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By Jackie, December 31, 2009 5:17 pm

I’m starting off the new year with a big push on the artwork. My big present from the in-laws was a set of Caran D’ache Neocolor II crayons. When grouped together with the cool screen printing set Victor got me a short while ago and some matte medium you have the makings of some deconstructed rubbings.

I’ve never done any sort of screen printing, so some of these tools are rather new to me. I started with some Shiva plates that had seen little to no activity ever. They seemed like an easy way to start. So I created one screen, did some pulls and got the idea of how it all works. So far, so good. I proceeded to wash the screen and tools. I fully expected the design to wash out and a clean, white screen to be left. That didn’t happen. I washed, I scrubbed, tried a few different soaps and brushes, I soaked it. The pattern got lighter but not gone. I was not happy. I ran to my computer, searching for any bit of information that could aid me in my screen cleaning. Nothing like thinking you ruined a new tool first time using it. After a few more scrubbings and searches online I found some person on a forum with a similar problem (just different materials). Turns out my screen is just stained, not clogged. Held it up to the light and there weren’t any dark areas of clogged holes. Yup, felt kind of silly. Oh well, I’m still learning.

A few hours later I gave it another go and got some cool results. I’m not crazy about the stiffness of the fabric so I’m going to experiment with different mediums and see what happens. I’ll probably layer up some other images onto some of these.

One of my new year goals is to complete at least one project a month. Another one of goals is to use the materials I have. Over the few years I’ve been doing this fiber stuff I’ve built up a mighty stash. It is just time to work with what I have and start producing more artwork. I don’t know exactly what that artwork will be, but I figure I just need to jump in. So please check back to my blog more frequently, if you wish. I promise to post lots more about my art adventures.

One side note…

Earlier this week I spent the whole morning baking for our little family. Everyone has been home for the past two weeks and the food has been disappearing quickly around here. So I thought I would post a picture of some of the morning’s efforts. I say some because there were waffles too but there were to few left to bother including in the photo. Here is the homemade pizza dough for dinner later and biscuits that are just for eating on these cold winter days.

Happy New Year everyone!

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By Jackie, December 8, 2009 11:19 am

Oh this poor blog! I really didn’t intend to ignore it so much but somethings just can’t be helped. We’ve been a mighty busy around here with lots of family stuff, business stuff, and Advent/Christmas activities. So what I have here is a bunch of little random stuff, just to catch myself up.

A  few weeks ago most of our household came down with a horrible flu – was it the swine version? No confirmation on that. It was just in the ‘really not fun’ category. But when I came out of that tunnel of rottenness, I suddenly started having ideas for projects. Woo-hoo! Dried up creativity has left the building!

On the topic of inspiration, I went to Joann’s yesterday and picked up an issue of “Sew Somerset” and I’m really diggin’ it. Lots of cool ideas and very inspiring. Reason I was at Joann’s was to get some cord for making brown scapulars for church. They came out pretty cool.

I finished a piece up in November. I originally created it for another show but didn’t’ make the deadline due to the monster job of the summer. At the moment it’s hanging out in downtown Northville, in a gallery window with several other pieces from my art group.

The other fun thing I’ve been playing with is this little-bitty camera that I received as an early birthday present. It’s digital and takes not perfect photos, which is what I love about it.

For the most part our boys keep me busy all day long and I haven’t had a whole lot of extra time for the art. And the actual paying graphic design jobs always take precedence over the fun art as well. But hey we are grateful to have those paying jobs – so I am not complaining!