a book ! and cyclical studio stuff



so susan schwake from artstreams has a new book out. cool art projects for kids [or actually not just kids]. it's full of really great ideas - and you can get your copy here.



and there's a project based on my work and my love of vellum paper. so true. i do love my duralar. can't deny it.



i've been working on this project in the studio - actually let's tell it like it is. i engineered the background in the studio, but have been stitching while i watch TV at night before going to bed. stitching these little red circles. they are markers for something that landed from the sky.

it made me think about how some things just end up as constants in your art life. like these dotted line circles. when i was in grad school i used to spend a lot of time at the library. mills had this amazingly odd collection of old old books which you actually were allowed to check out. when i first got interested in world war II planes i was enthralled with all the weird military books i could find.

one had a series of images of planes flying over maps. bombers. with their targets marked by dotted lines on the pages. when i saw those  i knew i had to draw them. and those dotted circle outlines just HAD to be stitched - because that's what they looked like to me. stitching.




this is one of those drawings. done on really fragile onion skin paper [before i discovered duralar].

makes me think about how there are just certain constants that emerge in a studio practice. things that reoccur even if you don't intend them to. materials, ideas, concepts, THINGS that just need to get made or done.  what keeps coming up in your making? i'm curious.

24 january

the other thing i do all the time is draw the dogs. they are always there. and easier to draw than people - at least for me.

millie sketch

fast. lines. wrong ones left there or re-drawn. simple. black and white. quick before they move.
not really looking at the page. just moving the pen.

sometimes i'm sort of surprised when i stop and look. did i do that?

i can't remember if i posted here... did you know i was interviewed on dog milk - talking about millie and tonka? happy february.

Comments

Unknown said…
I dig your circles, they open the imagination.

For me, right now anyway, it's Chicago. I seem to be in a love affair with the city, longing for how it blooms in late Spring and into Summer.

I used to always draw pictures of the house I grew up in, now my Dad's house. The drawings never really matured, but I liked them just the way they were. Kind of childlike, but that's what the place reminds me of, childhood, so for me it made sense.
Anonymous said…
I LOVE the airplane drawings you do!

Thanks for sharing so much about Millie and Tonka. They must be fun to live with.....
Blair said…
That book looks so good, I think I may get a copy and put it away for breaks from school. Believe it or not I still hear I'm bored! Even from the 13 y o! And I love seeing what we're all doing when we're switched off for the day. Embroidery stitches are so calming to make.
Gracia said…
Little constants I live by... and work that can be done as a DVD plays. I often cut out collage pieces as something in the background plays. It works well for those process parts that are long, repetitive, and delicious in their own way. We are pretty lucky, I feel, to be able to work at something. Pretty lucky to feel inspired and on the constant look out. Of constants I know inspiration is one I'd never be without.

g xo
Gracia said…
P.S. Like the look of that book... off now to read your interview...
bugheart said…
yes, i see
many constants
in your work...
but a
constant refining...
i think that
it's
how artists
work....
it's like
solving a problem
in a way...
it's why
retrospectives
are so so cool
to see at museums.
to see work
in context.
can't wait
to see your
retrospective
at the whitney.
;)
Katrina said…
yes, wherever we go there we are, right? i'm always amazed when i look back at older work and see the same themes or tendencies. i guess that means we are following our intuition? love, love your interview with kathryn over on poppytalk. xo.
louise said…
Hello dear Lisa, Your published project looks great and drawings too. It's true there are constants in ones practice. Mine I think is returning to the sketch book (of which I have many now). I find much comfort and joy there. xolj Sorry I haven't been to visit in a million years.
louise said…
Just returning after reading your interview about sweet potato and captain bunkenstein, which was a delight. xolj

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