another successful drink & draw weekend

i had a little weekend getaway with a few friends. one of them has moved over to fyn (the island between us here on the "mainland" and the big island where they keep copenhagen) to an idyllic little village and opened a gallery and B&B. so charming! and she's got a beautiful studio, where she showed us how to do the monoprint technique she's been working with of late. we used "china paper" - a thin, but surprisingly strong paper that can take a lot of layers of paint and texture.

so much fun. we each chose a color palette and after a walk, to gather bits and bobs from nature, we settled in to work. we used a variety of techniques - painting with acrylics, using gel pens, printing with feathers and plants, slowly building up texture on our pieces.

i found myself working with mustard yellow, teal, payne's grey (it looks quite black in these photos) and a peachy color that i mixed, plus the odd metallic gold accent. it was interesting how we were each drawn to a specific palette that i'm not sure any of us consciously knew we had in our heads.

some of my pieces worked and some didn't. some worked for awhile and then stopped working. it was an interesting process and one which i thoroughly enjoyed, but never really felt i had control over.

through it all, we laughed and drank some wine and enjoyed some good vegetarian chili, told stories, shared and laughed some more. we had moments of silence, deeply concentrating on our work, and then more laughter and sharing. it was that kind of powerful feminine medicine that you just need once in awhile.

i was surprised by the direction some of my pieces took - these two got rather dark after i became inspired to use a bit of dusty grey pastels on them, giving them a very different look than my other, bright pieces (underneath, the palette is the same). and some of my old favorite helleristning motifs came out from somewhere in my subconscious. it felt right, like moments of flow always do.

here's the end result of one of the others - i think you can tell that she's actually educated as an artist.

this friend did two rounds of the small sheets of chinese paper, with very different color palettes. she felt the second round went much better than the first. but sometimes it does take warming up when you're learning a new technique.

and our hostess, who had been working with the technique for some time, made some beautifully textured, multi-layered pieces. beautiful to see the individual ways our creativity manifested itself, expressing something utterly unique, using similar materials. magical. we definitely need to do this more often.

bare breasts and bare souls

on thursday, we held an opening reception for our torso project. around 70 people stopped by to see the results. a friend came by, just as we were leaving, with an australian rotary exchange person in tow and i ended up staying another hour, talking to them and sharing a bottle of australian shiraz. it was, in all estimations, a success.

i still think the plain white torsos give the starkest, most artistic impression. but it's true that they are not autobiography in the same way as the others. the expression we individually chose was as unique as we ourselves are and somehow, seeing them all there, hanging together (they're suspended with wire and hanging on hangers), dismissed some of my earlier concerns about whether or not they are art. hanging there all together, representing some sense of community and fellowship and womanhood, it didn't matter anymore whether they are art or not.

i am one of the few who included a look towards the future in the way i chose to express myself at this moment. the sewn paper garland hanging on the inside is my bucket list. it contains goals both lofty (publish a book) and not-so-lofty (befriend a fox).

many of the others covered theirs in photos of their friends and family. despite the central importance of photography to me, i did not want to use photos on mine. i chose instead drawings of places and things that are important to me (chicago, moscow, copenhagen, macedonia) and cameras. there are a few helleristning, because i love those and find deep meaning in their simple lines.

probably most important are the newspaper words that are underneath - both visible and not visible. mostly in danish, mostly because those are the newspapers i had at hand, but expressing fragments of sentiments like "seeking authenticity" and "can the danes be changed in 5 minutes?" and "abnormal is the new normal" and "men are from mars, women from venus, children from heaven and bush is from a very ugly place filled with fear and punishment." that one i'd been saving for awhile.

as agreed, my birth certificate is there, on the inside and you'd have to know what it looks like in order to find it. mine is painted that same blue - a sort of julie blue - inside and out and it somehow represents a kind of peacefulness to me. i also spritzed it with my favorite perfume of the moment (sisley no. 2), so my torso is even scented. each torso is as unique as can be, expressing something meaningful to each of us, but also transmitting meaning to those who come to look. it is an intimate, personal exhibition, letting all of the imperfections quite literally hang out for all to see, but also presenting a coherent whole somehow. a little window into our individual souls, as expressed on our very bodies. pretty powerful stuff, actually.

finishing my torso (for now)

we're going to show our torsos this thursday with a big opening splash! so i've been frantically working on finishing mine. it's been sitting there on the sideboard, covered in words, painted blue, but unfinished.  i know i want to somehow incorporate some feathers, but i don't know yet how - perhaps this little feather bouquet i found on the beach contains an answer to that.

otherwise, i've been sketching and painting some small drawings of places i love and places which have been influential in my life to decorate the torso. this is the church of sv. jovan kaneo (john the baptist, if i remember correctly) at lake ohrid. influential since i met husband in macedonia, tho' not in ohrid.

st. basil's to signify my russian soul. i sketched or printed old sketches onto some pages from an old encyclopedia - that way the pictures still incorporate words, as words are important to my conception of my torso (and thus myself).

i couldn't resist using the colorful houses of nyhavn in copenhagen to represent denmark, which has, you may imagine, become an enormous influence upon me, having lived here for 15 years now. i loved those colorful houses along the canal when i first visited and seeing them still makes me smile.

and chicago, a sort of composite of places and buildings and that chicago pizza. it's the place from which i jumped off to my life in europe, so it had to be there.

and i couldn't resist a few helleristninger (nordic petroglyphs). they just speak to my soul. i drew them with that fabulous payne's grey ink.

i love this circle of life helleristning. it's long been a favorite. and symbolizes a feeling of community that spans the world (and which centers on this blog in many ways). it is essential to include on my torso.

these were some new helleristning that i came across that i'd never seen before. i love how the one figure appears to be floating away on a balloon. that felt symbolic and important as well. and in general i love that circle with the cross inside - it's the nordic sun symbol. light is so important in this part of the world, that it had to be included.

it is once again evident to me that i am a person in need of a deadline. i'd been procrastinating working on this and tho' i've thought about it pretty much endlessly, nothing was happening on it. but now, when the exhibition looms, ideas are coming together. i came across a package of little bitty people that i found in an antique store in the US last summer and i thought that since i've not used any photos of husband and sabin, that i'd use some little bitty figures to signify them. i included sabin's lost twin as well, because she's also part of who i am.

funny how once you start working, you get in a state of flow and ideas come and things just begin to happen. a garland on which i've written a bucket list to decorate the hanger. in that flow, i hit upon a way to incorporate a few feathers, which i seem to collect wherever i go.

i don't think i will be able to declare my torso officially finished on thursday when it goes to the exhibition, but it will be finished enough to show. i suspect that i will continue adding to it and it will change and grow evolve. just like me.

stitches and paper and paint, oh my!

another of the techniques we learned at anne brodersen's wonderful weekend course involved small embroideries and bits of torn handmade paper that we painted with watercolors. we tore up a 5x7 piece of rice paper and assembled the little bits on a sheet of scrap paper.

then we painted them with watercolors, in colors we thought either matched our small embroideries or (if you were me) colors we liked. i had no idea what my embroideries would look like, as i had to rush home and make some that evening while watching downton abbey (episode 2, season 3, so shh on what's going to happen).

yup, another shot of those fetching watercolors. what is it about them? they're so photogenic.

the next day, our little bits of tissue-like paper were dry and we could begin to assemble them into a collage. i stitched up some small fantasy animals based on helleristning (it was either that or feathers).

we laid out the little stitchings and our bits of paper into a pleasing pattern and then pinned them to the handmade paper base underneath. the next step was to stitch them all in place. it was a bit challenging not to get all tangled up and poked by pins at first, but it got easier as you could remove pins on the bits that were sewn down.

tho' anne recommended using a fine thread, i chose this variegated thread that was a bit thicker because the colors were perfect with the colors that i had painted on my bits of paper.

i like the confetti-like quality it gave in the end, tho' i'm not entirely convinced it matches my little paleoglyph animals. they are a bit frolicsome, so i'm choosing to view it as a good first attempt. everyone i show these to likes this one best (my own favorite is the one with husband). it has a very cheery, bright, happy quality that i think accurately reflected how i felt at the course.

this is what elizabeth made - you can see that her single-thread stitches (from a neat old spool of variegated blue thread that i picked up in an antique store in the states last summer and gave to her) have quite a different feel. her sweet little circle stitchings tell a story of the barriers we have around us as people and of a family. but i'll let her tell you that story herself (she hasn't told it yet, but do keep checking her blog, as i'm sure she will).

our other fellow-student created this bright, springy, eastery piece. it also has a bright, cheery quality that i think reflected how we all felt at the course - happy and open and bursting with color and creativity. it was such a wonderful environment, working with a patient and good teacher in her light, inviting, inspiring atelier.

and this last piece shows how anne herself has used the technique. she's more sparing with the stitches attaching the paper bits. and i am very inspired by her teeny tiny embroideries. i'll definitely be pursuing this technique as a way of incorporating some embroidery onto my torso.

it was such a wonderful, inspiring weekend and i'm not done telling you about it yet, so stay tuned for more. in fact, it made me so happy that the troglodyte's latest dictatorial outpourings just rolled right off me. proving that having good energy yourself can go a long way towards deflecting any bad energy you come across. it's just a matter of filling up the tank.

when rivers of ideas begin to flow

here's what happened with my green felted stone - in fact, in this shot, it's not even dry yet.  if you recall, i used lisa's stone felting tutorial. and i fussed about worried about over-thought pondered how to make it my own. with a little viking helleristning (petroglyph), i think i managed it. i'm not done with this idea yet.

* * *

i have spent a couple of very energizing days with a friend with whom i feel very much in synch. so many ideas surfaced and best of all, it feels like there is action and impetus behind the ideas, so some of them may even materialize. i had the strangest feeling after we met last friday (what i thought would be a 2-hour meeting turned into 5 because we were so crazy in flow)...it felt like a dam had been released inside me and all of the pent-up ideas and thoughts i had had in recent months just began to surface and tho' they were coming quickly, it feels like it's at a pace where i can grab and examine them. some of them had been there for awhile, but some were entirely new. it was positively elating. it's odd how you can get all blocked and not even realize it until you're not blocked anymore.

* * *

things i'm pondering:

what it might mean to be a social artist

community gardens.

art walls.

* * *

i think my keyboard may be menopausal - the period is getting pretty unpredictable.

sorry. bad joke. couldn't help myself.

* * *

what's your type?

find out here.

apparently i'm architype van doesburg (a brutally fair typeface).

play the game, if only to hear the narrator's awesome accent.

* * *

the p boards on pinterest: patchwork. peacocks. personal style. photos that make me think.

monday ephemera

you know what can totally make your monday? when someone starts it off by saying, "if you tell me to jump, i'll say how high." in fact, i think that's set the tone for my whole week - it's going to be a good one.

gold's curio store, sante fe

wouldn't you like to visit this place?
perhaps take in the monster show?

colorado, a pioneer merchant

this photo makes me think you don't have to have everything perfectly in order to be able to get started. you should just jump right in.
that's another motto for my week.

 these photos are from this fascinating collection of images of america from 1897 to 1924 by the detroit photographic company.

* * *

last week, the voynich manuscript, this week, the book of kells.

* * *

if you really love words and writing and even reading, read this.  

it will make you want to wake your verbs right up.

* * *

the h boards on pinterest: hairy, halloween, helleristning, homesteading, house ideas (this was one of my first boards on pinterest), husband could make this (a personal favorite).

erik is alive!

remember last june when we painted on some innocent vinbjerg snails in the garden? i named mine erik, since i had painted a little viking helleristning on it. well, until today, i never saw those snails again, but today, there was little erik, making his way around the garden, about 5 meters from where i had originally found him and painted on him.

i was so excited, i ran into the house to tell husband, but he looked at me bemusedly and waved me off. i don't know why he didn't think it was exciting that erik was not only fine, but had survived the winter and everything!

in light of my continuing inability to actually sit quietly and meditate, i decided to pick violets and make a batch, not of the jelly, but of violet cordial (i invent a new cocktail every year, you know).

it takes nearly an hour to fill this jar with violets. violets are small. which is why it's a meditative activity. it's also an activity you just have to do. there are no shortcuts. you have to find them and pick them all, one by one. it's good for your soul, i tell you.

i had to go all the way down to the lake (there are lots of violets out in our pasture) to gather enough. and when i was done, i felt totally calm and zen. just like they say you do after meditating.

and i also found this 5-leaf clover. which has to be even more lucky than a 4-leaf one, doesn't it?

and now i'm off to play with these beauties (heather moore's fabulous cut out & keep for cloud 9). the colors are so much better in real life than they look in photos. and super soft and wonderful.

market update: gone fishin'

everything's as ready as it's going to be, down to the tags. you might have gathered that i'm pretty excited about this market thing. i hope i won't have to report to you on sunday that it rained and no one came and that they hated all of our stuff, but i suppose there's a chance of that. regardless, it's been a great exercise for me. and i'll be listing in my various shops whatever doesn't sell early next week. and for those who want scarves, even if they all sell, i'll make more - i'm hooked and feel like it's the first thing i've made since the helleristning stones that really feels like something special. so watch this space next week, i'll definitely let you know when and where they're available.

the scarves are tagged and folded and ready to go.

since the whole market was started by the local fish monger, here at the last minute, i decided to make a little batch of fish. i bought the pattern in a local fabric store and am making them up of the beautiful cloud 9 organic cottons. i didn't have time to finish my nature walk plus quilt, but at least i'll have a few fish to show what can be made of these gorgeous fabrics (i'm going to have some fat quarter stacks available at the market).

i'm stuffing them with carded wool in keeping with the organic theme. and it makes such a difference to how it feels to work with organic and natural fibers and textiles. there really is a difference, especially when you're working with little fish that you're stuffing and handling quite a lot in the process. organic fabrics just seem warmer in your hands. and i like that very much.

more photos tomorrow of finished products. i've been so busy all day, i hardly stopped to take these photos. plus, the wind has been pretty fierce, so i couldn't go out to my quilt staging area in the garden. maybe tomorrow.  in any case, there will be many photos from the market on sunday.

thanks to everyone for the market well-wishes here, on flickr and on facebook!

panic sets in (in a good way)

my very first market draws near. it will be on saturday and i'll have a table, together with jude & elizabeth at a spring market in sønderborg. the local fish shop guy had the idea last year and they hold four of them per year. it's a mix of food and handmade items and they want to have a focus on organic - i imagine the june and august markets will have more local food. but i imagine a lot of things about the market, because i've never been to it, nor have i ever participated as a seller myself.

sabin has selected a few of her stones to sell as well (tho' i have to sneak a few back out since i want them!)

it feels like i've been working towards it for forever and a day, but i suppose it's really only since january. i have quite a good stash of items built up, but there are lot of unfinished items as well, that aren't going to make it this time. i'm trying to be kind to myself about that. i have plenty - i have birds and stones, a couple of quilts, a tea cozy, a coffee cozy, some sweet little duvet covers for the baby duvets they use here in denmark (baby dyne, as they're called), garlands. lots of items.

a new helleristning viking ship - now i'm branching out a bit more from the originals.

my sewing machine broke down in earnest on the weekend and i was a bit panicked as i have a number of unfinished things for the market that need sewing. but i came up with an idea for some scarves made of jersey that won't need any sewing! i found beautiful, thin, soft jersey in soft spring colors and got out my gocco printer.

i drew up some feathers and burned two screens and got to work with the fabric inks. i've done plenty of gocco with paper in the past, but not much with fabric. i learned so much about how the ink behaves and how the screens behave. the hours melted away as i worked on the scarves. in a very good way. it was definitely a feeling of being completely in flow. and that's what it's all about, really.

i am absolutely delighted with how they turned out. again, an instance of something that's even better in reality than it was when the picture popped into my head. it's also an interesting exercise in how necessity does indeed breed invention. i was a bit panicked about my sewing machine and wasn't sure i'd get it back in time to finish the last items that i wanted to take to the market, but then this idea came to me (surely a product of hours of browsing goodness on blogs and online - but also my own) and i was able to do it without needing the machine.

better photos of the scarves once they're totally dry. i'm really excited how they turned out! and while i had the screens out, i did a little stack of moleskines with feathers for the market as well.

i have all day tomorrow to finish the items i can finish (i DID get my machine back - more on that later, as it's a story itself) and then i'm ready. i'm really ready. i have no idea whether anything will sell, but if it doesn't,  my etsy and big cartel shops will be well-stocked next week. and the process itself has been worth it.