Recent Discoveries

Greetings from a balmy South Dakota. Yesterday we had a lovely walk under sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 70s. Can't say the same for today, but we are definitely out of winter and into the spring transition....a weather rollercoaster. Below is a view of the gorgeous sunset over the river a night or so ago. Who could resist grabbing camera, phone or whatever was handy to hold on to such a moment?

Exploration continues in the studio. I revealed in my last post that while making my last scroll using paper and teabags, I realized that I should explore papyrus as a surface. Well, I've made a couple of experimental pieces at this point, to get a feel for how to handle it and how the material responds to ink, moisture, pencil, pen, etc. Although these are not scrolls, they have informed me in numerous ways and I'm not sure the papyrus is the material for me. It is interesting....yet strange. I suppose if I were living in the ancient world and papyrus was the only material available to me, it might not occur to me to yearn for something like the loveliness of handmade paper. But, I know better and I do yearn for paper.

It is a unique surface, with the strips of papyrus laid across each other crossways to form a solid sheet. Many years ago, I recall that I made papyrus as part of a bookmaking workshop. We laid those softened strips across one another and then pounded vigorously for some time in order to have them mesh into a single unit. 

This material is quite fragile, so that when I tore the large sheets down to these 11" x 8 1/2" sizes featured here, the strips started to come apart and not surprisingly, it didn't tear cleanly at all. In the top one, I've just used ink, but still the material doesn't quite lay flat and wants to curl, so I may have to attach it to another sheet of actual paper. Perhaps I'm not able to let go of my paper-centric notions! In the bottom piece, I scumbled a very thin layer of white acrylic paint on the surface of the lower half before drawing. Naturally, the papyrus really buckled with the moisture. I did do a little spritz of water on the back of both of them and dried them under some heavy books so they'd flatten, but I think the wrinkling and natural curling is part of the deal. These photos were taken post-spritz and supposed flattening.

I also have to say that, given the tiny marks I am prone to make, those very visible strips did a number on my eyes. Since they are not strictly parallel or evenly placed (I admit that would be quite boring!), I was constantly second guessing myself and feeling the strain in my eyes. Well, I suppose this all sounds like a rant and that I'm complaining, but I think I'm just coming to terms with the limitations and the changes in ways of working that are required. And.....well, working with papyrus makes me appreciate paper all the more. As my husband pointed out, there's probably a good reason that paper took over the world and that we are not continuing to use papyrus as a writing surface!

On another note, above  (and below) is a simple little drawing I made that began with the need to use up some gold acrylic paint. I had painted the edges of another panel piece that is being donated to a fundraiser and of course, squeezed out way too much paint. I just grabbed a sheet of this nice drawing paper (ah!!!) that was on the edge of my desk and drew a free form square and used up the paint filling in the square. Somehow that gold square spoke to me about all things precious, so I added a ladle beneath it. The ladle allows us to fill our lives with all the intangible moments that lift us just slightly off the earth, so that the times when we hover, airborne, buoy us up and lighten our load for those days in which we find ourselves simply plodding, one foot in front of the other. We all have our share of plodding, but the secret is to remember the airborne days!

This view captures the iridescence of the gold in a better light. The simplicity of this piece felt just right after working on the papyrus. 

So, a scroll in papyrus? Not so sure, but we'll see. It's spring break for my husband, so we'll take a few days off and head up the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Scroll for the Letter C

Midweek greetings! I have now finished the teabag scroll that I mentioned in my last post earlier this week. I did enjoy the process of making this scroll, which is part of the long-ago-started series in honor of the alphabet. I sold the first two, Scroll for the Letter A and Scroll for the Letter B, some time ago. Each was filled with cut out words beginning with the letter A or B.

Scroll for the Letter B

I made Scroll for the Letter C differently by perusing the dictionary in search of all the words beginning with C that I didn't know. I wrote down page after page of them! Now these words may be familiar to many people, but they weren't to me, so this scroll contains most of those words. What a fascinating exercise...in finding the words, reading their definitions and then transcribing them onto the scroll. I felt like a medieval scribe....given my penchant for tedious monotonous mark making, I probably would have been suited for such a life. Anyway,  I broke up the long expanse of the scroll with a series of illustrations from the dictionary and then hand wrote the words, using a red pen for each initial C.  I know the scroll would be much more refined if I was a calligrapher, but alas.....it has a nice, rustic feel that suits the teabag background.

Scroll for the Letter C

As I was making this scroll, it dawned on me that I could be using a material more suited to the history of the scroll....papyrus! You can read more about papyrus here, but it is the material that scrolls were originally made from in ancient Egypt. Layers of the pith of the papyrus plant are compressed together to form the material known as papyrus. I've just purchased some from Dick Blick, which I unpacked it this morning, along with another parcel of Japanese paper.

It's quite rough and textured, not surprisingly....but also seems fragile and like it could crack if rolled tightly, so I'm a bit intimidated. Have any of you, dear readers, ever worked with papyrus? If so, would love to hear from you with any tips you've learned. I'll just have to take the plunge and experiment. If the ancients could use papyrus for centuries as the material to pass down knowledge through the form of the scroll, well surely I can figure out how to use it in my art making practice. Let the exploration begin!

Enjoy the rest of your week!