Assemblage improvement

Here are a couple of exercises from Fall Term watercolor class.

The third image (sent by my wonderful instructor) is a Photoshopped version of the assemblage shown in previous post. She electronically replaced a very messy background with white.

The plain background holds the assemblage together surprisingly well.

Class exercise using salt and sponge

Timed exercise on primed cardboard

Final project revisited -- what a difference a plain backdrop makes. 19 people can make a composition in five minutes!

More "All Hands on Deck"

Quick works from my Fall Term watercolor class:

Timed painting of a model who came to our class

Abstract with trilobite - class exercise

Detail from "All Hands on Deck" assemblage

Experiment in assemblage -- 19 people had 5 minutes to mount the above group of figures

At first, the figures were going to be rendered on large and small squares, then reassembled

Reference Photos

Reference photos for "All Hands on Deck" triptych. (Fall Term W/C class, P6.)

Looms 3

More images from The Book of Looms by Eric Broudy:

The jacks are especially intriguing...

I want to make one of these looms to try, but the pit could be a challenge...

This is the device used to weave a header for a warp-weighted weaving

Kitchen Island

This Spring we began to remodel our kitchen and several elements are now complete:  two pantries (one with a prep sink), a stainless steel chimney hood, and fresh paint (three new colors in all).

Today we will install  a 3' x 5' freestanding island boasting 17 drawers and plenty of workspace on all four sides.

Yesterday we completed the platform which will securely tie the island's five base cabinets to the floor. As neither of us has carpentry experience, we are quite pleased with the results:

The platform for our new kitchen island is ready!

Monotypes

Cleaning out some 2009 files yielded remnants of a printmaking class. One is a rough proof and the other two are rather quick sketches. Thought I would log them in as a reminder to do a future series on music...

Blanket #5

The fifth of a series of knitted blankets is done.  The handspun Blue-faced Leicester yarn is delightful to sleep under!

This one weighs 6 pounds and measures 5 feet by 7 feet.

Getting this project done frees up time to experiment with creating a good-sized rug from felted roving...

Looms 2

Here are several more loom illustrations found in Eric Broudy's "The Book of Looms." (see 5/26/13 post) Over the millennia, textile-making has taken so many forms!

Watercolor Archive 3

Timed warmups and homework, Spring 2013:

Watercolor Archive 2

More timed warm-ups from Spring 2013 WC class:

Watercolor Archive

Putting away materials from the Spring Term class -- a couple of timed sketches done for practice:

Watercolor Final -- installation

We had our final presentations in Watercolor Class today. Everyone's projects were beautifully conceived and executed. This is the best art class I've ever attended. As our instructor says, it's a safe environment for saying stuff that really matters to you.

Symbolism: freeways (youth), rivers (age), twigs with red cloth wrapping (death and life force combining), sewing thread (people's connections to each other and to whole landscapes making up a life)

Watercolor Final, rough draft

The final project for my watercolor class (worth 20% of the grade for the term) is due next Friday. Last week my teacher gave feedback on my rough draft: 1) "great idea, do not abandon it," and 2) "every element has to have a reason related to the piece's central idea."

Following up on earlier assignments about a "veil" obscuring an expanded set of possibilities, the final piece involves a cut-paper design which floats 2 inches above a landscape. The latter was originally planned to be the aerial view of a river (plus water-dwelling critters) painted on a 5-foot-long rectangle. "Sounds more like a 6-month project than a 6-day one," was another bit of (accurate) feedback! One can try for a simplified version this week and continue the series in a future class.

For the present, the curly wire legs holding up the hoops are "history." Ditto the brown paper border beneath the river...

In this rough draft version of the final installation, interlocking freeway cloverleafs form a veil obscuring the view below.

A freeway interchange hovers as a "veil" obscuring the view of the river beneath. Threads from above will replace the wire legs.

An Evening of Renaissance Song

Our early music vocal ensemble has prepared a concert for Wednesday, June 12. We've worked hard for many months to prepare songs in French, German, Italian, Latin, and English. It's going to be lovely!



Our concert poster

Watercolor 7, Teapot

Another assignment posted in the hallway display at PCC -- in this one, we were to paint the same object and its shadow three times...

Watercolor 6, Rocks

Our Watercolor class at PCC had a display in the hallway, which just came down last week. Here are some paintings that were included.