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
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
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
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| Deconstructing burlap fabric and replaced with colorful embroidery. |
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| The finished piece used as an ornamental mat to put on top of a side table. |
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| At the Renwick - Else Regensteiner, Red and Blue, 1969, wool and other fibers. |
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
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
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| First attempt. The prints were not successful when applying to the paper. |
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| Second attempt. Wrapped string around the clay block and applied paint. |
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| Second attempt. Applying the wrapped-around string clay block to the paper. A little better than the first attempt. |
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.
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| 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
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| An office building in DC with windows reflecting the walkways and sky. |
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| Capturing the red roof's reflection in The Netherlands. |
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| Reflection of the clouds in NYC. |
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
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| Exhibit: The Sky's the Limit |
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| Bacchus #3 - de Kooning |