P.S. The collage series is going well. I have twelve on boards and have started the pencil work. Thinking positive and tinkering through hoping for the patience of Job.
Dedicated to little things. Tired all day and no prospect of changing. Maybe it is the barometric pressure. It rained for a good bit and the wind was chilling to the skin and bone. The end of the month means prepping for supply runs at the beginning of the month. I have list after list after list to synthesize and make sense of so I'm not double purchasing and utmostly getting the best price. I have woodblock printing and sewing to prep and decide for meaning either or. Source work is in opposite direction and at a distance either way. Seriously I'm leaning toward sewing and postage paid mail for the other. Four quilts are measure and batting for three and backing for five is where I'm at. I just pulled them from storage today. Repairs needed on some, but honestly still looking great. I'll be aiming to complete three butterflies, one geometric and one alphabet by April. At the Arts Market I was asked for my quilts. I don't want to make that mistake this time. Eyes drooping, loss of words. Later.
P.S. The collage series is going well. I have twelve on boards and have started the pencil work. Thinking positive and tinkering through hoping for the patience of Job. Got policies finished and spent too much time trying to understand FedEx and UPS. Finally it worked and I can estimate shipping better. Two images are up and operable. Hopefully with artorca I'll get visibility I would not otherwise have on my own. I'll spend a little time on it everyday, till I get it where I am happy. Interloper is the main seller, but I'll pull from some other series. I get envious looking at the other work, thinking I should have done that too. Realism that is. Seems to sell. But I'm in this for my own vision and personal pursuit. But I'll welcome anyone alone the journey that is for sure. Out for a bit. Need rest.
Just finished the last edit on the site. I'm up for any comments and crit you've got. I am happy with what I've accomplished so far and will be moving onto artorca.com in a sec. That will be linked as well to here if I read the agreement correctly. Looking for w proud product there too.
I have little things to fix with that ...that.. thing.... Good reception on the Boxed Two-Barred Flasher today at a quilter's meeting. They loved the needlework. I was happy with that as well. Still two more things to finish/correct with that and I will be done. I've been looking at it for too long. I remember many a Tuesday night wondering should I work on it tomorrow. It's ingrained. Now I have another to ingrain. I'll have a picture of it hopefully this week. I'll have more joy in seeing the pattern scroll across the frame as I quilt on this one. Finally the right sized perle and the right color contrast. Thankfully the tread will not get lost i the pile of the fabric.
I am trying not to give up on the new collage series yet, I've lost steam and interest is changing. The designs in my mind are moving and reforming the general compositions. On the flip side I feel urged to press on through it and not get attached. Oh but I will be. The detail work on these is in pencil and I'm looking for a new unification of form and design. Besides that, working in water based media has my head on crooked. Maybe I'm still buzzing from the scent of oils. Accomplishments today are the first fifth of the purple and green quilt. I also started cutting the arrow tails. I'm also considering an arrow border before the embroidery. For unification's sake, though color may do it just fine for the five sections of the center. On second thought I'll pop the central motif with a two inch border in solids. Better transition then. Sorry about the shop talk, but if you can follow all the better. Hopefully I'll have photos next time, so you can follow along. Connections between words are separating and disappearing in my mind, that means bedtime. Hope your day brought you a warm heart. Gotta a little work in today. Hammering away at the bootcamp tasks and I always end up in developemnt while I'm trying to relax watching television. Today was no different. Mom asked how I felt about the quilt I just started binding and I started gushing about all things art on the tip of my to do list. I like several are at home due to the economy. Carrying my weight in rent and household tasks. I'm in the yard this week taking care of the red oak's leavings. Evidence of squirrels as well. Seems they leave there lunch and dinner in pieces everywhere. I'm only jealous because I want to harvest more nuts for wall hangings. I don't want to take up their hard work. I wonder if acorns mature in flavor with age like wine. Some have been embedded in the dirt for a while. Couple of years I'd imagine.
Anyway. experimented with the homepage and links with several others. Tyring to understand this animal and use it appropriately. I'm still webcapped in some ways. Seeking to update skills as I go. Rather as I can maintain interest. The wall hanging will be finished tomorrow hopefully. I'll also try to photograph and post after the final stitch. Thursday at best. Digging into Dracula later. Hope you're reading something that tickles as well. Later. Boot camp is coming up this week and I have no plan whatsoever. I know I have online work to do, here and Artorca for the bulk of it. I really, truly don't want to think about it. It has been one of those weekends where despite my best try and knowing better I still participate in artwork instead of resting. Vital rest getting my groove and passion back up. Right now I am a curmudgeon. I don't want to touch the stuff feeling it is cursed. And the person who left it would prefer it to stay that way till they return from the dead with lemon berry tea and some lemon scones to keep her company. That person ain't me. Maybe I'm possessed right now, thanks to a lengthy read of Dracula or maybe I'm just cold. A sunny and rested disposition ready to take on the oddities of existence seem to fit that character. Again, right now, that ain't me.
I pushed it, instead of turning over for the third time. Shutting out the world and creation, just to float. Aside: The best time is right before bed. To tired to fight it, but wanting to feel the curve of midnight on my lip to just taste the magic of night a little bit more. I am addicted to night, though I still crave the rigidness of the sun. I've been getting darker lately. Dec. 21st has past and I still linger in the shade of the Oak tree. Anyway floating till sunrise, the fogginess is great for watching wisp coalesce and creativity becomes entertainment till the first beam of sunlight. A bit of potato or mustard as Dickens might say. So I pushed it and turned over to needle , thread and frame. I finished the utility quilting on the piece that has been lingering for about a year or more. It was to be my entry into the Dallas Quilt Guild Show this year, but alas I've already written about that. The binding and hanging tabs are now read to go on. That will be tomorrow's task and hand binding the rest of the week. My purple and green quilt is complete with the satin stitching and I can begin the flying geese. Everything is set. I have so many projects set and ready for the next stage I'm sick. Of course this was insurance against getting bored. It works, but now I'm overwhelmed. I feel no achievement in anything. It is always on to the next task. I'm working without hope of reward. I feel the need just to give it all away, just to get a clean slate, perspective and renewed sense of self. So for now I've backed away and take it one thing at a time. I'll find a new growth in my habits, giving creative pursuits life or I'll pack something away before I destroy it. Maybe I'll figure a new work method. That's it! I'll find something on workshop methods and how not to lose sight of creative sparks. Sometimes it takes my hand a while to manifest. Weeks and months after the breakthrough. And that intricacy too is ok. Reveled. I just want to see it with fresh eyes, Lord. Please. Bootcamp, after all, is today. I made a few changes. Well, a lot. Streamlining and a little writing to boot. I started with the Etsy site and did some editing to the descriptions and policies in my shop. Since then I've moved on to this site. I still have some descriptions and introductions to write and some labeling to do. Pricing structures have changed and I'm getting closer to the presentation and approach that I want. It looks much more professional if I do say so myself and I'm finally willing to share my face to the world. I have studio working shots to create, but I'll wait to get help on that. I'm still brewing the staging in my mind. Positive thinking, positive product. I'm getting better and I can tell. Hope your day is well.
My mind is tired. I have not been hungry for two or three days. All I want to do is stay warm, eat a little bit and sleep. Don't know if I am sick, but I'm doing my best not to carry a contagion. Mom was sick for about 2.5 weeks or longer. I tried to steer away, but I may have caught something anyway.
I'm longing to get back to the sewing circle I work with twice a week and it seems I may be too soon to get there with health and changing gears. Boot camp is helping getting perspective together and motivation. Never felt like I had a chance and well, opportunities are showing up and I am taking advantage as best as I can. I am just sorry I have nothing framed to be ready for any competitions. Spring shows are coming up as well, so I'll be putting at least on thing in the fire before hand. I'm learning, that a several years out of graduate school still mean "emerging". I know I am not a mid-career artists, I have not done enough. An for myself I have not produced enough. Well, yeah, I have. I just don't have the first 34 years of work any more. I muse about what I have and forget I've done a lot of the exploration work and honing already. Still, the neighbor tells me never stop experimenting. Mixes media approaches have me for life as far as I am concerned. Till I return to oils. Still that will only be part and parcel to an oeuvre of works. I still love installations and the ornamentation of a decayed wealth look. I have the photos of past works and a few slides. That will have to serve me when and if asked. I can only depend, not expect the kindness of strangers. And yes. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm also being told to rest today. I can say I slept the sleep of death last night: deep, restful, abiding and mind erasing. I remember little. Maybe falling into the rabbit hole, but not a dream or the waking except pulling back the covers. I must, definitely, be tired. There is a feeling I have as late, chasing warm spaces and coveting the run of liquids down the back of my throat. It is a falling away. It is a giving into all the pressures I feel on my skin and in my mind. Pressures within and without. From my body begging my soul for respite and others hammering at me to leave. They hear and feel my existence too loudly. I give in. I do not fight and then I can rest. Not giving the forces at work anything, just letting them push me over the edge, not resisting and falling. Falling.. Falling simply into repose where though I am laying I am caught and supported by happenstance. Learning says: Pick a spot to fall? With a little help from a scientist named Doug Rowland, I finished the artists statement. I wrote the bulk, but Doug did me the honor of maneuvering sentences and changing my passive voice. It reads much better and is direct. I may go over it again, but for now I likes what happened. It is posted on the site and for your reading pleasure here's text: Artist Statement January 2013
On another note, my class was cancelled and I did not care for the theme for the next. I'll find something. In fact I got a list of classes at JoAnn's. I can sew, but there are some practicalities I was never taught. I can figure it out on my own, but a teacher seems to reinforce everything well. What I would like to do is take a class in making patterns. That would be the top of the heap for me. Maybe a specialized tome till then. I'll scan Amazon. On the hump right now, started the new series. I'll be taking my time. More than usual. Also spied some new visions of Post and Lintel systems and those day books chronicling months and years. Another approach to personalize and immortalize occasions. In the homunculus in a minute to sketch that out. Stay well, at the moment I have not been eating much. Still the double dark chocolate Nantucket cookie do get eaten. Later. I had no understanding of how this would work. I definitely glossed over a few things, but Hell I'll give it a try.
Check me out at the site below and lend me your support for the competition. If you think I am worth it ($5,000 and a Times Square Promotion) tell a friend, a relative, a coworker or a beloved enemy. Just generate some basic buzz and share the website and let magic take its course. The rest of this blog is cut and paste froman email. Enjoy! Of course, Thanks! My See.Me profile url is: http://najones.see.me/ Remember: the more supporters you have, the greater your chances of winning the massive Times Square billboard display. Supporting is enabled for all See.Me members through January 29, 2013 11:59pm ET. I finished the exercises and wrote the statement. Thank you lord that is finished. I used my current as the base line and I really was cutting out a sincerely large part of the population when it comes to understanding my work. Basically speaking to the feminist highly education population. Yikes. Glad I got put in my place by finding those articles. I'm letting it sit for a day or so. Edging and weeding then I'll post. It is much clearer and easier to read. You might like it and understand where I was coming from to begin with.
Since yesterday, I removed all canvas painted with oils and shifted them into the shed. There was no room, but I made some. I'll miss that stuff but hopefully it'll keep till I get space. Fifty some canvases, large and small. I bagged and duct taped the smalls, the large will have to bear the weather and elements I took a personal dare and stopped complaining about all the unfinished, bad starts and solo shots I had lingering. I got motivated and chopped them down to size to use for collage in smaller works. I have a beautiful milk crate of colorful scraps. I am itchin hard to get started. I sorted my pre-select stack into color and texture and pulled more from my stash to get started as well. Everything is cleaned out and cleaned up. I need a fine nose/hose on the sweeper to catch everything else, but that is fine for now. Bottom line is I understand better what I am doing, so work has more purpose, meaning and drive. I'll be starting the new series tonight or tomorrow. The phalanges are on hold and the wood pt to a different series development. I'm Jonesin for more tin cans. Empty that is. I'll start my drive soon. Entered into a competition in New York. Check the buzz on www.see.me Just finished up. There are brushes I only used once. That was frustrating. I pulled eight brushes from about thirty or so that I can still use for acrylic work. Its awkward even to type the word acrylic. I'm so used to the simplicity of oil. Mom says "so you need to paint outside". if I was plein air type, yes. I remember the easel I bought long ago was that type. I bought it for size and weight. Seemed another Dick Blick bargain. Anyway, the deed is done and I'm mourning in my heart, but I'll appreciate it all in the long run. I still have paintings that need hardened off. I may move them all outside to the shed after sealing up. Not sure I want the walls bear that's all. My private gallery rotated on a regular basis depending on drying time and mental contemplation. It may help me to keep them when working on new compositions. Speaking of which I planned on starting a new run in paper using an old series for scraps and pieces. Basically Interloper in approach, but with new materials. For instance: I found a drawing manual from 1896. Still wrapped in brown paper. I haven't been completely through it, but I look forward to devouring its entrails complete and total. The series I plan on using went untitled, but was my first venture back into encaustic. Essentially the designs were studies for building quilt patterns. The lesson was in building layers with simple accessible materials: wax, plaster and paper. I am hedging on buying surface building pastes because they are not cost effective. What lingers in my head is the Water Glyphs series and the technique to build the surface. I'm a little timid on buying plasterboard sheets, but that may be what I takes to get there again. The original was all made with found materials. I couldn't find the water glyphs on first try to show you, but below is work I'd like to revisit and explore. Smaller scale though for now. I apologize in that most I am clueless which way is up. I just shot from the hip and let it fly. I will make orientation corrections in the future and repost. Getting tired and Adobe would require too much of me right now. If I remember correctly this was with tempera and/or acrylics. Either way, I just have to remember and integrate into who I am now. These were all lighthearted approaches. Clear thought and execution. Everything just worked together. While I excavate my visual resources, I hope you enjoy. I choose today to save my life and not play dodgem with the days I would have left. Got the fearsome and confirming news that both mineral spirits and turpentine are carcinogenic. I work in such close quarters: the other half of my bedroom serving as the painting studio. The fumes when I worked on the 48X 96 paintings were gagging without an open window and door. And when I was glazing I had to keep a fan running day and night to bear through. Granted I could have slept in another room, but I was preferential for my room and its creature comforts. Besides, if I wanted to paint late there would be no problem.
It was my neighbor who said pack the stuff up. I couldn't argue, I could not stand on formality that I only have a few left to go. Which I do not. Many started, most small, all needing finishing and glazing. It hurt and all I could do is fall back on what I started gathering a few months ago. That would be acrylics. In college I was introduced to acrylics to use like inks in washes. The plasticity of some paintings always bothered me. Now I'll have to get over that once and for all. Something entirely new to learn. I'm sad, but I want to live a lot longer. And if it happens at least I'll know possibly what it is from. I'm starting to pack up tonight. Just so I don't get tempted into anything else and back down. A box for storage. All the brushes and paints will go in. I have to buy new brushes cause you obviously can't transfer tools in this case. I may have a few untouched by oils. Maybe I'll take the time to sort them out. The oily rags and mediums will go out to the environmental center for recycling/disposal. I don't think I'm ready for this new investment, but I have to be. I need the color. Then again my bests have been with limited palettes working pencil, paper tones and gesso. Not to mention the wax. Maybe I don't have to heavily weigh in on it all. What I have I found on special. Jerry's art-o-rama is lookin good. Dad rec'd it for me. I had totally forgot about that resource. Here's to a future of fresh air. I might not go back. I remember Linnea Martin, an Admissions VP at my undergraduate alma mater, giving me her old paints from her days at Hiram. Maybe I'll pass what I have on. In the situation I find space with great circulation, maybe not. As you can tell, I am definitely attached. "How to Pass" may be the new title for my artist statement. It is looking a lot better. I did not know how badly I write when formality is important. Now I know it is an easy read that is clear and understandable. Three paragraphs revamped and four article under my belt on writing these sneaky little things. I learned so much. Truly, so much. Built the homunculus, or notebook with ample drawing paper and sectionals for quilting and the like. I may have the statement up in a week or two. I'll buzz you when its through.
Mini creativity boot camp tonight. First endeavor is to find a large or lengthy log. Too many ideas to flesh that run around my head kicking the tires to see if I'm ready to go. Back in gear: sewed today. Got the tension and positioning right after months of trying. Satin Stitching, with out pulling threads every three minutes is possible. I finished an old task and am moving on. Shooting to complete 2/5 of the center by next week. Running out of fabric options in same color range. Got to get a better plan man. I might post later about boot camp. I'm afraid, but need to get started. The fear is in changing motif and meaning. I've been working under one impression and my drive is shifting. Developing, I guess. As it should.
'Nuff said. Later. Putting distracting thoughts aside and making a point to finish off the works I've completed over the last 3-4 years. Interloper needs framing before presenting. Second thought in a cloud of wonder last night was to mount on wood, support with 1X3s and finish off the sides with semi-gloss. I'd adjust the tops for finish out to the edges with paint and encaustic. (Back to my roots of playing with wax). It is a though and not firm. I have been in a retail sales mode since the Arts Market this past December. After looking at Deanna Woods' resume and work, I'm back at shows and gallery representation. Maybe I can have both for different bodies of work and different reasons. Maybe I have a little more drive now. Maybe I'm glossing over the costs again and am on the verge of debt. That is why I am amped for the boards and shifting from using paper as the base. Still CCA may come in handy and solve the whole issue, but not he matting that is for sure.
I was out today picking up odds and ends for quilting and the supply list for the class. Home Decor is more expense than apparel or crafting fabrics. Stiffer. 100% cotton. Sturdier. I wonder what I can learn from it all. I remember branching off into sewing directions in University. Lobes, balls and stuffed lengths dipped in wax. I was pushing and reaching. I have something in my head now that webs off of that. I hop to get to it, maybe even return to what I lost. I remember losing my work. I remember the heartache, sacrifice and fear of carelessness. 32 years lost and now I'm making up like I have no foundation, but I have the memories, trials and experience. I fear I am behind career wise in both veins. I still have the capstone of a PH.D. in Art history to achieve to make an old dream happen. Then the Library Science and Studio Art would fit more closely together I believe. Still I make due right now. In a lull after a six month long push. I always hit lows after big projects. It takes a few weeks to come back up to hit fighting stance. A surprise came in the mail. Items I ordered earlier this month. Peculiarities, but core for collage exploration. After George, former Professor, showed me his collage commission I was hooked. He told me where to source. One place is the streets of New York near the performance houses when the glue up the playbills and show posters. He told me to catch them when they are falling down. Just rip and tear till you get a good stack. I tucked the load in my bag that Spring trip. I had never seen anything like it. The layers of color and tender and ephemeral sheets. Hmm. If I ever get a chance to return, believe me, I might risk arrest for it. The treasure chest is full of Chinese writing, Old European pharmaceutical labels and of course German angel wings. I'm looking forward to using the items in small vignettes. Maybe even to tell a longer story. I have the time. Feeling hurried though. A friend says the world will wait. I just wonder if I am past my time. First off, no pics, my apologies and if I am ever down there again, I'll make a point of it. In the least it was cool.
Mom drove, so of course I had the passenger side to myself. So quaint, so lovely, so like I never get the chance. I guess I drive too much. Wherever I go I have to get myself there no arguments, no passengers, no gas, no go. So sitting shotgun is a pleasure just getting a chance to look, see, and dream into the landscape. Today was more of a work run. Found a couple of shops and made at least one contact. The business owner said he'd review the work and get back to me. I'm hopeful and out of graciousness and folly, even if it is not a fit, I hope I get a call or email. I'm submitting both collages and fabric work for review. The shop is eclectic on the arts end and if I remember correctly it is called Fete-ish. There is another store I took a business card at and will contact the owner. On the lighter side I found a former colleague's work at a gallery down there. The gallery features realism, hyper-realism and magical realism according to the bill on the site. Meanwhile I am batting a poor average and have to figure how to get into group shows, solo and gallery shows. Friends say not to give up, I persevere even if but for the fact my core is in making, I know not what else I am other than a researcher. My resume is not as filled as some. I spent the time as a public and university librarian. There was no time to do art. Though I was in one show while employed. I was caught in the same conundrum before when at an interview I was asked why I did not go into librarianship sooner. I wanted to finished my M.F.A. Something will meld and work ,I hope, eventually. My creative career has its own path to find. Forgot to tell you. New Years/Xmas gift: I'm taking a home decor class in sewing. The assignments are pillows. More advanced than what I did in 6th grade. I'm looking forward to it, and slowly I'm seeing with depth again. Regret and green where clouding the sights. Better clarity as we speak. I'll be able to expand the sewing business and perfect my patterns with this class. More products to offer and better finishing techniques. The sewing is following the painting. I'm raw. Not finished. Exposed to see layers. Still thick, sturdy and hard to pull apart. Come to think of it I do not need to reinvent myself. Just see myself and talent for what it is. I doubt to easily and it takes more than horsepower and a rope to pull me out of those chasms. As I've said before, when I have a body of work to show, I'll show. Better yet on supports or properly framed, so be it. I'll petition appropriate venues and then you'll see the invite. And I hope you'll at east be there in spirit. I'm scared of the polish to be honest. I like seeing the raw materials. It screams of honesty and awareness. Saw a piece call "Shaman" today. It was the bones of some animal positioned on its haunches holding a feathered staff. All this under glass. I couldn't stop staring and wondering what to do with my own stash. I will not be taking that anthropomorphic route summoning unto itself though. An animal with an animal totem. hmm... Then again Lion King made that move famous. I'll be quiet now. Have a good night. |
N.A. JonesPicking up where I left off. Archives
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