tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69195620612995055962024-02-18T20:35:12.994-06:00missouribendstudioAn online journal of the artistic investigations of Patti Roberts-Pizzuto at MissouriBendStudio.Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.comBlogger417125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-34408390576631015612017-06-08T11:15:00.000-05:002017-06-08T11:15:53.198-05:00Missouri Bend Studio is Moving, Meet Me Around the Bend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYU3kDnAmFvzEdrJANdPSQCl4ptAuhm8mw50_kSzvEqapoKDn37Ua6Bvu_v1ha8_rWapfI7vSdsOTCe2I9Qd4Ed3vO9qoykRkSluBV-cCumFkFQPaWyOxaD0_8mAckm9Tm0OMJbV_8bqZT/s1600/Jan+7+2017+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="704" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYU3kDnAmFvzEdrJANdPSQCl4ptAuhm8mw50_kSzvEqapoKDn37Ua6Bvu_v1ha8_rWapfI7vSdsOTCe2I9Qd4Ed3vO9qoykRkSluBV-cCumFkFQPaWyOxaD0_8mAckm9Tm0OMJbV_8bqZT/s400/Jan+7+2017+SIZED.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
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daily drawing for June 7, 2017</div>
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Greetings, all! Despite my absence, I have been quite busy of late. While not spending nearly enough time in the studio, I've been engaged in creating a new website on Squarespace that brings together all the threads of activity here at MissouriBendStudio. </div>
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As my followers know, I've long had an Etsy shop, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank">MissouriBendStudio</a>, along with this blog, which has enabled me to connected with folks across the world. I also was trying to maintain, at some minimal level, my own website, robertspizzuto.com. My husband, Johntimothy Pizzuto, is also an artist (primarily a printmaker) and we recently began collaborating on mixed media prints. Our shared endeavor is supported through our Etsy shop, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a>. So, at a point in the early spring, we both realized that we had two poorly maintained websites, two Etsy shops and a blog to keep up with, representing a bunch of different "brands". This also didn't take into account the Facebook pages, Pinterest accounts, etc. Wow! We realized that MissouriBendStudio, our home/studio on the Missouri River, while it had been my face to the world, really could encompass what we were both doing individually as well as collectively. Missouri Bend Studio is both of us....</div>
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....so....one brand new website with a blog that captures it all! A search for our individual domains as well as a for Missouri Bend Studio will all bring you to one place. Please come visit <a href="http://www.missouribendstudio.com/" target="_blank">Missouri Bend Studio</a> where you can see my work (more forthcoming), Johntimothy's work (more forthcoming) and connect with our blog. From there you can visit our Etsy shops as well! </div>
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What all this means is that this post will be my last here. I am filled with a bit of unease, as if I am saying goodbye to an old friend....as if I'm moving away and leaving my friends behind. I hope that's not the case....really, I'm just around the corner, not so far away. You can find us through probertspizzuto.com, johntimothypizzuto.com, or missouribendstudio.com....all roads lead to Missouri Bend Studio. You have the ability to follow the blog there, which I hope you will do, but please let me know if you have any problems connecting. </div>
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Hope to see you very soon over at <a href="http://www.missouribendstudio.com/" target="_blank">Missouri Bend Studio</a></div>
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Cheers!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-26939335749900221922017-05-16T16:30:00.000-05:002017-05-16T16:30:25.197-05:00Explorer's Notebooks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Explorer's Notebooks, no.1</span></div>
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I've started a new series of drawings inspired by a delightful book I recently checked out from our local public library, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Explorers-Sketchbooks-Art-Discovery-Adventure/dp/1452158274/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494967840&sr=8-1&keywords=explorer%27s+sketchbooks" target="_blank">Explorer's Sketchbooks: The Art of Discovery & Adventure</a>. </i>A delicious feast filled with wonderful images, narratives and biographical information, this book makes you want to get off your duff (is that still a word or is it too old fashioned?) to explore the world....from far flung locations across the globe to your own backyard! There are sketchbooks and writings from familiar names such as James Cook and John James Audubon, but countless folks I'd not heard of....such as Ranulph Fiennes, Vivian Fuchs Henry Walter Bates. Curious and often fearless, these men and women explored the unknown and left us the record of their treks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQiUoOfKU74kSMJHHP-N0PvEOlOSxciuqGSmC4zpb-Y6WuUqujGEHiOFBBKU_K-Gz4ySvsOd_Np8oxjIIBkbifLorVlV8T0sZP9SqfNba7evRHufbGjbm_HCt-3_Ds0NmkJcKSfIerO9o/s1600/Explorer%2527s+Sketchbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQiUoOfKU74kSMJHHP-N0PvEOlOSxciuqGSmC4zpb-Y6WuUqujGEHiOFBBKU_K-Gz4ySvsOd_Np8oxjIIBkbifLorVlV8T0sZP9SqfNba7evRHufbGjbm_HCt-3_Ds0NmkJcKSfIerO9o/s1600/Explorer%2527s+Sketchbooks.jpg" /></a></div>
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While this book presents the sketchbooks of explorations into all corners of the globe, it occurred to me that it might also be an inspiration to explore the frontiers of the imagination and inner worlds that lurk deep inside each one of us. Everything is ripe for discovery and the best news is that even if it has been discovered and/or claimed by someone else, it hasn't been discovered by you and seen with your eyes.<br />
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Part of what I'm drawn to in the pages of this book and the pages of other such journals of uncharted territories (I'm thinking of Lewis and Clark and Maximilian de Wied and their journeys up the Missouri River, for instance) is the actual beauty of the layout of the words on the page...often just lines of handwritten text interspersed with drawings. Attempts at capturing something novel, the unknown, a revelation...all while the perceptions and the visions are fresh. Writing and drawing serve as ways of processing. Someone from another far distant future may no longer be able to read and decipher these words, but they will appear in the abstract as marks on the page, interspersed with images. I'm not so sure why I find that fascinating, but I do....and worth exploring.<br />
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I'm not a sketchbook keeper myself, but am inspired enough that maybe this is the impetus I need as I explore my own locale. Though I have a series of grumbles about where I live (and who doesn't!?), I cannot deny the beauty and history that flows across my path each day as the waters of the Missouri River make their way down south to join the Mississippi on the journey to the Gulf of Mexico.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Missouri River, looking southeast, from our backyard one recent evening</span></div>
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But, back to that delicious book, now laid open on my lap as I type. I want to share just a snippet from an introductory bit by Wade Davis looking back on his early explorations and what it means to be curious and delight in the many worlds we inhabit.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"The work you do is just a lens through which to view and experience the world, and only for a short time. The goal is to make living itself, the act of being alive, one's vocation, knowing full well that nothing ultimately can be planned or anticipated, no blueprint found to predict the outcome of something as complex as a human life. If one can remain open to the potential of the new, the promise of the unimagined, then magic happens and a life takes form." -- Wade Davis</span></div>
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We are the lens....each one of us sees and experiences the world in a unique way....there are countless ways to explore those worlds. Cheers!<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1199px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1199px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1199px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1199px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-8934584129974498742017-05-04T22:33:00.000-05:002017-05-04T22:33:35.542-05:00Finding Home; or A Sense of Color<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZm0Af28mA4S5qHRp2no83UpZ4Y8F_kWb8AGA1JMOyLy0Vm2Kcdd5Z0EMYCgshrj_KMg33Cdf1ur5yYOCBvHuLdXgd_eE2EVGyCfV-S0EHD03Nu5oi-OcBSNrrsH-1FCi1BLvoRgmH171/s1600/April+27+2017+detail+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZm0Af28mA4S5qHRp2no83UpZ4Y8F_kWb8AGA1JMOyLy0Vm2Kcdd5Z0EMYCgshrj_KMg33Cdf1ur5yYOCBvHuLdXgd_eE2EVGyCfV-S0EHD03Nu5oi-OcBSNrrsH-1FCi1BLvoRgmH171/s400/April+27+2017+detail+1.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/513823054/watercolor-and-ink-drawing-arch-portal?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">April 27, 2017</a></div>
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This post has a rather odd title, mostly due to the fact that I couldn't quite land on exactly the right words....but I'd like to share some recent thoughts with you about my color palette. Actually, its about more than that, as these are larger thoughts that relate to coming to terms with who we are and finding a balance and a trust in ourselves. Maybe these insights will strike home with you, as well.<br />
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In the studio and in life, sometimes we just need to shake things up a bit! Feeling trapped, we might feel the desire to break loose and do something radical....or even slightly radical....which, for me last week in the studio, meant pulling out the watercolors to change up the daily drawing practice. I'm swimming in daily drawings around here....only a small number of them are listed in my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=l2-shopheader-name&section_id=15551105" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> and I was beginning to feel like the process was becoming a little rote. So I thought I'd make a shift in materials and scale them up a bit. For some time now, they have been done with pencil and ink on small sheets of rice paper 6"x4" and then dipped in beeswax. So...I pulled out the watercolors, found some watercolor paper and made the size 7"x5" instead. That was on April 27th and you can see the drawing I made that day. More time was spent with details and I liked the drawing pretty well, but something didn't seem quite right. That color, while lovely and bright, felt a bit strange and foreign.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNKrhxTO_EOQe2fBfW4fVwlHqqV3qLMsNRjXYVkAeT9k1Q70aZcd-AC39Ge91szU4mX-P8LekM2ckkCKmzxi3h_l-dN747Ipd0o4Pf7iwMMG441kx0cLgo6KiBgD_3tvzWy8B2_AImAlA/s1600/May+1+2017+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNKrhxTO_EOQe2fBfW4fVwlHqqV3qLMsNRjXYVkAeT9k1Q70aZcd-AC39Ge91szU4mX-P8LekM2ckkCKmzxi3h_l-dN747Ipd0o4Pf7iwMMG441kx0cLgo6KiBgD_3tvzWy8B2_AImAlA/s400/May+1+2017+SIZED.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/528980013/watercolor-pencil-and-beeswax-daily?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">May 1, 2017</a></div>
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A couple of days went by and I didn't make a drawing. When I did return to the daily drawing practice on the first of May, I found myself almost back where I'd been....on small sheets of 6"x4" rice paper. I still had the paint to add color, but it was much more muted....more the subtle color palette that I know expresses my sensibilities. I recognized it immediately when that deep blue green hit the paper....a sense of coming home. I suddenly felt at home again.....like when you've gone on a little journey and come back, slightly larger from the experience and more in tune with the place you call home.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_JBl6gT6ue5hXqeWa9EDhJr-fFv2XlH6yVWpjAYu_oI9idNc0JVT1icSuKNvUWxrtEGva1UJv6L3cMkbzfbfQ2kG_isiaFeMFAMSY2bBlQFndCrkM2SCYjilEcOzCSbkMi3LgOqvox6P/s1600/May+2+2017+unsized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_JBl6gT6ue5hXqeWa9EDhJr-fFv2XlH6yVWpjAYu_oI9idNc0JVT1icSuKNvUWxrtEGva1UJv6L3cMkbzfbfQ2kG_isiaFeMFAMSY2bBlQFndCrkM2SCYjilEcOzCSbkMi3LgOqvox6P/s400/May+2+2017+unsized.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/515178410/watercolor-pencil-and-beeswax-daily?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">May 2, 2017</a></div>
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I realized that I had felt the compulsion to change things up and the need to step outside of my usual routine in order to remind me to trust my own being as a maker. I love color and often bright color, but the work I make with my own hands, the things I want to express, are best said with subtle tones. The watercolor paper is made to take watercolor, but it felt cold and unyielding to me...and lacked the tactile qualities that the Japanese paper has....and so shockingly white! I was happy to be back to my tiny sheets of rice paper. And well, the beeswax, what can I say? It creates a layer of richness....deepening the tones, even of pencil marks, and adds a surface quality that I just love. </div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/528987079/watercolor-pencil-and-beeswax-daily?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">May 3, 2017</a></div>
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So, all this is to say, sometimes we need to learn the same lessons over again and again. I've spent decades as an artist, learning to trust myself and find the place inside me that is true. Sometimes the voices outside of us and our perceptions of what we should do lead us in new directions, but the truth is in each one of us. We each have our own marks to make, we each have our own sense of color and our own voice. If our work is going to be honest, it has to come from a place deep inside of us.....and we must remain true to that and trust it. That alone is a lifetime of work.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-65651847287287633262017-04-26T14:28:00.000-05:002017-04-26T14:28:08.334-05:00A Cacophony of Voices <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After a major studio overhaul and spring cleaning, with everything rearranged and viewed from a new vantage point, it seems time to take stock and reevaluate. Which starts a process of rethinking everything! And though there doesn't appear to be anyone else in the room here, I swear there is a cacophony of voices all speaking at once and I cannot hear myself think!!! Do you know that feeling? </div>
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Staring at me are all 190 pieces from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank">MissouriBendStudio</a>, which are piled on the raised surface in the middle of the tables. They represent much of the work from the past several years, but I sense a new direction is in the air. Well, perhaps not a new direction, but a new more coordinated strategy for placing the work into loving homes out in the world....which is really what I want to see happen to these pieces.</div>
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I'm looking for my own "never entered path" as I move forward. Between our loved ones, countless websites and gurus, there are a multitude of well meaning voices with bits of advice for each of us. But, I believe the secret for finding our own path is inside us. However, that requires careful listening and watching, as well as being in the moment, so we don't miss the insights when they arrive....for they often slip quietly through the back door when we've got our eyes glued to the front.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting." -- Haruki Murakami</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 652px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 652px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-41124437320738927612017-04-21T14:38:00.000-05:002017-04-21T14:38:08.813-05:00Rearrangement of Memories and The Essence of Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/512440036/mixed-media-collage-with-funky-house-on?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Essence of Home</a></div>
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Greetings from the Missouri River, where spring is in full swing! I know because after my initial foray into the garden beds, I have my first case of poison ivy of the season...alas. While it felt good at the time to clear all the debris and to watch the day lilies and irises grow a couple of inches a day (it appeared), I am now paying the price. I'm sure this will only be the first of many bouts of the rash this spring and summer.</div>
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Actually, most of the time since my last post has been spent in the studio, in what started to be a simple rearrangement of the furniture and turned into a major spring cleaning and overhaul. There were days when I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I'd accumulated and an extreme longing to be free of the weight of it. Unfinished drawings, finished pieces that had been relegated to the purgatory pile of failed drawing projects, mounds of cut up bits of drawings that might one day be good for something, not to mention pounds of postcards from far flung places, museum visits, and exhibition announcements. Books, books and more books....doo dads, tiny souvenirs from memories I can't quite recollect, beads, push pins, tubes of paint, bottles of ink, pencils and pens.....all the things that make a working studio a personal space....it was all moved hither and yon, from one pile to another....sorted and kept, tossed or recycled.</div>
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chaos unfolding</div>
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In the end, I managed to free myself of quite a bit of the weight of my own history, and that made me pause to consider. Or reconsider. I've always been of the mind that the objects we surround ourselves with....the items that we live with day after day...those things hold memories in some uncanny way, vessels of silent witness to our lives unfolding. They are the souvenirs of our experience. I've always attributed my inability to be a thrift store for more than a few moments without becoming antsy to the unbearable weight of those cast off memories that fill the space. And yet. As I freely flung many of those things I'd hung onto for decades into the trash (many of which were later pulled out by my husband), I had to wonder about my own philosophy. If those things held meaning, why was I finally so happy to be rid of so much of it? Do we, at some point, grow weary of carrying the relics of our years? I think we do, at least some of us, and I suppose I have arrived at that point.</div>
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some order returns</div>
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But, I also acknowledged my own belief that our memories are inside us, in our cells and our bones and the rushing blood that circulates throughout our bodies. In the same way that we have countless memorable meals, afterwards, we can never really recreate the actual sensory experience of that meal. Time is fleeting and the moment ephemeral. But that meal, both the nourishment of the food and the richness of the whole experience, has been transformed in a physical way into the body. Our body is the vessel of memory. It becomes easier to let go of things. At least for me.<br />
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still, so many things</div>
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creating sanctuary</div>
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So, this morning, with the space pretty well situated, I finally sat back down at my newly relocated desk, and began to work. I dug through the piles of drawing fragments (oh, still plenty left behind!) and sewed a little house collage...and thought about home. About the yearning we carry within us for home...the essence of home. But, I've rambled on long enough here....that's a subject for another day.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/512440036/mixed-media-collage-with-funky-house-on?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Essence of Home</a> detail</div>
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Enjoy your weekend! I'll be back again soon with notes from the field, so to speak.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-70794630128739761462017-04-10T16:56:00.000-05:002017-04-10T16:56:08.736-05:00A Delicate Balance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Despite the drop in the temperature (80 degrees just the other day) and the drizzling rain now turned to wet snow flurries, I was delighted to see the daffodils enjoying the spring weather! How can you not be cheered by these bright yellow flowers?</div>
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Spending my days in the studio lately, interspersed with computer time, as I navigate the best ways to promote <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Missouri Bend Studio</span></a> and our new venture, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a>. I am making works for both shops, and observing how the ways in which I approach the pieces overlap and inform one another. Those of you who are familiar with my work know that I love the repetitive mark, dots and lines over and over to create rhythm and pattern....a way to give voice to the passage of time and being in the moment.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/510251322/mixed-media-drawing-in-beeswax-black-and?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Today, Tomorrow and the Next Day</a></div>
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I am drawn to the richness of pattern, but also the quiet elegance of an unadorned cup alone on a shelf....one handmade object imbued with the story of its own creation, the hand of its maker and the unfolding of days. The piece above and the one below are part of the ongoing series of what I think of as diary drawings....small 8" x 6" pieces that seek to highlight the people who have lived out their lives in quiet anonymity.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/524059647/one-cup-two-tiny-stones-mixed-media?ref=listing-shop-header-1" target="_blank">One Cup, Two Tiny Stones</a></div>
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While Missouri Bend Studio and The Art Filled Home are separate ventures, at their core, they spring from the same source...and yet, I sometimes struggle with figuring out how to hold the creative process for each in balance. It feels something like trying to get your eyes to bring one thing into focus when you are suffering from a sudden onset of double vision. </div>
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Since The Art Filled Home is based on a collaborative premise, in those works I am responding to the layers of silkscreen printed pattern laid down by Johntimothy. But as I start from a place outside myself, which is the color and pattern in front of me, I've sensed myself being a bit too reserved with those, slightly too careful and restrained. The creative process for work that is strictly my own, at least until this point, has been completely intuitive, bring the drawing out into the world from nothing but the mark of my own hand. It's just a bit different with the collaborative process and I'm finding it interesting to see how I respond. </div>
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The piece for The Art Filled Home, below, is still in process, but I broke through my restraint and took the chance on responding to the work through the repetitive mark that is more familiar and somehow it felt more right. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83E20nN_S5BGoU_uXkiDUR7knTciJb5BNAAF2Iwqk0rt3FX2Ygew8lFmyhw36T-BdMyVl-G35CxXQaCxpV43ta86RFCtE8QSYn0JgkC0jVLXtbzjtUwvrhu4uZ_voazJHD2Lp5xH8nbBf/s1600/Art+Filled+Home+in+process.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83E20nN_S5BGoU_uXkiDUR7knTciJb5BNAAF2Iwqk0rt3FX2Ygew8lFmyhw36T-BdMyVl-G35CxXQaCxpV43ta86RFCtE8QSYn0JgkC0jVLXtbzjtUwvrhu4uZ_voazJHD2Lp5xH8nbBf/s400/Art+Filled+Home+in+process.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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It's a delicate balance to endeavor to stretch yourself and grow, while remaining true to your own vision and aesthetic. And because I work back and forth on multiple pieces at a time....things are still a bit blurred. But....it is, after all, a continuing process of discovery. Feel free to head on over to the Etsy shop, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a>, and be sure to keep up with the blog at TheArtFilledHome.com. </div>
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The daily drawings are ongoing, so I'll share a few of my favorites in the next couple of days. In the meantime, hope you are having a good start to your week!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-75094703765749484642017-04-05T14:04:00.000-05:002017-04-05T14:04:21.120-05:00Out of the Ordinary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings, friends! Johntimothy and I recently returned from a trip to New Orleans for my nephew's wedding. We had a wonderful little family reunion, complete with wedding festivities and some sightseeing in the French Quarter. I love this lovingly festooned tree above, which perfectly captures the spirit of the place. </div>
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On the other hand, I was also captivated by the richness of the colors on the buildings up and down the avenues....I found myself mostly photographing color swatches!</div>
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Those colors, especially in combination, are good enough to eat! Now we are settling back in, reacquainting ourselves with the studio and watching our world slowly turn greener by the day. A sense of renewal is in the air and I eagerly await the longer daylight hours to relax outside on the front porch.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lUR1AzZALi20rmGSJYkLmwL6SQX5jBtgxBDkJJMWZLlysuwgRRj65wDXwBPAB6enWQ7z_K-rMnQ4d1Qh1zf1J_OJU4LcY_Aamm0LX99rjxmtCHhRQQEVuo_dygg8MxlQsNhxSPFBMiot/s1600/Out+of+the+Ordinary+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lUR1AzZALi20rmGSJYkLmwL6SQX5jBtgxBDkJJMWZLlysuwgRRj65wDXwBPAB6enWQ7z_K-rMnQ4d1Qh1zf1J_OJU4LcY_Aamm0LX99rjxmtCHhRQQEVuo_dygg8MxlQsNhxSPFBMiot/s400/Out+of+the+Ordinary+SIZED.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/509031508/whimsical-drawing-with-flowers-hourglass?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">Out of the Ordinary</a></div>
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I'm adding some new pieces to the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Missouri Bend Studio</span></a> shop, as well as working on collaborative pieces for <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a> . My daily drawing practice was a bit sporadic last month, but I have gotten back to a steady balance and am making sure to make a drawing each day. </div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/509264720/spring-flowers-daily-drawing-beeswaxed?ref=listing-shop-header-0" target="_blank">April 1, 2017</a></div>
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Making these little 4x6" drawings is so rewarding on many levels.....it's always a surprise to see what happens on the page, as I have no idea what will emerge when I begin. But also, the drawings inform me, as if lifting the lid off something somehow just underneath the surface, hidden from view. This morning, as I made the drawing, I acknowledged the desire to go back to drawing small vessels.....cups, bowls....as they are a metaphor for so many things. I'll leave you with that thought and pick up with it in a few days....see you then.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-88400203262538267932017-03-24T09:50:00.003-05:002017-03-24T21:10:13.707-05:00Announcing A New Venture (And A Balancing Act!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/506638410/stack-of-stones-in-balance-mixed-media?ref=shop_home_active_1" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">Balance</span></a></div>
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This latest addition to my Etsy shop is a pretty apt description of life right now....just stacking one more rock on top and hoping to maintain the balance. But, I love the challenge and I love being immersed in a new venture! First, I'll tell you about the venture and then how it came to be....and I'll try to wrap it up in a small nutshell....or maybe a large one.</div>
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After reading this post, I invite you to head over to Etsy to take a look around a new shop, <span style="color: purple;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a>, </span>which is a collaborative adventure for my artist/printmaker husband and me. The works in that shop will be primarily print-based mixed media works. Johntimothy is the printmaker in the family and for many years has been trying to entice me over to the printmaking side, as he sees the possibilities of turning my drawings into etchings, drypoints, and even screen-prints. On several occasions over the years, as visiting artists, we have collaborated on projects that have become print-based mixed media pieces. In fact, the first pieces in the shop now are part of a series of screen-print/drawings that are the result of a recent collaboration. So, while we primarily make work separately in our own studios, we've been known to team up and we enjoy the synergy that happens when we create work together. It's sometimes a challenge, but in the end, we are always surprised and happy with the results.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/518307509/mixed-media-printscreen-printhand?ref=shop_home_active_11" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">Conversation no.1</span></a></div>
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You know how sometimes some small thing happens....maybe an offhand comment, maybe the eventual notice of something that's long been right under your nose....and suddenly everything changes and you are off on a new path? Well, in a way, that's how the idea for The Art Filled Home unfolded. One recent morning, I think I was expressing a kind of frustration about my work and a lack of focus that was needed to create a unified vision/brand for Missouri Bend Studio. Because I enjoy making so many things, visually, the shop seems to be all over the place. And Johntimothy then made a comment about my work being small and intimate and perfect for small scale spaces....I make art for small spaces. That was a moment of revelation somehow and brought my focus away from the work I make and onto who my audience might be. Isn't that the first rule of marketing....or at least high on the list....knowing your audience? As far as I knew, my audience was you all, the faithful readers of this blog and the folks who appreciate and buy my work. And you are certainly appreciated! A marketing focus though, it just wasn't there. But those words of his just hung in the air....art for small spaces.</div>
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The second piece of the inspiration for <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" target="_blank">The Art Filled Home</a> came as we picked up the conversation a bit later. We reminded ourselves about how important it is for us to be surrounded by art in our daily lives and how our home is a kind of gallery of works we love from artists near and far. We feel enveloped, nurtured, uplifted and inspired by having art in our home. And we reminded ourselves of all the people who have come through and have commented how good they feel when they come to our house....we've heard it over and over again....it's like a museum, or that people feel inspired and nurtured here in our home. It's an art filled home and we both believe that there are benefits to living in such spaces that are very real, yet hard to define. And so, before we knew it, we were hatching a plan to have a new shop with a clear focus....creating fine art for small spaces. You can have art on your walls, even in a tiny apartment and even large homes have small walls and spaces just right for intimate works of art.</div>
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A third piece of our inspiration was and is the conviction that anyone can collect original art and surround themselves with handmade art and craft. As a printmaker and the partner to a printmaker we have strong feelings about the difference between reproductions (glicee, etc.) and original hand-pulled prints. Hand-pulled prints are original art, as each one is made by the hand of the artist. Some of the works in our shop will be small editioned prints made by Johntimothy and some will be mixed media one-of-a-kind print based pieces. </div>
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We've got the shop up and running and are making new work to add on a regular basis. We started with the shop name, Art For Small Spaces, but all derivations of that were taken, so we expanded the idea to the basic philosophy that a home with art is one that inspires....and so The Art Filled Home was born. There is the Etsy shop, but also a <a href="http://www.theartfilledhome.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">website</span></a> and a <a href="http://www.theartfilledhome.com/blog" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">blog</span></a>....oh, and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theartfilledhome/" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. So, in addition to MissouriBendStudio, I am now running two shops, blogs, etc. While I was in the swing of creating new social media opportunities, I went ahead and created a separate website/blog through Etsy for MissouriBendStudio as well....so, now missouribendstudio.com is a thing on its own. So, as you can see, I've just stacked a few more stones on my balanced pile, but I have to say, I love this kind of creative life.</div>
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I've come to realize another kind of balance over the past few years. I can go out and get a job to bring in an income and be less than happy, or be here in the studio making work and trying to find good home for it and be very happy, even with little income. Those are the trade offs we make in life and when I check in with myself as I sit at my studio desk, I know that it is where I belong...</div>
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...right here, at this desk. Well, that was a long story, so thanks for reading to the end. Now, when you have a moment, head on over to <span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartfilledhome" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">The Art Filled Home</span></a> </span>and keep up with our blog at <a href="http://theartfilledhome.com/"><span style="color: purple;">theartfilledhome.com</span></a>. </div>
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Oh, and don't worry....this blog is not going anywhere. Part of me thought that perhaps it would be redundant now that missouribendstudio.com has a blog component, but you all are too near and dear to my heart.....this blog will still be active and full of stories of Missouri Bend Studio and probably tales from The Art Filled Home as well. </div>
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Thanks so much for your cheer and support across the miles!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-73191937477238211012017-03-15T15:38:00.000-05:002017-03-15T15:38:31.225-05:00Gigantic Spring Sale....Have a Look!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings, everyone...please forgive the rather long absence. Somehow life has gotten a bit busier than I anticipated...we all know how that goes! Thought I'd share a few of the latest daily drawings and let you in on a new project underway. But first.....a big opportunity this week...now through March 22nd.<br />
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It's nearly spring (officially) and therefore time to do some serious spring cleaning! Here's a fabulous deal that I hope you'll take advantage of. I just started a 50% off sale for anything in my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=hdr_shop_menu" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> today, March 15th through March 22nd. You can help me give good homes to my work and get a great deal in the process. I'm just asking that there be a $40 minimum purchase....but still, think of the 50%!!! Use the coupon code WELCOMESPRING2017 when checking out. So....after reading this post, head on over to <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=hdr_shop_menu" target="_blank">Missouri Bend Studio</a> on Etsy and browse around!</div>
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My much loved printmaking husband, Johntimothy Pizzuto, and I are collaborating on work for a new Etsy shop. We both believe strongly in the power of the arts to make a difference in people's lives. We also know that a home filled with art is one that is warm, cozy, inviting and nurturing to the spirit. Any room can be filled with art that has the power to transform the space into one that becomes a kind of sanctuary. That's the philosophy behind the venture....I'll keep you posted and invite you to take a look in the coming days when I have more of the shop in place. </div>
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The daily drawings shown here are all listed in my shop....along with a ton of other dailies, mixed media pieces, etc. etc. It feels good to be immersed in the daily drawing practice again. When life gets busy, it is easy to let it fall away, but I feel so much more balanced when I spend a few minutes grounding myself with the practice. That way, if I don't have time to be in the studio for a longer period, at least I've made my marks for the day, so to speak.</div>
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I do look forward to seeing this most recent snowfall melt away....spring is due to arrive within a few days and I'm quite ready!! Hope to see you at <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=hdr_shop_menu" target="_blank">MissouriBendStudio</a>!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-34769572312382522012017-02-24T17:51:00.000-06:002017-02-24T17:51:05.224-06:00Glimpsing Infinity and Other Musings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/500387968/tiny-accordion-fold-book-with-beeswax?ref=shop_home_active_4" target="_blank">Untitled</a></div>
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One of the many things I meant to write about while I was working on the <i>Anonymous: The Diary Drawings </i>series (see recent posts!) was the idea of glimpsing infinity. I know, of course, that infinity is a notion, a concept and not quite something that you catch a glimpse of, but still....the idea resurfaces each time I sit down to draw. The notion of glimpsing infinity lingers with me, so I will attempt to explain and see if the idea or the experience resonates with you.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/500888738/tiny-accordion-fold-book-with-beeswax?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">The Journey</a></div>
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A drawing, or any artwork for that matter, is created through a series of decisions....sometimes split-second decisions, sometimes ones that involve more contemplation and thought. What occurs to me as I am working is that there are virtually unlimited possibilities from which to choose. Any mark that I make could be otherwise, its location could be otherwise on the page, which might be of a different material entirely. If you do a little thought experiment and multiply the many tools you might use to work with, by the surfaces there are on which to work, by the placement on the page, by the countless colors that could be employed, by the ideas in your head....well, it makes me dizzy! </div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/500922238/hand-drawn-pamphlet-book-dipped-in?ref=listing-shop-header-0" target="_blank">The Book of a Layered Land</a></div>
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The idea that it's all been done before, that there is nothing new under the sun, doesn't quite hold water if you open yourself to all the endless possibilities before you. Multiply all those things above by all the different moments in time, by the various incarnations of the self that evolve over time....well, it really is endless. I can't buy into the notion that there is nothing new to say or any new ways to say something that's already been said time and again. The world is wide, the possibilities are infinite. There is always room for what you have to express, because each one of us embodies our own set of infinite possibilities. The marks and images that land on the page through the work of my hands are the expression of my experience....that's my calling...to make those marks. And your calling is to make those marks only you can make, through whatever means you have at your disposal....at any time and place in the sea of infinity.</div>
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Until next time....enjoy the possibilities!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-88090171170303484522017-02-18T12:52:00.000-06:002017-02-18T12:52:37.572-06:00The Unfolding StoryPlease forgive the long absence....I've been immersed in the studio most days working on finishing the pieces for <i>Anonymous: The Diary Drawings.</i> All 36 are now finished, mounted on foam core and, as of yesterday, in the hands of the fine folks at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings.<br />
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In my last posts, I shared with you the most recent pieces along with my musings about the ideas behind the series. I just checked back on my last post and realize that I left off with number 15...wow, that was less than halfway through the series. Well, I won't post the next 21 from the series, but will give you a view of a selection of some of my favorites. Eventually this work will make its way to my <a href="http://www.robertspizzuto.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 18</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.19</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.20</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.21</div>
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One of the things I realized during the course of this work was that while I had these ideas about the content of the series....history and the anonymity that inevitably happens over time, these diary drawings were ultimately <i>my</i> diary drawings unfolding over the course of my recent days. I can see the references and symbols that speak to the events unfolding in my world, both the outer and inner worlds that ground me in time and place. </div>
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And so, these drawings are really, in a sense, the "everyman" diary drawings....that is, the "every person", whether man or woman....we all experience events through the lens of our culture as well as our place in the flow of time. Each of us experiences hope and sorrow, the rush of experience and the press of our own immortality. Each one of us has our own story to tell. And so, these diary drawings are fragments of my story.</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.36</div>
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As I neared the completion of the series at no.36, I could feel the anxiety creeping up...the sense of loss and the let down that often looms after an intense period of work. I experience this even with approaching end of a book in which I am immersed. I pause more during the reading....I savor and try to forestall the inevitable. But there it is...no.36. The end. </div>
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And yet....there is always more to the story. Perhaps another such series will soon be underway.</div>
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I'm so pleased to have been invited to be part of this upcoming exhibition of 18 women artists in South Dakota, <i>Women At Work: South Dakota Artists. </i>The show will open in the next couple of weeks, so if you are within a reasonable proximity of Brookings, South Dakota in the next couple of months, hope you will have a chance to see it. I'm honored to part of such esteemed company! </div>
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Enjoy your weekend and thanks for your support and encouragement....and for checking in here on this blog. </div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-7403902863095271152017-02-03T18:24:00.001-06:002017-02-03T18:24:10.969-06:00Homage to the Forgotten Ones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Diary Drawing no. 11</div>
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Early February greetings! I've been squirreled away in the studio working on this diary drawing project, which has also been the subject of my most recent posts. I am now up to no. 28 of the 36 I plan to make, so I'll share them in small groups over the next couple weeks. </div>
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Diary Drawing no. 12</div>
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Just to recap, these drawings are a kind of homage to the ordinary folks, countless generations of them, whose lives are lived in the richness of days punctuated by highs and lows, births and deaths, milestones large and small....just like ours. Over time and over the course of a deepening history, these lives become anonymous....forgotten. And yet, each one of us lives and breathes because of them, we carry their DNA and our lives are built on the experiences and memory of those who came before.</div>
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Diary Drawing no. 13</div>
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These anonymous diary drawings pay homage to those ordinary folks, living out their lives across the globe....countless generations of them. These are the "what if" diary pages of the people who have come before.....creating a trace where one doesn't exist.</div>
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Diary Drawing no. 14</div>
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This theme is not a new one for me, but one that has always been close to my heart. This notion of remembering and forgetting, as well the layering of history and the ephemeral nature of experience runs through all my work. A few recent additions to my bookshelves, which I'll share below, speak to these ideas in different ways. Personal and collective history, the sense of place and a kind of grounding...the bittersweet nature of a life lived....these are things which unite us all.<br />
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Diary Drawing no. 15</div>
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Still reading <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Common-People-Pursuit-My-Ancestors/dp/022642085X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486167237&sr=8-1&keywords=common+people+alison+light" target="_blank">Common People: In Pursuit of My Ancestors</a>....fascinating!</div>
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Just started <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Life-Dispatches-Ancient-Landscape/dp/1250060265/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486167296&sr=1-1&keywords=shepherds+life" target="_blank">The Shepherd's Life</a>....but was immediately immersed....beautifully written.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGzptiied0QEMt6ArSY795c83axnfNp8rmrOhmkj7Qh45dVOfzlIG6FT1dRtZNpp9EeT-R26izGX7rK6tRjRK8Zgrf14-cvfGnNVLh37ofi8k3ZY4dskLpopi9L5b-e4_4iGlucUZOiMF/s1600/War+Turpentine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGzptiied0QEMt6ArSY795c83axnfNp8rmrOhmkj7Qh45dVOfzlIG6FT1dRtZNpp9EeT-R26izGX7rK6tRjRK8Zgrf14-cvfGnNVLh37ofi8k3ZY4dskLpopi9L5b-e4_4iGlucUZOiMF/s400/War+Turpentine.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Turpentine-novel-Stefan-Hertmans/dp/1101874023/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486167355&sr=1-1&keywords=war+%26+turpentine" target="_blank">War & Turpentine</a> is one of those books that is hard to finish...and I did reluctantly. It has been favorably compared with W. G. Sebald, one of my favorite authors. While I can see the connection, this one is different. I wouldn't say it is truly a novel....more of a memoir and a memoir within a memoir. </div>
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I'll leave you with a beautiful quote from James Rebanks taken from <i>The Shepherd's Life:</i></div>
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<i>"My grandfather was, quite simply, one of the great forgotten silent majority of people who live, work, love, and die without leaving much written trace that they were ever here. He was, and we his descendants remain, essentially nobodies as far as anyone else is concerned. But that's the point. Landscapes like ours were created by and survive through the efforts of nobodies."</i></div>
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That sentiment is the same one that underpins this these diary pages. Although they are a product of my own creation, they are a simple, quite homage and an appreciation for those who have gone before....the nobodies.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-21785786360422804862017-01-18T18:01:00.000-06:002017-01-18T18:01:01.726-06:00The Diary Drawings: Insights and Musings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 4</div>
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Mid-January greetings! I'm reporting in on progress with the the diary drawing series I have begun for an exhibition next month. In my <a href="http://missouribendstudio.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">last post</a>, I talked about the idea for the series and the fact that history is built upon what comes before us....the lives of ordinary folks, living out their days in many of the same ways that we do. Over time, we all become anonymous. That may sound like a rather melancholy thought, but I find it compelling, nonetheless. Our lives count for something, our actions and our days are important links in the ongoing chain of human civilization. Our lives have meaning, even if they seem to disappear into history.</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 5</div>
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So, these individual drawings, based on "anonymous diary pages", are not about any particular diary page from any particular individual, but are instead a way to talk about the universality of human experience....perhaps. Not what was specific to this or that person on this or that day, but the arc of it all...the way we seek love and security, the way each of us must deal with our basic needs in vastly differing circumstances, the way we struggle with our trials, our mistakes both large and small, and the many ways we find to communicate with those different from us. All of it. </div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.6</div>
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And so, while I had this large arc of human experience in mind, I still thought it might be helpful to look at the content of some actual published diaries from ordinary folks from throughout history. While fascinating, this was not a good idea for me. My best work comes from the inside out, intuitively, and this effort took me to a place of making work from the outside in. I was quite aware that the drawings attempted after having read a few diary entries in one of the books I checked out from the library were more stilted and I knew that I had moved into the realm of illustration. Now, illustration if a wonderful thing, but I saw the life sapping out of the work as the drawing I was working on became more strained and predictable.</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.7</div>
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It happened with no. 5 above....I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is the loss of carefree abandon and randomness. I want to suggest connections, but not be descriptive, if that makes sense. I also like things to feel odd, unpredictable...and kind of strange. When no.6 was started down the path of predictability, I tore out the corner and inserted that sewn patch. I am happier when the work is a bit rough, as if perhaps you have to look twice to make sure what you are seeing. Often times, when we see what we expect to see, that is, when everything is predictable and each thing is where you expect it....well, there's nothing interesting to see. We lose the hunger for nuance. </div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.8</div>
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And so, the stitches are a bit clumsy, things are attached in odd ways and compositions are a bit quirky. I am a maker and these drawings bear the trace of the hand, my hand and in a sense, are the pages of my own diary. Maybe they are your diary pages as well. The drawings are filled with symbols and untold stories....I invite you to create your own.</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.9</div>
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I've completed ten pieces at this point and I think my goal is to finish 36. They'll hang together in a grid....at 8" x 6" apiece, it will take a lot of them to have the kind of presence I want. But, I love making them....watching them emerge, listening to the echoes of unknown voices lost to history.</div>
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Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.10</div>
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As my time has been spent solely on these drawings, I feel as though I am neglecting my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a>, but there is plenty of work there awaiting a good home. Hope you take some time to see what's there that speaks to you! Until next time....enjoy the rest of your week.</div>
<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-34469753896627352892017-01-11T19:10:00.001-06:002017-01-11T19:10:23.576-06:00Anonymous: The Diary Pages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Diary Page no.1</div>
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I have a longtime interest in history and in the trace we leave behind, as individuals and as cultures. This exploration if really at the heart of the work that I make in the studio. The quiet intimacy of the details of a life lived out day by day is reflected in the scale of my work. The pieces are meant be seen one-on-one, that is, not from across the room like a large painting, but like one would look at the page of a book...or perhaps...the page of an anonymous diary. </div>
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I've been invited to participate in a show of a select group of women artists here in South Dakota at the South Dakota Art Museum and I'm excited about this new series of "diary pages" I've begun working on. Much of what we know about how people lived in different times and place comes from personal narratives in the form of diaries. The broad sweep of culture is echoed day-by-day in the lives of each one of us, whether we keep a record of it or not. </div>
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Diary Page no.2</div>
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The diary page seemed a perfect format to bring together my interests and my joy in making works on paper. Each page is made with two sheets of 8" x 6" Japanese paper. The backing sheet contains the "writing", that is, drawing that echoes the pattern of words on a page. The top sheet is the "drawing" that brings the written word to life, possibly evoking a day, an event...or a moment in time. </div>
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The process of making the anonymous written diary page is very meditative, as I imagine the person who might have written the "words." Afterwards, the page that is the drawing flows naturally and somehow echoes the writing both visually and metaphorically. After the drawing page is dipped in beeswax, it is attached to the written page with tiny stitches in the corners, but also through sewing, beads, buttons, sewn on collaged drawings and other bits. </div>
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Diary Page no.3</div>
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These "diary pages" are perhaps filled with the imaginary record of births and deaths, festivals and special occasions that mark time and allow us to look back at the fulness of our days. Yet, while these pieces are filled with words and language, my sense is that they are filled with longing.....for lost days, loves found and then forgotten, for the ability to stop time and to hold on forever to everything we hold dear. </div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/504656765/beeswaxed-daily-drawing-for-december-13?ref=listing-shop-header-1" target="_blank">December 13, 2016</a></div>
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Speaking of marking time, I've just posted a random assortment of some daily drawings in my Etsy shop. I think you can get the sense of how the daily drawings from my own life inform the drawings in the diary pages. Below on the drawing from January 9th...those acorn-like seed forms showed up later that same day on diary page no. 2.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/491026178/beeswaxed-daily-drawing-for-december-16?ref=shop_home_active_3" target="_blank">December 16, 2016</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/504657177/beeswaxed-daily-drawing-for-january-2017?ref=listing-shop-header-0" target="_blank">January 9, 2017</a></div>
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I don't have the title yet for the series of diary pages, but it will come to me in due time and I will know it when it arrives, I'm quite sure. For now, they will just be numbered as I make them. I plan to have over 40 finished for the show and hang them together in a grid. With their small size, it will take a lot of these pages to hold together on a large gallery wall in the museum. Though each one is delicate, I hope that together they will have enough presence to beckon the viewer from afar.</div>
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Hope your year has started off well. Except for the cold that has turned into a sinus infection (modern medicine now at work), my year has started off on a positive note. Cheers!</div>
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Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-2471088066739363212017-01-06T16:20:00.000-06:002017-01-06T16:20:11.961-06:00Happy New Year Greetings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings to all in the new year! I've been away on holiday travels, with family near and far and am finally getting settled in back at home. As you can see from the photo above, we have no snow to speak of, but that doesn't mean the temperatures aren't frigid! It's mighty cold out there, as evidenced by the ice chunks gliding down the river. They remind me somehow of white clouds floating across the blue of a summer sky. </div>
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Today was the first day spending any time in the studio. Above is a brief snapshot of the start of a drawing that is now underway. I'm easing my way into a new body of work and feeling a bit pressured, as I've been invited into a group show of women artists at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings in the early spring. I'd like to create another grouping of pieces similar to the Art of Wonder series which I began last year at this time. As those of you who have followed my work and/or this blog know, I have to draw my way into an understanding of just what this new work will be. And so, I just begin with play and letting my hand draw what comes naturally. I know this much....the series will be made on 8"x 8" Japanese paper that will be dipped in beeswax. The more I draw, the more I'll understand when I've "got" it. After an hour or more on this drawing, I know I'm not there yet, so we'll see where this one goes....if anywhere!</div>
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Still getting over a nasty cold, so it's slow going, but I know I'll soon find the groove, so to speak. Sorry for the long absence, but as everyone know the holiday season makes for busy days. I'm glad to have had time with family and friends, but I'm now more than ready to have my days spent in the cozy studio. Hope you've had a fine start to 2017!</div>
<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-33656230128004663272016-12-12T18:21:00.000-06:002016-12-12T18:21:05.643-06:00In the Round<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/498593553/circular-round-mixed-media-drawing?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Looking Glass</a></div>
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As I make initial preparations for a new suite of drawings for an upcoming show in the early spring, I find myself contemplating a circular format. I made this piece today as a way to get my feet wet, so to speak. And I started making a list of things that are round....writing them down in my sketchbook as they came to mind. Coins, the sun and moon, the earth, spirals, buttons, spools, wheels are all round...or circular...or spherical, I suppose. Since I am thinking in two dimension (drawing on paper), I think of all these things merely as round. Then there is "circle" or "round" as a metaphor, which called to mind the cycle of the seasons, mirrors, magnifying and looking glasses. Somehow I stopped there....at the notion of the "looking glass."</div>
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I thought about the notion of the lens and how we are continually seeing the world through the lens of our own experience and physicality. And too, there are magnifiers, microscopes and telescopes to extend our vision, to see the far reaches of the cosmos....the infinitely far away, in time and in space, as well as the infinitesimally small. We continue to learn about the vastness of the microscopic world and the interconnectedness of the roots of trees and plants, the microorganisms that dwell there....seemingly infinite worlds reside in a speck of dirt...or of dust and somehow these worlds seem to mirror or echo what we see in the larger cosmos. Or maybe they form a kind of circle. I think there is something worth exploring in a new group of drawings....in the round.</div>
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Like much of the country suffering from frigid temperatures, we've been plunged into the winter season and are finding the cold a bit of a shock. Already there is ice flowing down the Missouri River and I suspect soon it will appear more like a solid sheet of ice. In the last 9 years, I don't recall the river has actually really frozen, as there are always some channels open, but there is a definite frozen quality to the surface that makes you feel as if you could walk across to Nebraska on the other side. A little snow on Friday served up the gentle reminder of the coming months.</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/485114312/pencil-ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">December 12, 2016</a></div>
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I'll leave you with today's daily drawing....hope it brings a note of cheer! Enjoy the rest of your week...hope it is full of inspiration and joy.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-46811692835102627202016-12-05T17:10:00.000-06:002016-12-05T17:10:05.433-06:00On Drawing: Food for Thought<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Drawing can be a potent problem-solving aid for both children and adults. A drawing can let you <i>see </i>how you <i>feel</i>. Putting that another way, the right brain, by means of a drawing, can show the left brain what the trouble is. The left brain, in turn, can use its own powerful skills--language and logical thought--to solve the problem." -- Betty Edwards, <i>Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/496862125/pencil-ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">December 2, 2016</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"The scribbling of any....child clearly indicate how thoroughly immersed he is in the sensation of moving his hand and crayon aimlessly over a surface, depositing a line in his path. There must be some quantity of magic in this alone." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">-- Edward Hill, <i>The Language of Drawing</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/496867191/pencil-ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">December 3, 2016</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the <i>attainment of a state of being, </i>a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence...We make our discoveries while in the state because then we are clear-sighted." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">-- Robert Henri, <i>The Art Spirit</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/483375670/pencil-ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">December 4, 2016</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large--this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">-- Aldous Huxley, <i>The Doors of Perception</i></span></div>
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Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-63559506183119440342016-11-29T16:18:00.001-06:002016-11-29T16:18:19.516-06:00On Drawing....The Search<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/481829812/ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">November 28, 2016</a></div>
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The ongoing conversation about drawing continues in this post...there's much to talk about, it seems to me! Do feel free to chime in anytime, as I'm happy to have a dialogue and hear about your experiences with drawing. For the past couple of posts, I've been talking about my daily drawing practice, as a form of mediation and as a way to let go and watch what unfolds. </div>
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It helps to approach the process from the inside out, rather than the outside in. That may not make much sense at first glance. Drawing in this way uses your brain, but the "thinking" comes through the senses, through the body, rather than just a cognitive approach. As a kind of meditation, you are open to the conversation and to what is happening within as well as without. </div>
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I'll share some specifics with the drawings from the last couple of days to illustrate what I am talking about. Yesterday morning, I sat down with my little 6x4" sheet of Japanese paper and my trusty mechanical pencil. After dating the page, I began with a dot toward the top and without picking up the pencil, had the sense to let the the line wander from there, in a kind of aimless search...for something....for the drawing itself, I think. The meandering lines continued, making one shape then moving to another when the moment felt right. I understood through the mark-making that this meandering line was about "the search"....both in a literal sense and as a metaphor. </div>
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I respond to drawings, to paintings and all manner of works that allow the sense of the search to come through. Some artworks appear to have emerged into being fully formed, but I need to see the quest, the false starts (there are none, really), the evidence of the search in the process of making. As a maker, it is through the search that I find the meaning, just as that little moment was revealed in the making of those meandering lines yesterday. After the initial pencil lines, I picked up my white ink pen and overlaid more searching, meandering lines.</div>
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The notion of "the search" reminded me that the process of drawing from life, from observation, is also fundamentally about the search. On another larger sheet of paper I began to draw the not-so-well-tended-geranium in a pot on my desk. If you want to draw from life, it begins with seeing....with looking, with the search. I allowed a searching line to flow from the pencil (and later that white pen again) as I let my eyes wander up and down the stem, following the edges of leaves, as they overlapped and intersected. My hand became an extension of my eyes...Drawing from life is fundamentally an act of eye-hand coordination. As many of my readers know, I'm not all that keen on drawing from life, as my work takes a much more indirect route. And yet, it's all a search....for being in the moment, for meaning, for discovering and describing what we see or what we know to be true.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNmcNuaNr6_yH00pO460a8cpE2EQ0WoF5et4H5HpayYdnI0LUKRXf8xNCHp4M9uLOQy5dnv815CV4bPlPUP1SIsJl6q-FodK1L030_FeRl0WmwJN8FX2ncqhPIP8G6ZY5wR-X0zHmtoW2/s1600/Nov+29+2016+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNmcNuaNr6_yH00pO460a8cpE2EQ0WoF5et4H5HpayYdnI0LUKRXf8xNCHp4M9uLOQy5dnv815CV4bPlPUP1SIsJl6q-FodK1L030_FeRl0WmwJN8FX2ncqhPIP8G6ZY5wR-X0zHmtoW2/s400/Nov+29+2016+blog.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/481918052/ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=listing-shop-header-0" target="_blank">November 29, 2016</a></div>
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Today's drawing began much as the one yesterday, but the dots came first, for the most part, and then a meandering line was back, wanting to connect these dots in most indirect ways....circling, looping, wandering in ways that made loose connections between these random dots. And there it was again...the moment of understanding through the work. We all attempt to construct meaning in our lives and this process of making connections between points, between events, is how we do it. Sometimes the connection between dots is a pretty direct, straight line...a kind of cause and effect, but so many times, it seems that the line between this point and that is meandering, looping, intersecting and overlapping with other lines. It's the never ending search.</div>
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Maybe this gives you a bit more understanding (maybe not!) as to how the process of drawing tells me what the drawing itself is about. It is a process of "inside out" where the meaning emerges through an evolving understanding as my pencil moves across the page, rather than one where I know what I want to say and set about saying it. The insights come through the searching marks.</div>
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I make many of these drawings available in my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> with the hope that they bring some moments of contemplation as well as joy and delight to others. I'd love to hear from you with your thoughts and experiences about the power of drawing.</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-62424072983049314162016-11-22T15:55:00.000-06:002016-11-22T15:55:38.589-06:00On Drawing....From Within<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz0hRNnQ1uIC9er9Vxm9C-rFvEECEEJ0JtYgB6AEY5gFIH2qBY03GzLVW0LjMTJaPnjoE5_6WnSrtvOsEzr0kXKWGsoYXWMycTWIxJwCJZYd-t8VEE5NtZg2FzbYbUgZQ6OBF9UUrVn_F-/s1600/Nov+19+2016+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz0hRNnQ1uIC9er9Vxm9C-rFvEECEEJ0JtYgB6AEY5gFIH2qBY03GzLVW0LjMTJaPnjoE5_6WnSrtvOsEzr0kXKWGsoYXWMycTWIxJwCJZYd-t8VEE5NtZg2FzbYbUgZQ6OBF9UUrVn_F-/s400/Nov+19+2016+SIZED.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/493797389/ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_3" target="_blank">November 19, 2016</a></div>
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In my last post, I mentioned the idea of inner language. I first understood this notion when I engaged in a drawing process that I think of as a kind of meditation. There is a great deal of information on meditation out in the world....on the internet, in books, recordings, etc. Recently, I found a nice explanation and guide to the process <a href="https://zenhabits.net/meditation-guide/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht2vjGNRZIi7x3ZV3oMTrCU4cp2DQVm3c77vUqM6-RtrvLZp-IhEW_LwHcyMuDjOtYXr_fokq4fVJDL7RLZ_H3zEV69DEhuJEDTEWSp7ecdYn3FFn6PhsO9mC1aJy_nMFJmXZ5Eq0EWGbR/s1600/Nov+20+2016+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht2vjGNRZIi7x3ZV3oMTrCU4cp2DQVm3c77vUqM6-RtrvLZp-IhEW_LwHcyMuDjOtYXr_fokq4fVJDL7RLZ_H3zEV69DEhuJEDTEWSp7ecdYn3FFn6PhsO9mC1aJy_nMFJmXZ5Eq0EWGbR/s400/Nov+20+2016+SIZED.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/480302342/ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=listing-shop-header-1" target="_blank">November 20, 2016</a></div>
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The idea is to let go of any concern with results, as you are not engaged in making art, per se. Sit alone, in a quiet space with a piece of paper and a pen...or pencil or ink filled brush. Be somewhat still and focused for just a few moments while you let your hand move where it will. In a more traditional form of meditation you might focus on your breath as you breath in and then out...but it in this case, you watch, in a detached way, as your hand goes where it will. If you are one with the moment, you will know when to stop....it's not a process of thinking, but a process of "knowing" from a place deep within. Letting go in this way is very relaxing, even for just a few moments and while it is not about "liking" or "not liking" any particular drawing, I believe that if you do this for a number of days, you will begin to see that the marks you make....the marks on the page that come straight from you as easily as your breathing, are a part of you, syllables of a language that is yours alone. This can be very powerful and over time, allow you to trust your instincts....in the studio and perhaps in life. </div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/480303190/ink-and-beeswax-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">November 21, 2016</a></div>
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I never know when I sit down what will emerge in those few moments of drawing, but often I am delighted and always I feel a moment of satisfaction, of grounding and of peace. Sometimes the observer in me will see something that will come into play in a future artwork...perhaps some way of placing this next to that on the page, or a different way of mark making that seems ripe for exploration. Maybe you'll notice that those trees from November 20th showed up in this longer drawing I made yesterday, shown below.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7Bk4G5di1Qpc2mKI3jWkJHUpBuJijVi7UFhgwkWCzgXAJM6mavU8nAMu956X_vh0zLZJ4IR-YBYPDEd9hiN1opmeDVhQ3cj0DJBTbhKOVN2zFhOmh31lDDCZp7o438-N3kk2-FjyKuV0/s1600/First+Snowfall+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7Bk4G5di1Qpc2mKI3jWkJHUpBuJijVi7UFhgwkWCzgXAJM6mavU8nAMu956X_vh0zLZJ4IR-YBYPDEd9hiN1opmeDVhQ3cj0DJBTbhKOVN2zFhOmh31lDDCZp7o438-N3kk2-FjyKuV0/s400/First+Snowfall+SIZED.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/493779933/first-snowfall-winter-meditation-drawing?ref=shop_home_active_4" target="_blank">Meditation Drawing: First Snowfall</a></div>
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I have been doing this daily drawing process pretty steadily, with different materials, for a number of years. When I stray away and don't do them for awhile, I begin to feel a bit lost and it doesn't take long to realize that I need to get myself grounded once again with the daily drawing practice. I began listing my daily drawings in my<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank"> Etsy shop</a> as a way to share them with the world. Over time, I have heard from many folks that they communicate in ways that are profound and that people find meaning and their own delight in having them. That means a great deal to me on many levels. It also reminds me that we communicate with one another in countless ways, but that drawing has a power to reach places that words cannot. </div>
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I hope you'll try this process and see if you don't find it rewarding. I'd love to hear from you with your thoughts!</div>
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Happy Thanksgiving to friends near and far!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-29474762544801799462016-11-18T16:43:00.002-06:002016-11-19T15:11:51.501-06:00On Drawing...Or, Drawing on Drawing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjxWT_9v3ffqn0tgWixxMh9Q-Yw_FPJIDG5srsoD8GAYjyadRcmFglEDPhpqFGtI-G61U1RseNvNZX1rW9ZrxDgwuqf3HbeQWC1XPSM1nu0YRqUwMCPajj7rdTeAxxEdrP2f9fzvy3Tt0/s1600/Jan+25+2013+detail+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjxWT_9v3ffqn0tgWixxMh9Q-Yw_FPJIDG5srsoD8GAYjyadRcmFglEDPhpqFGtI-G61U1RseNvNZX1rW9ZrxDgwuqf3HbeQWC1XPSM1nu0YRqUwMCPajj7rdTeAxxEdrP2f9fzvy3Tt0/s400/Jan+25+2013+detail+1.jpg" width="390" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/492478617/tiny-square-collage-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">January 25, 2013</a></div>
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I've been thinking a lot about drawing lately, as it is central to my artistic practice. No matter what materials I am working with, I think of everything that I do as drawing. I also feel that, as a general rule, the definitions out there of what constitutes "drawing" are too limited. It is such an absolutely fundamental process, like breathing, that it becomes an integral part of the process of making, whether you are a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist....or almost anything else. I'm certainly not a singer, but anyone who is a singer knows that breathing is a central to being able to sing well. Understanding the breath is fundamental for singing, dancing....so many things, and a connection to drawing (broadly defined!) is central to the process of creation.<br />
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I feel very strongly that each person possesses a core of creativity, though in our culture, almost everyone I talk to who is not an artist, doesn't believe they have it within them, which fills me with a kind of sadness. I believe creativity is part of our humanity and despite what our years of schooling have done to us, it's still there. It is this passion about creativity that has gotten me thinking about drawing.<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/479381476/tiny-square-collage-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">January 24, 2013</a></div>
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In all my decades of being an artist, it has never occurred to me that I was a teacher or that I was interested in teaching, but these ideas I have about creativity have, for the first time, gotten me thinking about doing workshops. Each of us has an inner language, a way of mark-making, that is unique, like a fingerprint. Drawing, it seems to me, is fundamental to connecting to that inner core of creativity and being able to "draw" from within.<br />
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Below is the Merriam-Webster definition of drawing:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">Simple Definition of <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">drawing</span></span></h2>
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<span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="intro-colon" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 4px !important; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">:</span> a picture, image, etc., that is made by making lines </span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">on a </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">surface with a </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">pencil, pen, marker, chalk, etc., </span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">but usually </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">not with paint</span></span></div>
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<span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="intro-colon" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 4px !important; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">:</span> the act or art of making a picture, image, etc., with </span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">a </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">pencil, pen, marker, chalk, etc., but usually not with </span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">paint</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="intro-colon" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 4px !important; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">:</span> an act of choosing something (such as a winning ticket) </span></span><span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">from a group without knowing which one you are choosing</span></span><span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em;">That seems pretty limited to me. "Not with paint"... I'm not buying that. I haven't yet come up with a </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;">satisfying</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em !important;"> definition of my own, but the one above doesn't capture it at all. The process of making with the hand is essential.....there is a flow from the senses, through the brain, back through the hand that is part of drawing. The body is part of drawing. Going back to my metaphor of the breath....we understand </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;">that breathing is a process that involves quite a bit more than the nose or the mouth. So, while I cogitate further on a suitable definition of drawing, I'll spend the next few posts sharing a few images from some of my favorite artists, whose works seem to me to be based in drawing.</span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;">The pieces below are paintings by <a href="http://www.rickjohnsart.com/" target="_blank">Rick Johns</a>, a painter from here in Vermillion, South Dakota. Rick is a fine painter, but also a fine craftsman builder....of houses, kayaks, you name it. These paintings have a wonderfully layered surface and a sensitivity to mark making that leaves a trace of the search. I love them....yes, they are paintings, but these are also drawings, according to my still nebulous definition.</span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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No. 21</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLICdqtpZG7rd06vD9-rM1HeVbVPfgwjLIQr4IY6H7yLdSLp2YfcE1u2VtC8-B0PCoCvprgkJDZd9LxbmQMjYG7z9q6v99bltnh00AYzYZLrcq3iPFuPSoF-T_aHzumSiyafOduz0uowvp/s1600/Rick+JOhns+no.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLICdqtpZG7rd06vD9-rM1HeVbVPfgwjLIQr4IY6H7yLdSLp2YfcE1u2VtC8-B0PCoCvprgkJDZd9LxbmQMjYG7z9q6v99bltnh00AYzYZLrcq3iPFuPSoF-T_aHzumSiyafOduz0uowvp/s400/Rick+JOhns+no.2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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No. 43</div>
<span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;">So, I will continue to cogitate about this teaching idea and how I can create a workshop that will connect people to their inner language, allowing them to discover the richness within. It's important, because the process of making is fundamental to our humanity. </span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;">Here in South Dakota, we've just had our first snow of the season....yikes, we were all caught off guard, having enjoyed more than our share of a perfectly lovely autumn. And now, here's to a perfectly lovely winter! Enjoy your weekend.</span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #3b3e41;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6399999856948853px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #3b3e41; display: block; font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1em; letter-spacing: 0.04em; margin: 0px 0px 0.125em; padding: 0px;"><br /></span><br />
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Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-59639533268019131642016-11-10T15:54:00.002-06:002016-11-10T15:54:21.784-06:00Restored By Reading: The Current Stack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLF0GdpPhKJWn9Zv9NiUwhfMXPxDVMsI2f6ERFfnTCWGZDzOUYjVaEjP8H70WlTjz-PtocsNVQGlpYSjc8wLqqduwfr5srG4vLZAfemwXuCV-K0jYOBeoXRpmrHSRVJncMTcx4yMG8bxnJ/s1600/Book+Stack+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLF0GdpPhKJWn9Zv9NiUwhfMXPxDVMsI2f6ERFfnTCWGZDzOUYjVaEjP8H70WlTjz-PtocsNVQGlpYSjc8wLqqduwfr5srG4vLZAfemwXuCV-K0jYOBeoXRpmrHSRVJncMTcx4yMG8bxnJ/s400/Book+Stack+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>"Knowledge sets us free, art sets us free. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>A great library is freedom." </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>-- Ursula K. Le Guin</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I just have to say, there are never enough books in my life. Our house is filled to the brim with books, in literally every room (okay, minus one guest bathroom, which is too small), many of which I've not read....and yet, I am forever making the trek to the public library or making purchases for more. I love a day with nothing on the schedule, with nowhere I have to be, so I can sit with a book, savoring the language that sparks ideas, deepens understanding and that takes me to destinations far flung and unknown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of my library treks take me to the public library in Vermillion, but the other day I was on campus and made my way to the university library, which has a sizable collection of new fiction and non-fiction available for checkout. Uh oh....I couldn't resist coming home with yet another stack of "impossible to finish by the due date" books. In case you can't read the titles in the photo above, they are, from top to bottom:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Geography-Home-Akiko-Busch/dp/1568984294/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478812760&sr=8-1&keywords=geography+of+home" target="_blank">Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live </a>/ Akiko Busch </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate%C2%97Discoveries-Secret/dp/1771642483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478812820&sr=8-1&keywords=hidden+life+of+trees" target="_blank">The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries From A Secret World</a> / Peter Wohlleben</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bottomland-Novel-Michelle-Hoover/dp/0802124712/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478812951&sr=8-1&keywords=bottomland" target="_blank">Bottomland: A Novel</a> / Michelle Hoover</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Exiles-Return-Novel-Elisabeth-Waal/dp/1250063744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478813000&sr=8-1&keywords=elizabeth+de+waal" target="_blank">The Exiles Return: A Novel</a> / Elisabeth De Waal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Weight-Love-Novel/dp/1616204842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478813093&sr=8-1&keywords=atomic+weight+of+love" target="_blank">The Atomic Weight of Love: A Novel </a>/ Elizabeth J. Church</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Book-Cover-Cover-Exploration-Powerful/dp/0393244792/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478813157&sr=8-2&keywords=the+book" target="_blank">The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time</a> / Keith Houston</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Days-Night-Novel/dp/0812988906/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478813254&sr=8-1&keywords=last+days+of+night" target="_blank">The Last Days of Night: A Novel </a>/ Graham Moore</span></div>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Astronomers-Daughter-John-Pipkin/dp/1632861879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478813301&sr=8-1&keywords=blind+astronomer%27s+daughter" target="_blank">The Blind Astronomer's Daughter</a> / John Pipkin<br />
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My husband and I have a little ritual of "story time", in which we read a book together....me reading aloud to him. It doesn't happen every day, as life gets a little crazy, but it is the goal to have a chapter read at some point during the day. The book currently on our story time docket is <i>The Last Days of Night</i>, a novel that takes you into the intrigue between Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla in the early days of electric lighting. In my own reading, I am nearly finished with <i>The Exiles Return</i> and have already dipped into <i>The Hidden Life of Trees. </i>I'm like a kid in the candy shop!<br />
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But there's something else I want to share. The Ursula Le Guin quote that began this post, which pays homage to art and libraries, as well as the life of the mind, is one that I found on <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/11/06/ursula-k-le-guin-libraries/?mc_cid=533d31dcb0&mc_eid=d70b92eed2" target="_blank">Brain Pickings</a>, an online newsletter that provides a cornucopia of riches. If you follow the link <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/11/06/ursula-k-le-guin-libraries/?mc_cid=533d31dcb0&mc_eid=d70b92eed2" target="_blank">here</a>, you'll be taken to an issue with an article that highlights the sacredness of the public library. In revisiting that issue today, I just realized there is another book I need to add to my already-too-full list of reading material....<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wave-Mind-Essays-Writer-Imagination/dp/1590300068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478814023&sr=8-1&keywords=wave+in+the+mind" target="_blank">The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination</a> by Ursula K. Le Guin. I urge you to check out Brain Pickings for yourself....there is much thoughtful research that goes into its creation. Of course, I must admit, I don't really have time to devote to reading it, as I have all those library books to get through. And really, I should be down in the studio right now, but tomorrow is another day!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7245mqzNRwNs5kVckTfrHQiDExnZnQG5jE65ygHzFBqAQD2gLDcZ7oRUgY2PNLXZvxQvyGBmQGV_wS14FCwkIYM8wHJuAfDhkNICK-gSda0HxbIMO6VNs9hOlvBgdkJZ19RrXm1OWqBLq/s1600/January+23+2013+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7245mqzNRwNs5kVckTfrHQiDExnZnQG5jE65ygHzFBqAQD2gLDcZ7oRUgY2PNLXZvxQvyGBmQGV_wS14FCwkIYM8wHJuAfDhkNICK-gSda0HxbIMO6VNs9hOlvBgdkJZ19RrXm1OWqBLq/s400/January+23+2013+SIZED.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/490618383/tiny-square-collage-daily-drawing-for?ref=shop_home_active_2" target="_blank">January 23, 2013</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrWRUG2kNs9sjEOcY25vn7fkRruTu9iR7Laet8Gd20QE1ZoDVizLB4FwiVS4ZVMy8a1Nw5ExQoTrk7PaglHbetkfml5w9UV5k6BPhBQVhQvtlecEGYLBkQkpfxeKbwijudhUDNu6Oi_Ptx/s1600/January+24+2013+SIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrWRUG2kNs9sjEOcY25vn7fkRruTu9iR7Laet8Gd20QE1ZoDVizLB4FwiVS4ZVMy8a1Nw5ExQoTrk7PaglHbetkfml5w9UV5k6BPhBQVhQvtlecEGYLBkQkpfxeKbwijudhUDNu6Oi_Ptx/s400/January+24+2013+SIZED.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/477293910/tiny-square-collage-daily-drawing-for?ref=listing-shop-header-0" target="_blank">January 24, 2013</a></div>
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A couple of not-so-recent dailies I just added to my Missouri Bend Studio <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=hdr_shop_menu" target="_blank">shop</a>. I had a stack of these 3 x 3 inch pieces and had forgotten all about these little collage items from a few years ago. Kind of fun! Enjoy your weekend....happy reading! Since you know what a book fanatic I am, feel free to share your reading joys here...always looking for wonderful finds.<br />
<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-41345543197103833382016-11-05T16:01:00.000-05:002016-11-05T16:01:43.292-05:00Savoring Slowness: A Progress Report<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3f-jOhgqC9cDjuVfFBQhFe5xXwy_79mBHjl4jFRIZNYZS1b3_mvoWlYJ8aj6m4YQeY7nrebgCNEZh61_oHvN3Tu9SuQPMAcIUeLCIomUaaqzY97eMOfINhizrlQlZaVDj3yB_1dtXh2tI/s1600/Micro+Macro+progress+blog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3f-jOhgqC9cDjuVfFBQhFe5xXwy_79mBHjl4jFRIZNYZS1b3_mvoWlYJ8aj6m4YQeY7nrebgCNEZh61_oHvN3Tu9SuQPMAcIUeLCIomUaaqzY97eMOfINhizrlQlZaVDj3yB_1dtXh2tI/s400/Micro+Macro+progress+blog1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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In my last post, <a href="http://missouribendstudio.blogspot.com/2016/11/exploring-borders.html" target="_blank">Exploring Borders</a>, I shared the first piece in a new series of mixed media on paper works. Now that I've fully settled in to the exploration, I'm here to report that progress is slow....but like a long slow meal that allows you to savor the experience, I'm fully immersed and enjoying the moments. Engaging in this kind of tiny, repetitive mark-making is like a kind of homecoming for me. I delight in the push-pull of watching the pattern and richness slowly unfold, even as I become antsy to move faster. My sessions last only an hour before my eyes start to lose focus!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRUi05GIjj97D_Iy2eb372CoEM5lHUYAXwhqnRTQJjTlB-b872r3MNd1_3e277QNM9rxMUPDMvWhR5d4f7ArHZCmsgNG3cx74-Z3BL8TDLn2FugovqZdKnPE8n5w2wQzJJ93-fNAYKpnN/s1600/Micro+Macro+progress+blog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRUi05GIjj97D_Iy2eb372CoEM5lHUYAXwhqnRTQJjTlB-b872r3MNd1_3e277QNM9rxMUPDMvWhR5d4f7ArHZCmsgNG3cx74-Z3BL8TDLn2FugovqZdKnPE8n5w2wQzJJ93-fNAYKpnN/s320/Micro+Macro+progress+blog2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As I've mentioned in more than one post, I am truly in the flow when the creative process becomes a kind of conversation between the piece unfolding and my inner being. The quiet and slowness allows me to understand the content. The truth of that experience came upon me once again as I realized the piece above to be a contrast between the worlds of the micro and macro. The right side of the drawing speaks of the micro.....tiny seeds, or perhaps cells, filling the rectangular shapes ....a cross section of some botanical form, perhaps? At a certain moment, I knew that the opposing side will express the macro, perhaps with countless dots, made with paint and ink, that suggest galaxies...the infinite cosmos. Ultimately, I have a sense that those worlds are not so far apart. The paradox is that they are not polar opposites perhaps, as we often think, but part one infinite whole. Infinitely small and vast, simultaneously.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkykfgzQIqZNn6-8hQBbDYtMFE8PH0J7gjMhxj2KGFXsWR0FrrHE6Q2yQgqjyL0iRYbBfGMNq0NxHkhX5D3WoP4pY5RTU5lqaObzTFvikPSwSFOmmlYFjKmdJGbfIs4kQzd2hd6wEclmYf/s1600/Creating+Meaning+progress+blog3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkykfgzQIqZNn6-8hQBbDYtMFE8PH0J7gjMhxj2KGFXsWR0FrrHE6Q2yQgqjyL0iRYbBfGMNq0NxHkhX5D3WoP4pY5RTU5lqaObzTFvikPSwSFOmmlYFjKmdJGbfIs4kQzd2hd6wEclmYf/s400/Creating+Meaning+progress+blog3.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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This piece above (details below), also in progress, is related to a kind of fascination I have with language, with the alphabet and with words. In a way, it's somewhat like the childhood game of connect-the-dots. Any number of us may experience the same set of spoken or written words, yet we will construct different meanings, based on all manner of variables....background and experience, our physical boundaries, mood, etc. Each of sees the world through a different prism and sometimes we see the same set of words through such opposite sets of lenses, it's no wonder there is so much turmoil in the world.</div>
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On the right, lines of text are represented by the tiny dots of ink on each line....words or pearls on a string.</div>
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On the left, a scattering of dots....maybe those very words on the right, fill the space and are connected to form a constructed shape. But those dots could be connected in any number of different ways to make different shapes....to create different ideas, meanings and experiences. </div>
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It's all a metaphor for the complexities we encounter through life....making art is how I make sense of the world.</div>
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The two little drawings above are about to be listed in my Etsy shop, <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio" target="_blank">MissouriBendStudio</a>. These are a couple of the daily drawings (3" x 3") that I made in early 2013. You know, when you make a daily drawing....as in, a small drawing every day....before you know it, you are swimming in little works of art. If you do that over a period of years, well....there seems no end to them! Rather than sitting in little piles in my studio, they are slowly making their way out into the world. If anyone is interested in gathering a set of these, let me know and I am happy to work with you to create a delightful grouping!</div>
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Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-8391675665401452622016-11-01T16:35:00.001-05:002016-11-01T16:35:09.189-05:00Exploring Borders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/475570468/mixed-media-pattern-drawing-pattern-play?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Pattern Play</a></div>
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When setting out on a new adventure, it's best to decide a mode of travel first. I suppose if you knew the destination, that would help. When I'm in the studio, I never know the destination....I just set out! I do find when setting out to explore some new ideas through the process of making art, choosing some of the formal qualities, helps me set sail, so to speak. I love the square format and as my readers know, I also love paper! I'm also intrigued by compositions that are split in half, with both sides having a kind of conversation with one another. And pattern....well, I could get lost in making tiny lines, layering drawing on drawing, delighting in the surprises that unfold.</div>
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So, I'm off on another exploration with these parameters: 11" square (suitable for a 12"x12" shadow box frame), B.F.K. Rives paper (sturdy enough to take a bit of paint, as well as ink), in compositions that are divided in half. I don't know the destination, but through these formal means, I can explore:</div>
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the way different patterns interact with one another</div>
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the way different materials play against each other</div>
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the notion of borders, as the content on one side comments on the other</div>
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the idea of juxtaposition</div>
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illuminating sameness and difference</div>
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relationship of micro and macro</div>
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an expression of an as-yet-unknown content</div>
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and more!</div>
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Because I work intuitively, I find the meaning of the work through the process of making itself. This means that I am often frustrated, as I can never seem to set out with the content of what I want to say in mind, and make anything worth sharing with the world. The flip side of this is that, through the process of observation and listening, both inside and out, as I draw....the work tells me what it is about. I never know....until I know....through the inner voice that speaks, in a language only I can hear. </div>
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The piece above, is a kind of prototype, a maiden venture in the new 11 x 11" "vessel". I came across some of the paper my husband often uses for printing and found it suited my needs....good thing he has a nice stash of it! I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I'll report in on the progress. </div>
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Here are a couple more just started....I think this will be fun!</div>
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Today's daily drawing continues the exploration of the format!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54st24MFZsVankPKiY766_i_dlfmkzm-TFQUzvoq5PYhF46Beve5HT9Thiu2ImrPfOVu0hbMyHzitew3iPjwfQcxeFz5-jmU7SAbM_N4mR3lmwMEYav__QpYzep1Qg17Wct7tpOowItvP/s1600/Nov+1+2016+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54st24MFZsVankPKiY766_i_dlfmkzm-TFQUzvoq5PYhF46Beve5HT9Thiu2ImrPfOVu0hbMyHzitew3iPjwfQcxeFz5-jmU7SAbM_N4mR3lmwMEYav__QpYzep1Qg17Wct7tpOowItvP/s400/Nov+1+2016+blog.jpg" width="387" /></a></div>
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Daily drawing, November 1, 2016</div>
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Amazingly warm here in South Dakota for November 1st...upper sixties and pushing 70. I keep hearing people say it's supposed to be a bad winter, which remains to be seen. At least we will have had the longest lasting autumn I can recall! Cheers!</div>
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<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-8101714680212787812016-10-29T12:39:00.002-05:002016-10-29T12:39:26.909-05:00Uncharted Waters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/488404653/mixed-media-ink-drawing-with-tiny-boat?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Uncharted Waters</a></div>
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Hope you are enjoying your weekend! The piece above is a new listing at <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio?ref=hdr_shop_menu" target="_blank">MissouriBendStudio</a>, a companion to one I shared recently titled <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/473702862/mixed-media-ink-drawing-with-tiny-boat?ref=shop_home_active_7" target="_blank">Dead Reckoning</a>. They both started with that graphic and ink lined background, which was originally one long narrow strip. I was trying to break out of my comfort zone and change up the format, but I seemed to go nowhere with it until I tore the piece into two equal pieces, roughly 12" x 9" and then they seemed to make themselves. </div>
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So, now I realize it is a little bit ironic for me to write about the notion of uncharted waters the way I intended....since, in a sense, I reverted to a safer zone and an already mapped territory. I understood this piece to speak about the notion of uncharted waters in terms of daily life. The sea, for me, is a metaphor for the journey we are each traveling through life. </div>
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Since I'm not working (at a real job), but home in the studio, I struggle to stay motivated and I struggle with the balance of making work that is meaningful to me and making work that I want to sell to bring in at least a modicum of income. Ideally, those two are not separate realities at all. Yet, sometimes I feel like I am in some sort of vacuum, insulated from the outside world. I look about the studio with the nearly 200 pieces of art listed in my Etsy shop for sale, not to mention the decades of other work that lean against the walls several pieces deep and I wonder why I need to make another piece of art to add to the piles. </div>
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When I am there, in that low place, I remind myself of the journey....that life is what we make it, despite the way it seems that each day is much like another, merging into a blur. The metaphor of sailing on uncharted seas, allows me to see each day as unique, full of possibility and my tiny boat as a vessel for navigating new territory. Each day we must be open to discovery. In the spirit of charting new waters, I hope your day is full of new possibilities!</div>
<br />Missouri Bend Paper Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153989891514458384noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919562061299505596.post-44773828672604386732016-10-24T17:07:00.000-05:002016-10-24T17:07:05.680-05:00Dead Reckoning<div style="color: #222222;">
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/473702862/mixed-media-ink-drawing-with-tiny-boat?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">Dead Reckoning</a></div>
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<span data-dobid="hdw">dead reck·on·ing</span></div>
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noun: <b>dead reckoning</b></div>
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the process of calculating one's position, especially at sea, by estimating the direction and distance traveled rather than by using landmarks, astronomical observations, or electronic navigation methods.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The title of this piece, <i>Dead Reckoning</i>, came to me from some deep interior, as an echo, as if calling it out its own name. I wasn't sure of the precise definition of the term and so have looked it up in the online dictionary. Since then, I have been pondering the meaning, as I make sense of it as a title for this drawing and as a metaphor for life's journey. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dead reckoning...I think it is what we do....I think it's the way we navigate our life at sea, each of us charting unknown waters in our tiny vessels. Somehow. Our internal ways of knowing allow us to look back to see where we've been, estimate the course of our recent passage to figure out where we are. And there are days and times, when we are lost at sea, as common experience for me, when our sense of dead reckoning feels less reliable and we wish for sure landmarks or other sound methods of navigation, to find our way forward. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And yet, I remain certain, that each of us knows more, we carry more intelligence inside us, than we credit. And even as I often wish for more accurate navigation, I find myself wondering if those outside pointers, mileage markers and other voices from our culture are interfering more than we realize. The sky goes on forever, but we are each crossing our own ocean and we must listen for our own dead reckoning.</span></div>
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