LAW127: The End of an Era, and Other Events

Thursday afternoon at approximately 12:25 the Floating Empire left her home pier at Middle River Landing, bound for a new home and new adventures. It was a very bittersweet moment. Don was scheduled to work, so could not be here to say goodbye to our beloved barrel barge shanty boat. Likely just as well, as he is the more sentimental one about stuff like this.

With a little help from friends

Still, i will miss her as well. After all, she was our home for just over three years. We designed and built her in our backyard, arguing over every square inch. She went through a major renovation last winter/spring. And now, she will provide shelter to some one else. Lucky for her new owner, he did not have to tow her very far.

Hard work, getting her out of the slip

We learned a lot building and living in her. We will definitely put all that experience to good use. Soon too, i think. We are currently living in, and rehabbing at the same time a 29' 1976, Cal sailboat; Tesla's Revenge. Soon she will lose her mast, as soon as we can find a boat yard with a working crane in reasonable proximity to us. Then we we can build the wheel house, install the solar panels(on top of the wheel house) and of course the motor. Then we will be ready to motor off, very quietly to new adventures.

Yes, there were plenty of witness'

Magellan, our beloved ship's cat is adapting nicely to the new space. He has lots of new, little nooks and crannies to explore. He loves walking the fore deck. It is quite startling to see him stroll by the galley windows. He does however, walk the dock, stopping at the empty slip where Empire was moored. I'm sure he knows that something is missing.

Magellan loves playing with his water bowl.

Boats, particularly sail boats have a tremendous amount of storage, unfortunately, almost all of it is 'dead' storage, underneath, or behind something else. It is a challenge to remember where i have stowed everything. I don't even want to talk about 'my' quarter berth. I had to seriously down size my studio space, and i do have to move at least two things to get to anything other than my current needlepoint piece, or the altered book i am working on.

Speaking of the most current textile piece, i made a design decision about two weeks ago, which has altered the ultimate over all form of the Firebird. I chose to do away with the hanging 'dags' on either side of the bottom. I felt that they were competing with the central flame and tail feathers. I also have added one more tongue of flame to the lower edge. I just finished the one on the left, next will be the new flame on the right hand side.  Of course i feel the design is stronger for these changes.

One more flame, the rest of the sky......and

We plumbed our little cooktop this morning! Yes, no more small, expensive bottles of propane cluttering my counter top.

I made a lovely soup last night, sort of a homage to one of my favorites from Anna Thomas. Her's, a vegetarian potato and corn chowder from one of her first cookbooks. Mine had sweet potatoes and fresh corn, but it had a very definite Malaysian twist. I made a sweet/savory flavoring paste(cumin, fennel, cardamon, ginger, garlic, tumeric and fenugreek), coconut milk, a little shredded cabbage and shrimp. Absolutely delish!

Really, i wanted to eat it all, but i saved some for Don.

It has stopped raining, the cat has left the boat, and it is time for me to go to my studio and make stuff.

Oh yes, Happy Earth Day! Every day should be earth day, she is after all the only one we got.

More later,
gail

LAW 126: Moving out/Moving in

We definitely have mixed feelings about leaving the Floating Empire. She has been a very comfortable. albeit, funky tiny home for the past three years.  Luckily, we found some one willing to take her; so some time this week the Empire will be leaving her home pier, traveling to new adventures.

Another victim of downsizing.

We are hoping to get everything moved out of her today; the weather, however, is not cooperating. Some how rain has developed. So much for decreasing clouds. Sigh. It does allow a little time to regroup and rearrange yet again here aboard Tesla's Revenge.

The EV Tesla's Revenge is a refurbished Cal 229, circa 1976. Next week we will be de-masting her, and will start building the wheel house.

In the meantime we are living aboard, learning to juggle the different space configurations. Sail boats have great storage, but so much of it is tucked away, under a cushion in the seating area; underneath more readily accessible storage in the galley, underneath and behind several more storage elements.

First dinner on Tesla's Revenge.

Vegetable storage, (which i think in almost all cases should be at room temperature) had to be totally re thought. We went from under counter, in wicker baskets, to the umpteenth re-working of a wire mesh frame and basket system that we have used since the mid 80's. Recycle, Reuse, Re-purpose, definitely the 3 R's in our house!

Clever coverup, i think!

The collage piece behind the wire frame is part of the bathroom wall of the Floating Empire. It covers one of the deconstruction errors of a previous owner.

pretty ugly, but hey, we got it covered.

We've had to adapt some of our old tools to the new space. The knife rack had to be mounted in a rather dramatic fashion, nothing like a good strong diagonal line to create a strong design element.

Hey, it works!

I think our hanging pot rack will be what i miss the most in our new galley space. Just not enough head space to allow it's use. Yet another element added into the 'where does it go' roulette.

old, favorite tools, new home.

Moving is one of my least favorite things to do. It is always stressful. It always feels as if i am leaving 'my only home'. Moving always uncovers my weakness; my belief that if i just keep this ...... (insert list of extremely odd and usually useless objects) i will one day, real soon now, make something beautiful out of said object. My studio space has ranged from, a two bedroom house, the entire basement, a room in a basement, a re-modeled sun porch, the back of the Floating Empire, and now,  the port side quarter berth. Well, that is actually art stuff storage, the real work will take place,  at the salon table, a very versatile object indeed. It swivels 360 degrees, and  folded in half. It also doubles as a bed.  Or maybe, most likely, in the wheel house, which has a much better view!

Sigh, it is still raining.

To many more!

More later,
gail

LAW 125: We splashed, or hurry up and wait.

Yesterday was the big day. After approximately two months of scraping and painting and putting back together and re-wiring and... we finally launched our new floating home, the EV, Tesla's Revenge. Yea us!

It is a little intimidating under here.

Don finally got two days off in a row, we finished painting the spots on the hull where the stands had been; he got the twelve volt system working, which meant that our bilge pump was now functional. This is a very important safety feature in a displacement hull boat. We were next! We were in the sling, time to touch up the bottom of the keel, buy the champagne we forget to buy when we were out this morning, and hurry up, splitting up these last few duties, because we thought we would be in the water in minutes, not almost three hours later.

Last minute painting!

Unfortunately, the gods were laughing at us, the barge with the work crew's pile driver was kind of in the way. They were at lunch, that is our new slip they are blocking.

Yes, that is our slip that is blocked

Boats do have a mind of their own!

Alright, back from lunch, the push boat is launched, and the barge is moved into the fair lead blocking our trip to our slip. At this point we are in the water, Don is happy as Tesla's Revenge is floating, and even better, as he says, she is floating upright. Now we just wait until the crew gets the old, broken piling removed, and yes that is at least as important as launching our boar. Still, hurry up....

Petitioning Poseiden to accept Tesla' Revenge

A small offering for protection.

We are in the water, in the slip. We re-christened The Gilded Lady, petitioning Poseiden to please strike her from his rolls and accept Tesla's Revenge. Most, but as you can tell, not all of the champagne went to Poseiden, we had to have a little!

Now it is our turn!

Drinking out of a champagne bottle isn't easy!

Well, we are in. we are floating, and yes, we do have so much left to do.

Contemplating the move

More later,
gail

LAW 124: Love Songs and studio, sigh, deconstruction

After promising myself that i would not start another daily project before the big move to Tesla's Revenge, sigh, i am proud to report i did exactly that.

Ta Da! Welcome to Love Songs. I sat down to play awhile before tying back into studio deconstruction. So much for that plan, i actually knew what i wanted to do, i'm sure that is why it didn't work. As i came to that conclusion i also realized that i had, gasp, THROWN AWAY! a book i have had for many years. I had always intended to alter it, but for some reason a few days ago in an orgy of de-cluttering downsizing, i threw it away. I reasoned that since i had possessed it for many years and not used it, it was time for Die Minnesinger to go!

Luckily, i had yet to empty the waste basket in the studio so i was able to recover the book. Inspiration had struck and i knew after years what i was going to do with the book.

See, i should never, ever, ever, throw anything out! Right! I live on a boat, and, in less than a month will likely be living on an even smaller one. This does not compute, does it?

frontspiece of 1920's edition of Die Minnesinger

See, it's this way, we plan on splashing our new floating home, the EV Tesla's Revenge, next week. In preparation i have have diligently touched every object and paper in my studio, deciding whether it comes with me, or goes into storage, or is gifted to friends. The process is over 95% complete. Storage  has been all reconfigured; everything neat and tidy in plastic bins. It all has to fit into the port quarter berth.

first step, cut away everything that doesn't belong!

So, everything is packed away, i thought i would be content with the embroidery piece i am currently working on. Alas, i can only stitch for an hour or so before the hands start complaining.

Hey, i should think of it as a test run of my new storage and allocation system, right? After all, Mungo is working for a couple of months, and isn't here, so .....

Make sure to use some of the background!

Here is the second process shot of my new project, Love Songs. My plan, to collage a contrasting narrative behind the cut out figures, while also incorporating some of the imagery of the 'background' page. Next, the final first image.

This is the beginning of a new series for me, which i will call Love Songs, which is the translation of the German, Die Minnesinger,  title of the book that i am altering. It is small,  7.25. x 4.5" beautifully illustrated, hand stitched and hardbound. I think that i want to explore the relationship between  German  popular media of the middle ages (12th to 14th century) and contemporary media. Well, at least that is where i started with Andy Warhol and print advertising from the late 50's.

The plan is to alternate which side, recto or verso, to cut away, and which to use as background.  This  of course means that i will be sacrificing some really cool pages, but, hey, that's life and art.

Make sure, please, that you keep up with what Mungo is up to at The Floating Empire. He is documenting what we are doing with the EV Tesla's Revenge.

More later, time for more Floating Empire deconstruction.

Morgainne

aka gail

LAW 123: Looking Back

I commented on a friend's art post the other day, we had both made flying pigs. In my comments about my own pig i referenced the work i was doing during the 90's and early 2000's. I was introduced to pig gut as an alternative medium while i was in graduate school. I pretty much fell in love with it, and spent about fifteen years exploring the possibilities of this gorgeous, but gross sounding medium.

If The Shoe Fits, pig gut, sinew, 1997 private collection

There aren't many images of this phase of my work out there, i let my old website lapse several years ago, so when Barbara said she wanted to see some of the images i decided to dig through my archives and post a few of them.

First Steps, pig gut, sinew, 1997, private collection

So a friend in grad school insisted that i try working with gut. She was taking an entry level class taught by a visiting artist who introduced it to them, she was sure that i would love it. She was correct. The first work i did with pig gut was two dimensional, it was not until that i jumped into the third dimension that i was well and truly hooked!

Tools of the Trade, pig gut, 1997, private collection

Tools of the Trade #2, 1997, private collection

It is amazing material, self-adhesive, it has plastic memory, takes color beautifully, depending on your initial treatment it could be as soft and flexible as cloth, an opaque white, or rigid and a beautiful translucent golden hue. i could go on and on, and on...

Modern Appliances, It's for You, late 90's, private collection

Modern Appliances, destroyed

At the time i was doing a lot of work with handmade paper. My first sculptures incorporated the pig gut along with the paper. I had some structural problems with these, most of them have not survived.

When i was a Child #2, 1996, destroyed

Seed Mother, 1996, handmade paper, gut, sunflower seeds

S

Seed Mother, back view

From there, for my thesis show, i was mainly drape molding small, every day objects. I had a shoe fascination going on at the time(it's a long story).

Humonculi , pig gut, steel wire, glass vitrine, private collection

Humonculi, 1998? Dance Shiva Dance, private collection

Shortly after i branched out into small dolls, humunculus, mad scientist hybrid insect/human and other assorted weirdness.

Family Jewels, gut, gold thread, and red velvet, destroyed.

Humanus Domesticus var. 2, pig gut, gold wire and glass seed beads, private collection

Humanus Domesticus, var 1, gold wire, pig gut, private collection

Acridae Humanus var. 1, pig gut, gold wire, glass seed beads, private collection

At the time i had a very large studio(sigh, living on a boat does have drawbacks) so as any good artist would, i expanded to fit the space. Moving into large scale, life size, human figures, and than from there, into abstraction.

Medusa Mother Love1999, back view, pig gut, black coat thread, private collection

 These last three pieces are life size.

The Perfect Woman, 2000, pig gut, steel wire, private collection.

Dryad #1, pig gut, grape vine, 2000, collection of the artist.

Dryad #2, pig gut, grape vine, 2000, collection of the artist.

Well, i think i will break this into two offerings, as this is getting too long! I'll do the abstract stuff as a separate entry.

Please don't forget that we still have an Indiegogo campaign going o for a few more days. Check out Tesla's Revenge for info about the campaign, thank you for any support.

Also the companion blog to this one, The Floating Empire, where you can find out anything you could ever possibly want to know about building and living in a shanty boat.

More later,

Gail

Law 122: A new art project and a Tesla's Revenge update

Well, only sort of a new project. It actually grew out of the Magic of Words series, which i promise i will update soon. I haven't been posting lately as we have been busy working on the new boat. If you haven't been paying attention, we are rehabbing a mid 70's 29 foot Cal sail boat. The hull was in pretty good shape, the interior pretty much completely gutted.

We've reassembled all the wood interior, beautiful old teak, installed a new galley counter and shelving, have the composting toilet built, re-plumbed and painted all but the final coat on the hull. We were hoping to splash late this week, but winter storm Stella has unfortunately changed those plans.

So, the new art project was inspired by a friends post about a folk art animal painting project she had attended. I thought, how cool, i could make some pretty nifty collages in a folk style of animals.

CAT

After completing the first couple of them i thought these would make wonderful greeting cards. So i think that i will be selling them for $5 apiece or an assorted 6 pack for $24. The cards are 5.5 x 8.5" printed on high quality card stock. Originals are collages.

ROOSTER

URBAN KITTY

WHEN PIGS FLY

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Please use the caption under the image to order. And yes, i do know that i don't have six different images yet. Soon, real soon now!

You can use Paypal.me/gailElwell

Check out The Floating Empire and please consider helping us with our Indiegogo campaign. for our newest project, Tesla's Revenge.

More later,
Gail