bee creative

color, plants and cats

The fabric that went into the indigo vat is done for now, washed and dried. 

It will be cut and sewn and then perhaps dyed again. 

Not sure what to do with this piece. It was going to be part of a shirt but maybe not. Or maybe differently than first intended. 

I love how the dots aren't a solid white. 

The last of the lilies in the garden is blooming. The variety, Scheherazade, was breed by someone here in the area where I live.  The flowers are where I walk so I decided to remove the pollen right away, before they stained something.

Pollen with alcohol added.

It's a kind of magic when there is a shift in color.

 

I started subscribing to the Wild Pigment Project's "ground bright" shortly after taking a class from Tilke. It's a really great opportunity to interact with pigments that I might not be able to gather on my own.  The pigments being gathered are "waste stream" pigments; so important to me... I also love that I had something to share, waste not!

During the class I realized that I had a lot of branches with gum on them that could be collected by soaking the branches and then filtering the water. I had shared with Tilke that it had made a lot more stone fruit gum solution that I thought could be used before it went bad (it ferments) and she suggested drying it.  And then she asked if I'd like to contribute some for one of the ground bright subscriptions.

My subscription arrived today and I have to admit it was a bit strange (but not an objection of the label) to see myself described as "artist."  Maybe because it is strange to see someone else describe who you are?  And artist isn't a label I tend to use ... it's a word that I am still working on defining. Either way, it's a lovely and thoughtful description and one that I appreciate!  

I highly recommend watching the Feedback Friday that featured Tilke and Natalie Stopkka to anyone wanting to know more about Wild Pigment Project, Tilke, or pigments.

And here is one of the guilty parties who broke a 1/2 gallon jar of gum solution that was sitting on the floor by knocking something on to it during a "zoomies" session.

When did his ruff get so big?

 

it's the little things

Pounding flowers onto my handmade paper. 

Something fossil like about it.

It was about a 10 minute experiment.

book mark

I decided a cloud book mark would be perfect for a book full of weather poems (Gigantic Cinema), but also thought this would be a great tree. 

It can be both.

The cloud is a threadcrumb.

I am not done yet...

Something quiet, something to listen to

Something quiet.

 

Currently reading (among other things), Gigantic Cinema.  It's a collection of poetry about weather edited by Alice Oswald and Paul Keegan. 

 

 

This gives a sense of the book.  Alice Oswald is mostly reading a selection of the poems in the book (Shakespeare, a passage from the bible, more contemporary poems too). 

I love what she says about weather being about light and about color.  As I read through the book (which I suspect will take me a long time), I will think about this.  What does each selection say about light?  What about color?

Something else to listen to, The Shipping Forecast on the BBC.

I found an article about it on the New York Times web site.

It's suggested as a method for falling asleep and is described as "poetic and hypnotic; a free-form ode to the seas."

Just after sunset, listening in the dark...

 

 

clouds, moons, dots...

I decided I wasn't going to dip these again.  This is the fabric with the clay rinsed out.

I love how the weave of the hemp shows up.

 

There were a few more sheets of paper this morning.

I read that it's better for beginner paper makers to start with more pulp in the water.  It made sense when the pulp was almost gone. 

Still, I was able to make some fairly thin paper.

For some reason there were bubbles.

I would love to know why.

And then I did what I wanted to do... which was paint the paper with ink.

It was wet enough that the paper became soft again but it wasn't a problem.  It actually became a creative possibility and I started to tear and rearrange the paper. 

The "clouds" were made by accident yesterday when I was transferring the paper off the screen and it ripped.  Now I want to make them on purpose.

I really love clouds.

indigo weather

Fabric that I was using as a sheet.  It really wasn't strong enough so I've decided to do a bit of experimenting with it.  

A puffy cloud inspired by Jude.

I am using clay as a resist.

More experimenting.

I finally made paper! 

There will be more of this. 

Paper counts as #2 of the "waste not" project since I made it with recycling, old screen that was salvaged, and left over dye water (which didn't alter the color at all).

 

 

color as memory and other thoughts

This all may seem a little random, a gathering of thoughts.

Color...at least two times in my life it's become a memory.

The first was in Italy; in the Cathedral in Florence Italy, the Duomo di Firenze, there was a section of the Cathedral with all blue stained glass.  Or maybe it is just the way I remember it.

  Blue light.

The second is more recent, the creeks and rivers in Northern California and along the road from Crescent City California to Grants Pass Oregon this spring.  How green they were as we were driving through. 

A living, thriving, moving green. 

At the end of the lecture Alice Oswald gives called "Interview with Water" she says, "What fascinates me about the surface of water is that it isn't just surface, you can see through it."

Water, and I would add, glass. 

A surface you can see through. 

Glass made with fire. 

Glass that is liquid at high temperatures.

Two soil/ochre pigments that I worked with today. Using water and gum from the cherry tree.The darker pigment is from my garden and the more yellow from California, soil that nurtures redwood trees. 

Ochre will change color with heat.

 

Thinking about the importance of place for me.

How color is a part of place.

How memory alters.

I love how my hand, reflected in the window, becomes more visible in this layered image. 

 

 

things can take time

This is eggshell that I am grinding for pigment.  It's out on the porch and every time I walk by I stop and grind for a few minutes.  After a day of this, it's almost a fine powder. 

Some things collected today, others a couple weeks ago. 

All possible colors for dye or pigment.

Hemp that I've had for several years. 

It was a project that didn't turn out well.

It's been waiting for me to realize it will make a fabulous base for stitching. 

Maybe a bag?

All of these are possibilities for my "waste not" project. 

P.S.  I stepped out into the garden at about midnight.  No Northern Lights but it was warm and the sky was full of stars, including the big dipper. 

pause/paws

Tired tonight and all the things I thought I would do won't happen.  Trying to stay awake just a little longer.

What I am going to do is listen...

Last week I discovered a lecture series that so far I am loving.  It is being given by Alice Oswald and I found it in the Poetry Unbound newsletter.  Pretty sure I will end up listening to all of them several times...they are fairly dense with ideas and oh so beautiful.

I will probably fall asleep listening.

And if I wake up in the middle of the night,

I will go look for the Northern lights.

sometimes you just try

The plant that I babied all winter...mostly outside but every time it went below freezing I brought it inside. 

It survived and it is blooming again...such a lovely scent, gardenia.

Playing with the idea of green.

This one is indigo pigment mixed with an onion lake pigment.