shining egg

wordplay: gather

i knew from the moment i opened heather's envelope and saw the pinhole card she sent with the word - gather - exactly what i'd do for this final wordplay project.  it was mid-september, my time on the beach still fresh in my mind, the stones i had gathered there still fresh in my hand.  i knew exactly what i'd do, i just didn't know quite how i'd do it.

 

truthfully, this notion of setting stones or mounting stones or somehow preserving and framing the stones i collect has been in my mind for a long, long time.  and when i saw the word "gather," everything clicked.

there are three pieces.    

on birch panel.  each one measures 11x5.5 inches.  the panel was prepared with six layers of gesso to seal the wood (this is how i prepare all of my panels for painting).  the stones are set in acrylic moulding paste.  for two of the pieces i mixed acrylic paint with the moulding paste to add (i thought) extra depth behind the sand.  in the end, i prefer the piece where i didn't add the paint color, but it's a slight difference.  (you can see the each of the pieces in more detail here.)

i set the stones in the moulding paste, poured sand over the remaining surface, and allowed the pieces to dry for a week - the paste is very thick, and i wanted to be sure that i didn't disturb the stones.  when i poured off the excess, it was clear that i needed more sand to create the effect i was looking for, so i painted each piece with a layer of glue, poured on a new layer of sand, and allowed the pieces to dry again.

in the end, i'm pleased with the result.  though i think the last piece could have used another coat of sand, they could all use a sealant, and the unfinished nature of the edges bothers me a bit.  no matter, it was a fun project - and one i'll likely do again, using the lessons i learned along the way.

 

wordplay has been great fun for meover these last few months.  from the beginning, the project was about exploring my creative process; each of these pieces evolved differently, and i have learned so much about myself along the way.  

and the project was only made more fun by the collaborative nature of things.  there are no words to express the joy i've felt at working with tracy and erin - two creative souls, two dear friends.  (and shari, jen, blair, and heather who provided our inspiration were so kind to play along, and gave us such a range of words and ideas with which to work.)  it has been absolutely fascinating to me - as much as the process of my own creating - to see how each of the three of us has interpreted these words differently.  i can't wait to see what my friends have done with gather.

a poem, your advice, and the new word

wow, you guys. i was really touched by your enthusiastic reaction to gossamer. all of your kind comments were so very much appreciated. and megan flattered me beyond imagination. really, thank you.

and did you see what erin and tracy created? all so different - our interpretations, our choice of media, our projects. it's been so much fun, these last few days, anticipating, revealing, reflecting. but before i get to round 2, i have two more gossamer things to mention.

my brother - a poet, an artist whose medium is words - sent me this poem yesterday. it's by emily dickinson, and it's what comes to his mind when he thinks of gossamer. the poem is - well, it's so gossamer. and i was really touched that my brother was thinking about me and my project enough to have connected the word to this poem and sent it along to me. read it, if you haven't already. i don't think you'll be sorry. (i wonder whether my direction would have changed if i had read this poem at the beginning of the process? hmmm.)

the final - i think - gossamer item is this. there is a second gossamer piece. a sister piece, if you will, to the project i shared yesterday. i didn't mention it yesterday because i didn't want to take away from my final project, but there is another. it's gossamer (2), and it's very much like gossamer - 16x20, printed linen and stitching on linen covered board - except that the linen in this one is pink.

i'm considering the possibility of selling gossamer (2). but i have no idea if anyone would have any interest in buying it! this would be my first time offering my work for sale on the blog; it's something new for me, and something that i'm curious about exploring.

would you tell me what you think? of course, if i do put it up for sale, i'll give a full listing with pricing and such. but for today, i'd really love to have your input and opinions as to whether this is something to explore. or whether i ought to hang these sisters together on the wall of my studio room and keep their beauty all to myself! (which is also still a possibility.) so please, tell me the truth.

phew! i think that's it for gossamer for now. which is a good thing, because this next word - from jen - is so full of possibility that i'd better get started right away! (can you see it there? the word, written on the corner of her print, sitting on my desk alongside a few favorite things? it's a good one.)

happy weekend, friends.

wordplay: gossamer

so there you have it. gossamer. my first contribution to wordplay.

and can i confess something? i love it. and i feel awfully proud of myself about it. (though i do wish you could see it in person, because it looses a bit of its impact in the photos.)

it was a journey, this gossamer creation. starting with lots and lots of brainstorming - notes and notes and pages of notes in my moleskine. i imagined a painting. or a series of paintings. and then a collage. and then i got fixated on the definition of gossamer, the one from the dictionary. like, the actual words out of the dictionary. merriam-webster, page 312. and that fixation, with the collage, an idea started to form.

in the meantime, i was also fixated on finding gossamer-weight fabric. i knew it existed. but what i didn't realize was that it's really (according to my research. if you know something more about it, please let me know!) a synthetic gauzy fabric that's used for prom decorations and bridal veils. not what i had in mind; i was hoping for a gossamer weight linen, or something else with natural fibers. in the end, i settled for a very fine handkerchief weight linen. and i'm so glad i did.

so as i was fixating on the collage and buying the linen, i spent some time with my friend pam (who is an amazing textile artist and one of the most lovely human beings you could ever be lucky enough to know. and who really ought to have a blog. or at least a shop. really. are you reading this, pam?), and i shared my ideas with her. and she encouraged me to develop the notion of the collage further, to incorporate the fabric, to expand on my idea of the stitching. all of that, and she let me use her bernina.

really, my conversations with pam were integral to the development of this piece. and i'm so grateful to her for that. it's a gift, to have a creative person in my actual life. it's a new gift for me, and one that i'm so happy about. more on that subject another day.

so there were the notes. and then there were the photocopies; lots and lots of photocopies at staples, enlarging and adjusting and trying for just the right combination of lightness and darkness and grain-i-ness to suggest gossamer. and there was the linen. and then there an earlier version of the project (which you can see here), it's the one i shared a peek at last week. i really liked that one, but i knew there was more to do.

so last weekend i used my big stack of photocopies to burn myself some screens and print with my gocco onto the linen. i incorporated all of the lessons i learned printing on fabric in the gocco swap - about how much ink to use, and about how to burn a screen that will (or won't, which is what i wanted in this case) print crisp images. and i was really pleased with the results.

and then this week, the whole thing came together. these pieces cut and stitched and hanging from threads that remind me, just a bit, of a web. the float-y nature of the whole thing dangling together.

i had always thought that i would mount this project on paper. that's what i had imagined from the beginning (well, from some point after the beginning, really. but i had imagined it for a good while.). but pam (again, pam) pointed out how delicate and floating-in-the-air the whole thing is when it is suspended. and so i built a frame (i'm almost as excited about that as i am about the actual project!) with some canvas stretchers, brass tacks, 2 pieces of foam core, some super adhesive, a large piece of my favorite mid-weight linen, a staple gun, some encouragement, and a bit of courage.

and then i pinned the piece to the board with three red pushpins, suspending the fabric away from the board to create dimension. to let the piece float. to enhance its gossamer-ness. it's an installation, really. and it does lose something in the photographs. but i hope that you can get a sense of how delicate and float-y it is from the photos i've taken.

so there you have it. my interpretation of gossamer. something delicate, tenuous, gauzy, flimsy, floating in the air. gossamer.

(word #2 arrived in the mail yesterday from an amazing artist. i haven't opened the envelope yet, wanting to post this first. i'll open it in a bit, and share the word here tomorrow.)

getting ready for tomorrow

gos·sa·mer

Pronunciation: \ˈgä-sə-mər also ˈgäz-mər, ˈgä-zə-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gossomer, from gos goose + somer summer
Date: circa 14th century

1     : a film of cobwebs floating in air in calm clear weather        
2     : something light, delicate, or insubstantial

gos·sa·mer
 
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1807

: extremely light, delicate, or tenuous  

(with thanks to the merriam-webster dictionary)

so it's been almost six weeks now, since i opened shari's envelope to find the word gossamer typed and pasted to a pink paint chip.  (i've carried that token with me in my notebook ever since, by the way.)

it's been a challenge.  this new project, this first word.

when we began imagining wordplay in its current form, i planned to paint.  and only paint.  i was fixated on painting.  i'm fairly certain that i told erin and tracy that i wanted to commit to a single medium for the course of the project.  thinking, of course, that i would stretch myself in my painting, explore new possibilities.

luckily, those two wise women were not interested in committing to a single medium.  because i haven't painted a single stroke.  not one.  this project that i've created has nothing at all to do with painting.  but it has stretched me in ways that i never imagined.

i can't wait to share tomorrow.  and to see what my friends have created.

but now, i'm off to put the finishing touches on gossamer.

w.i.p.

remember wordplay? time is growing short on our first go-round; the gossamer project is due to be finished on may 15, which is nine days from today.

it's been tricky, this one. it's the first one. and the word - gossamer - it's so beautiful and delicate and evocative all on its own. what could i possibly add to the experience of this word? but i've been thinking and brainstorming and writing page after page of notes.

yesterday i spent some time playing with all of my notes and ideas. i wish i could show you! but this peek is all i can spare until next week. there are some elements from yesterday's work that i'm loving, that i'm certain will end up in the final piece. and there are other things that i'll be playing with and adjusting over the next nine days.

we'll all three (erin and tracy and i) be sharing our first-round projects on (or around?) may 15. i'm looking forward to that - to sharing my creation, and to seeing how erin and tracy have interpreted gossamer. i'll be sharing my process then, too. and revealing the second word at the same time.

i've got a lot of work to do in the next nine days. but this project, it's fun!

i always think that april brings such promise

april 1. an excellent time to start something new.

remember, a few weeks back, when tracy and erin traded words? erin gave one word to tracy, and tracy gave a different word to erin, and they used those words as jumping off points for their own creative projects? they called it "outside inspiration." (in case you missed it, you can read about it here, here, here, and here.)

well starting today, i'll be joining erin and tracy in building off the notion of "outside inspiration" - with a twist. the new project is called wordplay. and here's how it will work.

every six weeks, from the beginning of april until the end of october, we'€™ll all three be receiving a single word from an artist or a writer or a friend. and then we'€™ll have six weeks to interpret that word creatively using any media we choose. one word, three interpretations, every six weeks.

we'€™ll be relying on our friends to deliver our inspiration, in the form of the words they choose for us. we'€™ll be relying on our own creative impulses for the interpretation -€“ the "€œplay"€ part. and we'€™ll be relying on each other for the collaboration, the momentum, the reinforcement, and the partnership along the way.

to say that i'm excited about this project is an understatement. i am crazy about the idea of creative process. i love the notion of outside inspiration. i am fascinated by the prospect of a variety of interpretations of a single word. and i am overjoyed (really!) to be working with two such creative and talented friends. really, i'm thrilled. i can't wait to word play.

this first word was sent by shari. (thank you, shari!) it arrived in an actual letter, in a real envelope, in my mailbox on saturday. and it's been hard not opening it until this morning. but boy-oh-boy, was it fun to open this morning. and find shari's note. and her word.

gossamer. i don't know where to begin. but i can't wait to see where the gossamer road might go. let's play!

(oh! and we'll be posting bits of progress on our blogs. or you can take a peek at the wordplay flickr group.)