Did you hear me howling????

Why didn't someone tell me just how good The Book of Eli is!  It has to be that once rare blue moon that I take a hankering to go to the movies but on a spur of the moment Peter and I decided to go Saturday night...the intention was to see Avatar but it only showed once and we had missed it.  I sat there for most of the movie asking myself "where is this going?"...the story line is not new (hero set out to save the world) but OH WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST 10-15 minutes of the movie had me howling!!!! (okay, i didn't really howl but surpressed it...although i had great difficulty understanding why the audience was so sedate because it definitely should have been a communal howling experience!)   In my surpressed howl, it was one of those howls when 10,000 ancestors show up and raise their glasses to toast!  Timeless wisdom came through and the story found its soul!!!!!  The story has stayed with me...issues of commitment, faith, education, sight, power,...I awoke Sunday morning with the movie on my mind after dreaming about interviewing Denzel on why he took the role.  In the dream he said something about his own career being a walk of faith and he wanted to remind young people including his own children about what it means to be committed.  (My nephew Eric may not know how to choose a college basketball team but his recommendations for movies has improved greatly!)

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In The Basement last week I kicked in a few hours...practiced fmq and fme as part of The Learning Curve curriculum and on Friday, just before leaving, I painted this cauldron.  It was a photo printed on fabric that didn't print well due to ink heads needing to be cleaned.  Its been in the scrap pile for weeks.  I picked it up and taped it to the table and selected paints and started playing...not too much forethought (less damage that way)...but looking at it this morning I'm thinking my Crow piece might morph into Crows and Cauldrons.

Anaya remains in NICU.  If her respirations stay down for the next couple of days she will come home. She is filling out and looking good.  She only weighed 6lbs and 2ozes when she was born...I'm so use to 8 pounders that 6 sounded small to me.   Deep down, I know that everything has its place and is in order.  Hugs to  those who have sent blessings and prayers. 

Counting Crows

I haven't had much time to be at either place, The Workshop or the Studio.  For a second (a short second) I held the thought to sale my spot in the Benn/Morgan workshop next month at the Crow Barn. I will follow my own advice and not let single moments define my whole reality and future.  I've heard Nikki Giovanni speak several times and she tells a story of a visit somewhere in Central Africa and going to a village and a group of men identify themselves as "warriors" for the village...she asks "what wars have you fought?" and the reply was there hasn't been a war in over 100 years.  Giovanni's point was how can you call yourself warriors if you haven't fought in any wars.  I haven't been feeling like much of an artist of late and began to question the "what" as in what do I call myself doing?  These supplies are just wasted on me, yak, yak, yak...  The upcoming week with Leslie and Claire at the Crow Barn will be an opportunity for my mind to settle back into the processes of making art, (God willing and if the Creek don't rise)

I have a new granddaughter who was born last weekend.  Her name is Anaya which means God Answered.  She has been in ICU since Tuesday morning but the meaning of her name is not lost on her...everything has corrected itself and the last miracle we are waiting on is for her respirations to slow down and the water to clear off her lungs. 

Also, my father had a hospital stay and has transitioned into a nursing home for rehabilitation.  My mother and I have been trading off days to care for my 18 month on grandson, Carter, (named after Carter G. Woodson) big brother to Anaya. 

I'm settling into the head space where I can allow Grace to enter.  Patience is following and I have forgiven myself for not burying myself in art making and accepting this is the season to be and do for my family and accept this as the blessing it is.

With Carter in and out of my lap, I painted this Crow on a 6"x8" scrap of fabric.

Scraps of Splendor...

sunshine, and warmer temps (it hit the low 60's today!!!!) makes keeping the faith a whole lot easier!

These dyed silk scraps came from wearable artist Laverne Zielbelski from Lexington, Kentucky.  Laverne had a booth set up this weekend at the Kentucky Crafted Market which I attended for a few hours on Saturday.  I met Laverne over 20 years ago when she lead writing circles and reconnected after discovering last year that she is also doing textile work for creating her poetic line of clothing.  Laverne is also doing Nuno felting and using the FeltLOOM created by the owner of Lan Mark Farms near Lexington.  It is a machine that takes the rolling out of Nuno felting.  The University of Kentucky Art dept. is looking into purchasing one of the machines...I wonder if UofL's Fiber Art dept. would get one????  Slim chance I think due to budget cuts in the last few years but one never knows, right?!

I worked about 2 hours today at The Basement.  I spent about 30 minutes cutting shapes as an exercise from Finding Your Own Visual Language and will work some tonight with mark making on paper using a variety of inks and pens and brushes.  I spent about an hour working on the quilt in honor of Crows and thinking about James Audubon.  Many times an idea will hit me and I can see it and I think "how brilliant that will be if I can pull it off!" and then weeks later I think the design has morphed into something "too simple" to reflect my ideas and I'm heading for the path of least resistance.  The conflict comes in when I create a focal point...when I create an image, in this case Crows, I loose the emotion for a piece.  I really like my backgrounds so much better which I describe as emotional abstractions.  The questions I posed today are:  Should I go for narrative?  Should I make the Crows larger? Should I make the background smaller?  Should I make the Crows out of felt and sculptural?  What if I wanted to return to a total abstraction about Crows...what would it look like?  What are Crows attracted to?  Should I make the background reflect an urban setting?  A practice I took from the Benn and Morgan Workshop back in '08 is to write the answsers to the questions down when I'm stuck...this is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. 

Peace,

On Children...

Mo helped me pull the last bit of straightening up The Basement today.  (Thank you so much!)  I have an 18 month old grandson who isn't showing any understanding that Grandmama's art supplies are sacred territory...unlike my great-neice who very well understood that Aunt Karen's supplies were not to be messed with unless she was there to give permission and guidance. 

Yesterday I was at The Studio and started another scarf on the needle felt machine.  I felted together dreadlocks of wool together and plan to lay it over a silk scarf or shawl.  Adrian, my oldest son, hung out with me yesterday while there...he likes the feel of the place.  I spent the time bouncing ideas off of him about what he sees for his own future.  One of the ideas I threw at him was up-cycling furniture into art furniture...he turned it over but I don't think he quite caught the vision.  Its my prayer that he settles himself down and focus.

Ade helped Mr. Williams, an award winning retired photo-journalist, photograph a wedding last weekend.  Ade is a laid back and cool, calm, and collected young man when not around immediate family, but he was hyped and excited and nervous in a good way before and after working with Mr. Williams.  We love to see him excited...of my 3 children, he carries the artist spirit.

I don't know why I've interjected tidbits about my family other than creating a partial recollection of the past week I've shared with them...or possibly sharing the creative connections we've had this week.  I don't know if Khalil Gibran had children of his own...but some years ago, a sistah friend introduced me to his poem, On Children and when I'm contemplating healthy boundaries with my children who are young adults, I reflect on Gibran's poem. 

Feeling Good

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

 

Yesterday I returned to The Basement...it was like sugar in my bowl!  I started out by rearranging my sewing area since and returned my sewing machine to its resting spot.  It, too, had been in for a good cleaning and Valerie was right, I'm back in love and the machine is running smooth.  I took an journal size quilt I did years ago and cut it down into two 4"x6" postcards and edged them.  I was on such an incredible high after making them!!!  Just floating and smiling and feeling good!!!!  Can you believe me in such bright colours?!  Well it was made right after a workshop with Melody Johnson. The top one is my favorite...something about the

orange!  The bottom one makes me think of ocean waves.

 

 

These are for sale, 25 each, or both for 40.

 

Today I took the altered art area and rearranged it and on Monday or Tuesday I'll tackle the everything else area and then I'll return to my Learning Curves curriculum

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Sleep in peace when day is done
That's what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Journal Pages...

C'mon Artists, make a Fundred Dollar Bill

http://www.fundred.org/

This is a national project but the below is taken from the local press release.

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Come make a Fundred Dollar Bill at Mellwood A&E Ctr: support a nationwide art project

Presented by 21c Museum and Louisville Visual Art Association's Open Doors Program

The soil in New Orleans is contaminated with lead.  It affects 86,000 properties in the urban area, and is especially harmful to the inner city youth who live in this region.  There is a plan to de-toxify it and remove any health risks to the community.  It will cost $300,000,000.00.

Contemporary artist Mel Chin has a plan to raise this money and it involves everyone across the country.  The Fundred Dollar Bill Project invites you to make your own hand-drawn $100 Fundred Dollar Bill.  3,000,000 of these will be collected by the project in a veggie-oil powered armored truck and taken to the steps of Congress and asked for an equal exchange of money to clean the New Orleans soil.

You can make an $100 Fundred Dollar Bill and be part of a nation-wide public art project that will bring awareness to an environmental/health catastrophe in New Orleans.  Drop your Fundred off at the table or bring directly to 21c Museum Hotel, an official Collection Center on the armored truck's US route.  Tell your friends to participate!

Just remembering what I was doing in pictures before what I'm doing now...

My lungs are clearer than they've been in a very long time! My doctor released me yesterday from being house bound and I thought I'd return to The Basement Workshop today but the temps have dropped below freezing and after yesterday's running around I found myself good for nothing but sleep when I returned home. 

 I'm in dire need of a hair cut but as always when it begins to grow out I entertain the thought of doing something different with my hair other than my signature cropped close to the scalp afro.  But I've turned into such a really LOW maintenance chick that the thought of keeping any sort of regular appointments with a braider or beautician makes me go NO WAY! But I really could do a little better.  Wish barbers made housecalls.

Remember the art journal I had lost?  Well I found it buried under some things at the Studio. This is a page from it for materials to be used in the above piece.  Looking at it now, it feels like it will be a "safe" piece...no risk taking here. 

Today will be filled with reading.  Yesterday I picked up the latest SDA journal, Studio, and Legacy magazines. I've started another book by Zades Mda, Ways of Dying with the same protagonist, Toloki, the professional mourner, but this one takes place in his home country of South Africa.  Also I'm continuing to scribble and work with colour in the design writing that I began while in the hospital...all this should keep me out of any trouble for a day or two...

Hurry up Spring!

Cion, a novel by Zakes Mda

 I finished this last night and because of quilts being one of the central themes in the novel, I'm recommending it as a STRANGELY ENTERTAINING read.  You can read my thoughts on the book at my book blog, My Eyes Have Seen the Coming of the Word.  The top 3 posts discuss the book. 

Zakes Mda teaches at Ohio University right in Athens and cleverly interweaves the history, quilting and otherwise, into the novel.  Please let me know if you read it by leaving a comment at either blog or via email. 

Peace,

As I typed this Martha Stewart demo'ed how to make felted soaps.

One of my favorite tunes that Cheryl Lynne Skinner use to sing when she performed locally had a line that said "i'm sitting in the house with everything on my mind, looking at the clock and can't even, can't even, tell the time". 

dig the gold by Liquitex!  

Amazingly, I'm calm and cool and relaxed even though I've not left my domain since coming home from the hospital.  I'm even letting the fingernails grow...(a little idiosyncracy about me, I clip them short because I do not like the whites of my nails to show and have never been a fan of long nails even when I had regular manicures done at salons...nail techs found me odd that way.  But this obsession with clipping them short as I do started about 3 years ago when I was going through some BS with my daugther and I just never stopped.  I also found short nails to be better for handling paints and dyes so it just made sense to continue.)

 beginning a new "design writing"

If I'm honest with myself, it will be March before I return to either The Basement Workshop or The Beauty of Holyness Studio.  The comments in the previous post boosted my spirits.  The idea to start "design writing" came intuitively without any preconceived ideas of where the lines and values would go.  I just kept changing up pens and writing anything from what I heard on tv, what the doctor said to me, something I recalled, or a slew of emotions.  The idea Mai-Britt offered to make copies and experiment with colouring them was like "a duh, why didn't I think of that" moment.  Thanks Mai-Britt for the idea.  I haven't been in Photoshop in so long that I didn't feel up to taking in sharp turns in my brain by trying to recall how to do layers, but when I do feel up to I think I'll try working them with colour that way. 

  

i got carried away

Deborah's idea to start a study made me go "wow! i'm going to do an entire journal, page after page design writing"  I dig this!  Then Acey suggested seeing them stitched and I thought "ummm, did she mean stitched paper quilts...thats cool, I've never done one...or did she mean print them on fabric, ummmm saw a quick layout in my head...then I thought a paper and cloth quilt!"  I dig this also.  The art of holiness and the holiness of art is that it is regenerative on soooo many levels, one being that it draws community, and out of community, one finds their tribe.  So thank you to all who commented, one love!

doodling faces to mimick Ethiopia artists.

The answer to the question, "what are you writing these days?"

The paper is a heavy textured cotton like paper that I just love to close my eyes over rub. The writing is done using Faber-Castell Artist pens that glide beautifully over the dimpled paper.  The journal size is about 14x11 inches. The writing I started while in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs.  I have at least 2 weeks to be house-bound, at which, gives me time to finish it.  I thought about adding colour but I love the stark contrast of the black and white.