A Show of my work at the Gallery@Spencer Lofts in Chelsea, MA

My first solo show opens in Chelsea, MA this Saturday, September 10th. I've been working on this show for 18 months. I am showing 26 works. I started the project with the idea of doing at least one drawing every day for a year and seeing how it influenced my work. I completed that promise to myself, and right now I'm just glad to be at the end of it! I've learned so much, and I'm pleased with the show. But now I'm ready to start thinking about new work. I love having my studio bare. Today I made some new pieces and it felt so good to start fresh. Not that I ever really start fresh, but something about having something finished is very energizing for me.

Drawing Project

Here are some drawings I've done today. I think I am being influenced by some change in the light and in the air. There is still plenty of snow lying about, and big, icy, dirty heaps of the stuff on the roadsides, but something says "Spring". So I'm going with that.

Some New Work

Here are some paintings and drawings I've been working on the past few days. I'm really turning my focus toward work for a solo show I am doing next September. I have been working on pieces for this show since last January, but now I have to step up the effort to a new level. I started thinking about the show as "the drawing project", which I've written about here this year. The drawings have led me into more abstract work exploring the theme of bubbles and circles. I'm currently pushing that to see where it will take me.

Developing Ideas

I'm working on a new set of textile designs and these little shapes are coming through to me as a possibility for expansion into a couple of designs. I used them in this drawing that I reworked yesterday. All of my drawings and sketchbooks from the daily drawing project I've been working on since last January are coming in handy right now. I'm never aware of how much processing I'm doing in my drawings until I start designing or working on larger, more resolved work. Then it becomes clear to me how valuable keeping a sketchbook (or three) going at all times is to my progress.

Drawing Lately

I've been away at a meditation retreat in Sonoma, California. We were in silence for 9 days. I kept up my drawing project practice, and these are some of the drawings I did. Silence is a powerful practice. I think I'll be trying to have some time every month where I observe silence. I felt like my drawings became more intimate, and this pleased me.

Deeper & Deeper

Yep. Deeper and deeper in love with drawing and collaging. I love this artist because she is so obviously in love with the process of making art. Line Juhl Hansen. I was pulling out materials to start a collage and I just thought "what will come of it all?" when I looked at this pile. That is what keeps me going...finding out. It's never what I think it will be. But I always handle whatever comes up somehow, and learn something. 

Little Boats

I have been in the studio on a good schedule lately. I'm working on these little boats or pods or whatever they are, in everything I'm doing. They are getting combined with other shapes I'm playing with for my fabric designing project. I'm layering different washes and adding many details to these works. I like to use iridescent inks but they make them difficult to photograph. Using tools well is so important. I have good brushes and good materials and paper, but I always need to learn how to use them better. I find that what keeps me going is the desire to really craft something so that I can make something of beauty. I was thinking yesterday as I was working on this piece about that song with the line "I'm going to make you love me"!

Daily Drawing

This is a large drawing done the other day as part of the drawing project. It's on heavy arches watercolor paper, but it's mixed media. I was working on some textile designs as well as the big WIP I've shown in previous posts...all at the same time. I like to work that way because it takes the pressure off being too precious on any one thing. I found this daily drawing project by artist Tina Berning. Take a look at it here.

New Things Happening

These are some designs for textiles that are growing out of the drawing project. They more free and open to me than what I did for the last batch of designs. I have so much to learn about this field, and am very engaged in that learning. Nature is always my inspiration. I think my interest in lichens is beginning to blossom on the page.

Playing with Soap Bubbles

Playing with soap bubbles. I spend way too much time at the kitchen sink! These are hard to photograph. So far they really look out of focus no matter how I shoot them..so I guess I have to experiment more with my camera. I'm planning to do a large drawing next, then play with some pale colors. I'm getting more and more micro pens to do what I want here.

Drawing in the Garden

Today was so summery I spent hours out in the garden just drawing in sketchbooks. I think the light in these photos captures the feeling of the experience pretty well. I've started to do the drawing project daily sketches in a sketchbook, rather than only on loose sheets of drawing paper, when I feel a bit tired. I always feel more free to experiment when I am using a sketchbook. I know some people feel nervous about sketchbooks, but I feel that I can do anything in them.

Lately

The color and pattern collages are still interesting to me. Composing with paper alone is so different than mixing color. I like the immediacy and freedom it offers. The tendency I have is to create an abstracted realism, so I'm focusing a bit more on abstraction. I always seesaw between these choices. I find the most freedom in pure abstract drawing in my sketchbooks. The drawing project is teaching me at least one thing very clearly: make at least one drawing every day no matter what. It's SO easy to find a reason not to draw! And they are valid, those reasons...but I find if I do it anyway I do get somewhere.

Drawing Project

I'm just drawing anything I feel like now. It has been very freeing...especially beginning to let go of having to do anything "good". I find I love to draw so much more now, and I want to become more skilled. But I also know this can be a trap that leads back into performance. So much happens when I stop trying to do something "good"! I have just begun to learn.

Drawing Project

Here's what I've learned since starting the drawing project on January 1st: structure is really helpful! Also, having discipline and just doing the practice everyday does eventually lead to learning and building skill. I am also learning lots about non-judgment and letting go of how I want my drawings to be.