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I was very inspired by Stacy's blog. What a great self-challenge. Love the 3X3s that she has. Everyone should check them out.This is a page from my handmade engagement calendar for this year. The last week of April, first of May. Can you believe it is May already?
This month I've visited two beaches other than my own, one Atlantic Ocean and one Pacific ocean. The first, Jones Beach, at first just seemed cold (well, it was about 45 degrees F!) and drab. Since it was so foggy, you couldn't see very far either. I guess this beach is seriously crowded during the season, so it was really pretty lucky to see it so deserted.
No matter where you are, art surrounds you if you will just look for it. Here is a slideshow of art I found on Jones Beach.
Tomorrow I'll post my pics from Lahaina Beach, Maui!
Here is the newest addition to our family, Uschi. She is about 9 weeks old and just adorable. She loves to be held and sleeps in bed under the covers all night long. The others are learning to get along with her. She loves to play and it's good to see some of the older ones playing with her.
Steve brought her home with him from work. The security guard found her. She was attacked by a hawk, and he heard the commotion and rescued her. She now has a safe and loving home.
Learned so much at the recent workshop at the Armory Art Center in Palm Beach, FL. Erin Furimsky is an excellent instructor, and a fabulous ceramic artist. She is a full time ceramics instructor at Illinois State, mother of a two-year-old boy, and a full time ceramicist. Wow! Eleven of us participated in her workshop, where I learned many techniques that will definitely be seen on my tiles.
One of my favorite techniques was using a resist to paint on the leather hard pieces. You paint on green wax, or we used matte medium, using a paint brush a design that you like. Wait for it to completely dry, and then use your sponge to wipe across the design. The area with the resist will not wipe away, but the area around it does, revealing your design. Cool!
Erin uses a lot of subtle design techniques in her fabulous work. Her works reference architectural details. Her shapes are sensous and clearly she spends many hours perfecting the lines in them. She showed us just a tantalizing section of her handbuilding techniques. I was fascinated by her process. She first decides on the shape and then figures out which methods will work to get her that shape. She may combine throwing, slab and coil techniques all in the same piece. She would spend hours perfecting the piece once the rough shape is achieved. We all enjoyed her workshop and hope for her to return to show us a few more tricks! Thanks, Erin!
Okay, so I'm bored with posting only about my stuff. I'd like to post what art YOU are making. So I've got a trade. You get a handmade journal from my handmade paper if you send me a jpg of a new piece of art that you make that describes you or something about you, real or wishful thinking. Also, some short introduction of yourself and a general (or detailed if you feel like it!) description of how you made it.
Each journal has 5 or so pages of my handmade paper. The black one has vintage red plastic buttons. The gold one has metallic foil bits in the paper. The big turquoise-ish one uses handdyed silk ribbon (bought). Making paper is very fun, and I will be offering classes at the Fernery (coming 2010).
I will be adding and subtracting journals as folks pick which one they want. I hope you will play!
Barb V.
