Articles on Making Stuff

Carol writing today.

A few months ago, I received word that two of the article proposals I had turned in to Interweave had been accepted for the newest Pages magazine.

Imagine my delight when I saw the publication for the first time and my artwork was on the cover!

I wrote an article about creating artful niches for miniature books.
It is a really fun project that is not that difficult to create.
The carving and painting portion is my favorite part! And, if you mess up, it's very easy to "erase" that area and start over.

I also wrote an article about creating a triptych out of canvas, plaster and molding paste.
Add a few lines from a poem, some of your favorite natural items and you have wonderfully textured piece to sit on a shelf or a desktop.

"Forest Symphony"

The back side of
"Forest Symphony"

Pop over to this site and purchase your own copy of the Pages magazine.
This is the fifth edition and I have all of them. They really are chock full of wonderful projects.

Closed Doors vs Open Ones

Carol here.

I don't know about all of you but after I have a big push to reach deadlines, I have to take a break.

Literally I have nothing to offer.

I  just completed two articles for the same publication (with only two weeks to write them both) (my own schedule blocked me into that corner) and I am so very wrung out.
I feel like I couldn't come up with one bit of inspiration at the moment.

But I still crave the daily creative activity that I am used to.

What is a girl to do?

I read for a couple of days or at least until my vision was blurred.
Then I watched a couple of good movies followed by a couple of really bad ones.

But I couldn't sit still much longer and not do something.
What I really wanted to do was draw or work in my art journal.

I don't know if you can really call one of the handmade books that I write/draw/collage in an "art journal" but I guess that's the best description at the moment.
Sometimes it feels like an "art" journal but other times it feels more like a regular journal.

It's a huge book that I made in a workshop that I took a few years ago.

I certainly learned my lesson there about making Big Books.

I prefer the smaller ones that I can complete easily or the "theme" book that I can carry on trips with me.

I have a "Colorado" book that I work in while I am visiting friends and teaching there.

I also have a "Charleston" book that I carry when my husband and I venture to The Holy City.
I used a printed copy of a rich beautiful painting by Robert Henri called "The Green Fan (Girl of Toledo, Spain)" that is owned by Gibbs Art Museum in Charleston, SC

One of my favorite paintings.
She stands 41 inches tall
and commands any room that she is in.

My Charleston Book (aka Book of the Holy City).
"The Green Fan (Girl of Toledo, Spain)"
Robert Henri

Having a book like that makes it really simple to decide what to carry with me when I travel.

But back to the Big Book.

She is almost six inches thick, holds a lot of pages and even more words and drawings.
Lots of room for random mark making.
I turn to her pages when I have that desire to draw (or write) and have no idea or concern for the outcome.

I opened her up yesterday morning, grabbed a couple of pens and set to work (while watching one of those bad movies).

Here's a sampling of the pages that I marked up.

A colorful owl that started out as a curved doodle.

I had stitched a doily/sun shape into my page
before I stitched the signature into my book.
Yesterday I journaled deep, dark secrets on the page.

Ah, more secrets.
I'd have to kill you if you read them.

Ideas for simple, yet engaging journal doodles.

You can see the progression in this page.
I love adding the tiny details to finish the doodle drawings up.
I'll go back in later and add journaling.

I also add in single pages with ideas for thermofax screens.

More blurring to make you wonder why I have
so many deep dark secrets.
Most of it is aimless pondering of a bored woman.
Like this one -
"We never consider death before it considers us"
What?
"Dead men do tell tales albeit quietly".
I am a fountain (a deep one) of thoughts.

So you can see that I have an expanse of fertile ground on which to practice my trade.
In other words- I have a big ass book that I draw and write in.

The Muse may be out at the moment but at least I left the door open for her.

Do you find that you close the door completely or do you leave the door open for ideas to flow back in?

You gotta leave room for the entry of creative ideas.
You also need to spend time with these ideas every day.
If you keep showing up and opening that door, they will show show up as well.

Keepin it Fresh

Happy Holidays from Liz!

One of the challenges of being a full time artist is keeping our work fresh. Fresh for both myself and the viewer. It is so easy to get stuck in a routine and not notice anything new. I was thinking about this because a friend asked about a restaurant nearby. I had no clue it was there. I drive by it all the time but I can't eat there because of my food allergies so its presence doesn't even register in my brain. As a matter of fact, if you ask me what restaurants are near my home or studio I can't answer because I simply don't know.

Many artists I know find that visiting museums helps them generate fresh ideas. For others it is being outside. I find those helpful too but my favorite way to keep fresh is by taking classes well outside my main media. Classes outside of my comfort zone. For years I have attended Art and Soul which is a national mixed media art retreat with classes from every genre you can think of! Painting, journaling, assemblage, stitch, book binding, jewelery, encaustic, metal and more. I love this retreat and now even teach there.

When taking a new class, as a student I am pushed to learn techniques that are completely foreign to me. As a teacher I get a chance to remember just how a student feels when they are trying something for the first time. It is usually really uncomfortable for me. It is a win on both fronts because it helps me to be a better teacher. Many times I never use the exact technique I learned in a class but there is always a nugget that I bring back into my textile art. It might be something as simple as a new color combination I have never used before or it might be a bigger slap upside the head a-ha that brings about dramatic changes in my approach or thinking.

These photos are from a recent book making class. We begin by spreading paint with wild abandon. I find it so freeing to create these colorful pages. It is only paint and paper so there is less stress and that sense of freedom and joy painting helps me with my fabric surface design work.

It is natural that because I take so many classes that I also teach a wide variety of classes. I teach quite a few textile based classes of course but I also teach visual journaling, book binding and jewelery too. I admit to being a bit of a technique junkie and I love them all! Well, except soldering. I am not a fan of soldering. I find that by mixing these various classes in with my textile based classes that I don't get bored teaching the same thing over and over. It helps me to keep my teaching fresh. It also exposes me to the influence of a wide variety of students. I always learn from my students.

What do you do to keep your work fresh? I would love to hear your opinion.

Art in other forms

I've been so drawn lately to explore the boundaries of my art in other forms. I'm intrigued with the idea of applying the defining (for me) aspects of "fiber art" or "quilt art" to unexpected surfaces, shapes and materials. 

This fiber house book is an example of this idea - each page is technically a quilt with three layers held together with stitching, but in an unexpected shape and with an unexpected purpose.

These Spirit Flags use stitching, painting and printing techniques on a fabric (canvas) with a strong textural, woven presence.

A combination of etching and block printing on paper, printed on a press, celebrates the type of patterning that is typically seen in commercial fabric. And I stitched around the perimeter of the color field to bring another stitching/quilting reference to the piece.

And finally a couple of small collages that reflect the patterning found in commercial fabrics and with hand-inked stitches mounted on painted and stenciled canvas board.

Some of the pieces shown here are brand new and some are not as new, but all represent the direction I currently feel pulled in. Have you ever re-examined your medium to isolate its defining qualities and then applied those qualities in unexpected ways?

The Fashion of Nature

Carol here.

Like everyone else in the group, I've been working on the upcoming show in New York.

I chose to incorporate a bit of natures' fashion into my pieces.
I've been working off of the knowledge that nature, just like fashion, dresses herself according to the season.
Her fashionable colors change as well as the way that she clothes herself.

I spend a lot of time observing the fashion show that Mother Nature organizes.
I try to take my creative cues from this show.

Season to season, the colors change.
The emotion changes.
She sheds her autumn foliage for the monochromatic palette of winter.

The fashion of nature sheds light on the nature of fashion.
Meaning that fashion changes with the same cycle as nature.

I created this piece from natural elements - sticks, stones and leaves.
The stitched background is made from real leaves that have been pressed and allowed to disintegrate into tissue paper before laminating them to tea bags and scrim.

You can see the leaf above - it has disintegrated
into the tissue paper that I pressed the leaves on.

I used leaves that I gathered from my home garden
as well as vegetation from the forest near my home.

You might find an herb or two in my fabric...

Petals from garden flowers, especially gardenias and lilies.

You can see the layer of tea bags and scrim on this sample.
I laminated all of it together with acrylic soft gel and matt medium.

I also dipped a couple of the central collage elements into beeswax.

The beeswax makes the tea bag very transparent.

I love the smell!

"Nature's Fashion"

This is a 12" x 12" piece mounted on 1.5" stretcher bars.
Each person in the group of 8 will create a panel the same size.
They will be hung in a grid - like a nine patch - with our signage in the center.

I have created two other pieces of wall art plus a book.

Last April, I helped a friend of mine vend at the Virginia Beach "Art & Soul" retreat.
She had all sorts of vintage items to sell (!) and I was one of the helpers in charge of putting these things out on display (can you believe that she left me there with all that cool stuff?!) (my husband couldn't).
I unpacked a pair of little girls espadrilles.
I immediately saw the potential for a book in this pair of shoes.
Some of the group used women's shoes to create a piece of artwork out of.
I chose to use this well loved pair of shoes for one of my projects.
Here's what I came up with.

"The Sole Book"

"Sole Book"
front view

I spent a lot of time painting, staining, crackling and waxing each page
before adding them to the book

I love the crackle pages.
They look like an old sole (or soul, for that matter).

I used a glaze of acrylic paint to bring out the crackles on painted paper

Introductions: Carol Sloan

Hi, I'm Carol Sloan. I am a mixed media artist living and working in South Carolina.

 



 

I find inspiration in many places. I am fascinated by the textures found in nature and use several different mediums trying to replicate them. In viewing my work, you will see layers that include paper, paint, fabric/fiber and natural items. I love using natures bounty in my artwork. I use collage, drawing, painting and fiber manipulation to build these layers in my work.

 



I work in an intuitive manner, allowing the work itself to dictate the direction that it travels.

 



 

 

I build each piece to tell a story or to chronicle an experience in my life or another's life. I spend a lot of time in the forests and rivers near my home, hiking, kayaking or soaking in the beauty. I gather and collect interesting objects, natural items and everyday discards that I take to my studio and later use in these narratives. My hope is that the story will resonate with the viewer.



 

I also teach mixed media/mixed media fiber art workshops and classes nationally.

 



I love to share my belief that there is an artist inside of  everyone.



I plan on beginning online classes this year, teaching abroad as well as submitting a book proposal.



Check out more of my art, classes and my schedule on my blog.