i made this for jill zaheer, as part of an art exchange.  but DON’T TELL HER, because i just mailed it today.

ALSO i finally met my online friend, e.l.k. of the beautiful and poetic photographs, cards, and collages.  she and her husband were so kind as to come to the cafe to see my work on display.  she created a beautiful post about it on her photo blog. thank you elaine!

AND, in an unrelated trade, i RECEIVED this wonderful “n2theblue” collage from cory, in exchange for three of my blackbird “rebel cards.”  I LOVE MAIL!

can you read that sign?  yeah, i can’t believe it either.  for the next two weeks some of my stuff is hanging in the gallery art cafe, on jennings in fort worth (thank you ross and doris!).  if anything sells, it will benefit samaritan house, so-o-o, if you’re in the neighborhood….  the coffee and food are great here.  and the people!

a mini journal made from junk mail and gesso, in which i sermonize to myself about art.

 ( what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?)

6 1/2″ x 5″     my painted, handmade paper; scraps  of used sandpaper; gold chocolate bar wrapper.

etta’s book is made from my handmade paper and other recycled materials.     about 6″ x 4 1/2″

made some paper for my book yesterday!   tried drying it on the window, which worked quite well.  lots of good information from”The Papermaker’s Companion” by Helen Hiebert, published by Storey.    many thanks to m. heart for the suggestion!  and if you haven’t already, check out the great storey blog she created.

why can’t i ever just decide to do something and then do it without it all changing on me?  i thought i’d make a fort worth journal–like a travel journal with bits of this and that, photos, postcards, etc.  (btw, if ft.worth has any attractive postcards i’ve yet to find them.)  i set out one day with point-and-shoot, paper and crayon for rubbings, and a few $, for a city walk.  i did a few rubbings from plaques on main street, photographed the horse on top of the fountain by the courthouse (the silhouette is now on a homemade rubber stamp) and rejected every postcard i found.  i walked by a bed and breakfast called “etta’s place,” picking up a brochure.  and that’s when the digression first began.  etta place was the sundance kid’s woman.  butch and sundance, and the rest of the wild bunch hung out in fort worth a bit.  the famous studio photo of the wild bunch was taken here.  not much is really known about etta.  some say she was a schoolteacher, others that she was a “soiled dove.”  i came home and started playing with her image, which then led me off on another tangent resulting in several small abstract somethings that have nothing really to do with fort worth, etta place, or …anything.  THEN i attended the postponed-from-last-spring papermaking day with the fiber guild.  WELL, that was such fun!  i made one sheet of recycled paper (seen in the photo above, folded in half).  we used a box deckle which is fabulous for making small quantities in small spaces such as our apartment.  (you pour into it rather than dipping.)  SO NOW  i want to make a book of these small somethings and other small somethings i’ve yet to make.  a sewn book, i think, because it’s been years since i made one.  and i want to make my own recycled paper for the pages.   now i’m waiting for the mould and deckle to be delivered from dick blick.  more later….

i’m using more of my weathered papers, waste paper, and shu xuan paper (a gift from friends~thank you!) that i painted and stamped on to make a small (about 4″ x 6″) accordion book of little paper weavings.

i haven’t done anything yet on the other side….

on 8″ x 10″ black cardstock.

i’m currently working on another project using my disintegration papers together with other papers ~ see disintegration 6

[for the story of this project, see previous post.]  and find all the collaborators under the disintegration icon on the altered page.

here, in preparation for the  reveal,  is the story of my project.   back in january,  i joined a multitude of others  embarking upon a creative  collaboration with nature.    in my case,  it was nature in the form of wind, rain and sunlight, with a bit of dirt applied by the wind and rain.

as some of you may remember, i started with a small bundle of papers which i tied to a chair in my backyard. 

in february, this bundle flew away in a  storm (along with our skylight) and was never heard from again.

dismayed but not defeated by my tempermental collaborator, i began again with a more securely-anchored bundle which, happily, stayed put until may 1, the end of our allotted time for weathering.

my papers were faded, dirty, and wavy~quite nice, i thought.  i decided to  weave a lot of them into one biggish piece.  if you want to hear me whine about what happened with that, you can go here.

now it’s time  for us all to share something we’ve made with our disintegrating  materials.    you may see the results of the entire multitude ~ look for the “disintegration” icon in seth’s sidebar at the altered page.

INSPIRATION

or

 Everything I know about art I learned in Mrs. Beckham’s Class

Even as a young child I loved paper.   I mostly scribbled on it.  Sometimes I crunched it up and smoothed it out again, making it deliciously crackly.  I took great delight in a stack of scribbled, crinkly paper.  And coloring books.  The pristine, uncolored line drawings excited me, and then the filling in with color…!  (I still love simple contour drawings and  wire structures.)

But in middle school I was in Mrs. Beckham’s art class.  New worlds of delight opened up.  She was passionate about art and about students.  We learned about line, form, shading,  perspective, balance, color theory, etc.   (Years later when my husband was in art school, he often came home telling me about something he had learned, or some exercise they had done in class and I’d say, “Yeah, we did that in Mrs. Beckham’s class.”)   We drew, painted, carved a lino block and printed, built simple looms and wove on them, made clay vessels (oh, these were shockingly awful, but she was very encouraging none-the-less), made enameled copper jewelry….   We learned about the lives of artists, saw works of art….    The first time I went to an art museum and stood, enthralled,  in front of an original Van Gogh painting,  it was in the company of Mrs. Beckham.

She was definitely inspiring then; and now, nearly forty years later, I still feel her influence.  Now I find inspiration in all sorts of places, whether a specific pattern or color scheme I want to use to make something, or just the general inspired feeling I get from a museum or movie that puts me in the mood to create.

The rest of the story:  Mrs. B. happened to be the mother of my best friend, so I, fortunate child, was accepted as part of the family.  She was always for me, and always an encourager and an inspiration.  She left this life six months ago.    ~we miss her ~    http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=123118306

Go read what others are sharing about inspiration at The Weaver of Grass.

walked  to “the quiet pool”  at the fort worth water gardens.  (did i tell you i love living here?)

after two or three days of feeling guilty for spending time playing with shapes and colors,  and determining that i must find a way to do  something that “matters,”  i took a walk and, alas,  found more  shape-and-color inspiration all around.

i’m really a blue girl, but right now i’m thinking rust and moss….

AND SPEAKING OF INSPIRATION

i’m joining the weaver of grass for her inspiration wednesday next week–you’re invited too.  tell us what your interests/passions are, and who has inspired you in that area of your life.

still playing with the design from the post office floor. 

6″x 8″

this little piece (6″x8″) was inspired by a trip to the post  office.

the main post office in fort worth is a lovely beaux arts-inspired building from 1933.   walking  across the marble floor i felt i should be wearing a smart suit with a hat and gloves, and james should  have had a fedora.

oh hello, remember the collaborating with nature project?  DisCo (disintegration collaboration).  i last posted about it may 1.  well, seth just reminded us the other day that we’re supposed to reveal something we’ve made with our nice nature-touched papers and things on SATURDAY AUGUST 1.

it just so happens that i used rather a lot of my papers for a biggish woven piece back in may.  and it sat in a drawer.  every now and then i took it out and considered what else i might do to it.  and then i would put it back having done nothing at all.  until yesterday!

yesterday i thought i really needed to do something about it, because i have to show it august 1, don’t i?  well, i didn’t like it yesterday.  and i was feeling rather icky and feverish, which may or may not have influenced me when I CUT IT UP.  imagine my horror, because, you know, i didn’t really like it cut up either.  then i went and dug out a few of the left-over weathered papers, and told myself i have more time and more materials, and relax, you’ll be fine.

SO ANYWAY i do feel healthier today and where there’s life there’s hope and so on.  so please come back AUGUST 1, and also visit the other collaborators ~you will  find them on the altered page.