Conversations: The Series

Welcome to summer....which has been bringing a surprising amount of rain to our part of the country! Seems as if it wasn't all that long ago, the topic of conversation at the bank, the grocery store and all around town was the need for rain....now it's just the opposite! Small rivers are flooding, but we are in good shape here on our section of the Missouri River, as the flows from the dams are no doubt cut back to make room for waters feeding in to the river downstream. Plenty of violent thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes in the area lately. I feel so badly for those who have lost property and livelihood in the recent round of storms.

June 1, 2014

Thought I'd share with you a bit more of the work from the exhibition that Johntimothy and I had at the University of South Dakota. Part of the idea of the show was to collaborate on some new pieces, which we pulled together only at the 11th hour....but not for lack of trying. All winter we had attempts at working on projects together that just never went anywhere....the magic wasn't there. But a week or so before the show was to go up, the latest round of screenprinted patterns that Johntimothy was creating called to me in a way that the others hadn't. Maybe it was the patterns themselves or the subdued tones that called to mind ancient wallpaper and faded memories, but suddenly I was drawing on top of these patterns and then we'd go back and forth with his printing and my drawing, adding layers, in a kind of conversation. We've worked on project numerous times before, but I have to say that these pieces are my favorites!

Conversations no.1

Conversations no.2

Conversations no.3

Conversations no.4

Conversations no.5

Conversations no.6

The image size on these mixed media works is roughly 8x8" and they lay on beautiful paper that measures about 15 x15". The circle and square format correlated with the rest of the works in the exhibition. The series is much larger than this and we are currently working on securing other exhibition opportunities for these collaborative pieces....even as we continue to create them!

Hope your summer is going well....filled with a mix of inspiration, relaxation and energizing rejuvenation!

Circles Within Circles

Our exhibition,  Beholding the Ephemeral, is over and Johntimothy and I have brought the work home and spent the weekend reorganizing the studio....for the next phase of work. We plan to continue the collaborative pieces, which are a combination of layers of patterned screenprint runs (Johntimothy) and drawing and collage (me). Now that we have them home, we'll get them photographed and I'll post some photos here. The next step is to try to find some new venues and travel the show, or at least parts of it. In the meantime, I've photographed the daily drawings from the second week of January and am sharing them here before posting them for sale in my Etsy shop, MissouriBendStudio. I'm posting here the close-up shots, so you can see the image better....remember that these are 4" circles on a 10"x10" page. The drawings are made with a combination of pencil and various inks. I don't know why they appear so dark here....the photos didn't appear that way before! They are on bright white paper!!

In case I didn't mention it in my last post, I'm having a 50% off sale over at MissouriBendMusings, the Etsy shop that was dedicated to the daily drawing practice. I don't plan to post anything new there, but rather find homes for the work that is there and phase that shop out.

January 8, 2014

January 9, 2014

January 10, 2014

January 11, 2014

January 12, 2014

January 13, 2014

January 14, 2014

The next phase of life is about to unfold, as I leave my library job in early August to go back to school to get a masters degree! I'm excited about the shift in focus with my future studies in Adult and Higher Education. I was very intrigued by the adult programming part of my job at the library and have decided to move in that direction. Who knows where it will take me....a new future awaits!

Of course, my studio practice is so much a part of me that it will always remain a solid core of my life....so we'll see how I am able to integrate everything. For those of you who have followed this blog for some time, you've seen how the frequency of posts certainly dropped off as I became more involved in my job at the library. I am hoping, even though I'll be involved in school, to have a little more control of my time and get back to giving the blog more attention along with reading the blogs of my fellow artists....I have missed the interaction with my friends across the globe!

See you soon....hope you are enjoying the spring or fall, depending on your locale! Cheers!