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I received a postcard announcing a new solo exhibit by fiber artist Linda Laird. Luckily, there was a virtual exhibit on their website where I could zoom in and see every piece close up. The gallery is open by appointment only and you can see the actual pieces and how they are wonderfully hung to show off all both sides of these wonderful pieces.

I loved the alphabet theme of these works. And I loved the sayings on each of the pieces. I asked Linda to tell me more and here is what she had to say…

“I made the first 2 pieces, A and B, for the SAQA poster call for entry in late 2016. They were declined for that show, but I had so much fun making them I thought, “Why not the whole alphabet?”, and was off and running. I had been using text in my work for a few years before, but choosing aphorisms that featured a letter of the alphabet as a key word gave me a focused direction for the 26-piece series. I also used the size from the SAQA call for entry, 32”w x 48”hl as the standard format, as I was wanting to work bigger and bolder. From my costuming career, I work very clean, tight, and “stage worthy”, so I purposely made these pieces as loose as I could, with raw edges, torn pieces, large hand stitching, and the minimal quilting to hold the layers together. More like a man artist, than a female seamstress!

There was not an overall context for the aphorisms. I collected them from several books, websites, and general reading. “Real Simple” magazine prints a pithy saying each month on the spine of each print copy. I chose sayings that spoke to me about real life in the present day world, even though they were written by men and women from around the world and often from distant times. Each piece has a manila hang tag with the author’s name, dates, nationality, and occupation. My object was to connect ideas from the past to the present, and encourage viewers to think about those connections.

“The virtual gallery is completely imaginary, but it looks huge and beautiful. In the actual gallery, the pieces are hung from single wires attached to slender metal brackets fastened perpendicular to the walls in a way that allows them to move at angles to the walls. It’s quite a festive collection of 26 posters that overlap each other, permitting the viewer to walk in between and around the pieces, seeing both fronts and backs. The fabric posters also move around from the hanging wires as viewers move past them. This hanging system comes with the show; the works can also be hung flat against the wall, or hung from a dropped grid ceiling to form aisles and passageways, thru which viewers can roam.”

If you cannot visit the actual gallery, be sure to visit the virtual one. Links below.

Linda Laird
https://lindalaird-studio.webs.com/

Manitou Art Center
Hagnauer Gallery
https://www.manitouartcenter.org/
Now through March 14, 2021

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I have always loved making marks. On fabric or in my journal. It's why I have a large collections of mark-making tools and now, thanks to a good friend, I've discovered an artist that is inspiring me to use these tools in a new way and I'm loving the process and results.

Here is a list of the tools I used to make this piece. But use anything you have. I will probably add some more tools when I work on another set of pieces tomorrow. Be creative and love the process!

Higgins Calligraphy Ink (waterproof)
Liquitex Acrylic Ink
Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil 2B
Progresso woodless pencil
Generals Charcoal pencil 6B
Sharpie Peel-Off China Marker
Stabilo Woody Crayon
Posca Paint Marker
Permaopaque Marker

Here's a link to the artist that is inspiring me now.

Red Queen Art Creations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0peXdAFjNo4

Enjoy!

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Finding a new tool that makes your life simple, is a wonderful way to create art!

I usually use a micron pen to do drawings but forget to make skipping lines or thick and thin lines to make my drawings more realistic. But this tool does it for me. AND, has the added feature of painting my background without my adding paint!

So try drawing with the Elegant Writer made by Speedball. Here's a great video that will show you how this pen can make your art effortless. I had fun doing this and hope you will too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBe6bG6ouZo

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I'm following Robyn who is doing a 52 week video challenge on YouTube and I'm trying to stretch my creative mind.

Here is a page spread in my 2021 journal.

It's a combination of gelli printing and collage. I don't know where this will end up but know that every week, I have some new ideas to consider.

Here's a link to week one if you want to participate. If so, I would love to see your journal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtGT5r9AiGE&t=0s

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When I started learning to use watercolor as a medium, I was totally intimidated by facing a blank white page. I quickly realized that I needed to be able to "draw" before I could "paint".

Looking back at my early paintings, I saw that my perspective was off, my colors were muddy, and while some of my efforts were OK, many should be thrown into the trash. (Which I did!)

But I love using watercolor. So what to do?

First, I realized I am an abstract artist, not a realist artist. That relieved me of having to master drawing before painting. What I loved about watercolor was the mixing of paints and the intuitive application of color.

But then, there was that blank white paper to deal with.

To solve that problem, I began using pre-printed card stock as my substrate. It didn't matter the design since I would be altering the surface with my own hand and the original design would never be shown.

Here are several small works of art made this way. And I love them. They were fun to make because there was no pressure. So I encourage all of you to spend a couple of hours creating this way to see what you can make.

Here's how I did this: I found some pre-printed card stock and cut it into the shape and size I wanted. I randomly applied gesso to the surface, not covering everything, and let it dry. Then I painted over the whole surface with water color. I added some gold watercolor just because.

More importantly, I had a wonderful creative day!

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Collaging has always been a challenge for me but I recently created an artist book that used many of the photographs I've taken over the years of textures in nature.
I loved the finished pages and then, took photos of each collaged page and used these to collage into a new artist book.
As you can tell, this process is infinite.
And all mine.
Think about how you can repurpose your own art into new expressions.

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I've always had a hard time making an art journal. Mostly because my mind is always thinking of new ideas. But it is 2021 and I am going to try again.
Here is one of the pages I made this week. Using CitraSolv on National Geographic pages and then embossing over them, I liked the result!

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