New Project, drawings this time

Lately i haven't been able to find new collage sources. I have looked at my current stash of materials way too often; i am finding it difficult to make connections that  all of the disparate image bits gel into an artful composition. So, time to put it away for awhile in hopes of a re-awakening in the future.

last collage for awhile Blue Study #1, for my friends Brian and Marianne

As is my want when i am stumped for inspiration i have turned to my own special brand of zen doodling. I have always enjoyed drawing, although realism doesn't often rock my boat.

I decided to work on an extended drawing project, which features small, daily zen tangle drawing, which when completed i would turn into a small accordion style book.

The project starts with a 17 x 24" piece of Canson multi-media paper, which i folded using a traditional origami 8 fold. This resulted in 32 panels, 16 per side of 3.5 x 4.25" each.

side 1, folded and blind gesture

I did a quick, blind gesture drawing on each side. The line of the gesture drawing provide an isolated, yet related line to start each daily drawing practice with.

side 2, folded and blind gesture

I am calling this project The Exquisite Corpse, after the Dada automatic writing game of the same name. If you are not familiar, the basis of the game is the creation of a story by a group of people who have no idea of what has been written prior.(The folded paper).

side 1, 2/16 panels complete

So my thrust here is the exploration of how i can create an harmonious composition out of a group of individual drawings which are made without knowledge of the others.

I made a mask to keep myself from visually working off of either the completed panels of the drawing, or the gesture lines of the adjacent panels. My theory here is that the lines of the gesture drawing will provide enough balance and unity  to the composition  to create a pleasing end product, regardless of the differences in texture and lines of the individual panels.

Side two, 3/16 panels complete

I have four panels done on each side and am starting to see the development of an unified composition, Hooray!

Side 1, 4/16 panels complete

My intention was to only complete one panel a day, which would mean that this would take a little over a month to complete. I have gotten so into the project that i find myself usually doing two a day!

More updates on this project in a bit.

See ya soon

gail

LAW 169: Back on Terra Firma

Wowser! Why do you walk like a drunken sailor, oh why do you walk like drunken sailor? Well in our case, it would be because we spent five days without touching our dear old mother earth.

Sunset, Still Pond, 9.17.19 eastern shore, md

Ahem. Magellan, our dearly beloved ship's cat did not even wait for us to tie up the boat at our home dock before departing for terra firma, in search of grass to eat and dust to roll around in.

Dead Kitty's firtst sailing experience

Don and i reeled about the dock, in search of said cat, who was nestled under his favorite boat in the yard before tottering off to revel in a little human contact at our favorite local hang-out, Schultz's Crab House. If you are ever in the B'more Md. region it is definitely worth the stop. My advice would be to sit at the bar, even if you're eating, all the locals do!

Morning moonset 9.16.19, Wharton Creek, md

Sadly, Thursday night can get rather rowdy there, this was perhaps not the best choice for re-introduction to human contact.

Sunset ketch. 9.15.19, Wharton Creek, md

The trip was amazing, the winds were never as promised, either highs or lows, still and all the weather was amazing, our provisioning excellent, the wine reserves, adequate, the visuals better, probably, than any of Timothy Leary's trips. Definitely, definitely something i can't wait to do again. After i take several long naps!

Me, relaxing, 9.16.19, wharton creek, md

Did i mention just how much essential core exercise you get by just being on a boat floating on open water? Oh yeah! Who needs sit-ups when you can sail?

We learned a lot on this trip, what we could do better, what we shouldn't do(never, ever forget to check the local NOAA weather channel for local conditions. Ahem, yup, this is exactly what we did on Tuesday morning. Blithely setting off out of Wharton Creek, heading for Betterton Md. to stroll about town, have lunch and top up our water. Sadly neither the Wind Alert program, Accuweather or the Weather Channel said anything about gusts of 30 knots and 5 foot waves, as we certainly would not have willingly set out in those conditions.

9.17.19, Still Pond, eastern shore, md. Pretty powerful winch huh?

Can you say "not prepared, boys and girls", i bet you can. We lived through it, proved to ourselves that we were capable of doing it, and have added NOAA to our pre-departure check list. Any sane person would. However even NOAA can not predict every minor/major local weather fluctuation, as was demonstrated by the wind squall that blew up Wednesday night as we were anchored just up the Sassafras river. Said squall also delivering wind gusts in the 20-30 knot range. NOAA was predicting 5-10.

Crossing the Bay, 9.15.19

The moral of the story, be prepared, yes you may have to get out of the snuggly warm v-berth to batten things down, and maybe even re-set the anchor. Not the end of the world.

Here's hoping that you enjoy the small fraction of the photographs we took on this trip, man i love my digital 35mm. It is so great to be free of the limitation of film.

Our neighbors, 9.17.19, Still Pond, eastern shore, Md

Hope you will continue to enjoy sharing our voyages on the SV Constellation.

More latergail

LAW 168: This, That and the Other

Why, oh why do all of my posts here start with, you see..... i've been really busy, doing other things, etc, etc, etc.

Red Sky at Morning, 8.27.19

So, since we last spoke Don and i have gotten a new boat, the SV Constellation, which came complete with a working motor, serviceable sails and an almost completely refurbished interior.

View of Constellation from the swimming hole

So in addition to the mad scramble that always accompanies mounting a large art show we had to find a new home for Tesla's Revenge, move out of said boat and into Constellation during the hottest weather we have ever experienced here in Maryland, all the hile taking the time to have a little fun on the water, while learning all of the little idioscrasies of our new floating home. Oh yeah, while trying to wrap my mind around our new boat is a little bit bigger, how come there is less storage?

Yup, we had to cut down the knife rack

Let me count the ways, a larger v-berth, a significantly larger head, much more comfortable seating in the salon, a table that stores out of the way. How do i have less galley and storage, well....

A Well Deserved Glass of Wine

She is a 1976, 30 foot Pearson, which if you know anything about sailboats means she is extremely well built, slippery as all get out in the water and fast(for her size) in light wind.

A Favorite Local Anchorage in Between Ruined Piers

We are getting comfortable with her, i mean, i am. Don grew up sailing in boats this size and knows what he is doing. I am a novice when it comes to anything other than a human powered vessel, or small fishing boat. But it is fun, scary in a good way and great exercise!

More Ruins Views from Anchorage

Of course even though she is in decent running condition the list of things to do, repair, replace or add seems to long to ever be completed. Hmmmm?

We've spent a couple of nights out, on the hook, as they say. It is such a wonderful experience. Although we are still in the upper Chesapeake Bay, B'more, hon, we have found some lovely isolated(mostly) anchorages, and are looking to map out a network of them. We really want to strike out on some longer voyages. Realistically, we aren't going to be traveling very far or very fast on any given day, why should we? It's not as if we have a schedule. So the plan is to find anchorages between ten and twenty miles apart. We will of course have to dock to replenish supplies etc, but hope that once a week or so will work.

Captain Mungo at the tiller, on the way to home

So much more to talk about and share, but, hey, i've got art to make and a ship to sail...

Magellan's first sail

Speaking of art. I am creating a new website strictly for art sales. There's not a lot there yet, but it is Hawkwell Designs, and i sure would appreciate it if you took a look, and even better, bought something.

Me, relaxing at anchor

More later,
gail

LAW 167: More From the Wisconsin Poets Project

Sometimes a collage flows together as if by magic, sometimes it is sheer tortue, the never ending search for the "just right" element to complete a composition. And of course. after you find the aforemention perfect piece, well the boat zigs when you thought it would zag, you fumble the cut. (yes it happens when i am cooking all the time!)

Balance, 3.18.19

Sigh, well, if you found the perfect piece, you can do it again, and will. Sometimes the collage next a total 180 turn on the design/narrative path, but hey, life does as well.

A Woman's Place, 3.20.19

I don't usually have a "plan" when i set out to make a collage. This series, this book project is a sketchbook of visual journaling. Me thinking about connections and identity, memory and speculation. I have always been drawn to the quirky, surreal connections you can make with collage. Hannah Hoch has always been a fave of mine.

Journey to Chapel Perilous, 3.21.19

So here's four more from the journal, hope you like them.

The Universe Calls Her Name, 3.25.19

More later,
gail

LAW 166: Notre Dame

 Notre Dame! What a loss!

Does the intense social media/ news attention to the tragic fire at Notre Dame remind you of news coverage when another iconic building went down in flames, not so terribly long ago? It probably should. No, what happened, the twin tower bombing, is not just the same as an "accidental" fire in a building built in the tweltfh century. As far as i know there has been no loss of life in Paris.

No, not the same. But still, the same fascination, the same chill down the spine, i can't look away.

Still, it touches, and destroys a little bit of all of us. It took my facebook feed all of about 12 minutes to be totally lit up by this tragedy. Friends from around the world with a dozen, or more vocation streams and interests; touched by this unfolding tragedy spread the news.

There are many things i don't particularly like about social media; it has such potential as a tool of control in the wrong hands. But still, when we communicate clearly and freely we do have the potential to save the world.

Think about it,
more later
gail

LAW 165: Fifty-one Shades of Greenish

With typical swiftness spring here on the Upper Bay of the Chesapeake is in full bloom with an immediate transistion to summer waiting in the wings. Next week  i saw temperatures predicated in the upper 80s. Soon we will be complaining about the heat.

When i was editing i could not decide which of these images of the path i liked best so i thought i would share them all. No enchancement of light or color.

The Path Goes On #1

As we were driving yesterday to Marshy Point Nature Center we talked about our prediliction for cloudy day hikes. Purely from a photographic viewpoint clouds are so much better than bright blue skies for nature photography.

The Path Goes On #2

Landscapes seem far more painterly under the influence of a cloudy sky. Although i never use filters to digitally edit my photography, i routinely crop and enchance sharpness and color, all of which is so much easier to do digitally; i do not miss developing film.

The Path Goes On #3

Which one is your favorite?

I am drawn to odd texture and pattern in the natural world, and am always looking for new oddities. This sort of alien tree love embrace was the new found gem of this hike. I took two images of this, both quite out of the normal picture plane. The first one i changed the horizon line to near normal, the image was not at all interesting. I guess i knew what i was doing in the first place!

Alien Tree Love

Every time we take this hike i take another photo this lightening struck tree. It has always reminded me of a dancer. I often wonder how how she has stood in this clearing, and how long she will remain.

The Dancing Tree

 As we were headed from Harry's Overlook and Iron Point we were once again reminded of why we don't hike on this side of the park very often. We encountered huge swaths of standing water and mud on the path. It was impossible to get through with out getting our feet wet. Definitely more of a hike than we originally thought we were getting into.

Squish, squish!

The aftermath!

Not bad really, i didn't fall, so i count it a victory, even with wet feet.

The view from Iron Point

So, stay healthy, go outside and play in the sun and the shade and enjoy your life

More later

gail

LAW 164: fifty shades of greenish

Spring, spring, SPRING! Magellan and i are past ready to resume our sunrise ritual of Cockpit Coffee. Some mornings are still just a wee bit chilly for me, that doesn't stop Magellan.

Looking out over gunpowder river

 

Every morning palette is slightly different. Some mornings the changes are so subtle as to seem unknowable by the human eye; but it is still happening, spring is coming.

It does still look pretty chilly

Around town it seems that every flowering tree, but crape myrtle is indeed blooming, pollen is everywhere. Just ask my sinuses.

The marina is bustling, lots of people down, prepping their boats, getting ready to splash. I'm carefully picking warm, windless afternoons to get some sanding and restaining/varnish the wheel house. Wood does indeed take constant attention when you live on the water.

Reflections in a vernal pond

We took the day off today to go hiking at Marshy Point Nature Center, which is one of our favorite local places to hike. We had a very wet winter which made hiking out there problamatic, because well, its marshy.

The trail to?...

We took the right hand loop of the Vernal Pond trail for the first time in a long time, and had some very sweet surprises. One very long, very muddy stretch now has a raised wooden foot path, a new group camp site, fire pit and shore side bench.

Such subtle color

The peepers are still out in full force, and voice; listening to the frogs has always been a favorite part of spring for me. I have clear memories of driving in the countryside in Southern Illnois shouting to make myself heard over the bullfrog cacophany.

Shining like a little sun

It isn't as green as it will be in just a few more days. We can still see the houses on the other side of the river.

the Lycopodium is very happy this spring

Soon it will be summer, soon there will be mosquitos, soon we will be complaining about the heat.

I think mother nature always wins

Life is hell, no, not really.

This tree has stood for a very long time

More later
gail

LAW 163: More From The Wisconsin Poets

I am closing in on three months of collage making in my newest altered/repurposed book project, The Wisconsin Poets' Calendar. It has been an opportunity to step away from the more abstract painterly style i had been persuing, delve back into a more familar, surreal narrative.

A Question of Relative Worth, 3.1.19

Each of these approaches to collage require a different sort of focus. I find that i look at the same imagery in very different ways. If i work exclusively with one style for a while i stop seeing all the possibilities, the images start getting stale.

Debunking the Myth of ..., 3.3.19

I start getting antsy; i feel the rising urge to rush out to second hand stores, yard sales, the terrible need for more books to cut up raises its ugly head.

Altered Ego, 3.5.19

Uhh, stop me, stop me please! I live on a boat. NO ROOM, NO ROOM, should be my mantra. Sadly it often isn't. Alas, also sadly i have yet to find a good source for high quality, cheap source material.

Putting it Altogether, 3.8.19

Yes, i could indeed print my own images, thus controlling the quality of paper etc.... If i had a printer, if i had room for a printer. (See, i live on a boat),

Fierce Defender, 3.10.19

However, the above, not withstanding; that's not the way i work. For me, collage is about the gentle serendipity that comes when turning a page reveals the 'just perfect image', the solution you didn't know you where looking for.

A Question of Personal Identity, 3.11.19

Stepping into am Unknown Future, 3.16.19

I also think of collage as a great vechicle for a personal life goal of repurposing, reusing and recreating as many of the material objects as i can.

Mixed Mandala, 3.16.19

Stay strong, stay creative
More later
gail