a drop hollows out the stone

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Exquisite miniature rug by Natalia Frank

Exquisite 1:12 miniature rug by Natalia Frank

I’ve ordered this needlework rug kit from Natalia Frank, a miniaturist and needlewoman of remarkable talent and skill. To try to get your mind around what she does — and what I want to do — know that the final piece measures 5.73 x 8.12 inches (14.5 x 20.6 centimeters). It is stitched on 49 count silk gauze, which translates to 49 x 49 tiny stitches per square inch of gossamer fabric (281 x 398 stitches do the math). With a single strand of DMC embroidery thread. (Regular embroidery floss is six strands twisted together.) I’m starting with the finger and eye exercises suggested on her blog.

I am excited about this project for so many reasons, like for instance you can only work on it for 20 or 30 minutes at a time or you’ll go blind, and that you don’t need a whole studio to do it in, and that Natalia has The Four Ps. That’s one more P than mine: Perfectionism, Procrastination, Paralysis. Hers are Practice, Persistence, Patience, Perfection. Her definition of Perfection is that no one is, which we all need to be reminded of from time to time. And she quotes Ovid, Gutta cavat lapidem (A drop hollows out the stone.) Thinking I like her Ps way more than mine. I’ll keep you apprised of my progress, and do check out her work.

tiny tissues to dab tears of joy

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Maureen sent a box of tiny fun for the Spring swap organized by Cyd at Mini Mod Pod. We had decided on accessories as our theme, since we never seem to have enough little things to fully dress a scene.

Loft 1961 has a new tenant.

Loft 1961 has a new tenant.

I took a whole morning off from slaving to get our big house ready to sell, to play with my new stuff. An eclectic assortment it is! Maureen sent two original watercolors, some wonderfully versatile beads (as she said, “I thought even the most modern woman has something like that that belonged to a grandmother or great aunt.”), a delicate green blown glass vase and a dolphin — or is it a porpoise? — two perfect tea mugs, the wire bicycle, a glass mirror (I put it in the hall and don’t think I got a pic of that), a straw hat and the most perfect box of tissues you’ve ever seen.

The new tenant has excellent taste.

The new tenant has excellent taste.

Here’s a closeup of the watercolors:

Straighten these, please, or I won’t be able to sleep tonight.

Straighten these, please, or I won’t be able to sleep tonight.

With traveler’s ingenuity, she used stir sticks to frame them.

This was my first-ever swap, and it was so much fun I want to do one at least every month.

Hello Kitty is the new guardian of the loft. Would you like some tea?

Hello Kitty is the new guardian of the loft. Would you like some tea? Yes, Dolphin — or is it Porpoise? — please. Milk, no sugar.

Thanks again, Maureen and Cyd.

walls of unbecoming

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Finally occurred to me just what was wrong with this build. After staring at it for weeks and weeks, doing this and trying that, the “what” of it still eludes me. Turns out it was the very first thing I did: the wallpaper. I was experimenting, expanding on the scale boundaries of tiny space. The two facing walls were like an evolving collage of edgy patterns, florals, painted stripes. I’d think I was done, but later would add more bits to the pattern. I even put a bird on it. The walls got more and more interesting. I built lots of different furniture based on various ideas (bookmaker’s workshop, blood orange orchard office, remote mountain retreat, eccentric’s parlor). None of it was right.

I still don’t know what it is, but at least that damn wallpaper wont be distracting me.

The wallpaper must go, so it went.

The wallpaper must go, so it went.

because a fire was within my heart

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insect-compromised, tornado-blasted oak

Came across this downed oak on a walk in the woods this afternoon. The hurricane blasted quite a few healthy, innocent bystander trees, but in this one you can see the hidden activity that contributed to its fall. It was beautiful to see, sculptural in its ruin, heart exposed, story told.

bar

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The distinctly non-menacing-looking standing grizzly bear target

It’s hard not to feel like an imposter shooting 3D targets with primarily bowhunters. Their consistent accuracy looks so fluid and effortless. The feeling doesn’t make it any less fun, though.

progression

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hey look, I inadvertently made abstract expressionist art

This was my palette after I scraped off the colors for making these:

painted pages from an old 1957 science book that I bought for $1 at the library

These are the basis for the vines I’m cutting out now:

The Lovers, entwined. Envined? I’ve been playing too much Words With Friends

Last night, I started adding a slightly metallic copper midtone:

adding a middle

and then put the first figure stencil down:

The Lovers, 21 January 2012

This is what I see trying to edit this post:

Albie loves, in this order: me, the heat from the monitor, the cursor.

How meta is that?

Working on this piece triggered haunting, epic dreams last night, completely fitting the subject matter. I’ve been feeling it, with all the exultation, longing and remorse of a lifetime of recognition and choice.

Oh, and my Words With Friends user name is NancyEnge.

two figures to populate your dreams

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this green pig is much more than it seems

We shot our indoor 3D league last night. After failing so abjectly last week without my stabilizer, I put it back on my bow, in spite of the awkwardness it adds to close quarters lineups. And I did much better, scoring 189 out of a possible 300.

I have to tell you, shooting 3D targets is way more fun and interesting than regular target practice. I don’t even really know how to talk about it, because almost everything about this club is outside my range of experience. There are easily like a hundred short stories, probably even novels, and I’m only beginning to catch their drift. I wonder if it’s my extreme outsider perspective, like those first two weeks of a new job, before you’re sucked in to the interpersonal dynamics of the organization. Since this is completely voluntary, well, I don’t know. I think I have to participate a whole lot more before I can begin to understand. And most of these people shoot 300s, every time, with no sights, no stabilizers, and no fanfare.

Thus far, I am so impressed with the general level of craftsmanship, from the very fine and hotly debated techniques of arrow making, to the individual expression and creation of quivers. Not to mention the home-brewed limoncello and wines, which make an appearance after the shoot proper.

And yet. I’m shooting arrows at the sides of things that look like this:

You really don’t see the face when you’re aiming for the clean kill zone

Actually, I’m not all that conflicted. As a meat eater, how could I be? I still doubt I will become a hunter, but pursuing this sport, this art of archery, is landing me on the edge of… potential? crossover? reconsideration? Nah. Truth is, I like shooting arrows and hitting precisely what I’m aiming at. And as long as I have the opportunity, I’ll continue to leave meat-making to the pros, with appreciation and gratitude.

progress report

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thinking/feeling about my bi-coastal condition

I’ve said this before: I learn by doing (where doing is pronounced in one syllable). In learning how to paint, I am keeping Jylian Gustlin’s protip in the forefront of my critical mind:

Make art as much as possible to find your voice. Play as much as possible; don’t be too serious. Combine everything you learn like a soup — play, relax and paint. Mistakes are a way to bring the image into focus and to find your way to the finish. If it doesn’t work, it’s not finished.

Huh. If only. “Connection” is the painting I started right after the “You tell a story; I hear a story” canvas. But before I was through (although I may not be) with that one, I made this one:

I’ve had this feeling my whole life

Some of you will recognize the template figure from the workshop days. Somehow, its limitations become a starting point, a way in, a way to overcome the dread blank page (or in this case, canvas). So the current plan is to do a series of paintings in this format —hand cut painted papers, stenciled figures — to make an interpreted set of major arcana tarot cards.

Here are the first two layers of the next piece. I think it will be The Lovers.

The Lovers, 19 January 2012

Oh, and here is the somewhat reworked very first piece, the ugly duckling, which is still not right and most likely never will be. I would paint out almost the whole canvas, especially the face, but Mr Speed says that’s the part he likes best. So much for art by committee.

This is tale of the ugly duckling…

Finally, I have to tell you how stabbingly difficult it is show this stuff. I feel really, really exposed, not at all put together, kind of raw or innocent, like in a dream when you think you’re doing one thing, and then you find out it’s not that at all. Curious, and a bit harrowing. I want to improve my craft, find my ‘painting voice’, and make what pleases me. Maybe find out what I have to say in the process. You don’t have to pretend it’s good or that you like it. But! I hope that by keeping you apprised of my progress, by being less afraid to suck publicly, that you, too, will be moved to try something new, make art of your life (again).