Roz Wound Up

Journaling Superstitions #13: Special Tools Make All the Difference

Left: State Fair sketch by Marty Harris using a Pilot Better Retractable Pen. That’s right—an office pen. Click on the image to view an enlargement. Image ©Marty Harris.

Pffft!

That’s hooey. Special tools don't make all the difference—just look at what Marty Harris can do with a simple ball point pen.

Yes you know that already, but every so often your critical mind might try and tell you this, might suggest that your drawings or paintings or quilts would be better if you had the Wonder Pen 3000, the Ultra Brush FS (fine stuff), or the Magical Motion Revolving Quilting Arm EX (excellent, as opposed to the SP model which is only super).

What’s really happening is a form of procrastination.

If you have any old tool and you work consistently with it for a set amount of time the improvement you see will be greater than any improvement you see if you have the Wonder Pen 3000 and only use it on holidays! (Remember what Malcolm Gladwell says in Outliners.)

J. M. W. Turner Revisited

Time is short for me as I prepare to hang my 30 birds (see yesterday's post). But it's the end of the year (almost) and I have always found this a great time for reflection. I would like to call your attention to my post from December 22, 2008—Productivity: J. M. W. Turner.

I invite you to re-read (or read, if you're a new visitor to my blog) this piece which I originally shared on a list of my students in 2007. I think it will help remind you what it means to be productive, what it means to dive into your passion, what it means to work.

As you move into 2010 make it a WWTD (What Would Turner Do) year and find a way to balance process and productivity in your own life. Don't make resolutions you can't or won't keep. Take time to assess what your goals are and make a plan of action! Every goal can be broken down into component parts and those parts spread through your life in manageable bits—but only if you take some time to manage it.

While you are taking stock of your goals you might also look at Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers: The Story of Success. Like the other successful individuals in Gladwell's book, Turner is a perfect example of 10,000 hours to mastery. Don't gulp, just get busy working.

Making a Mark Awards for 2009

I just learned that I won an award over at Making a Mark. If you haven't been over to Katherine Tyrrell's informative art blog you should pop over there today and see the results of her 2009 awards, which run the gamut from "The Painting Plein Air Plus Prize" to "The FAQs and Answers Really Useful Medal" which is the category I won in! What fun to be in such great company!

I know the majority of my blog readers visit Making a Mark regularly to enjoy the rich resource it is. I recommend you go and check out this award post to visit the winners in other categories and also to visit the blogs of other nominees in each category. There is a wealth of wonderful sites that you will want to look at if you haven't already seen them. Hours of reading and viewing fun.

And there will be eight additional category awards announced on the 30th, so you'll need to check that out as well.

Many thanks to Katherine for her very kind words about my blog. She particularly likes my journaling superstitions series—heads up readers, superstition #13 is set for December 31. I thought it would be a good way to end the year.

Show Announcement Correction: 30 Birds Starts on January 4!

My eagle-eyed friend Karen has just called me to verify the date my 30 Birds show is going up. Please note that it is not going to be open for viewing until JANUARY 4!

I used an earlier version of the poster by mistake in my post.

I'm actually hanging the paintings on January 3, so you won't be able to see them that day. I'm going back to correct that post—but I thought a new post would catch your attention. Sorry for the confusion! And thanks Karen.

30 Birds in 30 Days

For 30 days in November and December of 2007, I painted a small (5 x 7 to 8 x 10 inch) acrylic painting of a bird each day. You can see the birds online at "Bird a Day Project." But even better than that, thanks to the folks at Foiled Again Salon you can see them all displayed together—in person!

Come and check them out from January 4 to February 28, 2010.

These paintings were executed while I was recovering from a nasty fall. I set a daily task to use only materials I had on hand (a stack of small canvases) and bird sketches from my journals. Additionally I worked with pushing my palette of naturalistic color by setting certain (and shifting) color theory "problems" for each day.

All the journal sketches had been made from life, though sometimes they were no more than thumbnail sketches from the State Fair. (See the thumbnail sketch used for one painting by toggling the links here.)

Because I had these sketches, my lack of mobility wasn't an impediment to completing the project. With a sketch already in hand I could simply move on to issues of composition and color theory, and painting. Thus the project became manageable within the other constraints of my day.

The paintings, which are for sale, will remain hanging as a group until February 28. Visit early if you want to ensure your pick of the flock. (Days 17, 18, and 19 will be offered as a set.)

Called Foiled Again Salon, for hours: 612.781.5150.

Make an afternoon of it and stop by Pop! for a citrus barbeque pulled pork sandwich! It's just up Johnson Street from Foiled Again Salon.

Note: No you're not seeing things, I originally posted a draft of the poster which had the hanging date on it. Don't show up on January 3 because you won't be able to see anything! The show is up from January 4 through February 28.

Another Glance in the Winsor & Newton Journal

Above: Experimental page spread (aren't they all?) in the Winsor & Newton Journal which is about 8 inches square. Read below for a description. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I thought it might be interesting to sketch with acrylic paint and paint over that with the Stabilo Tones and here's a first go at it.

The page was prepainted with fluid acrylics in a light wash just as I normally do my backgrounds—abstract, messy, and with no thought for what might be coming. Days later, torn strips of gummed linen tape were added in a tilted square on the verso page. I think my thought was that I would sketch something there and then write on the opposite page. A day or so later I ran one of my carved brayers (I think Speedball makes these, but I don't have any packaging in front of me—variously sized, you can remove the roller, carve them as you would a linoleum block, and put them back in the handle and roll away) over the surface using some Brilliance gold rubberstamp ink.

When I arrived at this spread I was housebound but had a few moments to watch a nature special where I found this Clark's Nutcracker. I sketched with Golden Fluid Acrylic (very dilute) and a squirrel quill mop, but I couldn't get the same point I get with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. (I started with the mop because I love the way it comes to a great point and holds a lot of paint. I had hoped this would enable me to sketch and sketch and sketch without reloading. I was able to do that, however, I didn't use my really good squirrel quill mops from Isabey, not wanting to ruin them with acrylic paint. And as I said, the point just didn't work out.)

Nevertheless I applied Stabilo Tones (dry, blended wet, dried, applied dry again and blended dry with my fingers). Since nothing much happened on the 17th I decided to give the brush and acrylic paint another couple of tries, hence the additional bird views on the recto page. They help me remember the line quality I got with the brush (which was painted over in the bird at the left).

I went out the next day and picked up a couple inexpensive brushes that I think will have better tips for trying this again. The best brush I tried in the store was a $21.00 sable that I couldn't bear the thought of putting acrylic paint into (so I didn't buy it). I'll let you know if any of the others work out.

For a 90 lb. watercolor paper I have to say I enjoyed working on the Winsor & Newton—lots of sizing made the hot press surface hard and slick, and fun to work on. It buckled with the gummed linen tape, but with other collage elements on other pages it did well. Definitely a paper I'll work with more in the future.

The Best Laid Plans…

Ack, No Tucker for me today. Everyone was holding delayed holiday celebrations because of the heavy snow fall and icy conditions (after the initial snow fall we got rain and then more snow—let's just say that when I "peeled" the snow off my Subaru yesterday there was a 2 to 3 inch CRUST of snow over everything, until I got down to fluffy, and easy to remove snow; I'm not complaining, I'm just reporting) so puppy visitation got rescheduled out a couple weeks.

Unable to cope with the disappointment of seeing something LIVE I ran over to Como Zoo to sketch for a couple hours. (I also visited on the 23rd for an hour—so I've had a great run of Zoo time.)

Sketches from those visits will show up here in good time, no time to scan right now. The great news is that it looks like I won't have any trouble filling the thin journal I started on the 22nd. (There was actually never any doubt, all I'm saying now is, I won't be staying up late December 31 to fill the book!)

The best news is that the puffins and penguins were as obliging today as they were the other day. In minutes I felt as if I could breathe again!  (And the roads are fairly clear now, but still a little slick.)

Tucker at 11 Weeks

Above: Tucker at 11 weeks, about 10 days ago! Who knows how much he has grown since then! Click on the image to view an enlargement. Photo ©2009 Roseanne Carbone.

I am not stalking this dog! I could easily make excuses to drive by his home (very much out of the way of my usual transit) and call Roseanne daily to check in on his progress but I manage to control myself (I get to see him later today!) I am amazed at how quickly he has turned from Tucker as a puppy into Tucker as a small (and handsome) dog.

Despite a couple of bitterly cold (unseasonably so) weeks Roseanne reports that the training is going well. It's funny, when Dottie was a puppy we had an unseasonably cold fall and I remember being out at 2 a.m. for potty breaks—tired, punchy, saying the magic word so she would learn also to pee on command (an invaluable skill taught to me by experienced dog owners, when I got Emma, which made traveling with the dogs simple). At some point under the dark cloudless sky, when everything around you is silent (even when you live in a college kid neighborhood) you find enjoyment in the moment as well. It doesn't matter that your nose is cold beyond brittle and your sockless feet feel like blocks of ice in your unlaced boots—puppyhood is over so quickly that you just have to gulp it down. Just be sure to put your hat and gloves on!

Prized Possessions: Episode Four—My "A-Team" Lunch Box

I don't know that I can add anything about this short (52 second) video. I think I cover all it all in my voice over. If the embedded version doesn't work, you can check out "Prized Possessions: Episode Four—My "A-Team" Lunch Box" on YouTube. If you have some time today you might rewatch Breakfast at Tiffany's or an episode of Banacek. You can read about George Peppard on Wikipedia. If you go to IMBD's George Peppard listing you can click on the video gallery (right end of the line of images at the top of the entry) and view full episodes of the A-Team. At the end of the video gallery there are also clips from Breakfast at Tiffany's and a couple other movies.

Letterpress for Your Home!

Above: The letterpress kit sold at Archivers works with the Epic Six die-cutting machine (far left). (Product image from Archivers website.)

Last week Dick took me over to Archivers. (I really can't go into places like that alone because it is too overwhelming, too many products all screaming at me for use. I actually get dizzy.) We went with the idea I would do a quick circuit of the store and then buy some rubberstamp reinkers (which is what I needed and the usual stores I go to don't carry the brands I like—FYI, no reinkers at Archivers for me either), and make our escape.

Everything was going fine until I walked around an island of product and came face to face with the Letterpress Kit.

OH GOSH. I haven't stopped smiling yet—and I didn't even buy one. Here's why I'm so happy. I think the idea is absolutely brilliant. The Letterpress kit (which ran about $70 if I recall correctly) works with the Epic Six die-cutter. It relies on the pressure from the die-cutter to push the plate into the paper and make the inked impression that is characteristic of letterpress printed pieces.