I am not going to meet the HBS bloggers build deadline for September 26, 2016, and I am using cute kitten photos to distract from my mingled sense of failure, regret and self loathing.
I *have* met all my work and all most of my volunteer deadlines.
Feel free to judge me, but look at my belly first :)
Though I will continue — and finish — the build, I’m more than a bit scattered and distracted with other projects.
Sweet dreams, best beloveds.
I’ve been exploring a system of geometric patterns in both my professional and personal work for a little while now. This is the background, composed in Illustrator at one-quarter scale, for a new piece.
After penciling in the three-inch grid on a 36 by 24-inch (61 x 94 cm) stretched canvas, I used a compass and straight edge to transfer the background design. Then it was a happy trip down old-school graphic design production memory lane as I wielded eighth-inch (3 mm) black crepe line tape to sketch out the shapes.
I used shades of white, warm gray, brown and green acrylic for the underpainting.
After adding a thin ivory wash and letting that dry, I pulled off the black tape. I’ll now add… other background stuff, and paints, and determine what final hue and value of gray to re-stripe (by brush) the outlines. Although I have some definite intentions, as usual, I’m making it up as I go along.
We had house guests for the weekend. Here you see a SW Ep.VII Stormtrooper encounter a San Francisco summer, much to the delight of her more acclimated traveling companion. The reflection in the giant TV is our foggy Pacifica sunset, with powerlines.
Poppy the Fairy was welcomed back from her nine-sleep vacay with drawings and correspondence from Ava and Aria (and Lynnie). In this drawing we see Ava and Aria and her parents, as well as the Fairy Mail box, with Poppy peeking out. I believe the green squiggles represent the recent landscaping, and a purple heart encircles them all.
Poppy is collecting her/his thoughts for response. (Ava is convinced Poppy is a boy.)
I signed the back of the plastics collage with these, um, economical but not un-fabulous “unfinished wood letters & numbers” from Creatology™, which I think is a brand from the Michael’s crapstores.
Some of the drillings and and nail insertions into the quarter-inch frame for the Plastic Litter Collage were regrettably less than expert, so I am embracing the concept of fuckedup recycled materials, and will further intentionally distress — but not too much! — the frame, as I sand and paint, sand and paint, sand and paint.
Nearing completion on the plastic litter collage. I bought some two- by quarter-inch wide ply to build a frame, which I’ll paint white.
As more pieces were collected, I re-worked some of the areas. The blue-green section is pretty much filled in.
Red could use a few more bits.
And in the lower right corner, a bit of hipster humor and tree hugging :)
Kris Compas had two new kits up in her Etsy shop, this sofa and some equally awesome chairs. I chose the sofa kit for the Argo Wool Works showroom porch.
I want to use tie silk for the upholstery. But which one? Thanks to the generosity of friends, I have a curated collection of about 30 ties from which to choose. I’ve narrowed it down to these six:
Blue, gray and black Escher flying fish.
Ivory and black dots, which I used on this bench:
Leaping trout on a burgundy background
Blue and white Paisley on black
Multicolored truncated ovals on burgundy
Gold and blue fans on pale yellow
I feel like my granddaughter, Maddie Lou, making decisions with the happy abundance of choices.
Which one would you pick?
This month’s very tardy nancyland splash page pays homage to two of my favorite things: Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandius” and beach cleanups.
I recently became site captain for Esplanade Beach volunteer cleanups organized by Pacifica Beach Coalition, and my experience is heartfelt and mind-expanding. The image on the splash page is a fishing buoy, possibly debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, retrieved from the beach some sixty feet below:
The part of the poem that most resonates with me:
“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed
…
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
I mentioned that Argo Wool Works also grows lavender. There are a few good approaches to making miniature lavender, and after a thoughtful review, I’ve adopted a hybrid technique. This is always the question in miniatures: how best to convey a feeling, an illusion of the real thing? Absolute adherence to reality, or a simpatico synthesis of appearance? Answers often surprise me, as did this lavender.
These are the start of the demonstration lavender beds outside the AWW showroom, as planted in the egg styrofoam and sand-covered mounds established earlier. I’ll post a more step-by-step later, when I’ve more available time. I think the method is worthwhile :)
The final observances of my family’s multiple March birthdays have been celebrated. I was delighted to receive an unexpected gift from one of my oldest, dearest friends, who noted my quest for fabulous silk ties with a large bag of said items. Her husband — another oldest, dearest friend — is a professional wearer of ties.
These are the top five I pulled out for the squiggly vintage Chippendale sofa, and/or throw pillows. The far left is out of focus, but is a delightful fish pattern. The next is an exquisite gray/black circular motif… on through a classic understated Paisley, a retro-looking I don’t even know what, and a brilliant Escher tribute.
Adding to the Spring bounty is another bestowal of wood veneer and samples that would have otherwise gone into landfill, from family member Tony. This is a large roll of oak veneer, and samples of bamboo, cut both horizontally and vertically.
So, so beautiful, and interesting! May your cups runneth over with unexpected gifts and bounty to share.
Her favorite color remains blue, and she can fly like this bunny.
My favorite modern miniature of all time.
So happy with the results of Annie Christensen’s echeveria tutorial! Here are a few before adding the chalk detailing. I experimented with watercoloring both sides of gray and light green card stock, as well as a duplex sheet of sage/dark green.
Some in place under the lavender-drying deck (two varieties).
And more around the back. Truly, paper alchemy. I’ve got some micro-punches on order to make smaller ones, and different varieties. With lavender and California poppies growing, this landscaping will be so NorCal.
(This is a peek at one of my succulent beds, so you know I speak true. You can just see some CA poppy in the mid right edge. They should start going off next month :)
Short answer? Paperclay. Long answer follows.
I settled in to finish the long back foundation wall, literally before the storm and power went out. Above you see the carton materials wrapped from the left side wall and primed in Ceramcoat “Mudstone”, then the beginnings of the long traverse using various parts of egg carton. Then I noticed something.
A while ago, our thoughtful reader and observer Barbara W. had sent me a mold from Woodland Scenics. Although sized as “boulders” it occurred to me that at 1:12 scale they would make excellent rubble, the kind I was using in the foundation.
I reviewed my on-hand options and chose a pouch of Creative Paperclay. I had never worked with this material before, though it was on my list. I chose some of the larger boulder forms and filled the mold. I forgot about it until I started the back wall foundation masonry. Then I noticed that the molded boulders had a similar texture to the carton materials I was using. Like, really similar.
The dried paperclay is a remarkable material. It is extremely stable and lightweight, easy to trim, and as I was soon to find out, paints very well.
I reloaded the mold with the full set of rocks in paperclay to use around the rest of the foundation, and finished out the back wall with the few that had already dried (those in white), along with egg carton and packaging forms. It seems to take two or three days for the paperclay to dry thoroughly.
I applied the same set of acrylic layers and washes as the interior foundation.
Here’s a dramatic corner shot.
And the entire finished back foundation wall.
Although there is additional touch up and detailing to add, this needs to dry thoroughly. I could not resist gluing in some moss, though, to make it come alive. Thanks, BW, for the gift of the mold and allowing me to discover paperclay. The fun has just commenced.
nancyland.com 