Classes look good this semester – we’re going to make a lot of art! Students seem interested – I’m letting them choose their projects in each class – but I’ll have to merge them so I won’t go crazy.
I expect that this semester I’ll make a journal. I have to get over my journalphobia. If I can keep a journal online, I guess I can do it longhand with the students. It would be good for me, perhaps…
I loved Penland. I loved coming home.
Thursday night was the auction, which was enjoyable for a little bit. There were many people – and some good prices. One of my classmates bought the graal glass bowl I had my eye on. I probably should have bid.
On Friday, we finished cleaning the studio and packing up. Everyone looked burned out, but sorry to leave in many ways. Late morning was “show and tell time.” Many, many nice things! To see some of them, just go to
and search for Janet Montgomery.
I think the folks who come to Penland go home with so many new ideas. I know I have a sense that anything I would do at home, without the pressure to learn and learn fast, would be more thoughtful and reflect more of who I am than some of the works I made at Penland. But that’s the idea. Study the technique, look at everything others are doing, open your mind and let it fill up with good, new stuff.
I was so happy to see Honorable Husband. The one thing that made Penland less enjoyable was being without my little “family” of husband, dog and cat. Next time, he needs to take a class as well, maybe blacksmithing, or lamp work. The glass studio made his blood roar again, but we know that we can’t afford to set up a glass studio. However, I do believe he could do clay or flamework. And flamework is no longer just making glass animals and doodads.
Anyway, we had the car packed to the gills, and took off. Had to come back after a few miles to get my rolly seat we’d left in the studio. It’s a bicycle seat on rollers that is higher than a chair, and on 3 legs. It makes a nice change from sitting in a chair all day, and relieves the pressure on your butt and legs.
Now that I’m home, I’ve spread the works out for a look. I see progress. I see that I have pushed the medium, and that I have taken advantage of its special characteristics. Nothing that I’ve made is spectacular, but there are several that have some pleasing, interesting elements. I am satisfied.
Now I suppose this will be the end of the Penland section of my blog. Will I continue? Well maybe, if I have something worthwhile to say about making art. But for now, there are many challenges ahead in my teaching, so I must work on my syllabi for Fall semester. Putting everything online and going paperless, doing more constructivist teaching, working with the local school system – and simply getting organized. That’s my challenge now. Wish me luck and grace!
Worked all day on two hanging pieces using the dip method. I didn’t think it would take me quite so long, but in the end, I rather liked them. Two rectangles of artist’s buff paper were folded with some sheer fabric, a Japanese card backed by a photograph of a lacewing insect. I could not get all the bubbles out, so I know next time to lay the items onto a freshly waxed sheet and then lay another freshly waxed sheet on top. At least I think that would work better. I tried ironing the bubbles on, and soaking the sheets in the hot wax pot, pushing the bubbles with the ferrule of a wide brush. As it cooled, the bubbles shrank considerably and so they didn’t really matter so much after all. I also embedded some milkweed into the composition. Then, realizing that the Japanese scroll effect I was hoping for would not work with the dimensions I’d chosen, I cut the rectangle in half. It works much better now.
Hanging Piece II
Hanging piece I
Near the dining hall there is a grove of bamboo crowding the drive. I managed to cut and pull one out of the ground that was dying. Unable to cut it down any further with only an x-acto knife, I had to take it to the wood shop and ask for help. That’s what is expected at Penland – you have a problem, you go to someone for help. A nice student cut the pieces at the nodules.
Back at the studio (it was hot!!) I used the x-acto knife to create a slit for the top of the hanging wax panel. Took a while, but it worked.
People seem most pleased with a work that, to me, is a bit muddy and messy. It has a poem about fireflies in it, paper from a hornet’s nest, milkweed seeds, skeletonized leaves, and a postcard painted by Some Tanaka of fireflies at night. The milkweed repeats that motif, since the look like fireflies, a bit. I also used some Daniel Smith interference blue oil paint and some pearlescent powders. It looks a little like a tree in a nighttime fantasy, and reminds me of “Where the Wild Things Are,” a children’s book by Maurice Sendak. I may change the lettering, after I figure out a better way to do it than transfer of graphite.
In the Time of Fireflies, earth and sky collide. Moon wavers at dusk.
Tonight was the auction. Two of my pieces were in the auction, one tiny 6″ x 6″ work that I rather liked, one of the first using leaves and pearlescent powders. The leaf reminds me of a mountain. There are touches of gold, and the mountain is surrounded by a swirl of colors, including pinks. I didn’t get a photo of it; perhaps I should have.
The other one I put in the auction was one of the first. I contained some Arabic lettering from a card and brilliant colors of blue and purple. As many people in encaustic like the material for its translucent, mysterious quality, the reaction was interesting. It was too much color for most people, including me. However, the colors were right for the culture in many ways, reflecting the colorful tiles used in Moorish architecture.
I didn’t stay long at the auction. It would be interesting to see what my pieces brought, but it didn’t seem worth it to stay the whole time. I sort of wished I had bid on a yellow and white graal glass piece that went for $80. It was a steal and would have made a nice present for someone. We simply don’t have any display area for more glass, and I didn’t know if my sister and her new husband would like the colors. It was quite handsome, though.
Now I’m packed up, ready to go home. Honorable Husband will be here with t he chariot and the doggie to load up and carry me back over the mountain. I’m ready.
Tomorrow morning is cleanup. I’ve already cleaned my space. Then there is show-and-tell. I hope to see some really nice stuff. I’ll also take some more photos of my work.
Until then, here are some tiles on the wall at Penland.
It’s going to rain tonight, tomorrow, and Friday. Good poncho weather! And just like camping, nothing gets dry, not towels, not washcloths, not clothes or shoes. I was thinking of washing some long pants, but never mind. They’d never get dry before I leave on Friday. I am resigned to being funky. The only thing that does dry is the nylon back scrubber I use in place of a washcloth.
Today was an OK day. I worked most of the morning on the illustration for a poem I wrote about fireflies. Several people like it, but it still isn’t working for me. Parts of it are really nice. However, once again it’s overworked. I may end up scraping a lot off and starting from a lower layer. That’s one of the advantages of encaustic. For me, it’s always a problem putting words into a drawing or painting, because the words need to fit and they need to blend in as well. Nothing about this painting looks like it was easy, and that’s what I would like to get – a feeling that it evolved naturally. Well, maybe you just can’t do that when you’re still learning. I’m not wedded to it. However, I’d like to get it looking nicer, since it is centered around a watercolor postcard sent to me by Some Tanaka from Japan – a lovely, impressionistic view of fireflies. It looks like it was easy to do. If I surround that with too much “work” it will kill the tiny painting.
One thing I learned – it’s easier to put milkweed pods into encaustic when your hands are clean, and the wax is hot. I think that may be a two-man job.
The other piece I did today was a landscape – very impressionistic, nice color, with a microwave tower in it. It isn’t spectacular, but it does have some ease to it. It was the fastest thing I’ve done – maybe that’s why! I like it, and I learned from it. I cut into the wax with a tool, then dry-painted black oil over it to get the look of the tower construction. It has a print quality to it that I like.
With each technique I try, I get just a little bit better at it.
There is a rumbling sound that I can’t place in our dorm. It is driving me crazy. It is as if a giant fan were cycling with its bearings slightly off. The rumble is rhythmic, but not consistent. That’s what is driving me to distraction. Every night I hear this rumble. I thought it was one of the gas kilns blowing air, but tonight I don’t think so. I’m going to investigate. Perhaps I can sneak around the dorm and figure it out.
Here’s the entry to our dorm:
Entry to Dorm 54
My workspace, Painting/Drawing Studio
Dorm 54 is quite nice, and new. There are four beds on each side of a shared bath. So there are 8 people up and 8 below. It’s shady, and not too far from anything.
My workspace is pretty large but we share a lot of tools and materials. Basically, each student has an electric griddle, a heat gun, and access to various colors and media. In addition, I have many natural materials, oil paints, pastels, and a soldering iron with attachments. Other folks have brought scraps of their weavings, images, tools, and natural objects to add.
Strange, but this blog changes its look when I update it – so the text doesn’t always go with the pictures. Oh well.
Neon sculpture
On the way back from the studio is a neon sculpture that’s fun to walk by. Don’t know much about it. Maybe there’s not much to know. It’s just there.
I think it’s Wednesday. It’s morning, of that I’m sure. The biscuits here are wonderful. I limited myself to one large biscuit with my scrambled eggs and fruit. I could have eaten three. The menu at Penland is designed for health and enjoyment. Vegetables dominate the list, but lots of protein is available as beans, tofu, and meat. Simple carbs take a back seat, as sugar and refined flours are often absent, except as condiments. Some of the recipes, like the fennel-cabbage salad, I’d like to have.
Two more days to make art. Well, maybe two and a half. Everyone is feeling a little brain-dead. Am sleeping OK, but didn’t go back to the studio last night. Worked on the photos for this blog. My right leg ached all night. ?? What could that be about
Tomorrow night is the student auction. So far, I haven’t seen much that I’d bid on, but then again, I don’t have much I’d expect someone else to bid on! Probably there will be some glass and iron works of interest.
The poor folks in the velvet weaving class will only get two 5-inch squares of fabric, and one 6 x 24 inch rectangle for all their efforts. I wish my neighbor were here to see the velvet weaving.
Here are some pictures, I hope, if I have the gallery function right…
X#!!@X!
Nope, haven’t figured it out yet. So onward to the studio. More tonight.
… blue oil paint on my legs and face. What a day! I’m worn out, worked straight through from after breakfast to 4 pm, with a break for lunch. It was hot, and everyone was rolling sweat. I’ve been yawning since just before supper.
We did our collaboration projects today. People from all the other disciplines sent objects they had made or found for us to transform. Initially I thought the objects would be handmade, but as found objects appeared, I began to imagine some folks were having a little fun with us.
My first object was a 4-inch repoussee leaf, lovingly hammered into shape by someone in the ironworks. Its surface had some blueing as well as purple overtones. First I chose a rectangle of wood with a knot in it from the scrap bin at the wood shop. I sandpapered off the writing and stained the wood with blues, grays, and purples. Then I applied thin layers of wax over the whole piece. Using dried and skeletonized leaves I’d brought from home, I dipped the shapes in wax and then arranged them around the knot, pressing them into the wax. After they were solidly waxed in, I added more color, and finished with some copper metallic powders. The knot became a moon-like shape when white pearl powder was laid in. When I reheated the wax to fuse it (which must be done between layers for it to be a cohesive wax layer) the colors shifted slightly. Then I attached the iron leaf to the bottom with fishing line using an improved clinch knot, which I then fused using the tip of the soldering iron. A coat of wax and color helped conceal the mundane look of the fishing line.
Collaborative Leaf Piece
The second piece was long, thin strip of copper that someone had folded and turned into a 3-d shape. I mounted it using a nail, then waxed over the base, added color using oil, fused the layer, and created circles of blue. Then I imitated the copper line with copper powders, using masking tape to resist.
Collaborative II
Then there was the brick. I thought I could handle the brick, but it was a problem. I could get a nice texture built up from the actual texture of the small section of brick that was delivered to us, but it still looked like a brick. Each object is supposed to be able to hang on a wall. How this brick is going to stay on a wall, I don’t know. I stuffed its holes with broken chopsticks, and put one long chopstick in each hole. I may attempt to hang it by these longer chopsticks. Or I may give up on it.
It seems like I’ve spent the whole day working on these collaborative pieces, but I did get a chance to work some color into the salmon cutout I dragged in from the metal shop scrap pile. I have two of these fish, about 18 inches long. I’ll put in some detail tomorrow, and maybe overlay some shapes onto it. The rust is pretty nice underneath some green and copper metallic colors.
In the cold light of day, the piece I put together last night seems OK. The surface really is pretty nice. It’s 12 x 12 inches, with a pieces of snakeskin stretched across a portion. I used a lot of different colors, but it’s more subtle than the first pieces I made.
