Discovering the Reverse Side of Printed Fabric

Screen print on organic cotton with water-based dyes 
(In suffused light.)

I know, I know....I promised I'd post some highlights of the marketing workshop referenced in Monday's post.  Well, not yet, but soon!  Meanwhile yesterday, while clearing off the table of "stuff", I discovered that the reverse side of fabric that I screenprinted months ago (above) is far more interesting than the front side!   Funny I hadn't noticed that before!

Monoprint on paper 7" x 9"

Front side of fabric (rotated).  Definitely more graphic.

Some interesting comments are coming in regarding the social networking topic of Monday's post.  Also, some amazing work is going on in sketch books....some of  it in response to the Sketchbook Project challenge.  Check out Pamela Patterson Reinhardt , Sophie Munns, and Betsy Best Spadaro's recent sketches. (Be sure to scroll down on their blogs because these three have been BUSY!!

Yay!  It's Wednesday already and the sun is scheduled to appear in Portlandia!  All is not lost -- the tomatoes WILL ripen!!

Have a marvelous day!

Marketing 101.....Virtual vs. "Real" Networking

"Small Blessings no. 6 - On the Go  "

 by Annamaria Potamiti

(So delighted to have her watercolor in my home!)

Sketchbook doodle

Yesterday was the quintessential autumn day in Portland and I spent it indoors in a brand new, lovely  building at Oregon College of Art and Craft. I was attending a marketing and entrepreneurship workshop for artists co-sponsored by OCAC and The College Art Association.  I'm grateful to the nine local panelists who gave up their Saturday to share their knowledge and experience with those of us who attended the marketing sessions.  I'll share a few tidbits gleaned from the sessions in my next post, but below are a few of my own thoughts on "virtual" vs. "real" social networking, which as you can imagine, was a topic of much discussion at the workshop.  

Annamaria's painting, "Small Blessings no. 6 " was the first piece of original art that I purchased for myself from a blogger who happened to be an Etsy seller.  The fact of the matter is, I waited anxiously for Annamaria's package. And I was all smiles when I found it on my porch and literally broke into a grin when I opened it.  Of course, I don't really know Annamaria, having never actually "met" her. Nevertheless, through her absolutely delightful blog --which you must visit if you haven't yet -- I feel as though I do know her, even if just a little, and because of that, having her painting in my home brings me great happiness.  Each time I look at it I think of her, working so earnestly to honor and pursue her creative ideals.

In the future, I hope to have more original art and handmade items in my home that have been made by others, and I expect that some of them will have been made by artists that I have come to know via the virtual realm.  Certainly, I will continue to seek opportunities to meet artists from my own "neck of the woods" -- in real time and on solid ground. But that said, I might not have ever known that some of them even existed were it not for the virtual realm of social networking.  And if and when I do finally meet them, chances are good it will be very easy to strike up conversations....just like in the movie Julie and Julia, when Julia Childs first meets the pen pal with whom she has been corresponding for eight or so years.....  (Really, isn't all this social networking sort of like having a whole bunch of pen pals? :) )

And speaking of artists from my neck of the woods... I owe you some feature posts on Portland artists and I promise.....they're in the works!

Looking forward to seeing what you have been creating!!  :)

Heading into Fall . . .

Screenprint with gold gouache.

4" x 4"

Nasturtiums with "mist fringe."

A lovely combination from the garden at Adelaide's Books.

Monoprint

7" x 9"

Fall is my favorite season.  

 I'm reading Sue Bender's Everyday Sacred and mulling over this idea, gleaned from it's pages:  Do more of less.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Thanks for stopping by.  :)

Industrial Inspiration

Found myself drawn to industrial-like things last weekend.

(Well, the above relief print was actually done a few months ago but it seemed to relate well to the plastic pipes and chain-link in the first image.)

Took some steel wool (0000) and a little orange citrus stripper to this vintage wooden ball....

  

...and thought it "cleaned up" nicely and was rather handsome with the vintage number stamps I found while out and about. (Actually, I acquired my own little "factory" consisting of three sets of different-sized numbers and one set of letters; each set housed within double blocks as above; and all of them stored within a larger vintage box. SCORE!) (Notice the pen marks made by a former owner so he would know how the top and bottom blocks fit together best. Three of the four sets were marked in the same way.)
 

And here is a small monoprint --- maybe 4" x 4".

And by the way, if you want to see some exquisite attention to detail, reminiscent of the chain-link fence above, check out this page on Kaija's blog, Paperiaarre.  (Everything she makes is lovely!)

Cheers!!

Purple, Blue, Green and Charcoal . . .

Hand-painted; machine stitched cotton

Purple, blue, green and charcoal...a very serene palette, don't you think?

Thanks for visiting.  :)

Monoprints, Nature and Van Gogh

monoprint

 7"x 7" 

 Dried, inverted Water Hemlock

 

Monoprint

7" x 9"

 More inverted Water Hemlock

(For some reason, I love the sculptural shapes.)

 And what about these....the other rose hips??

(Seriously, have you ever seen these on rugosa rose bushes along with the regular rose hips we all know and love?  I can't decide whether or not they're truly grotesque.  If not, they're certainly bordering on it! Still...they've got me intrigued.)

 Monoprint

7" x 9"

Spent a few days away from the city.  Smelled the salt air and smoke from wood stoves.  Witnessed a swarm of termites "descend" on an unsuspecting alder at dusk, then drop their wings and begin burrowing in.  My husband said, matter-of-factly, "That alder's on its way out."  And this, a tree that has shaded and sheltered us for nearly twenty years as we have gathered outside for meals beside a fire with family and friends.   Later, marvelled at the stars, so brilliant away from the city.

And on Saturday, while gathering water hemlock by the bay, I looked up to see what the ruckus was and counted twelve or more great blue herons circling overhead.  Had never seen that many at once, but my daughter said, "Oh yes, I've seen that many and more before."

Spent a good number of hours making monoprints.  Chided myself for my lack of patience. (It makes for many false starts.)  Later, I jotted down notes in my sketchbook about what I had learned so as not to have to start from "scratch" next time I get a chance to print.  

Spent time looking at a beautiful book about van Gogh. Was mesmerized by paintings I had never seen that he did while in Arles, France.   Painting, after painting, after painting.  Somewhere around 900 total  in ten or less years.  Practice, practice, and more practice.  Van Gogh... mostly self-taught.  Driven.  Brilliant. Inspiring.  Humbling.

Now...looking forward to catching up with what you've been doing.  Your work inspires me greatly, too.

Thanks for stopping by.  Thanks for sharing your creativity. 

Have a great week!