Hard(ly) at Work

Well, what's new? A lot, as it turns out! 
I have submitted an application for the 3rd Floor Emerging Artist Series at Rochester Center for the Arts; 
I have submitted an application for the Jerome Fiber Artist Project Grant at the Textile Center of MN; 
I am in a studio at the Northeast Arts District's' Northrup King Building, which I share with several other artists, primarily as a display space; 
I am about to start teaching quilting classes for our local fabric emporium, Crafty Planet; 
I will have work in a show (DEADLINE ALERT) that opens at the end of this month, "Can These Bones Live?"; 
I will have work (nothing new thankfully) in an Altered Esthetics Alumni Show at the end of this year; 
I SHOULD have work in the "Common Thread" members exhibit at the Textile Center this year (if I get my shit together);
and I have a bunch of things I need to post in my new Etsy shop. 

And that's probably not all. 

But there are so many spinning plates at this point, it hardly matters... Feast or famine folks. Earlier this year I was despairing that nothing seemed to be coming down the pike. HA!

encaustic: book in progress

(front)

(back) 

Encaustic medium, beeswax, oil stick, recycled book boards.

Where does the time go?

So, last time I checked in at the beginning of August, I mentioned I had booked my first booth at a local art fair. WRONG! I came down with the flu instead, a product of exhaustion plus summer spent with dozens of little kids at work. Given this and the State Fair rejection, I was ready for a break by the time we went to the lake. My Travellers Quilt project/online class had completely stalled out for me, I was stuck on on ideas for the Food Project work, and just generally feelin' crappy. One thing I did have to look forward to was a skirt-making class at the local hotspot, Crafty Planet. This would take up two Saturday afternoons towards the tail end of my vacation time.

I brought several items with me to work on at the lake: the Star Bright quilt that I'd started over the winter, which needed a border and back; the crows piece, which I'm still putzing with off and on; and a bunch of book art supplies, plus a small square piece that I started recently, which I love (more on that later.) Plenty of homework.

What quickly got me jazzed up was eco-dyeing and printing some watercolor papers for handmade books. Weather towards the end of the trip was drippy, and a good opportunity to hang out by the stove with a pot of boiling water and some leaves and petals.

Purple iris and a host of tree leaves made for some fun experiments! And I started sewing in my pages as soon as the covers were pressed and sewn, using recycled materials from home and work.

This in turn set off a flurry of paper-boiling, flower-picking and household humidity after we returned. It's a little out of control.

I can't explain what's so satisfying about staining paper and sewing it into little books; I'm entertaining myself very well though. And between this and a successful skirt class (I can insert a zipper!) I was starting to feel like life and light might be returning...

Continuing on in this vein...

I made the dubious decision to sign up for a vendor spot at a neighborhood festival this coming Saturday, and have been hunkered down in the evenings, trying to stock up. I hope to bring at least a half-dozen encaustics, some sun-dyed fabric, some over-dyed yardage, and hopefully some pillows and coffee warmers. I don't have high hopes about the quantity of stock -- and have never done a vendor fair -- and might not have a tent -- and not sure what I will use for tables. Hmm. Spur of the moment decision, brought on by State Fair rejection and being kind of stalled out on the work for the September deadline. Trying to stay in gear. Work is kicking my arse though, because it's peak season at my job, and my energy level right now is only middling.

I'm getting the hang of encaustic, pictures soon. Still struggling to remain patient, to slow the process down enough that certain light effects are possible -- it all depends on layers, on heating and cooling. I took some advice and switched to working on two pieces at a time, because this keeps me from meddling with a piece before it is the ideal post-fusing temp. I'm also maintaining a larger volume of clear medium for layers, because this runs out faster, and I get impatient with waiting for medium to melt down. Some new thoughts on encaustic medium: 1. Pellets are easier to add to pigments in order to thin the pigments, but they don't melt any faster than blocks of medium. 2. Pellets create a dish of somewhat cloudier medium when melted, for some reason. I'm only using R&F materials, so there shouldn't be big compositional differences, but I like the speed and clarity with which the block medium melts down. I'm still learning.

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And so I leave you with a bit of Winslow Homer. 

What I Learned Today: Encaustic 101

Well I did it. After a lot of reading and imagining, I went out and purchased the following: 

$30 electric griddle from Black n Decker

$130 worth of medium, encaustic paints, a brush and a couple of Ampersand boards. And a surface thermometer. When I got home, I pilfered the muffin tins from the cupboard in lieu of special aluminum pots from the Blick store (way cheaper, and I never make muffins or cupcakes anyway.) I rounded up two more natural-bristle brushes from the studio, and ...

Here's what I know after Day 1: 

1. Buy the encaustic medium in beads rather than the bar. They have to be easier to deal with. With the bar, you have to cut hunks off with a hot knife if you're trying to control quantity or mix glazes. It's tricky, and sticky. 

2. I will run out of medium WAY before I run out of pigments! A little encaustic pigment goes a LONG way. 

3. I need more brushes. Big ones. Little ones mean more brush strokes, and more application with the heat gun to smooth them out. 

4. The heat gun is a blunt instrument. It will take time before I figure out how to avoid pushing puddles of pigment around while I try to smooth out brushstrokes and bubbles. 

5. Keep the cat out of the room. 

6. ANYTHING will stick to the board, including buttons, leaves, a funny bracelet, a bobby pin, and cat hair. Especially cat hair. 

7. If you don't like it, scrape it off! Hardly anything is irreversible. I'm especially pleased by this because that's one of the things I like best about sewing.  

8. I have LOTS of mark-making tools! In fact I'm reminded of one of the qualities that made oil pastels so appealing for so long, namely, that you can make marks in it and push it around. Very plastic. 

9. When you start carving into the stuff, beware -- the crumbs stick to everything. 

10. And finally ... MAN THIS IS FUN!

My first experiment with encaustic. Size 8x8 inches. 

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

Well, for the first time I have submitted work for the fairly prestigious Fine Arts Show at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. This one is a nail-biter. These shows are enormous in size, viewed by literally thousands of  people, and tend to be high-quality. Fiber and textiles are an emerging category for this show, and to be included would be significant.

Plus, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the State Fair. Love it. And to be rejected would definitely make me sad.

But, all rejections are a bit painful, and so I have screwed up my courage. It helps that a bunch of textile artists I know have submitted this year. I can cheer my friends who are accepted, and commiserate with those who are not.

Good vibes people!