A Revisit

 Happy New Year!  Throughout the years of doing art and craft projects I tend not to keep what I make or put them away in a box.  

There are a few projects I do put on the walls and shelves, and I thought it would be the perfect time of year on reflecting on what I had fun creating. ~ JM 

"Martha's Vineyard Beach Day" - Mix Media

 

Untitled - Collage/Acrylic Paint

yl

(Dried flowers between plates of glass.)

(Dried flowers woven between twine.)

"Rising Moon Above the Sea" - Acrylic Paint

Self-Portrait - Chalk Pastel (inspired by Dutch painter Kess van Dongen)

"By the Sea" - Watercolor Pencils

(Deconstructed burlap cloth with woven embroidery.)

Political Art

 The National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. has great cultural programs and a recent program focused on art and climate change.  This had me thinking of a wide range of political art which can be from environmentalism to voting. 

Click on the link to watch a video about climate science artist, Xavier Cortada.

I came across more political art at the recent Umbrella Art Fair.  What caught my eye was a brilliant display of Vote for Your Daughter in which its mission is a "national public art campaign harnessing the power of art to encourage people to prioritize their daughter's future when voting."

Vote for Your Daughter. Home | Vote For Your Daughter

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is a great piece by Glenn Kaino called "Bridge".  On the website it states, "One of the most memorable images from the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City is the symbolic act of protest by Tommie Smith, winner of the men’s 200-meter race. During the medal ceremony, Smith bowed his head and raised his fist as an assertion of Black solidarity in the fight for human rights. Decades later, artist Glenn Kaino collaborated with Smith to create the monumental sculpture Bridge."

Glenn Kaino: Bridge | Smithsonian American Art Museum 

Glenn Kaino "Bridge"

I created my own political art with a message of "VOTE".  Voting is the utmost responsibility of a citizen, and I don't take it lightly that my ancestors fought for the right to vote.  ~ JM

Fabric Bowls

 Here's a way to make a bowl out of fabric using mod podge (this is almost similar in doing paper mâché).  Using a regular bowl (or plastic container) as a mold, cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Then lay the fabric on top and paste the fabric together with mod podge.  Set aside for 24 hours to dry and then gently remove the fabric from the mold and take out the plastic wrap.  If you want, paste another layer of fabric to get your desire look. ~ jm

Fabric bowls.

Applying mod podge to the fabric.

Inside view of the fabric bowl.

Nature Journal

 Daily walks in my neighborhood are always a delight!  This time I captured plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees on camera and printed the photos on paper and pasted them in a journal.  You can do anything you want with a nature journal.  I decided to overpaint on the photos with acrylic paint and soft pastel.  In the journal, I wrote down what was on my mind as I am transitioning to a new season.  (My goal was to write poetry, but it turned out to be words, thoughts and feelings. 😆)  ~ JM

Watercolor by the Sea

     In my recent visit to Cape Cod and Nantucket I took a small pad of watercolor paper, watercolor pencils and a brush to paint and capture the color of the sky, sea and land.  There was a brilliant hue of blue, purple, green, orange, and yellow in my surroundings. ~ JM

Fiber Art

 The idea to do a fiber art  project came from visiting the current exhibit at the Renwick Gallery called "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women".  Click here to read further.

On that same note, the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) YouTube channel showed a studio tutorial of how to weave without a loom.  Click here for the tutorial.

In the video, the artist showed how to deconstruct the fabric by pulling out some thread and then replacing it with different material.  This is the technique I used with  burlap fabric and replacing the few threads with embroidery string for a simple yet colorful design.  - JM

Deconstructing  burlap fabric and replaced with colorful embroidery.

The finished piece used as an ornamental mat to put on top of a side table.

At the Renwick -  Else Regensteiner, Red and Blue, 1969, wool and other fibers.

Paper Weave

 After purchasing some fancy designer paper on sale, I wanted to explore paper crafts.   When researching,  I found a lot of examples of paper weaving.   To read more on paper weaving, click on the article from Handwoven.

Below are three simple pieces I have completed so far   I hope to try some more complex patterns in the future.  ~ JM

Block Printing Fail

 Well, I tried.   I tried to do homemade block printing with clay but failed miserably!  😂

With air-dry clay, my intent was to carve out different designs to stamp prints on paper.

I believe where I went wrong was the surface of the clay was not even before putting in the impressions.  Second, I likely did not have a sharp enough tool when etching out the lines.   

In my second attempt, I wrapped string around the dry clay block which helped give a better definition of lines to stamp on paper.  ~ JM

First attempt.  The prints were not successful when applying to the paper.

.

Second attempt.  Wrapped string around the clay block and applied paint.

Second attempt.  Applying the wrapped-around string clay block to the paper.  A little better than the first attempt.

Reflection Photography

 As I live near the river, I only have to walk a few blocks to find the streets flooded from a strong rain storm or high tide.  In the flooded street I was admiring the reflection of the street lamp and trees.

Capturing the reflection of a flooded street.

Pictures of reflections are so interesting that I went back to some of the pictures I have taken in the last few years when in DC, New York City, and The Netherlands (see below).   

Some helpful tips on reflection photography can be found here.   ~ JM

An office building in DC with windows reflecting the walkways and sky.

 

Capturing the red roof's reflection in The Netherlands.

Reflection of the clouds in NYC.

Museums. And More Museums.

There have been wonderful art exhibits in Washington, D.C. in the last few months.  These visits were a warm welcome during the cold, dreary, gray winter months.

Below are some of things I saw at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Art Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Click on the links to read more about the exhibits.

Alma Thomas:  Composing Color - Smithsonian American Art Museum

Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper - National Gallery of Art

Simone Leigh - Hirshhorn Museum

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Exhibit: The Sky's the Limit

 

 

 Bacchus #3 - de Kooning 

Mixed-Media Collage: Landscapes

 At a nearby art gallery there was a recent exhibit on art and climate justice.  The curator also held an art class based on that theme.  The students were tasked to bring in pictures of landscapes that would be a guide for our collages.   I chose one of my favorite pictures that I took at Martha's Vineyard of the big houses sitting near the beach with the vast blue sky overhead.   

To help organize in how to lay out the collage, we drew bold black lines over the major sections of our pictures (you can also draw over a clear plastic sleeve if you want to protect your picture).  This approach helped me visualize the major sections I wanted to focus on in my collage - the sky, grass, and sand.

I then created the collage with different types of torn paper and incorporated acrylic paint to add color, dimension and texture.   See the steps below.   ~ JM

The finished collage.

1. Landscape picture.

2. Using a black permanent marker to outline the major parts of the picture. My focus was the sky/clouds, grass and sand.

 

3.  Use torn pieces of paper from a variety of sources and begin organizing prior to gluing on a separate canvas board. You can also incorporate markers, paint, glitter, etc.  Here, I glued the general layout before adding the acrylic paint. 

Soft Pastels

 Soft pastels are fun to use.  My favorite part is blending to get a paint-like look.  Below are drawings of fruit I did exploring different type of colors and blending.

Click here for a beginners tutorial on soft pastels.  ~ JM