I was reminded that I was off by one week for joining my friends in Tasmania for their gathering. So had to get busy doing some more pages in The Gathering Book so as to keep in touch. They should all be ready to pack up and head home by the time they see this post. Anyway, I was looking for more images where I have used stitch and drawing and got caught up in my own history of artworks using cloth, thread, and pencil.
Here are some:
This one I put in because the small wooden tools were bought at WafuWorks just outside of Hobart, Tasmania.
Both of these are from a book I made to get through the hard times of three years ago.
Then this from 2003-4 of remembering our artist retreat gatherings in different parts of the country. We started with the original site of Black Mountain College and rented a large old house that could hold us all with our own rooms. Each day we met after breakfast, talked about what we would be doing for the day about our art practice, and then at five o’clock, stop, have wine, show our progress and get feedback. It wasn’t a retreat practice that all could keep up with over the next few years but was invaluable to some of us who stuck with it. Next we went off to the northwest followed by a retreat at Ghost Ranch.
I made this book about those times that still inspires me with its sketches, collected bits, and writings.
What I liked (and still do) about this book is the sound it makes. The yellowish pages were a yellow tracing paper that came in a roll. After I cut several sheets, they were stitched to some odd synthetic mesh fabric I had. The pages were smeared with paint and shellac before I added gessoed sections to draw on. Some scraps of my pajamas that I wore at the retreats were added to pages with fused photos on them of special places.
To hold this book and hear it talk to me is such a wonderful experience. Then, when I thumb through it and am reminded of the passion I had for making art that mattered….well, there is nothing quite like it. I miss being in the company of those who know what I am feeling.
Over the years I have made more work. Not for the market. But work that needed to be seen, exhibited and then mostly buried when the time came. That work not put to rest, I live with here or have given to those who understand how much it meant to me.
Anyway, I enjoyed the look back this morning and will find more to show and talk about in other blogs.
Also this week…baking a quiche. Delicious!
I am trying to get the Fairy book illustrations into a small book form. I asked for an artist proof to see how it looked with slightly larger images. It simply does not work. So back to the drawing board for resizing and color corrections. It is so hard to tell by computer images. I need to touch it and look close at each page.
Better get on with it. Maybe a glass of wine….
Til later…