My Life as the Star in an Old-Timey Cliff Hanger

 

Countdown –six days until our Hungerford Urban Artisans building-wide open house next Friday. Since I’m the heroine in this cliff-hanger drama, I am trusting the work crew will show up Monday and fly through completing my storage space construction and replacing my two door entry with one so I can  restore order, hang work and open my doors by next weekend.

Like the plucky undaunted heroine that I am, I feel very relaxed and confident in the midst of my exploded space. Whatever may happen, I’ll figure out a way to make it all work.

A large source of this positivity springs from my still managing to create through the rubble. Right now I’m revisiting old work that didn’t quite succeed and making improvements – and enjoying the results.

 

This is one of my first painted silk pieces from 2004.  The colors ended up dull, so I am adding some clear, saturated hints of color and highlights with dry brushing; still working on this but it’s close to done.

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Another very old textural stitching study that went awry is now looking quite rich and lovely with the addition of brushed paints and paint sticks. I’ll be mounting this on a stretched canvas frame.

Send out positive thoughts that I’ll be able to move everything into my wonderful new storage area by Wednesday and open my doors to throngs of art appreciators by Friday evening.

Open Studios Invitation

Still getting ready for…

Over 30 artisans in our building will open their studios for this First Friday event in Rochester, NY.  I plan to have works in process on my print table on Saturday and demonstrate the improvisational screen print techniques that I use in my own work.

When: Friday, Dec 3, 5-9PM, Saturday, Dec 4, 12-4 PM

Where:1115 East Main Street (near Goodman), Rochester, NY

I’ll also invite people to leave samples of their handwriting. I’m working on an idea for people to write down phrases or single words and mount them on my design wall wherever they choose. They’ll be part of composing it.

Meanwhile, I decided after 9 years, it was time to repaint my studio walls. My husband volunteered to help and I picked this deep charcoal color for accent walls.

We’ve painted two charcoal and the rest white.  The white post above also just got painted charcoal to tie in the two walls.

 

But, do I pull out all the stops and paint the wall on the right charcoal as well --  or will that make the space feel dark and closed in? It already is mighty gray in the Northeast!

Meanwhile, it’s time to plan what works to hang in the space and where – and just how much of the storage stuff along the left hand wall to leave and how much to store in the wet room area through that open door on the right.

I’m arranging for a storage area right next to my studio through the wet room. That should REALLY take away a lot of the cluttered feeling in the space. I can’t wait!

Hello, Charcoal Wall

In what is a bold-for-me choice, I am following an impulse to paint one or two walls in my studio  this deep charcoal. If I hate it once it’s done, I can repaint it. No doubt without my husband’s help the second time around, however.

I’ve debated a host of color options but I keep coming back to the idea of a smoky dark wall – or maybe two -- against ivory colored walls.

 

              

I’ve tested golds and ochres and even some greens – but no go. The golds were too overpowering, the greens seemed nice but the charcoal kept calling me back. And you KNOW what we all say about listening to that little voice inside. I hung this small piece up to gauge how my work would look against bright versus dark backdrops. The dark definitely makes it pop.

Aside from all these intense color contemplations, I finished my latest Pages piece. Professional photography would give this a whole lot better definition, but this Coolpix snapshot at least gives you the basic idea of what “Clean Slate, New Chapter” looks like. It’s 20” x 20” and mounted on window screening which has been stretched and stapled to a canvas wrapped stretcher frame. I hope people will understand the idea and take the time to appreciate it because it is so subtle.  This will hang at the Rochester Contemporary member exhibition until the beginning of January.

I’m working on a grouping of these where the pages will  begin to fill with marks and the meaning begins to reveal through the writing.

I haven’t the foggiest idea of whether this is going to work but I’m having fun envisioning these evolving!