more experiments

This is liquid dye on paper. I hung this to dry yesterday and today an artist whose work I love and whose opinion I respect came in and told me she thought this was wonderful. Wonderful? It looks like a tv screen gone bad. She thought I should do a series. Uh - ok. I'll consider it. But not today. In the meantime, I did a number of other experiments this afternoon -- only one of them on fabric. I decided to try again with thickened dye, with which I have had little success in the past. Liquid dye does not work at all on a gelatin plate, other than to color it purple (or whatever color you have painted onto the plate.) Thickened dye on gelatin isn't bad. My first print was on a paper towel.Because I didn't want to use my good mulberry paper on an unknown process, I grabbed the roll of doctor's examination table paper that one of my studio mates had rescued when the guy in the - ahem - "video" business across the hall was evicted last year. It took the print quite well. This paper has good possibilities - it is like strong tissue paper. This print was also left from yesterday: liquid dye on paper and then overprinted on the blue thickened dye. Looked terrible so I squirted some Clorox gel onto it and this is the result. Hmmm... Let's see...what else did I do today? Oh - glue on a screen and thickened dye on paper. Then, toward the end of the day I switched gears and made a deconstructed screen. Here it is. I left the printed fabric in the studio to dry. It is not as interesting as the screen would have you think, but it's hard to tell at this point. I won't be in tomorrow so I'll find out on Thursday what it needs for the next layer. By this time, it was after 5:00 so I headed home. When I parked my car in the driveway, there was a parade in the street. You can't see them all but I counted NINETEEN wild turkeys marching up the street. EEEK!

working on paper

Armed with a gelatin plate and an armload of printmaking paper, I headed for the studio yesterday in a mood to experiment. I found that mulberry paper worked best for me with the gelatin plate, but today I will play some more. Here are a few results.

ghost

Last week, I was doing deconstructed screen printing on printmaking paper, as well.

Here is a detail.

This also has possibilities for doing more but I have to make additional screens. I should probably find my polyester curtain and take it along with my stapler so I can redo the screens that have been ruined. In the meantime, I have ordered more screens from a new supplier in Pennsylvania which I think has excellent prices and I'm waiting eagerly for them to arrive. As I look over the photos above I notice something interesting: while the screenprint and the gelatin prints were done in different weeks, the palette is similar. I wonder what this means? Or maybe it doesn't mean anything.

short and sweet

I taught a gelatin printing workshop today at the Arts Guild of Rahway. Unfortunately, I left without my camera, which is almost always in my purse. Too bad, because there were some splendid things going on. Francesca Azzara, whose encaustic work is among my favorites, took the class so she could incorporate the process into her work. By the end of the class, she had hit her stride and had discovered how it could work for her. Ellen Hess, who weaves, does book arts, and teaches, was in the class. And two artists who teach at Parsons School of Design came to experiment on paper with this printmaking technique. They printed some wonderful pieces that were truly inspiring...and were so addicted that they worked till the arts center practically threw us out the door. They are planning to take my screen printing workshop at the Newark Museum on Saturday, March 7 and will be working on paper then, also. Finally, I had a chance to meet Sue Erdreich -- a friend from another list I am on. She was already visualizing how she would use her fabric in an art quilt. I love meeting people in person that I've met on-line, don't you? I didn't really print today, of course, but when I got home, this piece of fabric was on my wall: a screenprint I made a while ago and came across when I was cleaning up. Hmmm...I am seeing things in it that I never saw before. So now that I've given you the requisite visual, I can obey my closing eyes and take them up to bed. Tomorrow, I hope to get to an exhibit of Hollie Heller's work. It is supposed to be 50 degrees here. Can you believe it, after all that SNOW?? Will check in anon.

catching up

Monday dawned bright and warm -- a mid-50's February day. We met at Hollie Heller's house and as we sat in her studio, surrounded by her amazing work, we had a couple of visitors come right up to the glass studio wall. They just stood and stared at me as I took their picture. It seemed like forever since Studio Six (our crit group) had met -- and we were all happy to see each other and catch up. Need I say that I had nothing to show? I actually forgot to bring my two art cloth entries for the Art Cloth Network's "Quake" exhibit -- but I couldn't have found them under all the cartons, anyway. I finally unpacked them today. Here is Rachel Cochran with one of the surface design pieces she has just finished. There is another one in the series and the group's concensus was that she should not make quilts out of them: they are perfect as art, just as they are. It is difficult to think differently after eons of assuming that everything should be layered and stitched -- but sometimes it is just overkill. Rachel, who has just written a wonderful article for Surface Design Journal with Judy Langille on whole cloth composition, is an expert on antique quilts and was one of the authors of the definitive book on NJ antique quilts. When I met Rachel, she was doing more traditional work and she still loves it - but oh, my, her surface design talent just shines these days! Diane Savona, who just won a Fellowship from the NJ State Council on the Arts (along with Joan Dreyer, another member of our talented group), showed us a work in progress and explained what it was about. Her work is unlike anybody else's: in fact, I can say that about every member of Studio Six. We all continue to evolve in different directions - all unique, all exciting. And we are so lucky because we respect each other's opinions and admire each other's work. Kerr, whose first meeting with us was yesterday, brought one of her beautiful garments -- she must have been explaining something as she looked down at it when I snapped the picture. She had some questions about fit and asked a couple of people to try it on so she could see if it worked. It looked fabulolus! Interestingly, a number of us are at a crossroads right now: tired of what we've been doing and wanting to stretch and go in another direction but unsure of what that will be. Personally, I hate being at this point, even knowing every artist goes through this periodically -- hopefully before a growth spurt! Nonetheless, it is agonizing. For me, no time to fixate on it: the rest of the week is filled with health checkups that are long overdue -- and I hope the weather cooperates. Then, Saturday, I am teaching Gelatin Printing at the Arts Guild of Rahway. There is room for one or two more in the class, so if you haven't taken it and are within driving distance, check it out. The snow plows have been up and down the street while I have been writing this. Earlier, I had to take these photos of my woods.I never get tired of looking at them and they are I hope you don't, either. Virginia Spiegel invited me to donate a piece to FFAC's 2009 Reverse Auction and I offered one of my favorites, "Whose Woods." There will be a larger image and a detail on the auction site. As a cancer survivor, I am happy to donate this work to Virginia's fundraising efforts. All proceeds from the sales go directly to the American Cancer Society. The preview and actual auction will be linked from http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html

where to start?

Sigh...it is good to be home. Three weeks is a long time to be away from my own bed, kitchen, and sewing room. While I had a wonderful time both teaching and playing, and despite the shopping bag full of 3 weeks' mail awaits me, I'm content to be here. No, this is not my home. But just so you know that South Florida has not escaped the McMansion Syndrome, I had to take a picture of this thing that replaced a lovely, mid-size (but eminently liveable) '60's house. I imagine that two people who don't talk to each other live here and now they can't afford to have separate abodes so they will each wander their separate hallways until the cows come home and the economy soars. A day in the Palm Beaches Wednesday, I returned my car to the Palm Beach airport. Afterwards, we headed for the Norton Museum of Art. The last time I was there was in July 2006 with the lovely and talented Jane Steinberg. The special exhibit this time was a well curated show of works by Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams, comparing their approaches to nature - and sometimes, of the same scene. We all felt that Ansel Adams was, hands down, the more interesting of the two. The Norton has a wonderful permanent collection of 20th century American and European art and they rotate the work so there were many pieces on exhibit this time that were not there 2-1/2 years ago. What a joy! If you are ever near West Palm Beach, don't miss this gem of a museum. We had lunch at the museum and I thought what I ordered sounded/tasted familiar. I, who am rarely consistent, evidently ordered the same thing from the menu last time.

2006

(why have they not changed their menu in 2-1/2 years?) It was just as artfully presented and delicious as the previous time - but it still weirded me out to discover this.

2009

I had to get a picture of these wonderful banyan tree roots outside of the museum. I always picture the Little Prince's Boabab tree looking like this. Maybe they are the same.

Shopping on Worth Avenue

Despite this being the height of the season, Palm Beach's elegant shopping street was, unsurprisingly, empty. So were the beautiful alleyways and courtyards filled with little boutiques. Here is the scene outside of Victor's Café, where we stopped to rest our feet and have a cold drink. Saks, where we stopped to make a purchase so they would give us parking vouchers, was a bit busier - but everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) was on sale...including cosmetics if you bought over a certain dollar amount. Cosmetics are always exempt from department store sales, which goes to show you how things are. Shopping at the Flea Market The famous Sample Road Flea Market was not much better. Last time I was there, in May 2004, you could not move in the aisles and there were bargains galore. Thursday, dead. There are still some bargains to be had, but quite a few booths that had been there for years were shuttered or empty. I had to take a picture of this lineup at one large booth. If you are from South Florida, you will know what they are. My cousin Nancy, from Los Angeles, and I, were quite speechless at lunchtime as we sat in the food court. At the next table were two stunning Palm Beach blondes, well put together, eating lunch with their strollers next to them, feeding the occupants. That was enough for me! Time to get home and back to reality. So here I am, having come in last night and spent the day doing laundry, grocery shopping, and visiting my mother. Tomorrow, crit group meeting and I have nothing to show. It's ok: I'll just watch.

I'm at Panera, attempting to post quickly before we go on with the day. WiFi - aaaahhhh. Here I am in sunny south Fla. with my cousins Nancy (l) and Mimi(r). We are first cousins - their mothers and my father were siblings and now that generation is gone and we are that generation. Eeeek. Meantime, we are having a great time, lots of stories, laughter, and nonsense. Somebody who met me for the first time yesterday but knew both of my cousins said, "I'm glad to meet the other half of the trio." This is a quickie - I am off to join them at Chico's, where they have gone to browse while I download/answer my 40000 emails and talk to you. Last night, we went to a local Greek festival and had wonderful food that did not include this. Will try to post when I can. love, R.

words, no music

Well, no pix, anyway. I left West Palm this afternoon and drove to Boca, where I am having a reunion with my two favorite cousins on my father's side of the family. It has been exactly 13 years since all 3 of us were together, stuck in Atlanta in a major blizzard (well, black ice in Atlanta and closed airports in NY/NJ). My cousin Mimi does not have wireless, so I am unable to post pictures. But it's okay, you'll have to make do with prose. Yesterday, during my 5 minutes on-line, I e-mailed the lovely and talented Sandy Donabed, who I knew snow-birded (?) somewhere around the Palm Beaches. Lo and behold, she generously invited me to dinner at her to-die-for house where I admired her to-die-for kitchen; pictures of which you can find on her blog if you look back. Dinner was delicious, husband was charming company, and it was an altogether lovely evening. Sandy and I had met briefly in 2000 and have had a number of e-mails over the years - so this was a treat on all fronts. Tomorrow, we head towards Miami to visit more family. The weather has warmed up and that is a GOOD thing. Again, apologies for no visuals (although the only pix I have are of the interior of my mother's apartment, and who cares?). xo

can you hear me exhale?

This was the pattern on the catwalk outside my mother's apartment in West Palm Beach, where I arrived yesterday afternoon after driving across central Fla. from the west coast to the east. I have, by some miracle, found an Internet signal. It is iffy, but I'll take what I can get and hold my breath that I can post something before it goes out again. I cried when I got onto the Fla. turnpike...a mixture of emotions coupled with relief. I will skip the details of my arrival and a couple of unexpected big annoyances that greeted me. But all is well. Bought cleaning supplies this morning and spent most of the afternoon scrubbing the freezer & fridge after emptying them of food has been here for 2-1/2 years. Bleh. I don't do that much hard labor in my own house. My mother's dear friend Pauline kept me company most of the afternoon, till I took her home because I needed some time alone. The weather warmed up and the sun was delicious, but I unwound by dyeing fabric. I had spent time dyeing at Pam Morris' house and decided to bring my dyes and soda ash left over from teaching, along with some fabrics. Plastic containers sat on the counter and in the kitchen sink while I ate dinner at Pauline's. It did me a world of good. And as soon as I iron my fabric, which I just took out of the dryer, I will feel even better. My Ft. Myers class, Art Quilters Unlimited, loved using the fabrics they had printed (earlier post) along with others, in the creative exercises we did in Jump-Starting and wished they had another day to keep working. Here, some of the inventive small pieces they did in response to the phrases they had picked at random. They went home with lots of ideas to work with and several things that will be made into journal-sized quilts. Then it was off to Venice, to spend 4 days with the Sarasota Guild, where there were some experienced art quilters and others who were ready to move in that direction. They LOVED screenprinting and stamping and were thrilled with their fabrics; some of them printing for the first time. Sheri Cooper, who is a snowbird from MA, has taken classes from me at Friends Fabric Art in Lowell and I was so happy to see her again. She is a wonderful artist who discovered the syringe in my class and went to town with it. Because we had more than a day for Jump-Starting, we were able to spend more time on critique. This experience made a huge difference in Lori's piece. She asked the class for feedback on this work and we looked at it with "what if?"

Here is the piece after she went back to the drawing board, so to speak.

Most of the people in the class hurried to finish their small pieces for show & tell that night at the meeting and had quite a few terrific pieces to show off to the crowd. My last night in Sarasota, Pam and Geoff and I went to dinner and I ate Hogfish which has a terrible name but is a delicious local fish. When they brought a martini with an umbrella in it, we simply had to have a picture. So, here I am, alone in West Palm. Tomorrow, errands - FedEx (I am still dealing with UPS over the mess), the locksmith for some extra keys to the apartment, the gas station (argh - I have grief every time I try to put gas in my own tank) and who knows what else. I will post ASAP if my connection holds. I have missed you all.

back on line for now

I finally sorted things out last night, wrote, and then was bumped again just as I was posting my whole song and dance to Blogger. It never got there. Sunday morning, trying to catch up. Well, I guess a small post is better than none. Pam Morris, who is hosting me, and her husband Geoff and I, are going out for breakfast. If I can throw some things in the dye pot before we leave I will be in heaven. This is the view from my room in the morning when I wake up. Paradise? I think so. Will catch up with you tonight, assuming all is well with my Internet connection. Classes are going great and I'll post some pix later.

internet woes

I've had some problems getting connected so have not been able to post. Stay tuned - I hope to fill you in tomorrow. It is the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep till I got connected. argh. Now I just got bumped again. Problems connecting to Blogger, too.

on the road again

Tomorrow, after class, I'll be on my way to Sarasota for the next group of workshops. I've had a lovely time here and my host and hostess could not have been more hospitable. The weather has been a bit iffy - what I would call Sept-Oct weather in NJ -- and I simply haven't had time to take advantage of what you see on the left. But it has been a pleasure anyway.

Today was another soy wax class for the Fort Myers group, Art Quilters Unlimited. Many of them had some dye experience, but not batik experience - so it was another soy wax adventure. It never fails to amaze me how different the fabrics are when people are working with the same process. Here are a few of the more exuberant ones from today's class.Tomorrow, we'll see how some of today's fabrics get used.