I felt something!

A while ago my friend Marianne and I discovered the world of felting. We figured out how to knit something and then wash it in boiling hot water to shrink it down and create masterpieces. We spent one cold winter cheerfully making eyeglass cases out of beautiful wool yarns. Marianne very patiently taught me how to knit. She was not the first one to teach me. Knitting is my nemesis. I can do just about any other type of art or craft there is but when it comes to knitting, well...I'm unbelievably clumsy.

Recently, though, I discovered a whole new world of felting, and, much to my delight, it doesn't require knitting! It only requires wool roving (which is unspun wool), a special barbed needle, and a block of foam. The constant stabbing of the wool roving with the needle tangles it up until it eventually becomes a sort of felt fabric. You can wind the roving around foam shapes and stab it and it will conform around the foam into a lovely felt shape. You can even make fish! And whales...

Remembering the 1930's

No, I don't remember the 1930's but I've been invited to give another workshop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for their Family Day: Remembering the 1930's on May 9th, from 12 - 4 in the Kogod Courtyard. http://americanart.si.edu/calendar/exhibition/ This event coincides with a current show at the museum and will be lots of fun for the whole family. The one I did last year related to an Ansel Adams/ Georgia O'Keeffe show. I helped kids of all ages make prints of everything from cactus leaves to feathers. There was also live music and a photo safari. This year, we will be printing quilt squares. Quilting was very popular in the Depression years. People were looking for comfort in an uncertain time and for a return to the skills of the past to cope with the realities of their present. Come join me on the day and bring the kids!

Eel said...

My studio mate, Phyllis Cohen, and I are having a show in July and August at Printmakers, Inc. at the Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA called One Good Tern. She has written some amusing limericks which we are illustrating in our own styles. Mine will be linoleum block prints, hand painted with watercolor and hers will be woodcuts.

This is my first of six prints, entitled Eel said...Watch for more on the date of the opening reception (open to the public) which will take place in mid July.

Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets.

When I told my husband I was taking a bookmaking class, he asked if I was studying to be a Bookie! Perhaps "bookbinding class" would have been more accurate. The instructor of this class is Melissa Hackmann, who is a wonderful, energetic and inspiring artist and teacher. Check her out at http://mphackmann.blogspot.com/
For my final project in bookbinding class, I made this crazy field journal. The cover is made from polymer clay which I rolled out in a pasta machine and stamped with a linoleum block that I had carved. I then painted it with a copper paint and put a patina wash on it. It's bound in the coptic style and incorporates my fossil collagraphs that were printed with and without ink. The story is of two paleontologists on a hunt for Therizinosaurus dinosaur bones. As you can see, the author is unfortunately eaten at the end of the story. My classmates looked at me with a new respect (or was that fear in their eyes?)after I presented this book!

Entering the Land of Blog

Welcome to My Own Reality, a place where I hope to showcase what's currently running through my press and through my head. I'm hoping that by having a place to show my art, I'll be inspired to make more.

This picture is a small piece of a linocut that I did a couple of years ago for my O'Sushi show, entitled Sashimi.

To see more of my work, visit:

http://www.torpedofactory.org/artists/miko_l.htm

or better still, come visit me at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, Studio #325.