lorikeet

Put a bird in it ;) 

A busy week in Artlandia. I spent a chunk of this week in the car (oy!), but also working, getting things back into order at home, and visiting with family (thumbs up!).  There was still enough time to carve a new lorikeet (it's a smallish bird afterall - about 10.5") Maybe the desire for a lorikeet came from thinking about the big tree block...we have a print date! July 9th [ :D !!!] And since there's really no such thing as "extra" time, I added ornamentation to the borders of the tree block (couldn't help myself.) 

 

Being away from the studio for more than a week, my hands started to peel - I have thick callouses inside my hand between my palm and fingers, and the side of my middle finger is flat from carving.  The only way I could think to "fix" it was to get back to carving...

.

Hand from one year ago

I'm not very good at remembering time (hence the blog - external memory ;) ), but Facebook helpfully reminded me that I carved the face and hands of the figure I'm still working on a year ago this week. 

On the one hand, it's hard to believe it's been a whole year, on the other hand, I feel like I've learned a lot in terms of figuring out how to make the rest of the body and attach it, and learning digital and sewing techniques to support it.  

Head from 1 year ago

Facebook also reminded me that 2 years ago, I was learning how to carve.  

...and within 6 months, I made a better one, so I forgive myself ;) .

2 years ago (haha - kind of embarrassed
by this now, but I was just learning).

Surprisingly, (or not?) this week two years ago, I was also carving a parrot (which I discovered when I went into the file to pull the skull photograph - sort of like how I realized after the fact that every February for the last 3 years, I've carved a bunny? - maybe it's the weather that puts me in mind of  certain things?)

It's hard for me to see technical improvement on a day to day basis, and each block is unique, so it can be hard to compare, but I think the new one is more dynamic and the light is better understood/controlled (? maybe? )

Hmmmmm - enough introspection for the day ;)  - in the outer world, beautiful flowers.

My flowers survived!  Thanks to my kind friend Tom for watering :)! This
was my favorite this week - such a good example of repetition with variation, right? 

Not exactly a flower, but saw this interesting constellation of mushrooms during
my travels.

Summer bouquets for the yard :D !

Saw the end of a rainbow going into the grass.

And in puppy news, Rocky is now headless - he was a good and faithful
squeaky toy.

Exhibition :)

 It's up!

The wing installed!

Me with the unicorn installation (!) - I was very happy/relieved to see it done, delivered, and up - a memorable moment for sure! My mom took pictures (Thanks Mom!)  

Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art on the day of the opening

Figuring out the placement

I was very excited to see the wing and the unicorn installation installed for the first time!

I enjoyed seeing people interact with the artwork at the opening - Examples :) 

Mom

Dad

It was fun to see people take pictures with the wing, and I want people to be able to get close to, interact with, and enjoy the artwork; at the same time, it's still a chalk outline - a truly horrific thing. The way it overlaps beautiful/terrible, playful/serious is part of what I like about it.

It was my first time seeing the unicorn and its landscape parts finished and up on the wall together.
I thought it would work...but until it's up, one never really knows...[big sigh of relief!].

 I did my best to try to photograph this at different focal lengths - trying to get the view from a distance and up close - I designed it to be like Gothic artwork in the way the level of detail functions like a fractal - the detail repeats on smaller and smaller scales so that the feel of the piece can be replicated at different focal lengths. 

[This may be one of those "pictures are more useful than words moments" ;) ...]

Debuting a new hanging strategy with these - I decided not to try to hide the wall mounting apparatus but instead incorporate it into the work then nail right through it with brass nails:

While I tend to focus on the latest work, there was lots to see, all from the last two years, and I think it looks great in this space (very happy to see it on gray walls which I think show off the work much better than white walls would).

  

One last new thing!  Since May, I've been working on these digital collages, created with scans of my blocks and drawings in photoshop. These are so new that I framed them in Georgia for the show -  I like the bunny so much that one may be coming to live on my wall soon ;).

Installation delivery!

A busy week in Artlandia!

Unicorn from the back with mesh through
which to pin to the wall and reinforced along
seams

After burning the midnight oil to finish the unicorn and landscape elements, I sewed them onto a synthetic mesh fabric and reinforced the seams of the paper on the back with rice paper to get them  ready to hang (whew!)

I put brads between the large pieces of the unicorn to physically
attach them 

Then it was time to pack it all up and make it fit in the car (mindful to leave enough room for humans and puppy).

I packed and loaded the car, then headed off with my Mom and the little Bear. Mom generously shared in the driving and Honeybear was as good a pup as I could have dreamed.  It took us 2 days, but we made it!

Then It was time to deliver and lay out the artwork..Work in progress at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art:, opening Friday, June 24th (!)

We're headed back tomorrow when the walls are prepped to install the unicorn and landscape - it will be the first time I'll see it together and on display :).

Once the work was delivered, and Mom and I laid it all out, it was time for a break.

Honey isn't sure about the pool,
but she's mastered the lounge chair.

I hope my flowers are doing ok -
liking these silver ones next to
the yellow and white stripes.