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

LAW 121: Evidence of Spring.

The tree ate my homework, no my stool!

Wow, i've been bad. Nope, i've been sick. I have been meaning to post but somehow the energy just wasn't there. Finally starting to feel as if i might live, so here we go.

Of course the much much nicer weather might have something to do with feeling better. It is hard to complain about 70 degree weather the third week of February when you live, like we do, on the Upper Chesapeake Bay. To whit: spring weeds are flowering, and the shirts are coming off.

Please note warm enough for shirts off!

Yesterday we went out to Marshy Point Nature Center for the first time in about six months, and discovered a new trail had been put in since our last visit, our bad! It is very true however that not having a car does limit casual trips like this.

New trail to the Vernal pond.

When i got up this morning i was greeted by the most incredible colors. Sunrise on the river is always beautiful, but sometimes it is unbelievably spectacular! Today was one of those mornings.

Looking over Storyteller to Hawthorn

I even broke a major rule, which is don't get off the boat before you've had caffeine. The only time i have fallen was two summers ago getting off early in the morning before that first all important cup of coffee.

Sunrise morning on the river

We have, since the last time i wrote acquired a hull for Tesla's Revenge. We jumped on the opportunity when it was offered of procuring a 29 foot sailboat hull. There are pluses and minuses to this. The boat has a deeper draft than we really wanted, meaning that it will not be possible to 'gunk hole', on the other hand we will be much more seaworthy and will not have to worry as much about certain weather and wave conditions. So we are currently work on the bottom, sealing thru hulls prior to apply barrier coat and bottom paint. The interior has been pretty much gutted, so we can rebuild to our specs. We will also be building a wheel house over the cockpit and removing the mast as our intention is to make her an solar powered electric trawler.

Mungo sealing thru hulls!

Believe me, we could still use some help with our Tesla's Revenge Indiegogo project. So it would be greatly appreciated if you helped us out.

LAW 120: Make Art, Stay Sane, Magic of Words project part 2

Just saying, with the insane, and i do mean insane political climate in this country, i find that my daily art journaling has taken a turn to the political. It is a way to purge the demons, keep the blood pressure within healthy levels, and generally keep myself balanced enough to keep reading and reacting to the news of the day.

Text has become more important to the work. I find myself reaching back into work that i was exploring while i was in graduate school.

The idea of repetitive mantras, the power of words to heal hopefully not to hurt. Makes me think of that old children's saw, Sticks and Stones.....

I also find that i much prefer the fluidity of line in the more abstract drawings. Those reach back even further in my artistic past. I was experimenting with this sort style and line as long ago as my high school art classes. Sigh, that was a while ago.

I guess it is rather obvious where the disbelief and anger at the new regime kicks in. As an 'old' hippy the erosion of our government of unity and generous spirit is deeply, deeply troubling. We are after all in this together, no one gets out alive, you can't take it with you, so what is this really all about?

Since these pieces are daily art journaling they do stylistically jump around. The original theme behind this grouping was; the use of text, i wanted to feel more comfortable with the inclusion of words in my art, and secondly, using up all the stuff on my desk top. I have a lot of stuff(impossible to throw anything away) from the New Years cards i made that i wanted to include in these pieces. Haven't been incredibly successful with that. Anger kicked in, most of the leftover paper scraps are simply to pretty to fit into the angry, scared mindset i am currently experiencing.

We are spiritual beings, from the beginning of time we have been making art and making ritual to heal ourselves, the planet to ask for favors of the gods. As we do that we make connections with colors and numbers and words. It is interesting to see historically all the similarities in the myriad belief systems.

I have always loved blind contour drawing; the fluidity and structure at the same time make for a very compelling dissonance in my mind.

But let me tell you just how difficult it is to blind contour draw circular objects. Eek! must practice more. Te great thing about being my own boss, i do indeed have the time to do exactly that.

The Muslim travel ban has been much on my mind, outrageous, and has been the thrust of my newest journal pieces.  With this piece i am at the halfway mark of this project. I would like to think that a spirit of generosity will bloom as the earth turns into spring. I'm not holding my breath.

More later,

Morgainne

As always a plea that you check out the Tesla's Revenge Indiegogo campaign.

LAW 119: Treat Yourself Well

Yesterday was our 32nd anniversary, and i decided that it was important to take care, of myself, Mungo, Magellan. It was time to develop a more positive attitude, something that appears to be difficult to maintain in the current political climate we find ourselves in.

Food is one of the main comfort tools in my toolbox, i used it extensively yesterday.

Breakfast was a yummy, and really easy to prepare Apple Yorkshire Pudding. Comfort food at its best.

Breakfast, Apple Yorkshire Pudding!

Lunch, at first glance a little more mundane as it was on one level leftovers. However leftovers can be elevated to a more sublime level by tweaking them. I made black bean chili Sunday evening, yes black bean chili of Fat Cat fame, and had enough left to make braised, stuffed poblano peppers. I through in a little cheese and made some fresh guacamole, yummy!

homemade salsa too, but we didn't need it!

Yes Karen, we still have all of the pasta plates, and yes, we use them all the time, and they are getting pretty beat up.

Dinner was fish chowder. Sounds like comfort food city all the way around doesn't it? Some times celebration food can be about comfort. Cod, littleneck clams, potato, corn, and of course a little bacon.

It's great having friends who are potters!

The udon bowls, by Darby have held up remarkably well.

Take care of yourselves my friends, and if you have the inclination please help us out with our Indiegogo campaign for our new project, Tesla's Revenge. Mungo has posted some new stuff about the boat construction at the Floating Empire, check it out okay.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 118: On the Making of New Art

Been awhile since i have posted anything about art making. This is not to say that i haven't been a busy little creator, believe me i have.

I've been steadily stitching away on my Firebird piece. I just finished the background flames. Mungo jokes that i will have this one finished before i turn 80, i should hope so! I had been toying with the idea of beading parts of the flames, now that it is time to start on them i am not so sure of the wisdom of that path. I guess i will think about for awhile.

A lot done, a long way to go

I promised myself that i would make a real effort to loosen up my approach to the art journaling; make an effort to do more spontaneous drawing, less collage, and more color work. I'm not sure the color work will happen, but i am drawing more. This is a good thing.

Day one, Magic of Words, words of four letters

My newest project will be a small hand made book, Magic of Words. I had lots of paint left over from my Cat Window book, i couldn't bear to toss it and knew it wouldn't store so i took several pieces of Canson multi media paper, torn to 6 x 9" and splattered and blotted it on both sides. Of course i sat on the paper for over a month, partly because it was just so cool i couldn't figure out how to approach mark making.

DAy 2, MoW, how many ways can you say sun?

On the 12th of this month i finally just started. Sometimes you just have to do it! With no clear path, other than a desire to use up desktop scrap and the knowledge that i would use words i folded one of the pieces into a 4.5 x 6"signature and started.

Day 3, MoW, one, feeling lonely.

I've been averaging three days per signature, taking advantage of the double spread in the center to work a little larger.

Day 4, MoW, Do you Measure Up?

As usual, and as should be expected the work takes on the emotional tone of the day; politics continues to creep in, desired or not.

Day 5, Magic of Words

Our Indiegogo campaign started yesterday and three cheers, we've already gotten contributions! Thank you all!  Click here if you would like to help support our newest adventure, the build of our second shanty boat, Tesla's Revenge. Cool art gifts are waiting for you

Day 6, MoW, The Space Between Us

Day six, which has no words harks back to a drawing style i started playing with as far back in time as high school. Eek! I don't even want to think about how far back in pre-history that is.

Day 7, MoW, Laugh

Day 8, Magic of Words

Again, words failed me, inspiration was missing somehow. But than these marvelous little faces started peering out at me. For me Chauvet cave drawings come to mind.

Day 9, Magic of Words

We took Friday off, treated ourselves to a movie, Disney's latest offering, Moana. I am quite sure you can see the influence in the marine theme.

Day 10, MoW, I Will Not...

Okay, i really was planning this before the Tweeter in Chief misspelled honored in a tweet last night. Thanks to Bart Simpson for inspiration.

More later,

Morgainne