Been a while, eh? All I can say is life happens. Just like the moon waxes and wanes, so it goes. Been busy with a million things but creative endeavors have been creeping back in again. Most recently, this has been through a couple of classes I taught at Puget Sound Community School.

The first was a fun drawing class designed to teach the value scale by way of learning about the art of Chuck Close and then emulating his grid portraits technique. I can't lay claim to this lesson plan, though. Just do a google search for "Chuck Close portraits" to find many variations listed. We watched a slide show and movie about his life and work, then I took pictures of each student and posterized these in Photoshop, reducing the number of values to 4 or 5. Next, I printed these out and we gridded them and transferred the images to a larger piece of paper to begin the drawing. Each square on the grid was assigned a value (dark, medium dark, medium light and light) and the students would then do a doodle drawing in the squares. The darker the value of the square, the denser the drawing would be. Here's a demo I worked up to show the process --

Lots of little squares to fill in! I should have put more thought into that before choosing such a large piece of paper to transfer the drawings to. I think in total there were nearly 400 squares to do! And it's true -- work like this requires a very specific art-temperament. You have to enjoy doodling (should I say ENDLESSLY doodling?). Fortunately, one of my students had this and found the whole project very inspiring. She completed a fantastic drawing which she's planning to give to her Mom for Christmas.

Her finished work here. Pretty darn amazing, no?

For week two/class two I switched gears from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional work, doing a class on plaster masks. Though I don't have pictures from the first two days of class, we spent them paired in two's, as students would place wet plaster bandages on their partner's face to create the base of the mask. On day three we began the process of smoothing and refining the masks as well as adding sculptural embellishments like large cheekbones or protruding noses. Here the kids are doing just that --

The last two days of the class were scheduled for painting and finishing. The rest of the photos here showcase some of that process as well as a few of the finished (or work-in-progress) masks. The class itself was a big success and all were engaged for the whole process. I think the work speaks for itself --

So many different interests pull at my attention, but it's all good. One of the perks of not having deadlines to meet, or a cohesive body of work to put in a show. I can do whatever I please. And there is much that pleases me. So on that note, below are some recent studio projects.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Portland, OR, to take part in a week of various art workshops. It's all good fun and a great excuse to play with abandon (not like I'm doing that already -- lol!). One class was all about resins, which I've long been interested in. I confess, I didn't do some of the intended projects for the class, but as I was working with the material my mind started buzzing about the potential it held for some other projects. Specifically, resin is a great substance to reinforce some of the natural materials I'd like to incorporate in other pieces. I have a growing collection of natural eggs of different kinds. Some of these are extremely fragile and hard to come by, so I'm not experimenting with those. But button quail eggs are a dime a dozen. I used a cutting wheel to cut off the top to make little cups and have been using the resin to reinforce the inner chambers. It's working very well and I'm pleased with the results --

Below is the piece I did in Michael deMeng's class. He's such a great teacher. His classes are mostly technique-based (my preference) but with enough of a "theme project" idea to get everyone over that dreaded hump of "what do I do"? Plus he plays great music while we work. I also like that he gathers us all at the end to do a group critique. Really extends the learning as well as the inspiration. Good stuff. I apologize for the snapshot photo here. Hard to tell what's going on, but it involves a nice rusty tin, various bits and pieces of.... well shoot. I'll just promise to take some better photos and discuss this in a future post --

The drawing below is not a recent one, but I pulled it out after going to a show recently of an artist/friend of mine, Ellen Garvens. She had several drawings in the show done on mylar and had used the translucent nature of the material to great effect, with layering and utilizing the impermanent and delicate quality of graphite on the surface. I've also used mylar for some of my drawing work and really love the surface and its possibilities. This is a mylar drawing done with graphite (on the right) layered over a graphite on paper drawing (on the left). Never did finish this piece, but may yet go back to it and continue the process as it pulls to me.

Been a bit slow in the studio this month. So much going on with kids and family. It's my studio time that is often first on the chopping block (hmmm.. make that second -- housework is first!). But a time and place for everything. The moon waxes and wanes, and so does the work in the studio. Speaking of waxing... I'm experimenting with sculptural waxes right now. Still looking for that perfect medium. I have certain ideas brewing that would work great with wax, but need to find a wax that's easy to manipulate. Earlier in the month I tried sculpting with melted plain beeswax, since I already have boxes full of it. Came up with an interesting figure sculpture, but it's quite brittle and fragile, and trying to build form with dripping melted wax is... well, you can imagine. But there are several specialty sculpting waxes available, so I'm trying out a few different varieties right now. Soon I should be getting some wax samples that don't require heat to manipulate, but for now the waxes I have all need heat to soften. And to soften these waxes evenly, I've heard it's best to melt them down and pour them into thin flat sheets, which is what I spent my time doing at the studio yesterday. I think this particular wax is called "Victory Amber Sculpting Wax" --

Poured into the pan and starting to cool... you can see my face reflected in the sheen of the still-liquid wax in the middle --

Another recent project in the studio has been collage work. It's another experiment, really. I have no interest in doing collage work on any large scale. Instead, this was more an exercise in deep personal inquiry. I have a friend who speaks glowingly of something called Soul Collage, and since I'm a believer in the existence of meaningful imagery and symbolism lurking in the subconscious, it seemed like a potentially very interesting exercise for me. Still haven't done a "reading" on these yet (a Soul Collage thing). I tried to create these with very little conscious thought and simply guided by intuition, but am looking forward to revisiting these soon to see what might be there --

Nothing too much to look at right now. Just put the first layer of paint on, so there's a long way to go. But here's a glimpse of what's in the works (plus a distant view of the other large one by the door). All abstracts for now. In realist work it's largely about seeing with your eyes and translating that into the painting or drawing, but what I'm working on here is a whole different kind of seeing -- the kind I've longed to learn but which is rarely taught (only once in my years of classwork did I have a teacher/class that approached this both methodically and successfully, taught by artist Patrick Holderfield). So that's what I'm working on. Practicing, really (it's all about the process, right?). That's my single goal.

Two themes for the week: "Livin' large" and "Playing with mud"! I've drug out my largest canvases and am having a great time playing with textures. The one pictured below is just the start of the many incarnations yet to come with the oil glazes. And today I pulled out the behemoth -- a 4'x5' canvas -- and began work on it. I'm really excited to see what comes. This is a whole new way of working for me. I'm just enjoying the ride :)

I've been in the studio, but haven't been taking pictures and haven't been posting here. Got a couple of things in the works but they're just not at a place to photograph yet. Besides, I'm sure it gets tedious seeing images of every single incarnation of my many creative whims. But to make up for the lack of postings and images, I took a walk around the studio today and have a few pictures of the place. Behind my building is a small grassy area and a pathway along the waterfront. Here's a peek at the boats of Sail Sand Point, whose offices are right below my studio --

And here's that very pathway and grassy knoll, with a view toward my building ("Building 11", officially.. typical no-nonsense name, thanks to the Naval presence that originally built this place) --

Me and my botanical background. Can't resist a few flower pictures! This one of some really plump rose hips --

And here's my favorite Northwest berry -- the snowberry. Usually you see these bushes alongside the freeway, all scraggly and barely surviving. But behind the studio they're growing big and abundantly! Never seen such happy snowberries :)

The Ponds

Every year

the lilies

are so perfect

I can hardly believe

their lapped light crowding

the black,

mid-summer ponds.

Nobody could count all of them --

the muskrats swimming

among the pads and the grasses

can reach out

their muscular arms and touch

only so many, they are that

rife and wild.

But what in this world

is perfect?

I bend closer and see

how this one is clearly lopsided --

and that one wears an orange blight --

and this one is a glossy cheek

half nibbled away --

and that one is a slumped purse

full of its own

unstoppable decay.

Still, what I want in my life

is to be willing

to be dazzled --

to cast aside the weight of fact

and maybe even

to float a little

above this difficult world.

I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.

I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing --

that the light is everything -- that it is more than the sum

of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

-- Mary Oliver