Haystack Journaling #2

It's still Tuesday late afternoon. We've had an amazingly productive workday. The students have gotten some tools done and their chasings started. The students come with a wide variety of experience, and lack of experience, which keeps me on my toes. I love seeing the moment when something clicks, maybe the heat color, maybe the flop of the hammer, maybe the tapping motion.

No I did not work on the commission design at all, well maybe 10 minutes, but not enough to price, copy, and fax out.

I've really tried hard to figure out a way to bring the photos to you. The internet connection isn't fast enough. I tried to cellphone them in to flickr, but no luck. Alltel is fantastic, but US Cellular is bad. US Cellular handles the lines around here and doesn't allow data transfer on their lines. Alltel customer service, real people, spent lots of time on the phone with me, figuring out the problem.

So I'll write for 2 weeks. It'll build character...

6-4-08
Jodi, I'll try to get the dates right for you. No promises. I rely on my computer at home to tell me the date. Even then I get it wrong at times.

It's Wednesday morning. I'm having my first cup of coffee in the lodge/dining hall, rather than out on the rocks. But yes, of course I will go to the rocks today. There is a very rustic path that winds around the perimeter of the school property, mostly following the coastline. It's lightly marked with blue paint dots on trees, yet still hard to follow at times. The forest floor is a spongy layer of spruce needles and moss, grown up thick over huge solid rock. Some of the trees are tall, towering overhead. Other sections, where the spongy layer is thinner, are like bonsai forests, miniature clumps of spruce with lichen shrubs and wild strawberries for flowers. Roots twist all over the forest floor, making these bronchial (?) structures, that remind me of the anatomy diagrams of our lungs. Combined with the spongy nature of the forest floor, it feels like I'm walking on the huge respiratory organ of the coastal forest.

6-5-08
It's Thursday morning, I think. Do I have the date right? I'm lazy here. I feel tired. Usually I work late at workshops and get up early. Maybe it's the ocean chill. Here I like to sleep under my electric blanket for my full 8 hours and then wake up slowly, enjoying the warmth. I meant to walk the path in the early morning today and write about the abundant mosses and lichens. Still, I'm being lazy. I dragged myself out of the bed, dressed in layers, and walked groggily up to the dining hall – to sit on a soft couch in front of a cozy wood fire, with a sweet milky cup of coffee.

My skin is super soft here. At lectures, or any time I sit idle, I put my hands up my sleeves to feel my smooth silky elbows. I think of those lotion commercials, with alligator skin and the lotion that cures it. Those lotions never work. But here my elbows are perfect. (I really should check my knees.) It must be the salty moist ocean air and perhaps even the cool temperatures.

I have finished one chasing, on a 6x6 inch enameling steel panel. Enameling steel is the lowest carbon steel easily available in small quantities. The lower carbon makes it not softer, but more malleable, more stretchy. I can push this stuff. So I did. I made a very high relief steel heart. The idea was to make a steel heart, asymmetrical, one larger higher side, with a staircase lifting out of the highest side. The heart and the height were successful, but the staircase is just, well, not great. If I want to follow through on the idea, I need to re-sketch it and do it again. I'm trying to decide if it's an idea that I should follow through on, or if the idea will lose its appeal once I leave the wood and root staircases of Haystack. I've got another steel heart nearly done, that will stay more leafy and swirly. Which ideas do I make next? Do I make them in bronze or steel? Do I make them with men or women in mind? Do I make them jewelry scale or small art scale? I've got requests for dragonflies, fish, acorns- all sorts of things that could keep me busy. I've got those designs to finish and fax off. 
I have work to do.
I'll think about what's next and let you know.

Haystack Journaling #1

6-3-2008
I'm here at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I do have internet access, but it's dial-up and it's not wireless. Oh sure, there's a wireless transmitter, but it's not transmitting anything. So I'll type, save, and perhaps transfer it to this blog, connection permitting. If nothing else, you will read this after I return.

It's beautiful here, all spruce forest along a rocky oceanfront. I hear the ocean waves as I go to sleep at night and and can see the ocean from my cabin window. I brought along an electric blanket, so I would be cozy in the unheated cabin.

Still I have to admit. I was much more impressed 14 years ago. Perhaps enchanted is a better word, because I am still impressed by this beauty, but not so enchanted . Fourteen years ago I was younger, much less focused, much more romantic, much more dreamy and didn't have any kids. Now I look around and think that it's a beautiful place, and that's it. No more. No less. It's another beautiful place.

I used to need a beautiful place to find a center, or to find inspiration. Now it's centered inside me and the rest is frosting. If I required seclusion to make art, I'd never get anything done.

Bring me back! Give me kids, husband, distractions, chores! Give me Disney Pirates online! Give me a lot of coffee, super dark chocolate, and a little gin. Give me my own quiet studio out in the country, with fully equipped high speed dsl and satellite tv, at least Dr. Who.
Give me life with all of its mundane interruptions. Just don't expect me to get the housework done.

6-4-08
Tuesday morning now.
I was first to give my digital presentation for the session, my reasonable 25 minutes, all done last night. So that minor stress is done, and was actually enjoyable. This morning I've brought my coffee and my Asus eeepc out to the rocks over looking the ocean. I prefer a wood surface in the cold mornings, but the yoga folks have taken over the oceanside deck. I edited my last entry and promptly spilled all but one mouthful of my coffee. Grrrr. I haven't sketched any of the leafy stuff around here, tucked into struggling pockets of sun under the spruce canopy, or at the edges of the forest where the sun brings out the fiercest weeds. I may get to that in a few days. Maybe I'm having a leaf rebellion.

A client called the house inquiring about a design that I've neglected. My husband told her that he thought I had it done. So today I may work on a rough for that design and fax it out, assuming that they do have fax. I'm not sure I have time for this commission, but right now it seems manageable, or at least appealing enough to fit in.

My butt is getting cold out here on the rocks and it's time for a coffee refill. Hopefully I can get this text posted, for you all, sometime today.

Exercises in Creativity

It's time for the Jewelry Blog Carnival Again! It actually starts on Friday, but I needed to get mine done today.
This month's topic is "what you do to jump start your creativity". After you read mine, please surf on over to the other member blog entries, but make sure you check them on Friday.

http://lorahartjewels.blogspot.com/
http://www.creativetexturetools.com/news/
http://www.fleseri.com/blog/
http://angelacrispin.canalblog.com/
http://penny-candies.blogspot.com/
http://gentrydesignco.typepad.com/jewelrydesignchronicles/
http://chris-parry.blogspot.com
http://www.lorrene-davis-designs.blogspot.com/

When I was younger and seriously feeling a lack of direction, I decided to start sketching every day for 15 minutes. I allowed myself to sketch anything, from my big toe up to a more detailed animal, but I kept it quite disciplined with the time. After about six weeks, I could see a direction evolving in my sketches, which in turn gave me a direction in my metalwork and my personal style.

These days I have lots of ideas but very little time. Often, when I do need that jump start, it's for custom work, ideas for a rather open-ended commission request.
So- some of the things I do now....

1. Pull out all of my samples, scraps and UFOS (unfinished objects) and then start working collage style, to make small sculpture or wallpieces. I force myself to work quickly and intuitively, often finishing several pieces in a day.

This "English Ivy" series of 8 small wallpieces, evolved in that way. I had 8 small english ivy leaf chasings and very ideas on how to use them. I picked up all all of my textured metal scraps and started composing. If you click on one of the photos, you will be taken to my photostream on flickr that includes the rest of the series. Many of them are also available in the chasing and repoussé section of my Etsy shop.

2. Work on a smaller custom request. I get lots of requests for smaller pieces, usually jewelry, and often in a subject I haven't addressed yet. If I'm stumped or frustrated with another project, I will turn to one of these jewelry requests and shake things up a bit. These recent copper rings and steel bracelets evolved from this approach.

This approach seems to lead me to great limited production items for my shop and art shows, pieces that I wouldn't have made without the challenge of a customer's request.

3. Work on something completely different, with no intentions of selling or exhibiting. This is lots of fun- to craft for the sheer joy of crafting! When I do this, I let myself work on simple processes and themes. I typically work in traditional fiber arts , like knitting, crochet and now felting. I make pieces that are much different than my metalwork. They are usually abstract explorations of form, color, and most importantly, JOY.



I did the hats in 2006/2007. This year I've been exploring simple common forms like hearts, balls, acorns... making ornaments for next Christmas.
And YES! It does carry over into my metalwork.

Postcard / thank you note

I never claimed to be a graphic designer....

but I do like how it turned out.

This postcard design will be a thank you note that I use when shipping out purchases. To see it in greater detail, go to its flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/knitsteel/1302250673/

Sketchbook, Kids, and Collaborations

I finally did it. I went out and bought myself a new spiral bound standard black cover sketchbook. I do have a lovely sketchbook that I bought on Etsy several years ago from Gnewfry, my first purchase ever on Etsy. It's great for some things, but I just don't use it often enough. I really like those hard cover big black sketchbooks. They're easy for me to carry. I can draw a lot on a big page. I can shove a pen on the spiral. I can personalize it. Nothing is sacred, which makes it perfect for sketching without self-consciousness. I'm back to doing fifteen minutes a day- anything, sketching, collage, paint, whatever.
Here's the back cover. I use Modge Podge to glue things on.

I used to be quite strict about not letting my children draw in or touch my sketchbook. Well, I've given up. I still don't like them drawing in it, but I do ask them to create drawings on other paper that I can collage into my sketchbook. My sketchbooks are the closest thing to a diary that I'll ever keep. My children ought to be a part of them. If the books survive that long, my children will hopefully keep and treasure them, as insight into their mother, long after I'm gone.

I'm also finding that I can learn a lot about making art from my kids.

The left side is the inside front cover, filled up with kids paintings.

The paper is thin, so I do the ink drawings on one side and paste the collage stuff on the back side. Yes, it warps the paper, but nothing is sacred. Remember?

Here's that butterfly sketch that you wanted to see crunchy.

My daughter loves to play Teacher. The role suits her well. She has the perfect facial expressions that she was either born with, or learned from her great daycare teachers, or both. She keeps wanting to play Teacher and give me art lessons. I finally thought- why not? I've been wanting to take a workshop, do something that I'd never do. What could be better than to learn Kid Art? I especially enjoy her spontaneous use of line and color. Here are our creations. We each get one piece of paper and share the box of Prismacolors. She draws a line or shape, then I color it. She chooses the colors she wants me to use or occasionally lets me pick my own. In these two pictures, her version is on the right side. Mine is on the left.

I like how her lines can have so much more variation in darkness and texture. She is still a kid. She doesn't control her fingers perfectly or deliberately, as we adults do. I would have never put a huge solid black ink shape in the middle of a colored piece, but it works on hers. I'm always trying not to abuse the Prismacolors. She doesn't care, so she'll drive them right into the paper. She has a quality to her artwork now that we adults have to work to re-create. I'm so lucky to be able to take lessons from her. I can see that I need to work harder at it . I'm so glad that we're using my expensive prismacolors (her idea), instead of my cheapie idea of wanting to use her crayons.

My next goal is to get the kids texturing metal in the studio. I need to buy another pair of ear muffs and get a safe clean spot set up for them. They may not want to do it for long, but they always love a little hammering. I think they'd also like to punch holes in metal with a centerpunch. It would be fun to do some collaborative collage jewelry with them.

Please take this topic to your own blogs. I'd love to see how your children teach you art and how you incorporate them into your creative activities. Let me be clear. I still have some strict limits, based on their safety and my own sanity, but we're making progress here...