Dream

 A task in the Artist Way plan encourages dreams. I may be a quilter, stitcher, felter, surface designer, weaver, etc., but I am to explore my other dreams.  The day at Bishop Hill reminded me that working with clay has been in my dreams for ages. 

Field trip: Bishop Hill

 Bishop Hill is a quaint town about an hour south of my home. Started by Swedish immigrants,  it still has Nordic charm. A bit of shopping, delicious lunch, and time watching a potter. And time with family. It was a fabulous day.

Last solar print of the season

 Spurred on by an idea from a friend, I jumped into a bit of solar printing today using Dye-na-flow. My results are not the best, but I can now start my list of prints to work on next summer. Gosh, that seems like a long time from now!

I've been breaking and tumbling small bottles for a stitch project. I wondered what they would do with sun printing. I used Dye-na-flow teal. I was very windy outdoors, but I opted to not cover the 9 x 13 " pan. Some of the small pieces did roll around a little bit.

This serving plate was actually in the box to take to the thrift shop. Will it make a good print?

This tray was also going to the thrift shop. I decided to try black dye-na-flow

Results:

None of them are very amazing, but the black one is definitely a fail. Certainly a learning experience and an easy way to fit a little art into my day. I'll be on the lookout for some interesting glass pieces to try next year and will probably opt to use cyanotype instead of dye-na-flow

Moss

 One of the items on my dream list is to create forest installations. These would be fun and whimsical statements made from natural materials, made for fun and left for nature to take over and do her decay thing over time. It's been in my brain for a long time, but I realize that I just have to start. Start small. 

Moss growth on pots. Can it get any smaller?

I started by gathering some moss growing near our basement door.

Added beer, honey, and water

Yes - good beer!

Mixed it up in my witches copper cauldron. Not really necessary, but fun

Applied my mixture to a clay pot sunk into the ground. Now, I wait.

With any luck (and damp conditions), I'll have a lovely crop like this!

"Good Mess"

 I stumbled upon a YouTube that discussed "Good Mess", on @RealVintageDollhouse. As my goal is to live more Minimalist, I was surprised that this popped up on my feed. I'm glad it did. The conversation covered the idea that her home decor is based on old children's book illustrations. Very charming! 

My take away includes: 

    Decor can be a feast for the eyes

    My personal question - How much can my art studio actually hold (without collapsing the floor)?

    "Things" are not the enemy

    Questions on consumption (I have long felt that we all buy too much junk)

So now I take a good look at my extremely messy art studio. Yes, I'm even going to share a few pictures of my horrible buildup of chaos. Shame photos.

Goal - clean up some of the mess before leaving on my next trip.

How do I get anything done on this worktable?

Yes, threads and beads are organized by colour, but seriously - who needs this much?

Chairs do make for stacking, rather than sitting

A bit of order appears, but the stack on the right is actually empty containers, which just encourage more consumption

OMG - Why don't I just put the stuff away instead of having a table to put things on for later?

Seriously, there is an ironing board under this pile

This table was to be a place for drying painted journal pages. Obviously, the piles of mess are taking over here too

I used to have my PC on this table before moving it to my desk downstairs. Now, the table is just another storage spot and the chair is on the other side of the room used for stacking totes

The fabric stash is now also on the floor in the closet. Really?

Not too bad. Fabric is boxed and labeled by color. Journals are arranged in order by year. This is in the closet, so really no one sees this organization but me.

This always creeps me out when I go into the closet! It is a mink collar off my mom's coat. I can't part with it for some reason, but also find it rather alarming

I will add that this is the only room in the house that looks like this. It's a wonder I get any art done with such mess. Stayed tuned for cleaned art room photos!

    

New Book!

 

One of my Artist's Way tasks was to get rid of 5 articles of clothing. I try hard to keep up with weeding my closet on a regular basis (one thing new means to get rid of something old), so my option was to weed my books. I  came up with a box of 10 to take to the thrift store. My reward - order this amazing book! I had checked it out from the library and knew I had to own it. The cyanotype section caught my eye and in the coming year I see much experimental cyanotype.  

Gelli fun

 Today was a play at the library day. I certainly don't need more gelli prints, but it seems to be my go to when I need some serious play. Some of my favorites:

This was an interesting one. I did a print and the paper dried a bit too fast on the gelli plate. I started to remove it, then decided that it might actually be easier if I rolled on more paint and lifted off the paper. It didn't work, but the print I made was pretty cool. Looks like a bird, right?! I made a number of these prints, then washed off the gelli.

Using my origami crane stencil is putting me in the mood to leave for Japan!