It's going to be cool here this coming week in Central Iowa so I've made a huge pot of Sweet Potato Kale soup for today and tomorrow, and will make a huge pot of chili on Thursday!
Wow, what a week
If you've been following the weather news Iowa experienced a derecho this past Monday the 10th. Ames, Iowa was hit hard and other parts of Iowa hit even harder still. We got our power on Thursday afternoon and I've been playing catch up ever since.
The good news while sitting here in the dark with my tiny LED lantern, I've since ordered some LED desk lamps and a battery operated radio, I designed two new classes that I'll finish up this month. One is a hand stitching class the other is an earth pigment and plaster painting class.
Stay tuned for more updates. I'll be sharing video out takes with my paid patrons.
Photo taken by me on HWY 69 north of Ankeny Iowa, of the damaged corn.
Indigo Vats
The weather is supposed to be gorgeous here this week, so starting tomorrow I'll be setting up indigo vats and will dye some silk velvet fabric (silk rayon blend), silk ribbons, silk fabric, cotton fabric, and the like. I need to sort my natural dyes and see what I have that's still viable for over dyeing the indigo.
Yes, I will be video taping the process.
It's a start
It's not much, but in reality I haven't done much in the way of painting since I hung my show the first week of July. I've been chomping at the bit the last couple of days to get some time in my studio, easier said than done, and then this heat... OMG the heat and the humidity are horrific right now.
This is 5x7 inch canvas painted with oil paints.
Bright and Bold!
These are 5 x7 inch samples I'm currently experimenting with, I'm thinking I'll go bright, loud, and bold with my lines, colors, etc. for my upcoming solo show at the Sanford Museum in Cherokee, Iowa next month.
The first two are painted with transparent acrylic paints, and charcoal, the second images are watercolor, gesso, and charcoal.
Where have I been?
Cleaning and reorganizing my studio... and now that my bread rack is in the house I will begin the task of completing 15 16x20 inch paintings in 15 days! Yep you read that correctly. I'll try to post photos here and on my blog as I get things finished. I hang my solo show on July 1st at the Sanford Museum in Cherokee, Iowa, on that date.
More coming soon... oh and the best part about cleaning my studio is 1. more floor space and 2. I found my large tripod so now I can set up my camera for creating videos while working at the easel.
Trying Out an Idea
This is half of one of John's old tee shirts, slowly I've been cutting it up and using the parts as rags in my studio. I found this last remaining bit while looking for something else and decided that it would be interesting attached to a canvas.
It doesn't work this way, however, I may cut it up some more and go from there, I'm enamored with the pocket and the collar. I'm now entertaining one of his flannel shirts, and a very old pair of his blue jeans that he gave me for projects like this one...
How does this work with The Land Use Project? I don't know yet, when I see these elements I'm reminded of the farmers and ranchers that developed the land out here on the Prairie and Plains. They often wore their work clothes until they were only good enough to use as a rag... ditto my dad who was a coal miner, I remember mending his bib overalls multiple times growing up to the point I'd tell him there's no fixing these anymore.
It might be time to hit a thrift store and see what I can find for this project.
Venetian Plaster
It doesn’t look like much now but once it’s dried and sanded this surface will have a glasslike appearance!
Mixed Media on Paper
Office Finds
Stopped in my office to look for something else, my office used to be my studio, and found this beauty sitting on a table in the corner. The ideas are now bouncing around in my head as to how I will use this piece in future works of art.
I'm Back
I'm still exhausted, but I'm back after spending the night in the hospital following a cardiac event. Turns out a person needs adequate amounts of magnesium in order for one's heart to beat properly.
I spent some time sketching, not my best work or ideas, I'll try to post some of those sketches over the weekend.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Sample Piece
Found this in my studio this afternoon. Plaster on cotton fabric backed with chipboard, painted with earth pigments. I think I constructed this in 2017.
Leather Wrap Cuff
Cuff cut out, holes for the snaps in place, now to add the design.
Markers on Leather
Turns out it’s a lot of fun using markers on leather… more later!
What's Up?
Well I've been doing a little leather work for an upcoming blog post for StencilGirl Products blog and have been learning how to carve leather... which is slightly different than tooling leather.
And with the coronavirus being an issue hubs is home from work and has been making some tools for me, the bottom photos are of the petal lifter he made for me and let me be the first to say the learning curve for this type of leatherwork is steep!
March 15th Update
He's getting the truck battery and terminal cables squared away... so I asked him to stop at Lowes since he's on that end of town to pick me up a gallon of venetian plaster! I'll be using it with my Plaster of Paris, earth pigments, cold wax, oil paints, and encaustic wax to create fresco like paintings on raised panel frames.
I have a ton of product I need to use up and this seemed the most logical way to use it since I'm painting more on canvas and boards these days instead of fabric.
Since Lowes is absolutely insistent that they have to add tint the plaster I told John to have them open the can and to color match it to the plaster that's in the can, he laughed.
Up until today, these two drawings were for my patrons only, however, I decided to take them off of my easel even though they are not done. These I created as part of a one minute a day challenge... every time I walk past my easel I had to put a mark on the paper. I may work on them again in the future.
During the ride to and from Illinois, I happened across some rather interesting bins and silos and want to start working on those this evening. Those new pieces will be for patrons only as well, click the link if you want to follow along on my new adventure.
https://www.patreon.com/kbaxterpackwood
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
My homemade spaghetti sauce for those of you who do not have $10 for a single can of tomatoes. This recipe came from a cookbook from a local Catholic Church in Des Moines. The parishioner's name is Mrs. Guidicessi.
I was watching Cook’s Country last night on PBS and they were absolutely insistent that we cannot make homemade marinara sauce with tomato sauce and tomato paste, that one could only do so with their preferred canned tomatoes which cost $10 a can. Ummm no, not all of us have that kind of disposable income. So sorry Cook’s country, you’re incorrect.
New Projects
Hubby's old suspenders, I plan to take the hardware off and use the straps as part of the binding/spines for a series of handmade books/journals I'm working on.
The crazy quilt block is on the back burner while I ruminate on which direction I want to go next. I think I'll be adding leather to it, a friend gave me a bag of garment leather scraps, so I've been experimenting with those stitching them with my sewing machine.
Studio Practice
I don't know if this is a good idea or not, however, I've decided to rerun the videos of online courses I've previously taken while working at my easel, bench, and/or sewing table. I'm curious to see where this takes me.
The other option is to listen to podcasts while I'm working and some can be a little intense, and I don't want that energy in my work.
My studio assistant and constant companion Oliver.