surface tomatoes don’t quite come together you can see it peeking through. People used to say that you can’t see the forest for the trees—we’re going to start saying that you can’t see the weaving for the tomatoes.

This has also been a week of hanging shows, so if you’re out and about Bloomington this week, keep your eyes open. I hung a show with five other artists the John Waldron this week. They’re all fiber artists who clearly love color. They make the show bright and happy, and it’s worth the trip downtown. The opening reception was Friday night, and while the weather limited attendance, the people who came were lively and happy. I also hung my ‘Warm and Cosy: Scarf Art’ show at the Bloomington Bagel Company shop on Dunn Street. Surprisingly, my spell-checker still can’t get it through it’s head that Cosy isn’t spelled with a ‘z’. It’s just too much of an American sacrifice to change it after I’ve given up all the ‘u’s in my favourite words. You can see more scarves at Wonderlab museum if you stop in there. I ran into Andrea from Wonderlab at the John Waldron reception, and now I’m eager to see the display she put together at the museum. Andrea says they used magnets, foam and cord to hang the scarves, and somehow an air vent is breathing some life into them. Hmmm, maybe it’s time to incorporate movement into my pieces! I do love a challenge.

Until next week…

The November Whirlwind

The last two weeks have been an amazing blur of shows, scarves and weaving. I had dropped into one of those wonderful life patterns where I was discovering and developing my own wet felting style by making scarves. It’s really an exploration of a new technique for me that I’ll use in future weaving projects. ‘Creating my own canvas’ has always been a major feature of my work, and I feel like I’m enhancing my repertoire of skills that will make their way into my dimensional weavings. Bluebell (the family car) was packed with 19 new scarves, twelve new wreaths for the season, and all the new ornaments I made over the year. I made the early morning trek over to Columbus Indiana last Saturday to show everything at the Déjà vu recycled art fair. It’s always a little stressful when you put your heart and soul into some technique, then put it on display for everyone to see. Fortunately, I came home with a lighter load and a warm feeling inside. I can do this!

Success, of course, breeds new problems. I didn’t have enough scarves to show at the Spinner’s and Weaver’s guild show this weekend. So I re-converted the dining room table to Scarf Central and geared up to make some more. I had one scarf that was a whole bunch of ribbons and strings and just enough just enough felted wool to hold it all together. It reminded me of my youthful days in a bikini, but that’s another story. It was a glorious week because I got to sift through my thirty or so 20-gallon plastic tubs of yarns and pull out the most delightful colors and textures to incorporate into the scarves. I also had to scamper over to Sheep Street in Morgantown to pick up several more pounds of merino. Of course I couldn’t resist picking up a bunch of new yarns to use, including some delicious jewel tones that I knew I wanted to work with. I especially worked on layering different colors of roving to achieve the depth and color gradients I wanted. The only downside is that my shoulder and arm muscles haven’t quite forgiven me for all the rolling I did to felt the materials.

I did launch into another project on a whim recently. I had collected a bunch of wool sweaters, including some in delightful greens that I knew weren’t going to fit into the color schemes I was using in the scarves. I decided to cut them up to make Christmassy fir trees. Of course it isn’t a tree until it is trimmed, so I used the tiny red felted balls that I had created using the new secret technique I learned. I trimmed them with gold rickrack and set the whole thing on beige fabrics with different textures. I glued them on to a pretty mottled beige card stock and inserted into each a piece of white cotton rag with the texture of vellum. I think they’re fun and perfect for the holidays—check them out at the Wandering Turtle gallery in Bloomington, or stop in and see them at the Unitarian Universalist show this December.

Finally, I put away my scarf-making materials and reclaimed my basement art studio. I picked up all the yellow yarns I had out for making my Autumn Aspens commission piece. I also had to clear away the remnants of my boys’ giant art project. I can’t really describe it except to say that it involves small pieces of electronics, popsicle sticks, fabric scraps and a glue gun. I’m so proud of my creative boys! Anyway, I herded their project into a corner and blocked it off visually with a tower of easels and tools. Out came the vacuum cleaner and once again I had a functional workspace. It’s really great to be back in my weaving space, and this week I’ll finish the autumn aspens piece. After I get some sleep. I’m still recovering from two shows in two weeks. Tonight I sleep; tomorrow I weave!

Until next week…

How artists recover from illnesses.

I’ve had a miserable week fighting pneumonia. My allies were friends, antibiotics and breathing treatments, and slowly I’m winning the battle. My friend Cappi Phillips brought me homemade macaroni and cheese, made with whole-wheat noodles with flax in them—what terrific comfort food! Thanks Cappi! Today I left the house for the first time in a week and I even had a salad with my family at Buccetto’s. Look out world, I’m on the mend.

To re-engage myself in the art world, and use weaving as part of my recovery, I decided to break out my yellow yarns. Yellow is such a happy color, and I decided to start a commission piece to make a variation on my ‘Autumn Aspens’ theme. I first pulled out my big box of cord, strings and shoelaces to form the core of the tree trunks. Then I got out my variegated taupe yarns. You probably know that ‘taupe’ started out to mean the average color of a French mole—until the artists got their hands on the word. I started with my beige and brown taupes (take that, you linguists!) and started wrapping the aspen tree trunks. My strategy was to create the foreground variegations with light to medium color yarns first. Then I moved on to medium to dark yarns and finally the darkest yarns. The goal was to create a sense of depth based partly on the color of the tree trunks, with the darkest shades in the back.

Then came the big moment in my recovery—I pulled out my big box of yellow yarns, which was like opening up a box of sunshine! If you live in central Indiana you know it’s been an awful week weather-wise, with cold, overcast rainy skies dominating the weather (and lots of people have been sick). But my yellows brought a smile to my face—how can you not be happy looking into a sea of yellow! Right about then was when I had my flashback to the genesis of the first ‘Autumn Aspens piece—a trip with my father one October many years ago. I had just defended my Ph.D. thesis at the University of Western Ontario, and to celebrate we traveled to Utah and Colorado for a vacation. I was stunned by the endless yellows of fall in the American West, with all the subtle differences in color. Yellow is just too flat a word to use to describe the tints and shades of yellows, with hints of oranges and greens, all spread out over miles of open landscapes. It was just amazing!

Then I landed back in Bloomington Indiana, thinking how I have to get my family out there some autumn. With kids in school and everyone fighting to stay healthy that’s going to be a tall order, but someday we’ll make it. I hope that where ever you are in the world when you read this that you’re healthy and happy. But if you’re struggling with something, my advice is to bring out the yellows. It worked for me!


Until next week…

Mr. Turtle Goes to Indianapolis

I spent last week in serious turtle mode. Where do you find serious turtles? That’s right, I started out at the Monroe County Public Library. I pored over the books with glossy color pictures of Eastern Painted turtles, which I needed to finish my latest weaving (Among the Ferns), but I didn’t meet any really serious turtles. The librarian told me that they’re off at the Library of Congress this time of year. To finish my turtle I needed some specialized fleece, starting with just the right deep olive green. I found some that I bought at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Arts Festival (in Franklin, IN) that worked well. Painted turtles have beautiful, bright red lines, and I matched the color I needed from a lot I picked up at Sheep Street in Morgantown. Last, I needed a natural-looking golden yellow highlight. I was stumped until I remembered my disastrous beet dyeing experience of a few weeks ago (August 15^th blog). Who knew that the perfect soft yellow-brown for turtle stripes was in beets, as soon as you got past that deep red color? So this week I poked and poked (and poked) and out popped the turtle. He slipped right into the fern fronds as his new home, but something was missing on the ground. I needed some rocks, and I decided that slag was perfect for the task. Slag is a glassy leftover from the smelting of iron ore, and I picked up mine in Michigan along the Saginaw River. Recycle everything, I say. I’m always delighted when I can take someone’s cast-offs and make something others think is beautiful.

Yesterday the turtle and I headed off to Indianapolis to the Penrod Art Fair. It was a great show—beautiful weather, lots of people, a helpful staff and an elegant garden setting. My booth was set up so the back of the booth was in the shade and the front in the sun, so I get the best of both worlds. The turtle prefers the shade this time of year. A lot of people remembered the frog I had last year and were pleased to meet the turtle (Ms. Frog lives in Wisconsin now). It was nice to meet patrons from previous shows and hear that the pieces they bought are still appreciated. I get pretty attached to my critters and flowers and everything else. It’s good to know they have good homes. Indianapolis shows are also a good chance to catch up with friends and acquaintances that live in that part of Indiana. When the show was over, take down went smoothly this year—no pouring rain, and we got a lot of help from the guys in the golf carts. They zip your stuff to the road when you’re ready to pack up, so we got in and out in just a few minutes when the van got through the queue (definitely not a Czech word—too many vowels). Thanks to all the Penrod Society folks who helped to make it a great show and the IMA for keeping the grounds so beautiful.

Now I just have to figure out what to do this week.

Until next week…

Turtles and Ferns

For a working artist in Bloomington, this is the biggest weekend of the year. The Fourth Street Festival is Saturday and Sunday, and that means two things. I’m frantically working to finish a few new pieces and I’m working to make sure the show appears effortless to the fairgoers. The piece I’m working on is tentatively titled ‘Among the Ferns’ and it features an Eastern Painted turtle. I really like turtles, and I’m the person who stops to help the turtles across the roads when they set out on a quest. Everybody needs a little help when life’s traffic starts speeding all around you. Last weekend I wove the background for the piece, including some dirt. Normally I try to create the reddish brown earth tones that are common in this area (and remind me of chocolate!), but this time I wanted a mossy feel to accompany the ferns. I came up with olive brown earth tones to anchor the ferns. The fern leaflets I need were also started a while back. They’re pretty labor intensive, and it only gets worse if you can do math. I wanted 8 fronds with about 50 leaflets each—that’s a lot of cut copper flashing from my secret supply store in Michigan! This week was I was in a serious wrapping mode, consuming a whole ball of green yarn from my big dyeing project a few weeks back (the “Greens of Summer” blog from July 18th). The turtle was my good-humored travel companion (I’m always poking at him). He’s been taking shape as I watch my kids at their Tae Kwon Do class, or when I’m in the Creek-Love class at Rogers as the kids sort beads, or any place I have a quiet few moments to fill. Don’t worry though—soon I’ll be done and he’ll have some new fronds. When I get a picture he’ll join the painted turtle from “Among the Hostas” and the soft-shelled turtle in the “Summer Pond” sculpture on my website.

The other big draw on my sanity this week is tying up the details for orchestrating the Fourth Street Festival. I have a lot of wonderful friends who have volunteered to facilitate the Children’s booth this year as they create a mosaic art piece. I hope I have enough glue—it’s hard to know how far forty bottles (and 30 leftovers from last year) will go on the project. I’ll also help mark the show layout tonight with chalk on the streets, and that’s a big project. Then I have to set up my booth and put on my artist hat back on. We are extremely fortunate to have Jean Kautt acting as show manager—she organizes and directs the volunteers, distributes artist packets and information. She tells them where to park, where they can find great pizza—whatever they need. Her calm, steady temperament is perfect for interfacing with artists, who are famous for their curmudgeonly independence. They’re the kids who wouldn’t take directions in school in case you want to spot them early. She also loves to use Excel, so we bond on a deep level. With the show in her hands I can go off and set up my booth with confidence that everything will run smoothly. So if you’re in town this week, come by and meet the turtle, visit the Children’s booth, and stop in and say hello!

Until next week…

Peach Pie on the Banks of the Blue River

This was a week of completion. With the Fourth Street Festival coming up next weekend I wanted to finish my ‘Blue River’ piece. I built up the background, which I wove a few weeks ago, and I set out to add detail and form to the water elements. I pulled out my luscious watery-blue yarns and shimmery silvers. I needle felted the yarns I wanted onto the background to create the swirl in the waters and the glisteny reflections of the blue sky. I just kept introducing new yarn elements until I was happy with the details. I then retrieved some deep coffee-brown wool I bought at Yarns Unlimited some time ago. I knew I’d need it someday. The wool was shaped and needle felted into the tree trunk and branches that stand out in the foreground. I created the tree foliage in the background by embroidering with three green yarns I mixed. To get the texture I wanted I mixed chenille, wool and cotton fibers and fed them through the eye of a darn large darning needle. Not the kind that flies over the pond in the summer, but the kind you’d use to poke a giant if you wanted his attention. Next I delved into my collection of ‘rocks with holes’ that I collect from local creek beds. The sedimentary rocks of southern Indiana, especially those with imperfections, get worn smooth by the water and sometimes have a hole eroded straight through them. They’re perfect to capture the local creek bed feel and they’re easy to stitch on where I want them. I don’t get to use my drill press, but hey, no project is perfect. I then found my bag of green crocheted leaf clumps I created on a long drive to Michigan. These became the leaf clumps in the foreground. Last, I created a new element for my ‘tree’ pieces by needle felting a small stand of mid-ground trees. I think it makes the tree in the foreground stand out even more and provides a focal point that places the green background still further in the distance. Early this morning I added the final touches by stitching it into the frame and voila! I have a new piece ready to debut at the Fourth Street show. Stop by and say hello.

I do need to confess one small self-serving act from this week. Last Saturday the HoA (Husband of Artist) and eSoA (elder Son of Artist) went off on a weekend fishing trip. That’s what they do. What the HoA didn’t know was that I went to the farmer’s market and bought a huge basket of peach ‘seconds’—the tasty ripe peaches that are bruised and usually less than pretty. The kind that my kids just won’t eat unless you cut them up and remove the brown parts—yuck! The HoA came home and concluded—who knew—that we should make a peach pie. Did I tell you that I love pies? So Monday night I got a beautiful fresh peach pie, and every morning since I’ve had a slice with a little whipped cream on it for breakfast. And a nice cup of tea or coffee, again made the HoA. Luckily, he’s on a diet so I was forced to eat a fair bit of the pie. I must have cashed in some karma points from some good deed I did last week! Now I’m wondering how I can get him to bake a blueberry pie from the bags in the freezer? Hmmmm.

Until next week…

Treasures from Michigan...

Last week was a vacation week for the family. For me too, I guess, but I can take my work anywhere and so I ended up crocheting maple leaf clumps during the 8-hour drive to Michigan. The trip was more peaceful than normal, which let me focus on crocheting while the HoA (Husband of Artist) drove. This was because the crew went to the library and picked up some books on CD prior to the trip. We heard some great stories (Matilda by Roald Dahl and the first two Araminta Spooky books), but we also had to listen to many repetitions of tracks from ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ and ‘Run DMC’ that became, shall we say, distracting. Everyone arrived safe, happy and ready for fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

The two highlights of the trip were adventures with my father-in-law (aka Grandpa). One trip, along with the HoA and elder son, was on a fishing charter out of Ludington. We met the captain of the Hattrick at 5 a.m. at the dock, which is before any sane artist without an art fair deadline would crawl out of bed. It was a stunning trip to glide out of the harbor and leave the port lights behind and head to the pinpricks that reveal the secret fishing spots of the fishing fleet. After a while the harbor lights faded and the other fishing boats came into view. As we cruised across calm seas we watched the full moon sink slowly into the lake as the sun came up over the horizon. The gathering light brought the deep blues up from the lake. Later the dunes along Lake Michigan came into focus, as did the ferry arriving from Wisconsin and the lighthouse north of the harbor. Who needs fish? The answer, it turns out, is the rest of the crew. I caught the first fish, a big Chinook salmon, to show them how it was done. My father-in-law landed a nice steelhead later in the day, but overall it was a slow day. The captain and first mate unpacked and washed every lure they had but nothing seemed to appeal to the fish. The fish made for a wonderful meal with the family, with plenty left over for a few dinners in Bloomington.

For the second adventure I traveled alone with Grandpa. He knows the location of two top-secret supply stores. I’m sworn to secrecy on location so other artists don’t figure it out and take all the good stuff. They don’t even call themselves ‘art’ supply stores but I know it’s all a front operation. They’re so secret that we had to drive for hours through rolling Michigan landscape, through endless stands of birches, aspens and pines. Much of the land was covered with fern monocultures, which got me thinking more about a new fern piece. At one store I found the essential ingredient for stiff fern leaflets—copper flashing! I just love working with copper sheets. They’re strong and flexible, they hold their shape, and they yield to the mighty power of my Fiskars, courtesy of Big Lots. I’ve been cutting leaflets and wrapping with the beautiful green yarns I dyed a few weeks ago. The 15 shades of green come in handy all the time! I’m picturing a piece for Jaime Sweany at the Wandering Turtle that has ferns growing in front of a rock wall with a turtle resting in the shade.

Harvesting treasures in Michigan does have its down side. When you travel in a small car with lots of luggage it fills up fast. It was full coming up but I needed to pack in my treasures, including many pounds of fish, cheese from Wilson’s in Pinconning, and Kluski noodles from Kryziak’s in Bay City. Mmmmm. Luckily necessity is a playground for the creative mind, so I ended up packing stuff around and under the spare tire and other secret places. The HoA drove like crazy to make it back for the Gallery Walk, since I needed to be present at the reception held at the By Hand Gallery that was showing my work. We made it to the square at 5:01 and I ‘tucked and rolled’ with my gallery outfit and leapt into action. I’m grateful to Ruth Conway for hanging the show while I was traveling—the work stands out well at the front of the store. As usual, I had a wonderful time chatting with people about my work. I met one kindred spirit who hates the taste of beets but likes most everything else about them. I’ve discovered that the greens work well in soups and the beets themselves are good for dyeing. Everything has its place, and today I’m back in my art studio.


Until next week…

Riverbeds and Arugula

This week I’m descending into the green riverbeds of Monroe County. Last week I was dyeing a suite of verdant yarns that have already found themselves in my weavings. I constructed the base of one piece using a sumac weave that lets the weaving grow off the loom. It creates a realistic base for the single tree that will stand in the foreground. I wrapped the tree branches, needle felted the tree trunk and attached branches onto the trunk. As I laid out the background weave I used my trusty black sharpie and drew the outline of the piece on the warp. Then I started weaving, using a set of deep teals I blended to create the predominant colors of the weaving. I documented my progress with a picture and decided it was time for a break. The boys were ready to go for a bike ride, so we loaded the bikes on the rack, filled the water bottles and headed for the old rail trail and started our adventure. We stayed in the shade canopy and traversed the Clear Creek trail, a most pleasant eight mile trip.

That evening I got back to weaving and by the next night I had the piece finished. I’m really enjoying creating my most recent pieces with tree and water themes, and I’m pleased with how they have turned out. I stretched out the weaving and this evening I’m incorporating it into a dark brown frame. To finish the piece I’ll worked on needle felting trees onto the distant shore. I’ll also expanded the river into the foreground using sparkly silvers and a lot of strong contrasting blues to achieve movement in the water and give still more depth to the piece. To finish it off I’ll added some rocks I collected from Lake Monroe last year. My secret is to scour the creek beds entering the lake for small rocks that have a small hole eroded through the rock so I can discreetly secure them to the weaving with thread. I spend hours combing the creek beds and evading the copperheads for just the right rocks, and I must say that my collection of rocks with holes is extensive. Of course when that fails I have a secret back-up plan: my drill press!

To complete the foliage I also need to crochet leaves using the materials I dyed last week. I love it when just the right color for a piece I’m working on turns up, even if it comes about by accident. If you try enough color variations on enough materials you’ll find what you need. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

The other news of the week involves my latest breakthrough soup. I get all sorts of new greens from the CSA group each Wednesday, and this week it was arugula. I think I used the green arugula (and not my green yarn) in the Tuscan white bean and arugula soup I made on Thursday, which was very tasty. One sprinkles it with grated, aged Parmesean cheese from Bloomingfoods and it tastes terrific! It’s amazing what you can find on the internet—recipes to consume just about anything. Late in the week I dropped off one of my last abstract weaving to Wonderlab for their silent auction. Of course the boys quickly disappeared into the building as I chatted. I ended up doing my default activity, which is creating ornaments for the upcoming holiday art shows. I had a striking mohair teal that I picked up at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, IN a few weeks ago. It’s such a strong, rich color that I had to incorporate it into a project. Later I dropped off some soup to one of my enablers, Mary at the recycle center. She gave me some organic soybeans that went into the soup, so I made sure Mary got to try it. I think that’s what recycling means. Anyway, the soup made Mary—and me—very happy.

Until next week…

Madison

Wow, what fabulous weekend in Madison! The end of last week was crazy as I was trying to finish pieces for the show and pack at the same time. I finished my ‘water’ pieces with the blue yarn combinations that I really liked (and wrote about last week). They now have new homes in Wisconsin. I’m planning to expand on the technique and visit a river theme that introduces an old maple tree hanging over a river. I sketched the scene I’m imagining, with grassy, weedy banks and a rocky streambed. I dug into my dark brown box and found a beautiful deep coffee color wool. Then I dug into my yarns and found three that I blended to approximate the color and texture of the trunk. I’ve started wrapping wires with these to create the branches and I’ll start crocheting leaves for the trees soon. I’m scheduled to do a show at the By Hand Gallery here in Bloomington in early August that explores fibers and Nature so I have to get busy again!

Anyway, back to the Madison Art Fair on the Square adventure. I rented a 15-passenger van, cleared out my pieces from local galleries, packed up the family and set out Thursday afternoon. The major complication was the fact that it was my seven-year-old’s birthday, but we took candles for the trip, had presents in a restaurant and a pool party at the hotel. The Webkinz were a big hit, and the picture of the bike in the basement kept him excited the whole trip. I was worried about the forecast for an 80% chance of showers or thundershowers during set-up, but instead we drove through the rain and had a perfectly clear, cool evening to set up. The boys rode their scooters on the paved walkways around the state capitol while the HoA (husband of artist) and our friends and hosts Wendy and Duane helped with set-up. We packed it up late Friday and headed to their country house well after dark, led on by the unflappable Victoria (our fearless Garmin set with a British accent). She’s more patient with the HoA’s driving than I am, but we got there safe and sound.

The deluge came in people on Saturday morning. The show officially started at nine, but the traffic started much earlier—I sold my first piece at 8:30. I heard that the crowd was around a quarter million people, which is hard to imagine until you see the crowds. I decided that the people in Madison were a lot like their counterparts in Bloomington—warm, friendly and eclectic. I didn’t get to sit in my chair too much because the crowds were too thick and my booth was too full, but that was terrific. I had so many delightful conversations and compliments that I felt a little taken aback and honored to be there. At one point on Saturday I was visited by a very nice group of people from a company called Epic, which is located in Verona, WI. Many people in the expedition sported identical red shirts, and I sincerely hope that they made it back to the mother ship. I was very pleasantly surprised when the leader of the group started pointing out pieces that she wanted to buy for their headquarters, which included “Breakfast in Bed”, my piece with the mama robin feeding her babies in the nest. That piece took first prize in the Tree City Art Competition a couple of years back, and it always evokes special emotions for me as a mom.
After a beautiful weekend of cool, sunny weather I’m back in my art studio, inspired and ready to weave. Many thanks to Wendy and Duane, who took such good care of us while we were there, including feeding us grilled salmon, raspberry pie from the garden, and wonderful Wisconsin beer. I still have the comical sight in my mind of driving the quarter mile down their driveway into the wilds of Nature and seeing the two old dogs sleeping in front of the house as a family of six rabbits bounced around them in the yard. What undoubtedly used to be a ferocious chase scene is now one of mutual acceptance and peace, so I guess there’s hope for the world.

Until next week…

Cool Lakes and Hot Soup

This week has been for finishing projects and starting new ones. I completed my piece from last week featuring birches standing next to a northern lake. I’m delighted at how it turned out. To me the water looks cool and inviting, and it came together so well I’m going to start on another water piece. I’m already combing through the blue yarns again.

This is also a preparation week. Next Saturday I’ll be showing my work at the Art Fair on the Square in Madison Wisconsin. I asked a lot of my friends about the show, and everyone seems to think it’s a great show. The sentiment was best summed up by Chris Busch, who urged me to “TAKE EVERYTHING”. I’m planning on taking pieces currently on display at the Wandering Turtle in Bloomington and Gallery by the Green in Nashville in case three-dimensional fiber art turns out to be popular in Madison. I also rented a full size van for the trip, which has to haul my booth, all the art, and the whole family support crew. This is our first art show far from home and we’re hoping it will be a big adventure for everyone. The HoA (Husband of Artist) has booked hotel rooms along the way with big breakfasts and indoor pools to help break up the travel. Happily, he learned that indoor pools are essential after booking us a nice hotel with a pool in Canada in the winter. We all took our bathing suits and ended up with sad faces staring at the frozen outdoor pool.

Last Saturday I did a workshop at McCormick’s Creek State Park, and one of the participants offered me some snake skins from her collection. They’re naturally shed and I’m big into recycling so it seemed like a good idea. When I saw them I was really surprised—some were as long as nine feet and they had beautiful patterns. They might end up on frames or they might end up in the weaving, but I’m sure I’ll find a home for them.

Speaking of making use of everything, I made a new and tasty soup this week. We got a lot of greens from the CSA group (community supported agriculture), and we don’t eat them green. They did go nicely into a fresh soup with sweet potatoes and quinoa that had freshly crumbled feta cheese on top. The melting feta made for an unusual taste and texture combination with the soup. This week Hungarian dumpling soup is back on the menu because I got a nice head of cabbage in our basket. I love summer!

I know I’m straying from art a little, but Tuesday I cycled with my boys to Blu Boy in Bloomington. They have the most delightful treats, especially after you’ve exercised a bit. One boy had ice cream, another had a cupcake, and I had the most amazing vanilla cheesecake. I’m sure it’s the best I’ve ever had. The boys did have to get past eating big treats with little tiny desert forks and spoons (savoring treats is something we’re still working on). On our way out we picked up three chocolate dainties to go, and that topped off the visit. Blu Boy is definitely one of Bloomington’s hidden treasures.


Until next week…

Reach for the sky...

At long last she’s finished—and I’m delighted! I completed my ‘Tree Woman’ piece this week, although I’m still trying to come up with a more fitting title for her. It’s been a hectic week with the boys in the art camp at the John Waldron Arts Center in the afternoons and the HoA (Husband of Artist) visiting the GPUs (grandparental units) in Michigan for a few days. I’ve been running around like crazy this week, but I just decided it was time to start attaching the branches. Then came the leaves, which was exactly what I needed to bring a measure of control and completion into my life. I’ve been scavenging little windows of time to get things done—a little poking here, a little grass-making there—until things came to a head Friday afternoon. Jacob had his friend Claire over and I convinced all the kids to come into my art studio and work on projects. That let me focus on my piece at the expense of the art studio floor turning into a disaster zone. I gleefully finished the grass and flowers at her feet. These were a composite of linen yarn, jute, cotton, fake evergreen boughs from a Christmas wreath and latch hook rug remnants. Everything finds its own niche around this place. When I called it done I showed it to the kids for an opinion. After a brief refocusing of three engrossed children (what—you mean you were working on something too Mom?) the consensus response was ‘wow!’ I’m really savoring having her hanging on the wall, and I’m patiently waiting for her to tell me her name. Every time I look at her I’m reminded that my favorite feature is her belly button, even if she does have a little wool in there.

It’s good to have the HoA home again. The boys have been a little sad, especially at bedtime. The world is set straight again, though, as the HoA triumphantly returned with cheese from ‘The Cow’ in Linwood, Kluski from Kryziaks, walleyes from Saginaw Bay, and Spatz’s hot bread from the bakery in Bay City. He even brought a few Tim Horton’s doughnuts home for his Canadian expatriate spouse. We’ll eat well this week!

The experience without the HoA in the house gave me a newfound respect for the trials of single parents. Life was full and boisterous, and herding 2 to 3 kids for meals, cleaning up, art class and bed is quite an adventure without any help. The week did have its highlights, though. At the boy’s art camp, one of the teachers was Rob of Bloomingfoods fame. He brought a wonderful fresh outlook on art to the camp. Rob introduced them to many new artists, techniques, and ways to think about creating art. He inspired Jacob to write a book entitled ‘How to Draw Aliens’, who told Rob he’d be willing to sell him the book. Always the entrepreneur, that boy. Jacob also made a beautiful vase, although the fact that it isn’t watertight will limit its applications. Tommie made a very nice dragon sculpture in the section with Jan Arbogast. It was a great two weeks, capped with an art reception to which we brought many brownies and brought home none.

My last big discovery of the week was the Monroe County Historical Society ‘garage sale’. I called my friend Cappi Phillips to ask her if it was worth going as she trundled off to the Talbot Street Art Fair. She recommended it as huge, fun and loaded with treasures. She didn’t need to tell me that twice! It is held in the old RCA storage building behind Cook Pharmaceuticals, and it was indeed huge, fun and loaded with treasures. I brought home a new dye pot, a basket for my cards and some very useful wire. I also just had to bring home a little nutmeg grater with a storage space on top and a cute little lid. It even had a hole on top to hang it on the wall! How could I ever leave such a special little thing at a big, impersonal place!

Until next week…