All Things End, Eventually!

Field Notes #'s 1-36 ready for their edges to be bound and then mounted to their stretched canvas frames.  Each piece is 6x6 inches.

So why am I having such a hard time getting there? Excellent question. And I finally decided it's because I don't want this particular project to end.

Which is odd because the whole time I've been working on this project I've been chomping at the bit to start the next state of my Fields Series!

Anyway, I'm off to stitch their tiny edges, and get started on attaching the hanging hardware to the frames.

From Sketch to Stitch

My Aurifil thread color palette for my latest series "Field Notes"

Field Notes was born out of several loves, passions of mine:

The love of the prairie.
The love of crops as they rise out of the ground each year.
The love of the symmetry and simplicity of how the fields themselves are arranged in the countryside.

Field Notes in progress on my table.

Some color studies.

Watercolor crayons, water soluble oil pastels, and water soluble graphite on sketchbook paper.

WIP - Starry Swallows

WIP Starry Swallows

Mayan Blue, Italian Satin Ocher, Bohemian Green Earths, Black charcoal, black and white conte, on cotton fabric.

More Bins

WIP Bins. Charcoal and conte on watercolor paper.

The past two months here have been short of horrific when it comes to the digital world.  My website is still down, have no idea why it's experiencing a 503 error, and the internet here at the house has been sketchy at best.

But, today we gave up after trying to do another firmware update on the older modem and two hours later we finally decided it was time for a new modem.  Nirvana!  Internet Bliss!!!

Have a good one!

Figures in Motion

Figure in motion, charcoal on gesso'd watercolor paper.

Figure No. 2 in motion.  Figure No. 1 slightly gesso'd out and then No. 2 added on top of the wet gesso.

Figure No. 3, done same as No. 2.  I may have enough space to add another figure.  Taken from Muybridge's photo series of back side shots of a nude male throwing a ball.

Pastel & Charcoal Heaven

I ordered a couple of more pan pastels when I placed my order for the Derwent XL Charcoal sticks.  I have two tints and maybe a half dozen shades to extra dark shades I want and my palette will be completed.

Drawing

I finally have my easel adjusted to a height that is comfortable for drawing, and this was no small feat because every adjustment required me to sketch to see if the height was correct or not.

I'm also using my drawing table for what I intended it to be used for, drawing.

Experimenting with a variety of charcoals and pastels.

I have a new affliction, it's called charcoal!

Portrait Time

Getting ready to create some 30 second and one minute portrait drawings for a class I'm taking.  I spent the better part of today scanning in images of dead relatives, mostly because the images were in black and white, for this assignment.

Academy Membership Special Pricing Ends Soon!!!

The Natural Surface Academy

Membership Special

 

Natural dye painted cotton fabric. 

Cochineal, osage orange, and charcoal.

 

Offer Ends January 1st, 2014!!!

Learn more here

 

Madder root, cochineal, and logwood

on silk charmuse and silk crepe de chine fabrics.

 

Deconstructed screen printing with newsprint and ink on cotton.

 

 

Experiments in Sketching

Layers of ink, water color, and pen on watercolor paper. Inspired by Lascaux.

WIP- Bins

Charcoal on gesso on baltic birch plywood.

This is the second time I've tried painting over charcoal, ok I'm using a brush to paint with, and I have to admit I absolutely loathe it!  First off I find myself wanting to paint 'inside' the lines like a coloring book, mistake number one, and secondly I keep expecting my brush to respond like my palette knife and well we all know that's not going to happen, mistake number two.  So when the first coat of paint is done drying I'm planning to go at it again with my palette knife and this time ignore those line!

Acrylic on baltic birch plywood.

Experimenting

Experimenting with some charcoal and paint this afternoon, I tried this once before but wasn't thrilled with the results, the charcoal ended up as on big smear across the paper making the paint look dirty.  This time I used a harder charcoal pencil and the results were better. 

Rust Dyed Blouse

Rust Dyed Blouse which is currently residing in a logwood vat.