Drawing! How much further away from the expected could i go?!

So for yet another "should have experimented with this my first semester" moment i have started to DRAW! yes me, it has been such a looong time that i had to wrestle out my art bin from under a few sedimentary layers of shit in the studio closet (which is actually a pile that extends out into the studio a few feet, like a landslide). I decided to start on a roll of rice paper which i have always loved working on because of its translucency and texture (and the fact that it is a roll and cheep to boot). After rigging up a bungee cord drawing board system for it i ventured into the frigid outdoors, figures i decide to start this when the winter temps finally set in! I am making a kind of time line map. using time to be the organizing principal of the map in a linear form. so starting at one end of the rice paper i drew interesting things (using pencil and charcoal) when it felt "done" i rolled that part up and started on a new part the next time i saw something i felt needed to be memorialized. i built a little pile of rocks (ala inuksuk- not the people kind) and sketched it that so i would have a record of when and where that session was over so i could start back up there next time. { http://indianrockpiles.weetu.com/articles/RockPileTypes.html - interesting link from the uk about different rock piles and significance. } This is functioning as kind of a mapping of landmarks according to time and where i was wandering (most of which are really small but i have a tendency to draw really really big). I will see where this goes and how i will install my big ol'roll!
I also found this about rube goldberg style contraptions and i am in LOVE. must make one. http://cre.ations.net/creation/sticks-and-stones
 I have a meeting with my mentor Wendy Jacob on Thursday! Yay!

work ideas

green= chair frame, black= fabric cover

{disclaimer: i just sketched these out on a index card: not final sketch} cross hatch is a "wing" flap blanket

So i have been thinking about what i am going to do with my art this semester and have a few ideas. 1. i want to make a cover for this amazing comfy chair that is a folding lounge. here is a picture of my sketch the green lines are the chair (viewed from the side) and the black are the lines created by the edge of the material, making it a streamlined unit. I am drawn to the simple, clean lines and would use a white fabric that would stand up to the woods. i would also make "flaps" or wings (drawn with little cross lines) that would extend like a triangle from the feet to the head with the longest point part being in the middle so i could wrap myself up like a cucoon in this chair in the woods and just sit and think. after this idea and some puttering online i found the work of elizabeth holik and fell in love.... i could totally use a cucoon chair! so i am also reading a (depressing) book: dying of the trees: the pandemic in america's forests, and second nature,  and a small farm in maine, as well as some other similarly minded books whose exact titles are escaping me at the moment but i will later post.  i am trying to stay away from the reading but am obviously not succeeding much in that regard. 2. i've started going on looong walks in the woods and making a mental map of the stumps and other interesting features i have managed to overlook for the last 26 years of roaming these woods. i am going to make some sort of tangible map out of this, experimenting with different ideas, strongly influenced by my last semesters readings on space, place, lost, maps ect. (particularly "you are here")  and indigenous ways of directional intelligence such as carin's etc. 3. i have started a little thought listy thing to keep sane, has not worked for that but is interesting as is.  oh and yes i kicked my husband out for a trial separation! go me! onward with life.

Pics of old Stumpy

So as a preface to my photos i would like to say that i am NOT a photographer. i have a craptacular point and shoot camera and remedial photoshop skills at best (which i have not used on the photos following, (which is probably obvious) i do not know what i will be using these for and am pretty sure that there are at least a billion photos like this already in existence. clearly there is nothing earth shattering original about these actual pics except that i know that nobody has ever photographed this exact stump before as it is in my yard that i have lived in for my entire life and was woods before my parents "homesteaded" it.  so without further blabbering here they are:

ALLL the photos!

inside chamber

looking inside chamber

mmmm juicy!

So here are the pics. turns out after i was thoroughly convinced that i was loosing my mind and all capacity for being organized it turns out my brother accidently took my cameras usb cord thinking it was his (my computer is at their house, you know with the internet! so here are my photos from the residency and i will for the sake of clarity put all the photos of stumpy and updates about this weeks art making on a following post.

Solitute

"I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude" -Thoreau  hmmm, hermit or onto something? 

I'm a lichen it!

So for my second post in one week (i do declare a personal record!):  I started reading this book about parks, gardens, environmental psychology etc called american eden. a pretty good read. and re-reading a place of my own by michael pollan  (a much better read) and walden (of course). and i started reading some gary paulsen to my son (he is loving woodsong). I have been thinking about the great outdoors a lot and pondering what i will do late into the night.
Then i decided to climb a tree. when i was smaller (well younger at least) i used to sit in a particular tree, that is no longer standing, for hours at a time pretending the birds would land on me ala snow white. (they never did). I went for a stroll looking for a nice perch and found a disappointing one measly tree with branches suitable for my unskilled big butt. after a rather short and equally disappointing climb i dismounted and kept on walking.  until i saw IT- a beautiful, stunning, glistening in the morning light, covered in moss and mushrooms --- stump. and i could not stop examining it. so i grabbed my pathetic camera and took over 240 pics of this stump with fallen tree leaning against it. and dreamed that i was a small enough creature to fit in all of its little crevices and holes. The amazing thing about it is that the photos (which i can not yet upload- cursed lost cord. grrr) look like stunning huge landscapes. I was out there  until my memory card was full and finger were frozen and i felt a little silly caressing and drooling on this tree (i've named it Stumpy).
  So i am not sure where the hell this is going but i think i am going to spend a bit more quality time with old Stumpy and see what happens ( i hope it glows at night).... on a more exciting tangent i have been thinking about creating a nesty tree house home in the woods to escape to.... and of course a zip line ( you know for the flying feel). My old one that my dad built for my tree house (and nearly killed himself on) is still kicking around in a shed and for thrills and giggles i might hang it up, so come on over!

out with the blahhg in with the blog!

A new fresh start to my previously blahh blog, i am holding myself to a minimum of one weekly post (although dare i say i will try for 2). Since i have come back home: 1. marriage has gone up down all around and crashed in flames. who the fuck knows where it will end up. 2. found great mentor (http://wendyjacob.net/ ) that i am super excited to work with. 3. I have had to gut myself emotionally and am now throwing the myself into my work. 4. lost my camera connect cable to upload my residency pics. because i am that organized. so i am some how going to find a way to put my pics from the residency up.

As for working after a lot of thought and discussion i am experimenting and playing with my only resource - my 14 acres of pristine forest. I will also address my big problem of documentation right at the beginning with an actual sketchbook and meticulous notes of my process! and who knows i might even use my dreaded least favorite medium---- video!  My thoughts have been turning to floating, flying, and falling. so i am documenting my explorations of the land and its intersection with escape- to, through, and from.  the one thing that i know about my art this semester- it will be my great escape and made on a shoestring budget. did i mention that my (ex?) husband has drained every penny and driven me into using previously untouched credit cards for everything from bills to food and gas. nice. so yes- next to free art.

i just deleted about 4 paragraphs that i blabbered, that is the funny thing about writing, i drag my feet and then cant shut up. i think i am going to start a journal again for my own sanity. sorry to make this about everything but my actual art.....  i will be updating again on thursday- promise! horay!