Hill Country Retreat

I spent a few days at a cabin in the hill country last week. This was something I'd been looking forward to for a few months - a few days in the peace and quiet, with no to-do's, no schedules. The photo above is the view from our patio. We stayed at a wonderful little cabin that was fairly secluded.

The weather was a nice respite from the two months of 100 degree weather we had this summer. We even got our fire "fix" with the outdoor fireplace.

We brought a few DVDs, some games and lots to read. I was a little concerned that I would be bored. It's hard for me to spend a lot of time not "doing" anything. As it turned out, the time went by very fast. I spent most of the time outside on the patio. The view was great and there was a hummingbird feeder with a lot of action. I found that I really didn't read that much, I enjoyed watching the wildlife.

The time there reminded me how important nature is to my peace of mind. Although I love San Antonio, I miss the variety of natural areas we had in the Chicago suburbs. There were 5 different natural areas within a 10 minute drive of my apartment. Some were small, but they provided an oasis in the middle of the concrete suburbs. Here I have to drive 15-30 minutes to get to one of the parks. But this trip made me realize it is worth the time and effort to do so. Even 20 minutes in the woods can lighten my soul. So now, this week, as I get back to my schedules and to-do's, I feel a bit more contented, lighter and have a smile on my face.

Color Studies - Color Blending

I am embarking on a research project to expand my knowledge of dye mixing. I was inspired by the color blending exercises I did with paint.

We all know that mixing together complementary colors (red/green, yellow/violet, blue/orange) gives you brown, right? In theory, yes. In practice, you get a wide range of colors, some browns and some duller, earthier versions of the unmixed colors. Since I prefer earth tones, I thought it would be helpful to prepare color studies by blending the primaries with their complements. I do that now to get earth tones, but I wanted to do a controlled test to see the range from one color to the other. In addition, I am using a new set of primaries for these tests. I had been using a set of warm primaries and a set of cool primaries to mix all my colors. As part of the Artcloth Mastery Program, we are using one set of primaries that are very close to the "pure" color wheel primaries. So I am not as able to predict my outcomes as I would be using my normal primaries.

I used Procion MX dyes and did a 5 step gradation between each color. The blue/orange combination yielded some of the best browns.

The browns from the yellow/violet combination were ok, although I didn't find them as rich as the blue/orange browns. I normally use a warm yellow to make browns with violet and they come out quite different than the colors below.

The red really dominates the blends of red/green. In order to get a nice deep earthy green, it's obvious from this experiment that you wouldn't need much red!

My next step will be to do the same blending exercises with the secondary and tertiary colors on the color wheel. I may also do some more experiments with the primaries using a larger gradation. I'll post photos when I get that completed.

One People Many Paths: The Sacred Art of Altars

This year is the sixth year for the exhibit and silent auction of altars created by artists in South Texas. I have participated 4 of those six years. The event benefits The Celebration Circle, a local spiritual community. Each participating artist is given an unfinished wooden box to use as the basis for their altar.



This year, 55 artists transformed these wooden boxes using a variety of styles and media, including metal, fiber, painting, sculpture, and found objects. Below are photos of my altar (Photos by GaryO Smith —capturing now for now ).

The altars can be viewed and bid on at the Bijou Theatre at Crossroads Mall, September 1 – September 30, 2009 during the theater’s normal business hours. The auction concludes with a reception with live music, delicious food and the screening of the movie Happy Go Lucky. It is definitely worth a visit, even if you can't make the closing reception.

Many thanks to Gary O Smith, for his beautiful photography. He has captured the essence of these works in his photos, which can be viewed at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogaryo/collections/72157621922984779/

What is Success?

I've been thinking a lot about how I define success over the past 4 months. As a matter of fact, I have been stressing myself out due to my lack of clarity on that issue. It started when I read the book, "I'd Rather Be in the Studio", by Alyson B. Stanfield. As a precursor to planning, the book suggests identifying what success would look like to me. From the time I first pursued my art, after leaving a career in the corporate world, I have said that I only want to make a simple living at my art. I didn't care about being rich or famous. And I can't really say that has changed. I still don't care about being rich or famous. But, I've been wondering if I have been selling myself short by not striving for more. It could be fear that prevented me from aspiring to more. If I set really lofty goals, then I would look foolish if I didn't achieve them, right?

Clarifying how I define success is important because it impacts the actions I take. I have created a long-range vision for my life, but there are still many paths that can take me there. Do I want to pursue gallery representation, or sell my work through other venues and focus on getting my name out there through teaching? How much teaching do I want to do? Am I willing to travel around the country to teach? What impact will travel have on my lifestyle and my marriage? Do I want to aim for a particular market, such as the interior design or fashion industry? How much money do I really need to support the lifestyle I want?

At this point, I have a lot of questions and few answers. I am faced with balancing the workaholic side of me with the side that longs for more time to enjoy friendships, nature and caring for my home. I don't expect to have a sudden insight that gives me all the answers (although that would be nice!) I expect the answers will unfold, day by day. So, I have decided I will be more gentle with myself as I go through the discovery process. Patience is in order, with a little faith and trust thrown in.

Be Still

I recently had the pleasure of working on a cloth that will be hung in the chapel of a local church. The chapel is a wonderful space, just next to the church's main sanctuary. It has a very warm, peaceful, welcoming feel to it. I feel honored that my work will grace such a beautiful, sacred space.

The photo below is my original drawing of the proposed cloth. The design went through a few changes, however the final result is pretty similar. The cloth was to fit with the theme of the scripture, "Be still and know that I am God."

I had envisioned using a gradation dyeing technique in which the center of the cloth would be bright yellow and would radiate out into oranges, peaches and pinks. However, when I saw the space in which it would be hung, I realized that it needed softer, more subtle tones to coordinate with the sandy peach walls. We also decided the cloth needed to be larger than the original plan. The single cloth was dwarfed by the high ceilings and 14 foot wall of the chapel. So, we agreed upon having three panels, each 48" x 32".

I worked on this cloth in much the same way I work on most of my pieces. I set my intention for the cloth and each day, before I worked on it, I meditated on that intention. My intention for this cloth was that all who looked upon it would feel the light, love, peace and joy of Spirit. While I had a plan, after studiously testing color samples and design possibilities, I remained open to any messages from my intuition while I worked. This did result in a slight color change from the original plan.

Below is a photo of the finished cloth. It will soon be hung in the chapel and I'm looking forward to seeing it in that space!

Layering Resists

I've been working with resists for a long time now, although it's only been in the past year or two that I have really experimented with layering the resist techniques. Now, I find it hard to create a cloth without using at least two resists. When looking at the finished pieces, the resist layers may not be evident at first glance, however I feel they add depth that makes the final piece richer and more complex. Below are photos of some of the pieces I have created using multiple resists.

Centered was created with oatmeal, acrylic and print paste resists.

Ancient Wisdom was created with soy wax and acrylic medium resist.

One with Nature was created with soy wax, print paste and dextrin resist.

Awakening was created with flour paste and acrylic medium resist.

Fingerprints was created with flour paste, acrylic and print paste resists.

Seaweed was crated with flour paste, soy wax and acrylic resists.

The Artist's Way - All Finished

I have finally finished working through The Artist's Way, a book about unlocking your creativity, by Julia Cameron. It is a 12 week program, but I took a bit longer because I skipped a couple of weeks here and there. Overall, I would say it has been a worthwhile experience. I have been pretty faithful in writing my "morning pages", writing in a journal every morning. I haven't been good at taking artist "dates" - spending an hour each week on an outing doing something I enjoy. With the 100 degree weather we have been having, I did not feel like doing much this summer!

So, would I recommend this book to others? Yes and no. I think it really depends on the individual and where they are at in their journey. I had some philosophical differences with some of the activities, and some just seemed silly. I know Julia would say that just means I really need to do those activities. But I took the book the way I take most things - I take from it what I can and let go of the rest. And there was definitely something worth taking, for me. The morning pages have been a great way to get in touch with my inner guidance. They have also helped me work through some stressful situations that have come up over the past 3 months. The affirmations have been helpful - helping me realize that the way I think about myself has a lot to do with how others see me and with how life unfolds for me. And some of the exercises have opened up my awareness - to my procrastination, to ways in which I sabotage myself and to small things I can do to nurture my creativity.

In the book, Julia says it's working if you feel an urge to sort out, organize and de-clutter your life. If that's true, it must be working for me! I have been slowly working on getting my home studio organized and rearranged.I'm almost finished and will post before and after photos when it's done. Now if I could just get that enthusiasm for cleaning the rest of the house!

Who would I not recommend the book to? Someone who isn't committed to actually working through the exercises. I don't know if there is much value in just reading the book. To me, going through at least some of the exercises is the only way to get anything out of it.

So, what next for me? I plan to continue the morning pages, because I can't imagine starting my day without them now. And there are a few exercises that I want to go back and revisit. I still want to incorporate artist dates, but I'm thinking I'll start that next month (so my procrastinator says!)

New Small Works

In between my other deadlines this month, I have finished two smaller pieces from fabric I created at the ArtCloth demonstration I gave last month. The above piece, Bamboo Sunrise, was created from half of the cloth pictured below.

I added three additional layers to it - brown stamped bamboo leaves, some yellow screenprinting and a bit of gold leaf.

I overdyed the other half of the fabric, to tone down the orange. The first overdye was in a pale tobacco. It was too dull and didn't move the piece forward. I overdyed it in orange, but I discovered that the yellow dye I purchased on clearance doesn't seem to work well on cotton, so it turned pink! I think it has some potential, but now there is very little value contrast, so this might be a good candidate for screenprinting with bleach.

The second piece, Texas Wildflowers, was created with two fabrics from a deconstructed silkscreen. I layered the silk organza on top of the noil to print. I forgot to add soda ash to the print paste, so the colors on the organza are very pale. The noil is darker because I screened through the deconstructed silkscreen with thickened dyes.

I overdyed the silk in orange and printed it with a new thermofax I created that looks (to me) like a flower. This is one of the thermofaxes that came out of my design explorations days. I added a little bit of copper leaf to the noil (using the same flower screen) and layered the silks over a wooden frame. Both of these are already spoken for, so you won't see them for sale on my gallery page.

The Perils of Perfectionism

What could possibly be the downfalls of perfectionism? Paying attention to details, getting everything just right - that's a good thing, isn't it? If one doesn't get too obsessive about it, there are definite benefits. There is nothing wrong with creating work that reflects technical skill in one's field and that is professionally and neatly finished. However, the strive for perfection can also cause paralysis, inaction, stress, feelings of frustration, and lack of satisfaction with the end result. Ask me how I know.

I have only become aware of my tendency toward perfectionism in the past few years. And I have realized that, at times, it can be a problem for me with my art. I want everything I create to be a wonderful work of art. This has caused me to sit and stare at a piece for days because I was afraid to "ruin" it. It has also stifled experimentation, because I felt that I didn't want to "waste" my time not really creating anything. When I have experimented, oftentimes I haven't been satisfied with the results. They didn't meet my high standards and weren't "good enough".

Becoming aware of my tendencies toward perfectionism has helped me overcome some of the negatives. And over the past few years, I have really made an effort to take that next step on a piece of art and not worry about "ruining" it. I have also allowed myself more time for trying out new techniques and that has helped my art grow and evolve. Despite all this, I continually have to monitor my thoughts to override some of those old messages.

I had a wonderful breakthrough last week in working on a project. It was a commission, so I put even more pressure on myself. It wasn't just about my satisfaction with the end result, I wanted my client to be satisfied as well. After I dyed the piece, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't "perfect", because it did not look exactly like the vision that was in my head. I toyed with the idea of handpainting the cloth to try to get closer to my vision. I waffled back and forth for a few days about whether to leave it or change it. Then, I had an insight one morning. I realized that the cloth was exactly as it should be. I had made some last minute changes from my plan during the actual dyeing. I had followed my intuition in doing so. I strongly respect my intuition and so I let myself trust in the guidance I received as I created the cloth. When I reached that decision, the stress melted away and I felt at peace with the cloth as it was.

Since then, I have worked on several other pieces and felt a similar letting go. Things that I would have been dissatisfied with in the past didn't bother me. Things that I would have spent hours trying to "fix", I surrendered with an exhale of my breathe. Does that mean I have relaxed my quality standards? No, I'm not saying that I am overlooking sloppy workmanship. The things I have decided to overlook are so minor, no one else would notice. For example, on one piece the border is slightly wider on one side of the cloth (by about 1/16 of an inch). I noticed it, but no one else did. Maybe there is something to be said for letting go of perfectionism. I feel lighter and less stressed. This may be just a temporary madness, but I hope not.

Fiber Art - Call for Entries

The Fiber Artists of San Antonio are holding their annual exhibition on October 6-29. Any resident of Texas can enter the exhibition. The exhibition is hosted by Gallery Nord, a beautiful gallery with lots of natural light and high ceilings that are great for artcloth! It is a great opportunity to showcase your work in fiber. All of the rules and qualifications are listed in the call for entry, which is available as a Word document download. The deadline to enter is a month away, so there is plenty of time to get your entries finished.

Below are some photos from last year's exhibition.

Art Quilt by Maryann Johnson

Artcloth by Lisa Kerpoe

Art Doll by Linda Rael

Silk/Cotton bowl by Sarah Burke

Art Quilt by Laurie Brainerd

Artcloth by Susie Monday

Art Doll by Su Cooke

The Sacred Art of Altars

The Celebration Circle, a local inter-faith community, holds an annual auction of altars created by local artists. The artist is given a plain wooden box and has two months to transform it into an altar representing that which he/she holds sacred. Keep in mind that the group is very diverse and represents people from a variety of faith backgrounds and beliefs. The altars rarely fit the traditional expectations for sacred art.

I have participated in the exhibition for the past four years. I enjoy working on the altar and am always amazed by the myriad interpretations of the theme. All types of media are incorporated into the altar - painting, textiles, metal, sculpture, clay, found objects, mixed media. Below is the first altar I created for the event in 2005. I couldn't find photos of any of my other altars!

I've been working diligently to get my altar completed this week. It is finished and ready for delivery on Sunday. Below are a few photos designed to pique your interest. I'll post photos of the finished piece along with exhibition information when the exhibit opens in early September.

The Pursuit of Happiness

I was reading an article in the newspaper the other day about someone who recently wrote a book about happiness (sorry, don't remember the author or title). His premise was that people really don't want happiness, they want contentment. He argues that we strive for material success, for things and they don't make us happy. It got me thinking about happiness and how I define it.

I feel that happiness does come from within. Maybe it's just semantics and we are really saying the same thing. I know that the "high" that can come from short term events such as winning an award, getting accepted into an exhibition, receiving a commission, or selling my work is only temporary. That feeling is not sustained over a long period. The happiness I feel comes from living a life that is true to my values. It comes from the satisfaction I have in my work, whether I am creating a piece of art or teaching others. It comes from the enjoyment I get when I sit on my patio surrounded by native plants, birds, lizards and other creatures. It comes from the joy of shared laughter with my husband over a humorous experience. It comes from the wonderful array of people who are in my life, people who share my values and interests.

And I believe that I can still be happy even if I face setbacks. My happiness is not determined by a single or series of events. I still have an underlying sense of happiness with my life even when some things aren't going well. I believe that while we may not be able to control the events that come into our lives, we can control how we react to those events. And our reaction, to a great extent, impacts our sense of happiness.

So, how do you define happiness? Are you happy? What contributes to or blocks your happiness?

Eden's Room, A Fiber Art Boudoir by Laurel Gibson

Laurel Gibson currently has a solo exhibition at Fiber ArtSpace in San Antonio, Texas. Laurel incorporates traditional embroidery techniques along with mythical imagery. She describes the exhibition this way:

"The identity of women as it is passed on through stories is transformed into embroidered clothing and wall hangings. These stories are ingrained in our innermost selves as glimpses of the past are reflected in our dreams, myths, and fantasies. The format of a bedroom represents something intimate and the wardrobe addresses how who we are clothes our outer selves. Through this installation the viewer sees myths likened to trying on a dress or wearing a certain cloak. Priestess, Queen and Goddess... clothing is a symbol of power. Eden's Room is an assemblage of many cultures with their exciting heritage of ideas, icons, and stories."

Song of Songs

Song of Songs is a textile version of the Book of Solomon. Each verse is handwritten on a separate piece of fabric and all are handstitched together.

The series, Suits of Nobility, includes 20 works that feature photo transfer to fabric and hand stitching.

The Series, Tree of Life and Death, is inspired by the Qabalah and includes depictions of ten tantric goddesses.

Mercy, Receptacular Intelligence

Cungi is one in a series of three altered dresses.

Laurel is giving an artist talk about her work on Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. The exhibit runs through August 29, 2009. Stop by and see it if you have the opportunity. The detail in her work is much better appreciated in person!