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Triptych Weaving
The creative process led me to creating a trio of small weavings about the creative process, specifically writing: The Blank Page;Concept of a Plan;First Edit. I really only meant to make the one in the middle. I wanted to practice a tapestry joining technique – looping the weft threads of two different colors – to
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Do I Write Like AI?
If you answer yes, I won’t be surprised. I think my writing sounds like AI, and I know why. It’s not to do with em dashes, though I use them enough that I wrote about open vs closed dashes in an article on Medium in 2019. It’s to do with my reading. I am a
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Weaving in public
This year’s theme word was “weave” and I made good use of it. Metaphorically I wove myself more tightly into my community (unfortunately, I feel like a loose end much of the time). And though it took me most of the year to get around to actual weaving on a loom, I did it. When
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Fourteen Yeses and a No
This is one of my favorite artworks from this year. In fact, I finished it today. It’s been sitting on my desk waiting for the moment when I felt brave enough to tackle the gold leaf. In the autumn, I audited an online class about divination, Prediction X: Omens, Oracles & Prophecies. It was fascinating
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Drawing the line
Here’s a question I frequently ask myself: when teaching a creative topic, is it best to have students copy your work and use your ideas, or is it better to let them roam free in their own style? I’ve done both and I don’t have a definitive answer. It depends on the students, mood of
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Halloween Yokai
Two days before the 31st, I realised I would be teaching papermaking to two classes of 5th graders on Halloween. If there’s a better excuse to create a costume, I don’t know it. Since I’d be teaching, it needed to be something that was easy to move in and could be removed if necessary. And
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Natural Material Art WS
At Oyama Senmaida’s 収穫祭 harvest festival yesterday, I offered my first taiken on making art from natural materials. It was ridiculously named “Let’s Art” (signaling that it was likely to include English?) but the content was good. Nine participants made paint and ink, devised brushes from foraged materials, and then used them to draw, paint,
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SOLD: International Marriage
Not the way you think. It’s an artwork. I rarely put my work up for sale. A combination of imposter syndrome, unfair comparisons to other artists, and fear of rejection/judgement put the brakes on my reaching my potential as a capital A artist. Because I didn’t go to art school. I am not cool. I’m
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Camera Roll
Summer has flown by in a haze of herniated disc pain and heat exhaustion, both of which are finally subsiding. Despite being housebound for most of two months, I captured some of the beauty in my world. Let me share it with you via all the Instagram Stories I’ve posted.
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Charcoal for Art
Some years ago, I learned how to make charcoal for biochar by building up a fire, then adding bamboo and covering it to expose the bamboo to heat without giving it air. In an hour there was charcoal. Looking for ways to share botanical resources as art supplies, I decided to try charcoal-making at home.
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