Hey animal lovers - I just listed an art quilt (above) on ebay to benefit A Place to Bark, a no kill foster and adoption rescue dedicated to the welfare of animals founded by the lovely and talented Bernie Berlin. Check it! And even if you don't buy my piece, look around at the other items for sale that benefit A Place to Bark or consider making a donation. Thanks y'all.
I love social networking. Although nobody ever talks to me on myspace any more and I only ever go there to change my playlist. Poor myspace. But I digress. Several months ago I reconnected (via facebook) with some high school friends that I haven't seen since, well, since high school. Many, many years ago. I have to say that not all of my reconnects have been good ones, but these were. I had the opportunity to spend some time with them (in Boston) last month and it was wicked. The picture above is us in 2009. I won't show you any from high school, but trust me, we've aged beautifully.
Remember a couple weeks ago I said I had gotten a box of goodies from C&T Publishing? Well, here's the dealio. C&T has a new product - the Liquitex® Surface Design Center - a line of surface design materials meant to appeal to artists interested in fabric painting or art quilting. So I got some samples to play with. I'm already a Liquitex user (now I guess I'm a pusher too), because I like their Basics line of acrylic primary colors and use them in my color mixing workshops. But some of these products were new to me and me likey. Here's the scoop ...
For the piece above (and detail below): I block printed the Jizo, squares and double happiness character using Liquitex Soft Body acrylics, which have a very yummy texture and a nice hand. For the lotus flowers, I used the Basics acrylic paint. When the printed images were dry, I did an ink wash over the whole piece (with the ink!s from my original post about this). Very cool - really deep saturated colors with a super liquidy viscosity.
For the Cherry Blossom piece (below): I screen printed the background and stem using the Soft Body acrylics mixed with Fabric Medium and painted the blossoms with the acrylic inks.
Alas, my favorite thing about this summer has come to an end. I guess it had to. And frankly, there was something fundamentally wrong with looking for my winter gloves while wearing a bikini this morning. Thanks to yogi Greg for a marvelous run.
I practice yoga on the beach in Rowayton, CT every Saturday morning (and yes, that's as glorious as it sounds). For the last several weeks it's been "the last one" of the summer. But every week, the teacher (Greg) says..."okay, we'll go one more week." I envision us going on forever, doing downward dog in January, in boots and winter coats. It could happen, right?
Rhett mmmmmmmmmMiller at my least favorite NYC music venue (Webster Hall) last night.
and I remember the night you came on to me and opened up my heart I was hollow then 'til you filled me in now I'm empty again I should have never let it start
Yo. I just got a box o' yummy stuff to play with (not just the aforementioned ink ink ink), from C&T Publishing. Stay tuned - I'm gonna get my hands into it all tomorrow (after beach yoga and before Rhett Miller).
Repurposed Art [recycled newspaper coil thingies that don't have a name picture frames]
[candy wrapper + ticket stub boxes]
[sweater fish - the kids drew pictures of fish, cut up old sweaters in the fish shapes, sewed and stuffed them]
[we stuffed the fish using old vhs tape that we rescued from the trash. the tape was like catnip - everybody went crazy rolling around in it and throwing it in the air. who knew?]
[the eyeballs were made from the wrappers of my Builder Bars]
note: we did Jackson Pollock paintings too, but I don't have a single picture. pffft.
So. Last week's dance party was not so much requested by a student, more announced. First thing Monday morning I was explaining about the week and what projects we were going to do and whatnot when a student said "AND we have a dance party on the last day!" We had two - one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Honestly, I think I could just do a whole week of dance party summer camp. Six hours a day of dance parties. Who's with me?
Adinkra Cloth [Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa]
Kachinas [Hopi and Zuni tribes, United States of America]
weekly dance party...I didn't realize until after the fact that we danced to lost love/broken heart songs (Always Something There to Remind Me + Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go - see lyrics below).
I can't help recalling how it felt to kiss and hold you tight how can I forget you when there is always something there to remind me I was born to love you and I will never be free
yes, they ate the pie when they finished their paintings.
Repurposed Art [and crafts] newspaper medallion thingys [we made this up, so it doesn't really have a name]
matchbox shrines
[a little yoga practice]
this doesn't have a name either - assemblages using empty plastic bead boxes and bottle caps [I forgot to take pictures of the finished products]
plastic bags made out of...plastic bags [ours are sturdier and more reusable]
jar lid magnets
Okay. So word has gotten out that I like to dance and I'm easily convinced to have a dance party every Friday. Last week's group started asking for it on Tuesday. This week they asked on Monday. But if they ask for a dance party, I have to give them a dance party. Right?
[the CD player is very sensitive - check out what happens about a minute and a half in]
[slinky walking and the very exciting news that KEITH IS COMING!!! then Keith danced so hard that my memory card got filled up]
I'm falling behind on my bloggage. Last week I worked for the amazingly wonderful and talented Burton Silverman for his week long summer workshop. Artists come from all over the world (seriously), to a beautiful locale in the Hudson Valley, to study with Burt, as well they should because he is remarkable. Can you tell how much I love him? Here are some pictures...I'll update if/when any students send me some of their pictures.
disclaimer: This was a workshop, so the students' works posted here are technically studies, that I surreptitiously took pictures of. I think it's all fabulous, but I know sometimes artists don't like to show unfinished work. I'm posting it anyway. I don't think they'll be mad, because we're all best friends now. :)
[said beautiful locale]
[Burt being brilliant]
[it wasn't all work - this was the Thursday night party...complete with a ukulelee sing along, thanks to "the Canadians"]
[Mauricio traveled the farthest...he came all the way from Brazil!]
Thank you all so much - can't wait 'til next year!
baby Wilco has a summer tour scorecard, on which you can keep track of all the songs they play at whatever show you attend (and be a "Wilco stat nerd"). At last night's gig, I started to fill it in but after the first 4 songs (and the sunset), it was too dark see the scorecard, so I just started scribbling down titles on another page in the program. At one point, I wrote down a song title before a single note was played. That's either incredibly impressive or really, really sad. I'm gonna go with incredibly impressive.
And did I really need another Wilco t-shirt? No. Did I succumb to the temptation of the merch table anyway? Yes.
I always thought that if I held you tightly You'd always love me like you did back then Then I fell asleep in the city kept blinking What was I thinking when I let you back in?
I just finished my first week of summer camp at Katonah Art Center. This week's subject was jewelry making. Here's what we did...
MONDAY: basic beading and learning what all the different tools and findings are for...
TUESDAY: wood and paper beads (for pendants, earrings and charms to be used later)...
WEDNESDAY: polymer clay with PearlEx powders and paper beads...
[making paper beads :( I seem not to have taken any pictures of the finished beads]
THURSDAY: Art Clay Silver (with special guest artist/teacher David Hughes)...
[clay silver in a syringe]
[the syringe variety, before firing - the cork clay in the middle burns away when it's fired]
[blowtorch firing - don't try this at home]
FRIDAY: charm bracelets and putting everything together...
[clay silver fish charm - with scales!]
[syringe variety clay silver, post firing, made into a pendant]
[clay silver necklace]
some bonus pictures from some of the other camps...
[from Lex's computer art camp last week]
[Mike in the darkroom]
[the 1st - 5th grade jewelry camp - see dialog below] when I took this picture... Elin (to the girl on the right): Do a glamour girl pose. the girl on the left: What should I do, fashion model?
[one of Lex's computer art students got a hold of the camera]
To my students - thank you so much for a wonderful week, you guys were soooooo much fun!
NOTE: for anyone interested in learning to make some of the charms we made this week, read my article in the Jan/Feb issue of cloth paper scissors magazine - find it here.
I saw the Old 97's last night, for the second time this week - this time at the Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY. I didn't take my camera because I didn't think I would be close enough to get any good pictures. As it turns out, I was in my usual elbows on the stage position (just a bit farther stage left, but still in a place that Rhett and I could look longingly at each other). So, yeah, I wish I'd had my camera. Coulda shoulda woulda...I took these shots with my phone. They played my twitter request (Indefinitely), which was lovely of them. Thanks Rhett. mmmmmmmm...Rhett.
this is more than I can tolerate the kind of pain you've got to medicate I can't remember why I couldn't wait to get so close to you
So apparently Art Quilts at Play is now an ebook. Nobody tells me anything. Actually, I knew it was an ebook, I even recorded a little video clip for it - screen printing (see above) and acting all goofy (see below). Now you wanna buy it, don'tcha?
I saw (and heard) the Old 97's last night at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ. They have 4 dates at there, so they're doing a "no repeat" engagement - different songs every night with no repeats (obviously) excluding Timebomb, which they haveta do 'cause if they didn't we wouldn't know when to go home. It was wicked 'cause they played stuff you don't usually get to hear like Miss Molly (oh oh oh), Ivy, Adelaide and my funeral song, Weightless (yes, I want an Old 97's song played at my funeral). It was a rockin' good time and I can't wait 'til the next time I get to see them...which is Friday.
[I'm cheating - this isn't from Maxwell's]
I remember when I had you and you had so much promise then promised me that you would never leave again to be broken you were made
On Saturday my nephew married his college sweetheart. It was an incredibly beautiful wedding - the ceremony was at Pennyfield Lock in Potomac (Maryland) and the reception was in the bumper car pavilion at Glen Echo Park, in Glen Echo (Maryland). Here's what it looked like...
I can do the highland fling. Orange is my favorite color. I always tie my right shoe tighter than my left. I hate it when people use the word "dilemma" incorrectly. I do yoga while listening to loud rockabilly music. My favorite part of the male anatomy is the epigastric fossa (look it up).
www.elinwaterston.com
