As I returned from Seattle to Vancouver this week, with the family visit to Ottawa still fresh in my mind, I realized I am ready to stay put for at least a while. So, I’ll stay north through some part of November, settle into the last quarter of this long year, and see if I can generate a feeling of stability. How long will it take me to get the itch to move again? We’ll see!

Viewing

While in Seattle, I popped down for a quick First Thursday visit in Pioneer Square. I always check my own gallery, Lynn Hanson, and this month’s show, with Jacqui Beck and Judith Heim, was full of warm colours and textures, right up my alley.

Down the hall, I was delighted to meet Ellen Berdinner, whose strong work was hanging outside her studio. From my childhood of being subjected to rockhound parents, I knew she had used mica in her piece — she was delighted that I recognized it! All those weekends of scrambling through old quarries paid off.

Per her statement, she created a set of shield pieces, the Strong Woman Series, to honor a friend who had ovarian cancer, where forged steel and mica symbolized her friend’s strength and fragility. The series then expanded to represent the power & challenges of all women in today’s society.

And online, I loved this overview video of Joyce Silverstone‘s printmaking process, thanks to studio mate Joan Bazaz. She thought it might be my style, and she was so right: lots of mark-making detail and wonderful masks, plus all that texture you get from pulling a print.

Meetings & Making

In Seattle, I have a lovely square sketchbook, which got some attention during my visit.

I grabbed some old book pages from the top of the fodder pile, a gift from Sue Burke Harrington of old Bobbsey Twins books. Oh how I loved that series, and its fellow mysteries with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys!

During the Arizona Collage Collective call, I worked on 3 new spelling book spreads.

This puts me up to 52 of 64 — close to the end. Of round one? I doubt they will have much unity, so yeah, probably another pass ahead of me.

During my SLMM calls, I made yet more small changes to my Aerials series. I wanted more of them to use one of the analog pieces as a layer. Here’s one of the pieces, with its analog layer on the right to compare.

While at First Thursday, I mentioned to my gallerist that these pieces have been coming together for a while, possibly enough for a show, but I’m not sure that committing them all to editions is the right path. I’m looking for other options: a group show? A book? Or just a project on this site?

Learning

I’m continuing to dig into the offereings on Louise Fletcher’s Art Tribe site for the month. It’s a deep extension of her free Find Your Joy class, and is reinforcing my desire to make work that reflects me, that thrills me.

I want to apply that feeling, and sense of discernment, at the series level too, which we’ve been talking about in my biweekly Paint Mix group. There, we’re exploring less sales-based, less traditional options. That’s why a show at a gallery, despite being an actual option, which I am lucky to have, doesn’t feel like a good fit anymore. It’s such a large expenditure of materials and of course a big expense to commit pieces to a substrate and framing. I’m glad we can re-examine what has been the norm, and think differently. Just how to do that remains the question, but look for a post here, on how I decide to wrap up the Aerials project.

And finally, just for fun, Jane Davies posted a how-to for this fun book format, the flexagon. In the same manner as Louise Fletcher having us paint on large, divided sheets, I love that we can use a large surface either before, or after, cutting and folding it into a book.

There’s something about the book format that appeals to me. All those mystery series as a kid? Getting lost in a story? Even though it’s impractical as an art form, there’s something there pulling me back. What formats or structures do that for you?

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