so today, I went to the studio

It was hot. I sweltered and it was not a pretty picture. However, I did accomplish something in the couple of hours I was there. Obsessesed with my woods, I am trying a variety of methods for developing images. I screened this image onto printmaking paper and was happy with the resulting two prints. The dye was fugitive on fabric, as it was last week: either the dye paste is too old or the soda ash paste is too weak. Whatever. I am tempted to stick with paper for now.
At lunchtime, one of the other artists and I visited Susan Lisbin, who is a painter, sculptor, and printmaker. We admired her live/work space and had not only a delicious lunch, but had a chance to look at more of her work than we had seen before. I came away inspired and for the first time, thought about taking a painting class. Just for the heck of it, I took out my oil pastels and oilsticks and played around with a canvas when I got back to the studio. And yes,I need a class. But thinking and doing are two different things, so we'll see. This image is square, but I must have cropped it when I took the photo.

That was today's adventure. I may or may not go to the studio tomorrow: depends on the weather, but if I go in the morning it should be okay.

I have been on a reading binge. It has been so long since I was at the library that my card had expired. Really. I took out two huge piles of detective fiction: Swedish noir, Italian, and British. I've already read 3 of the 7 books and it feels so good to escape.

Our weekend in Bethesda was pleasant. The weather was lovely - not the usual oppressive D.C. humid heat. I visited with Dominie Nash for an hour on Saturday morning at her home. I just didn't have time to go to her studio but we'll save that for next time.

feng shui - redux

There has been a whole discussion elsewhere about how your creativity improves if you feng shui your studio. I have not necessarily found that to be the case; quite the contrary. Too little clutter and I am so zoned out and relaxed that not a single idea clutters up my head. THIS, on the other hand, is a bit much. I had to move one of my rolling carts upstairs, so my poor downstairs dye studio looks rather unhappy at the moment. Not to worry: I stopped at K-mart this morning and bought another 3 drawer clutter-collector. It is in the back seat of my car, catching its breath before I put it to work.


Saturday, in this somewhat - uh - I don't have an adjective for it - studio, I printed happily away. Here is the screen with my attempt at sketching my woods from the deck. Of course, I wrote on the back of the screen, so it is in reverse - but oh, well.
Next time I'll do it the other way. Meantime, here are some of the results.



Sort of interesting, although you wouldn't know they were my woods from the deck if I had not told you. esp. since they are backwards. Tomorrow, I may steam them. We'll see.

toothpaste scandals and other stuff

While I read about the poison "Colgate" toothpaste being imported from China, I recall when the real Colgate toothpaste was made in Jersey City, New Jersey. The plant was, of course, torn down to make way for condos - but they left the famous clock as a landmark. You can see it from the NY side and it is wonderful at night when the red neon is lit. The condos are to the right of the picture; the water is the Hudson River. Click to enlarge the photo and you'll get a good look at it close up.

Blogger has been giving me problems, which is why I have not been able to post. It is still annoying and won't let me edit. The comments are wacko, too. Once you click on them, you can't get rid of them unless you close blogger down altogether. Argh.

I am packing supplies to leave this afternoon for Peters Valley Craft Center, where I am teaching a one-day soy wax class as part of Kerr Grabowski's 5 day workshop there. By the way, Kerr has just come out with a DVD on Deconstructed Screen Printing, which I understand is fabulous and is already almost sold out. I can't wait to buy it -- even though this is something I already do and also teach, Kerr is an original!

I'll be taking photos but not sure whether I will have Internet access at PV. Nevertheless, I'll be home on Monday and if I can't post before that, I will post when I get back.