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.

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. 

 

 

ephemeral

Silly...I had forgotten that the ink I made with the red rose petals and alum turned green. 

It has been growing mold but I decided to use it anyway. 

Ephemeral...it will be that anyway.

And...I think I am going to crop it.

One of the beauties of digital images, the ability to experiment. 

bothered

I am not sure who loves yarn more, me or Widget.

This is what happens when I don't hide it well enough from her.

There was a whole bundle of yarn under her.

And she was not happy when I took it away.

Guess it was my day to be annoying, out in the garden I bothered a bumble bee while weeding. 

(The alliteration wasn't on purpose, just came out that way.)

It had a whole lot to tell me about the matter.

There are several baby squash coming along.

Now if I can just remember to keep watering it regularly.

It wouldn't be a bother to have an abundance of squash.

Playing with ink again.

I really need to come up with some green...

 

things I did today

Two things from the garden:

So good.

Testing rose hip ink made last fall and charcoal made from pruning. I am going to make ink from the charcoal.

I also collected marigolds to make a lake pigment with, probably tomorrow.

Not from the garden:

Lazy boys, I napped too.

And...the tank top I am making with scraps (linen) from other projects.  

The tricky part was making the arm holes.  I wanted the lighter color (which is a plaid) on the top but there wasn't enough fabric to make a yoke.  I had to piece fabric together to make it big enough.  In this picture the left side has the arm hole cut correctly and the right side still needs to be cut.  I also cut the neckline a little deeper. 

Now to make the other side and clean up the edges. 

Hoping to be done before we have 80+ weather.

change the story

At the farmer's market last Saturday I stopped to buy a cauliflower from a vendor I have been visiting more frequently. 

On the table I found a book...

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig.

It looked intriguing and I investigated.

Today I picked up my own copy at the bookstore.

I discovered this video and there is more to explore...

 

 

Tonight I am thinking about how once you "see" something, it is hard to unsee...

 

More to think about

kind of random

Layers of rose petal ink.

I like this one.

The first of the lilies are starting to bloom.

Runny homemade salsa that made good soup with some diced cucumbers.

The sour cream was really for the chips, the soup really didn't need it.

on repeat

So good I ate it two days in a row.

Potatoes (some from my garden) + cheese + pod peas + prosciutto (made by one of my brothers!) + garlic scapes + bread.

It is based on a potato lasagne recipe in Lynne Rossetto Kasper's cookbook The Italian Country Table that I love.  Instead of baking it, I made a stove top version. 

And

A print I made with my paint muller.

At first glance I only saw one beast, but right now I see four.

color is one of my favorite things

No sewing today...I spent about 4 hours in the garden weeding and puttering.

I pried off some gum from the cherry tree. It's soaking in water now and then I will filter it.

And I made some pigments.

I have a tea plant (camellia sinensis) that I harvested some leaves from last fall and soaked in water.  It was for another project that got away from me.  Today I realized I had about 1/4 of a cup of very concentrated pigment. 

The brown is the tea, the green rose petal and the black iron/oak gall. 

I also made paint with some of the ochre/clay that I brought back from California.

This is a special one for me. In an email I sent recently to someone I wrote, “It is a truly wonderful and magical thing to be able to hold on to a memory or a connection to place through pigments….”