Everything in it’s Place!
Hello there, my friend! Long time, eh? I’ve been away, building a new website!
It’s good to be in touch again, and I’m so glad you’ve stopped in for a visit. Tea? Some blueberries? Have a seat by the window where the macadamia nut tree blossoms are riding the air. Tell me how you’ve been?
Sharing Art Goodies
Here are some excellent, artsy resources I found share-worthy for you:
- If you’re not familiar with the silk aquatint printmaking featured in the little portrait in this post, this page has a good introduction.
- Textile Artist has a fabulous post about creating portraits of your friends and family with embroidery stitches, featuring the beautiful work of artists Emily Jo Gibbs, and Sue Stone. I love that Sue started doing these projects timidly at first, and her tips to get started in the article are spot on.
I wanted to use old family photos of days out to express myself, my views and my story. But I was held back by believing my work had to be realistic, and of course, I was scared that what I was making just wasnโt good enough.
Sue Stone
- If you enjoy challenging yourself to create art confined to a particular color palette, this article by Digital Synopsis is a fun read. The author has extracted beautiful color palettes of famous movies, and laid them in a banner grid along the base of memorable scene stills. (Do they give you ideas for new work?)
- And speaking of color palettes, do you create swatch guides for all the colors you have in your arsenal of art supplies? Did you know you can get small paperback books to document your colors? A swatch journal lets you keep color samples of all your pigments, pencils and paints, with labels and notes that you write, in a book for easy reference, like this one.
Artwork featured in this post: Reflecting 5.25 x 4.5 inch Silk Aquatint with Colored Pencil (available here)
Where Have I Been?
Over the past two months, I’ve been straining my brain to learn new things. I rebuilt this website.
The archive of almost 600 previous posts have been pulled over, new pages were added, and there is a new navigation bar at the top of each page. There are some glitches here and there, but I’ll get them sorted out in time.
I’m not a web designer, and site-building was a strenuous learning curve, clouded with thought bubbles of question marks, expletives, and plenty of doubt. (And I made the daffy decision to study for an Amateur Radio Technician license at the same time. I know. What was I thinking?) But it’s done (And I passed: call sign KN6HPP).
If you find things don’t work around here, please feel free to shoot me an email. If you’re curious about the products I used to build the site, let me know in the comments.
Silk Aquatint Experiments
I bought some new polyester silk to make silk aquatint plates, and I’m excited to test it. If you’ve made silk aquatints before, what fabric did you use?
I’m curious to see if I can print one of these without a press. I suspect they will need a lot more pressure, and stabilization between paper and plate during a hand transfer, but perhaps a registration jig could help with that? Have you done any experiments to hand transfer a silk aquatint? There is a silk aquatint instruction manual by Sue Brown, available over here.
Please share your insights in the comments. It would be so cool to figure out a way to open this form of painterly printmaking to a wider, sans-press audience. Let me know your thoughts.
Catch Me Up on You
Leave some links in the comments to share what you’ve been working on while I was wrestling with my website and Electromagnetic Wavelengths. What have you been writing, painting, drawing? What books have you read? (My son gave me this book, which I enjoyed as a reward for finishing the Ham Radio License Manual!)
Catch me up on your happenings….
Thanks for stopping by, and have an excellent week –
Belinda
P.S. Cheryl Arkison writes a quick, compelling piece about changing your whole day with one, tiny adjustment to your morning routine. Read it here.
Art Quote
Let me tell you the secret that has led to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
Hi, Belinda! I missed you. You did a great job on the new website! I just submitted a painting to the Nevada Watercolor Society Spring Show. They’ll let us know which paintings have been accepted on March 16. Oh, and I just got into reading Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books. I’m going to add your new Connelly book to my list to be read. Have a fabulous evening!
Hi Candy! Good job on the painting submission, and loads of luck on getting accepted! Thanks for the warm welcome back, and happy painting to you! XO
The website is beautiful! Happy to see your post. You always have great ideas and links!
Thank you, Janet! I’m so glad to be back in my usual routine! I appreciate your feedback, and encouragement – as always. XO
Truthfully, Iโve been wondering lately if you were OK. Glad to see itโs just been work getting in the way. Been making little pincushions inspired by Ann Wood. Working in a sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project. Worshipping my new grandson. Planning way too many travels. Itโs all good.
Hi Lovie! Are you making little people or animals? Painting tiny features on wooden faces? Stitching adorable aprons and pockets and overalls? I can hardly wait to see. I *love* pincushions. And congratulations, Grandma. I’m so glad you’re making and loving and travel-planning! XO
Hi Belinda! Great to see you back again! I was thinking it must be about time for you to return. The website looks GREAT! I did mine, back in the day, and I know what you mean about how tough it can be to do it yourself. I think they have some better tools these days though. I’ve been working on my watercolor painting, and have gotten a bit better! I found an instructor where we work together online over Zoom or Skype. It works out surprisingly well, although I’ve never had in-person lessons to compare.
Hi there, Ivy! You’re painting! That’s great news, and with an instructor is even better! Removing the limitations of miles via the web – that’s wonderful! I hope you have equal parts of fun and learning in your painting adventure. XO
Belinda, glad to see you back! The new website it great and I always love hearing about your new adventures in art!
Good morning Marie! Thanks for the warm welcome. I’m so glad to be back in the groove of regular communicating with my tribe! Happy Friday! ๐
thanks for the cookies of inside you dish out, interested in trying a silk aquatint
Hi Bonnie – we do love a good cookie, don’t we?! Happy to share, and happy to see your name in my comment box, as always!
Good to see you back in my inbox. Hard work as always pays off every time. Love the look of your new site. One issue with this post this morning, the third imbedded image of the completed screen did not come up all others did. Good luck fine tuning.
Hi C’Ann, Thanks for letting me know! I appreciate your feedback, and encouragement. XO
Well done Belinda! It looks great! ๐
Hi Suzanne! Thank you for the feedback! ๐