Studio Saturday

I don't have images of my final photography pieces yet. I procrastinated a bit on them and so I was working on them up until I had to leave for class for critique. (Oops.) So, I didn't have time to take photos of them before and they are still at school. Hopefully they weren't thrown away and I can pick them up next week. There are two of them that I would be really upset to lose.

Instead, I remembered that I never shared the final product of our mold project in sculpture. I made these in March, but they weren't fired until the last week of classes. My mold was of a lemon and we were to make three separate pieces using the mold. The twist was they all had to alter the cast object.

First I made a bunch of lemons and put them into a stack. I should have stacked them in a more natural way, but at the time this made sense to me.

Then I sliced a solid lemon and carved details.

Finally, my play on lemonade. (Get it, lemon-aid... first aid... No?)

One idea I was given in critique was to have made the lemon into a car to play on that concept too. I never did make that and even though I still have my mold, I'm pretty sure I won't use it again. I will hang on to it until next summer and decide if I want to get rid of it then.

The one thing that I don't like about these pieces is the milky glaze on top. We were told it was a clear glaze but it isn't clear like I wanted it to be.

If I manage to pick up my photography pieces, I will share them during the week. I do start my summer drawing class on Tuesday, so studio updates will continue until June. I have the same instructor that I had for painting, and he was so fascinated by the sewing work I did for my final project in painting, that he mentioned I could do that for drawing. (Since I am in an upper level class, we propose all of our projects for the class duration.) I do love to draw with ink and charcoal too, so I'm not sure what I want to do. We do only have four weeks, so it's not like I can explore everything for class. I'll talk more about it next Saturday.

I hope your weekend is finding you well! I am taking a little break and doing whatever feels right, but not pressuring myself to get anything big done.

Studio Saturday

This post is going to have a lot of photographs, so be prepared. I did talk about some of this and what is coming up on Thursday, so excuse the repetition.

First up is photography. I turned in my project that used photo transfers and lifts. We learned how to do this both digitally and using gel medium. I didn't really care for the digital process, so I only used gel medium for these. We had to choose something we felt strongly about and create three propaganda collages. My subject is on how technology and social media is taking over our lives. (Please note: I am not really proud of how these turned out and while I do feel strongly about this, I don't really care to create work about these sorts of things. At least at this time in my life. Oh, and she is trying to find a place where we can sell these, which I'm not really keen on, but what can you do?)

This first one was my initial idea and one I like the least. We were to find images online and alter them in some way before putting the collages together. I altered the girl in front of the computer too much that it's hard to make her out. Her expression in the original image is of unhappiness and the text is supposed to imply that people spend more time with their "friends" on Facebook than face-to-face.

This second one is kind of a spin off of a drawing I did in another class. I notice in all of my classes that the students are usually texting on their phones or on the internet on their laptops. They do this instead of listening to the lecture or participating in class. One time a student even answered a phone call in the middle of someone else's critique! He didn't leave the room first or even to talk to whomever it was. I routinely do leave my phone at home or forget it's with me. Maybe it's that I'm of a different generation. I saw a girl yesterday who was maybe 7 and had her own phone. She was complaining to her mother that her friend wasn't answering. Most days, I would love to give up my cell phone for a landline again.

The third piece is kind of hard to make out because of the doodling I did in the background. The couple in the photo are both engrossed in their phones instead of paying attention to each other. The caption of "Everlasting Love" is supposed to leave the viewer wondering if the love is between the two of them or with their phones.

Our next project is on portraits and printing onto alternative surfaces. We are to prep them over our break so we're ready to go on the Tuesday we return. I want to pick up some handmade papers, wood veneer, plastic sheeting, and thin sheet metal. I will also be using some fabrics and have to select samples to use. I'm still brainstorming the final project as well.

In sculpture we finished up our mold projects. They aren't entirely done as the clay still needs to dry and then be fired, so you will be seeing all them again once they are really done. On Wednesday we had our critique and also put underglazes on our pieces. I took these photos with my cell phone, so the quality isn't the best, but it shows the mold I used and some of the final pieces. This is before critique and I had not finished the third. We made two-part molds and the hole at the ends is for pouring wax or epoxy in. If wax is poured in, that can be used to cast it in bronze. Bronze casting is something I would love to learn but isn't covered until Sculpture II (I'm in Scuplture I). I will be taking it if it fits into my schedule before I graduate next spring.

One of the pieces is a solid lemon that I sliced into wedges. After letting the clay sit for awhile, I went back in and carved a little so they looked more like real lemons.

The second one is a pile of lemons. Here's one of them and there are six more that I attached together. (I don't know why this photo is so small...)

The third piece is a play on words. I thought of first aid when thinking of lemonade, so I attached a cross to the surface of one lemon and underglazed that in red. The rest of the lemon will be white. I'm pretty sure I was the only one amused at this and no one else thought it was as clever, but I don't care.

During critique my instructor said I should have made one of the lemons into a car, implying the cliche about bad cars. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of that one as it's another clever idea. Oh well.

Our next project is on sculpting the nothing. This is very vague and I pondered it for weeks before pressing him for more insight on Wednesday. He gave me a philosophy book to read dealing with this idea and a lightbulb went off for me. I may even start working on it during break even though we don't have to. He does want us to firm up an idea and make a small model of it. I bought some thing for the final sculpture though and just want to sit on the idea for a few days before diving in. I'm pretty excited and will reveal more about it as I start working on it.

In painting, we moved on to working in oils. I used to love oil painting but am finding I am not so fond of it anymore. I've moved on to loving watercolors too much that anything else is just not what I want to do. I will keep it up and maybe come back to liking them again, but I doubt I would pick up them up to work with at home. Oil sticks, though, I do like using.

Anyway, we had to paint a single object three ways: realistic, abstract, and nonobjective (just shapes and colors/you shouldn't be able to pick out what it is). My object is the common tomato pincushion.

I don't like nonobjective work so much and really do struggle doing it myself. Though without seeing this with the other two, a viewer may not know what it is, I just don't like it. I already painted over it, so this photograph is the only evidence it ever existed.

Here's my abstract version. I may hang this in my sewing room after it dries.

And my realistic version. I don't do realism too well, but am pretty proud of this one. It could use more work but I'm going to leave it as is. The large brush stroke that curves around the tomato bugs me too.

After critique on these, he asked each of us what we would like to work on. Little did we know that whatever we said would be what we were to work on in class and also show on Thursday. Mine was that I wanted to work on using tools other than a brush to paint with, like using a palette knife only. I had a lot of fun with it and may even buy different types of palette knifes to keep doing this.

Here's the one I did in class. This is the canvas I painted over and so I painting on a layer of white and let it dry a little before smearing paint on with the palette knife. I just wanted to get a feel for using it and then looked at what the colors were telling me. There seemed to be some flowers there, so I worked on defining them and putting together a scene. This photo doesn't do the texture on this painting justice at all.

He likes us to look at something when working, so to see if I could do this same way of applying paint, I did one at home and looked at a little owl I have at home. This one needs work for sure, but it was fun to try out.

Finally, in class on Thursday we were to paint the uglist painting we could. I knew this was a trick of sorts, because it's hard to do ugly intentionally, so I tried not to think about making it so too much. I started out by painting a base of acrylics onto a piece of paper. I let the colors blend and become whatever they wanted to become. It turned out pretty dark and almost forest like. Once that was dry, I took out a marker and doodled a creature on top of the paint. I wasn't going for perfection and just went with whatever my hand did. On top of that, I used glazes (thinned down oils) to paint in the creature and the background. I wanted the base layer and my outlines to show through, so the glazes were perfect. When I was finished, I actually started to think he was cute, even though he's not that pretty.

Our assignment for over break is to complete our master copy. I still haven't decided which Rene Magritte painting I'm going to do and won't be starting it until Monday. I also have to finish my sketchbook pages and find an object to paint ten times. Oh, and make a postcard to mail to him over the break. Mine will be fabric and I'm probably going to work on it tomorrow. I just need to decide what I'm going to do.

That's all for this week. Hopefully I will have something to show next Saturday, depending on how productive I am. For all my plans to spend yesterday sewing, I actually spent it sleeping and then running errands for Chad. My body just decided it needed rest more than anything and Chad has some things that he needed done that he can't because of his work schedule. I am going to work on something tonight though and am hoping to finish it before a deadline tomorrow. If I finish, I will share it here as well.

Misc Stuff

Since tomorrow is my birthday, I went with my annual tradition of buying myself a gift. This started as a teen when I would buy myself piercings and into my early 20's when I bought designer purses and shoes.

This year I decided on this:

Weaving is on my to do list to learn for next year. And while this isn't the ridgid treadle loom I have my eye on, it will be a great tool for all kinds of things. The other loom I intend to buy early next year once I have saved up for it.

In the mail today was my ornament from the swap organized by Lindsay at Lindsay Sews! I love what Olivia made for me (two ornaments!) and she also included some holiday fabric and chocolates. Thank you, Olivia!

It looks like she hasn't received the one I sent yet, but once she does I will share what I made.

And finally, here is Cheeto in all of his glory. Angus is obsessed with him a bit and I can find him sometimes just staring at him in the living room.

I just want to pinch his cheeks! Too bad I can't. I have it in mind to make a stuffed Cheeto, so then I can pinch all I want. (And please excuse how shaggy Angus is. He is desperately in need of a haircut.)

His poor legs. When I carried him inside again I knocked him into the wall so one of them fell off again.

I need to find a place for him to live. As much as I love him, Chad isn't so keen on him, so the living room is out. Possibly my garden? Think he will keep some of the birds away?

This Past Week

Yep, my job kicked my butt all week long. You see, I usually get done between 10 and 11 at night. It's a little late for my taste, but I have to earn money too and do like my job. Because of some technology issues, I've had to stay there until 1, sometimes 2 in the morning. That means I slept in most days, waking up with enough time to get ready to either go to class or work again. I did miss class a couple days. Not really a biggie, as it's the end of the semester. I just feel like crap and hope that next week the issues have been fixed so I can go back to normal.

My point? Making anything has really suffered. I did get my ornament out in time, and really can't wait to share it with you. First I want to make sure my partner receives it. I love what I came up with and have plans to make more!

Other than that, I only had time to work on small, portable projects during my waiting time at work. That meant some sketching and a little embroidery. One embroidery project is a gift, so that will have to wait until I finish it. It's not a Christmas gift though (actually, it was supposed to be a wedding gift that was due a few months ago, oops), so who knows when it will be done.

Oh, and I did some brainstorming at work about what I could do with some stash items. I'm not really adding these to my Out with the Old list, except if that happen to be finished as an extra project. Just mentally assigning them to a project. Anyone else do this?

The first item I (finally) finished is this puzzle ball from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I pieced it together at least a month ago, pinned it together, and then just let it sit by my machine. I knew if I worked on it at home I would have to keep pushing two dogs away from me. It was pretty easy to put together and I would make others in the future to give as baby gifts or something. This one is just for me though.

These kits from Alicia Paulson are a long term project. I know there's no way I could finish them for this Christmas, so I'm going to set my goal for next year. I did just buy them recently, so it's not like they have been lingering in my stash for years. ;)

My progress so far. The mitten is by far my favorite one and I could see making more of them in different colors. I also would love to knit mittens in this style too.

This yarn was acquired from my local yarn shop on Black Friday. I bought it without really knowing what I wanted to do with it. I think I have settled on this cowl.

Another acquisition from Black Friday. My Joann's had a sample necklace made from it on the display, which is what I bought it for.

My ceramics class finished up and we had a little show and tell party on the last day. I took some photos of some pieces that I like the most, except for Cheeto, who needed his legs glued back on. I'm the one that broke them off though. I will share what he looks like glazed sometime next week.

What are you working on this weekend?

My First Quilt and a Little Pottery

I mentioned before that I was going to share the first quilt I ever made once I photographed it. Well, since I made it for one of my classes, I documented it for the portfolio presentation I have to give this Friday.

This isn't the best picture and I didn't think to take detail shots for you. This is based on the King Arthur legend and involves quilting, applique, and embroidery. It was made for the final project in a 2D design class and the one stipulation was that we had to spend at least 30 hours on the project. With all of the hand work I easily bypassed that and didn't really finish it as I would have if I didn't have a deadline. I am nothing if not ambitious, however, and do intend to tweak some things on it before I call it completely done.

It's obviously not fuctional and meant to be hung on a wall. In fact, I haven't completed a fuctional quilt (yet). By the end of the year I will change that.

I also have some of my finished ceramic bowls to share with you. I love them and am so happy that I was able to learn a new skill. I have three more bowls that are similarily glazed, as well as 14 other pieces that I still have to glaze. I don't know if I will do them all this color or change it up. Now that we have a month left of classes, we can't make anything else new. Too bad that I thought of making bakeware now instead of when we were throwing these. Maybe if I have the chance I will take another ceramics class and do just that. (Ignore the nasty white stuff in these photos. It has since melted for today, though I'm sure it will be replaced with more later tonight.)

I am determined to get some sewing time in this week now that the big items are off my list. I hope your Tuesday is going great!

Today

Today didn't really go as planned. I don't normally plan much for the weekend unless I have a deadline or other people want to do something. After looking over my massive to do list for today, I managed two things. At least they were the more pressing items.

I am done with my project for ceramics. This is just a few of the pieces that I had to throw on the wheel. We had to make 20 pieces and there had to be at least two cups, bowls, plates, jars, vases, and pitchers. The remaining eight could be any of those types. I found I enjoyed making bowls and jars more, so I did four extra bowls, three extra jars, and an extra vase which was intended to be a jar. Don't ask, but I can tell you that I know ceramics is not really for me.

All that's left with these is to let them dry so they can be fired, glazed, and then fired again.

Today I also finished cleaning out my garden. I wanted to give my carrots some more time before it starts freezing every night, but they really didn't grow much more. I thought these two were an interesting pair.

I learned a lot this summer with my first garden that will help me plan over the winter. First order of business is having Chad make my space larger. He think twice the size will be fine and I'm trying to talk him into making it four times the size. I think it will come down to how much time I have next summer to take care of it. I think I may have to take a couple summer classes so I can graduate when I want to and that will reduce my free time greatly.

Tomorrow will be filled with the remaining tasks from today. I have some cleaning, cooking, and then sewing to do.

Introducing Cheeto

I am very happy that I was able to finish my ceramics project yesterday. For those that have been following me, you may remember I posted a sketch of him a couple weeks ago. For those who are new here, our current project is to make an animal hybrid using at least two different animals. We could pick anything and blend them as we see fit. I choose to use a cheetah and a hippopotamus.

Cheeto is the love-child of my two animals. In addition to building this piece, I also have to put the finishing touches on the story of his creation, another required bit. We read our rough drafts in class last week and there were some, um, interesting stories out there. Not that mine isn't. I mean, it involves a desperate cheetah who wants a friend, comes upon a hippo who she challenges to race her, and he ends up seducing her, thus producing this creature.

He is far from perfect. I am not a born ceramist, nor is it my preferred medium. I haven't even touched much clay since I was in high school in the late 1990's. Regardless, I am proud of him and impressed that I was able to make something so large and have it stay together. I'm not in the clear completely because he still needs to make it through the kiln.

If he survives, I will share what he looks like once he is glazed.

I hope this Sunday finds you all well. I have some housework to catch up on, a little homework to do, and the desire to have a date with my sewing machine tonight.

Traveling Watercolor Kit and a Sketch

I carry a sketchbook and drawing materals with me nearly everywhere I go. You just never know when inspiration will hit or if there will be time to kill that could be spent getting ideas down on paper. I never used to think a sketchbook was essential; even being in an art program didn't convince me. It wasn't until I realized that I had more ideas than time that I started getting them down. Some things are sketches and some are just written. In addition to a regular sketchbook, I've been taking with me a watercolor book and tools.

I found most of these items at Hobby Lobby. Yes, they can be a bit pricey, but I'm a firm believer in buying quality art materials. I do have other travel watercolor kits, but this one is my favorite because of the water brush.

I love this sketch book so much that I went back to Hobby Lobby and bought them out. There are two other sizes (a landscape and a large book) that I picked up as well. I'm sure the cashier thought I was nuts for buying so many of them, but I don't want to run in to a time when they don't sell them anymore. Don't shy away from the price; for the same money you can buy a pad of tear-out watercolor paper that only includes a dozen or so sheets. These are books of 96 quality pages.

This is my travel kit. It's Koi by Sakura. It comes in other sizes. This one cost me about $30 and comes with one of the water brushes.

For traveling, I use mechanical pencils so I don't have to carry a sharpener as well. The pencil is only used for outlines. This one I got from a kit at school when I briefly was considering interior design. I don't like mechanical pencils for other drawing or writing, so these are the only ones I own. I also carry with extra lead and an eraser. For finishing watercolor sketches, I like to add details with pen, so I have a variety. Pictured here is a Micron and a couple Sharpies. I love the water brushes so much that I bought one in each size they offer.

This is something new for me and I haven't tried them out yet. They can be used with any water based medium, so I'm planning on playing with them with acrylics as well.

The current project for my ceramics class is to create a hybrid animal that doesn't already exist. Some examples of existing ones are a centaur, minotaur, jackalope, and so on. My creation is a cross between a hippo and a cheetah. In addition to the handbuilt clay sculpture, we also have to create a story of how this animal came to be and what it does. That will be interesting to hear from everyone. I've already decided to name my animal the cheeto and that he is the second fastest land animal, after the cheetah, of course.

He's a little chubby in my sketch. I haven't decided if I like that, or if I'm going to slim him down a bit when I start making him out of clay. Feel free to weigh in (no pun intended). I live for constructive criticism.