My Stars

Aren't i a lucky girl!!!! Look what arrived from Jackie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Replete with an enormous fold of teabag paper, silk paper and silk velvets, she also included a fabulous card, one of her very special brooches that i shall wear to work and to textile thingies, but best of all, one of her Originals, which i am going to frame and hang in pride of place by my desk. THANK YOU SWEETIE!!!!!!

The same day i also received Julie's 2nd ECRR piece from Liz and look at what was in as a prezzie for me from Liz! Scrunchy tactiley texture rich hand spun and dyed yarns----mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Some of Jackie's silk paper and some of Liz's yarns will be used in the interior of my 2nd Hoodoo piece---i want rich and depth, and these 2 elements are more than beautifully enobled in their "contributions"/gifts----and i WILL give credit :}

Yesterday was quite an adventure for Greyman and i---we went out to Horseshoe Canyon, leaving very early so we could arrive and explore in (relative) coolness. For three and a half hours we wandered the bottom, scrambled up hills and knobs and gloried in the strange beauty there. There aren't as many sterling examples of the Hoodoo formation as there are in Drumheller, probably because it's sunk way into the earth and more protected, but i did manage to get a few shots for the ol' file. 

By the time we were done, it was 37 degrees (celsius here, 99F for you "ferriners") and we were exhausted! Climbing down the last knob, i slipped and not only wrenched my bad knee, but scraped the other and badly bruised both palms----gave my heart a good workout too, with the fright :} Getting out of the canyon was quite an experience as well--as you rose with the paths, i noticed three very distinct temperature rises---a wall of heat that just made me sick; nearly barfed by the time we got to the top. BUT, i'd do it again!!!!!

Im hoping to do some work today on the interior piece. The sketching for that part is done and now it's time to pour the percolation!

Life is so rich with occassion that there's always a reason to pose

Horseshoe Canyon, near Drumheller. She wanted to see her roots. 37 degrees C (99F), so she moved into the shade.

Backdrops and caprocks

Hoodoos (geology)
Drumheller Hoodoos

Milk River Hoodoos

And in case you are doing Recon for any little army!

 "When lighted by the morning sun the gorgeous chasm is an immense bowl
 of lace and filigree work in stone, colored with the white of frost
 and the pinks of glowing embers. To those who have not forgotten the
 story books of childhood it suggests a playground for fairies. In
another aspect it seems a smoldering inferno where goblins and demons
 might dwell among flames and embers."¹ This description is one attempt
of many to capture in words the awesome beauty  that
 erosion has shaped colorful limestones, sandstones, and mudstones
into a spectacular array of spires, fins, and pinnacles known as "hoodoos."

Me, on a Drumheller Hoodoo:

 

That's a small Hoodoo---some are stories high!!!!!

And the start! I'm combining several earthy fabrics, all cottons either hand dyed or rusted. I have a confession to make about one though--i am totally embarrassed that i can't remember who sent me this piece:

 If it was YOU, please tell me so i can give credit!

This piece will actually be lighter and brighter than the sketch in the previous entry; here's the Caprock top, started:

 

I watered down acrylics to add some shadows to some of my rusted fabric, quilted with invisible thread (yay), and have started the "edge" that will shape down into the bottom of the caprock. What i'm really excited about though is doing the interior piece that will show in the hollow---hoodoos aren't hollow, though some may have holes due to ironstone falling out of the softer limestone, but artistic license says mine can be :}

The plan is to make this at least 19" high, but the work will tell how large it ends up :}

 

if i build it, will it hoodoo?

Sampling from sketches

It's too blamed hot to go to the source for Hoodoos today, and we don't quite trust Bertha (MIL's car) to get us there and back. Poor Bruce is up on blocks right now needing a new head gasket...

If you're not interested in seeing more Hoodoo work, go away right now. No hard feelings :} I'm documenting as i go along, so if it's just for me, so be it.

I thought i'd do some actual textile sampling today, working from one of my reference "sketches", actually yesterday's collage. Because i want some dimension, though not an "in the round" form, i worked on faced applique. I used some of my previously rusted fabric and a hand dyed Procion piece as well, some batting, painting and stitching.

I like the reverse almost as much as the front, so that's another idea for the notations section :} Very graphic, very line oriented:

I am totally in love with the front side though:

This isn't the final formation these pieces will take, merely a record of them. I may go 3d with them or apply them to a "flat" surface, not sure yet.

Update on Sun, August 17, 2008 at 11:52AM by arlee

possibly obsessed but definitely focused

"Often collage develops into an exuberant celebration of colour and textural qualities....since we read colour faster than numbers or letters, it can be our most immediate perception." _{from Chapter Two "Ways of seeing/Different approaches." Kay Greenless "Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderer's and Textile Artists"}

I have never deliberately done a collage beyond throwing a pile of papers or fabrics in random shapes and letting them do what they will. They usually are not particularly a "Subject" for me, or a medium specific technique. While i don't avoid them, i don't consciously use them as a design aid either.  Live and learn though, that's the new rule---the only rule i have ever

followed i suppose---all other rules are meant to be broken or at least creatively bent in my world.

Since i have no "life models" at the moment i image googled Hoodoos-----did you know some are pink and some are stories high???? I cropped, chopped, combined and changed brightness, contrast and "effect", then printed the results on regular computer paper. (This also nicely ties in with the "E Book" chapter in Greenlees book, explaining the value and use of digital work.) Then i overpainted and collaged---not terribly inventive collage, but quite evocative for me. I love these colours and shapes, there are some textures and lighting implied and this again i would love to do with more dimension. (Can't show the notes page of that part, as it's still raw and being invented:})

I haven't given myself a time line with this project, theme or series, but am hoping that enough ideas will be generated and focused that i can start actual textile translation sometime at the end of the month. Or sooner :}

If you're getting bored, sorry! A few little things coming up through next week that are nothing to do with this presentation :}

and

words as well

Effluvial Bed

I've done the stitching on the bleed-through page i liked so much, and now both sides have attractive potential!

I didn't want the painted side to just be stitching like the previous experiment,  so i loosely sprinkled random scraps of tulle on it, pinned them so they wouldn't slide too much, then flipped it over and worked from the bleed side. Oooo Oooo Ooooo! After one pass with grey in the needle and black in the bobbin, it looked as if the other side would be as interesting, so i changed colours top and bottom a couple of times. YUM!

Bleedthrough side above. Reverse side below:

I also zapped it with the heat gun as the tulle was too "smooth" as is. You can't see the depth of texture unfortunately in the photo--it's not that it's highly dimensional, but the heat and stitching created little convex/cancave areas on both sides.

I like to title things and usually they just pop into my head. Had to dictionary myself though---"Effluvial Bed" sounded right, but does it make sense? Yes, if i use the third definition here :}

ef·flu·vi·um  

(ĭ-flōō'vē-əm)  n.   pl. ef·flu·vi·a (-vē-ə) or ef·flu·vi·ums A usually invisible emanation or exhalation, as of vapor or gas. A byproduct or residue; waste. The odorous fumes given off by waste or decaying matter. An impalpable emanation; an aura.

Since i like both sides of this piece and of the previous "double sided" page, i think i may have to develop the idea of inside and outside with this series.

sketchbooks and stalls

 Fortuitously this group was just started on Flickr and comes with a blog as well. I've offered to write entries for it as well, from the perspective of someone who uses a sketchbook as a workbook and who translates the work to another medium. Commmunity Sketchbook includes work by several of my favourite Flickr and online artists, notably Shawna Handke and Danny Mansmith. Shawna and Danny have collaborated in a project combining sketch with stitch, unique and fascinating, and i'm hoping to learn from them as well. (Love Danny's self portraits with a sewing machine trailing him :})

I'm kind of stalled, not badly though, with my sketchbook--i think i need to do some "samples" now, as my hoofies are itching to use what's on the pages already. We haven't been able to get out to Horseshoe Canyon or Drumheller so that i can get some face time with the real thing, but are hoping to tomorrow--it's been so bloody hot here--and that area is SO hot and still! We're planning on leaving at 6 in the morning to take advantage of early morn temps, though we're supposed to hit record levels this weekend. I'm taking the one Hoodoo i've finished with me, and she will be "posing in situ" :} I keep repeating the same shapes and colours and want to expand beyond the physical experience and appearance of these formations.

I've read through Greenlees entire book now and am assimilating it-----i don't know why i found it so intimidating before! I've bookmarked several sections and will explore them further in the next little while. After an online search, i found there were actually very few books devoted to this area of sketching---translating sketch to another medium hasn't had a lot of coverage.

We're off to the Inter Lakes area of the mountains today--cool cool water and trees---soaking up some moisture and green-ness before our little expedition tomorrow!

Hoodoo the Voodoo you do? I do.

This piece has definite possibilities and will probably go right to 3d form. This is the side i thought was the most "useful" when i painted it:

MEH. The colours are less vibrant now they are dry, it doesn't speak to me as *creating* it did, and the darn paper had a crease that dried very evidently. Looks more like a people too than what i had intended.

This is the reverse, just thought it would be a bleed through, nothing exciting or potentially HAWT. HA! I LOVE this side---outlined some of the areas with black magic marker and since i want to do stitching on this page as well, will concentrate on filling in between the spots. Reminds me of the fallen bits of shale and the limestone sand that surrounds the hoodoos and slowly blows or flows away, depending on wind and rain to create the patterns.

I believe i will even use some of the paper i've used in these pages as the main "fabric"---i still have a huge chunk of the tablecloth left. I love garbage! I love recycling! I think this will become the "bed" that my cores and hoodoos and hubs etc will rest on---still an idea in process at this point though.

I'm feelin' the magic now. Hoodoo Voodoo!