Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog

Owl Pellet Finds

I received Cathe’s book for the collaboration yesterday and my brain has been trying to figure out what I’ll be contributing to her mix. Her book theme is “Collections”, something we can all relate to. As an artist I’m drawn to picking up bits and pieces that inspire my tactile and visual senses. I bring home shells and rocks from the beach, pick up interesting branches along trails, plant seedpods, and bones. The bone collections started when I was a child. My first bone collected was a cow vertebrae during a camping/fishing trip in the Steens Mountains (south eastern Oregon) from when I was about 5 years old. Since then, I’ve dissected owl pellets, collected deer legs bones hunters left behind (eastern Oregon), received antlers from co-workers, and a variety of things over the years.

I bet you can start to guess what Cathe’s page will contain after the above discussion! Bones have to be a part of my collection page. I’ve decided to play a bit today and try my hand at a skull. First I need to retrieve a new skull! Below are owl pellets (no, not a box of ugly truffles or poo). Owls hunt and consume rodents whole (if it fits, they gulp it right down!). In their stomach, the body sorts out the undigestible parts (fur and bones) packs them together and they regurgitate them as a pellet.

These pellets have been sitting out in the garage and are from the barn owls that live at my friend Carol Chapel’s place. I’ve been meaning to see what treasures they hold. Bugs (maggots) have started to decompose the pellets revealing a little skull. What will I find once the fur is removed?

To break apart the pellet, I utilize a container of water to soak the lump. This will gently free the fur from the bones.

Fortunately, it really doesn’t stink. After soaking for an hour I swirled things around and drain. Looks like a good haul!

After considerable picking and extra washing I came out with this lot-

Three vole/mouse skulls, lots of leg bones, hips, scapula, vertebrae, ribs and assorted bits. Not a bad grouping of parts. After lunch I pulled out the A5 sketchbook from Maui and set to work on the skull drawing. Very challenging and I’ll have to continue sketching practice with the new bones.

Materials used: one owl pellet, A5 sketchbook with watercolor paper, graphite, watercolors.

Gear Switching

Friday I technically had to myself, which didn’t seem to make much difference since my brain is back on all the brother issues. To divert attention, I started playing with a bag design that will eventually receive screen printing. More and more towns in our region are banning plastic bags and charging $0.05 for paper if you forget to bring your own. I’m for the system, since it has greatly decreased the amount of plastics coming into our house. Anyway, creating nice bags for use has been of interest for well over 7 years. No time like the present to start playing with this idea. My hands continue to give me problems so I’ve had to axe the Hive installation plans for now. Creating block prints has also been sidelined. Maybe in a couple of years when I pull my body back together.

I created a template and mock-up using muslin cloth left over from the Unseen Natives installation project back in 2012. The basic shape is figured out but I’m still struggling with the best bottom design. Final fabric choice is still in the works as well. I’ll probably be going for something in a linen/cotton blend that I can dye to my specific color choice.

There is another show that is quite intriguing and I’ll probably start thinking about it more seriously. Deadline for applications is October 1 (a date I might be able to get something created by). The show title is “Rot ” and further details are located on The Arts Center website. But for now, I will continue to work with the sewing/screen printing idea and see where that leads me.

Water Sketchbook Collaboration

Back in February, three blog friends (2 Australian, 1 USA) asked if I would be interested in joining them with a sketchbook collaboration. Karen Bailey, Occasional Artist , lives near Melbourne AU, Anna Warren lives in Sydney AU, Cathe Jacobi of Amaryllis Log (who I’ve recently connected with) is in Minnesota USA. All three women are amazing artists who’s work I deeply admire. Each artist will create and start a book, then send it on to the next participant. The sketchbook size was set at A5 and needed to be light weight for travel around the world. With 4 artists participating, there needed to be four full page spreads and one additional full spread for a collaboration page. The first half-page is also for collaboration and the last page is for info on what was created/inspiration. Oh, then there is also the part of actually CREATING the book to send around. Below is my bound book with an inset of marbled paper.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been part of a collaboration and it was just what I’ve been needing. Something that pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me connect with others. I chose the theme of “Water”. While vacationing on Maui, I couldn’t escape spending everyday in the water. Here in Oregon, our ocean temps are super chilly and not something you would dare enter without a seriously thick wet suit! Drought (lack of water) is also another concern for the Pacific Northwest. Winter snow pack and heavy rains didn’t materialized and our spring certainly arrived several weeks early. California is in much worse conditions and it will greatly affect the rest of the country for food production prices. It’s going to be an ugly summer season filled with major fires throughout the region.

The opening page shows water drops on a partly shaded leaf.

Collaboration spread has clouds in the upper right corner.

Full page spread of waves/water at the shoreline. The color is off in this image, missing more blues and greens. That’s always a problem, trying to capture colors accurately. Taking photos outside on cloudy days creates for different colors captured.

Please feel free to click on the above links to the other three artists. Their sites are varied and full of incredible work. I’ll be posting images of THEIR books as I add to the mix of drawings. Thanks for your continued interest!

Materials used: watercolors, micron pigment pen, Arches 300gm(140#) CP Watercolor paper, marbled paper, Lama Li paper, mechanical pencil.

Crazy attempts

I was a tad overly ambitious attempting waves for my full page spread. Especially when I don’t work in watercolors. Nor have I ever attempted anything water related before. I think a little addition of black micron pen might aid the situation. However, it reads really well from a distance, actually looking like waves. I’ll sit with it tonight and contemplate a bit more. This particular image is much looser than the other two and probably makes for a good contrast. No matter what, it WILL be sent off to Cathe on Monday!

Off to pick up a some fish for dinner.

Clouds and a Cat

Why is it that animals feel the need to place themselves right in the center of a work zone? Nigel, thoroughly enjoying the ability to flow freely throughout the house, spends as much time as possible perched on my studio table, adding his own personal touch to everything. Enough with the studio companion (and the messy design space!).

Today’s subject: Clouds! Another area I’ve never tried to draw! This morning we are experiencing large dark clouds moving through our area. I’ve been going outside and taking a couple photos every so often to see how they change with time.

Colors: Phthalo Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Ochre and a little Zinc white (since the blue got a little crazy in some areas)

Clouds: Very loose and nothing overwhelming. I think it’s done….

One page to complete- the ocean wave page! I’ll continue to work on it this afternoon…

A5 Handmade sketchbook, watercolors, graphite, Arches CP WC 300 gr/m paper.

Water Droplets

What weather we’ve had today! Stormy, hail, wind and rain! Torrential downpours then bright blue skies. Ah, the start of spring! Seemed appropriate to work on a few water droplets caught on a leaf. A few days ago, I spent a bit of time wandering around the backyard looking for leaves and grasses harboring water drops. They are pretty amazing things to gaze into since they reflect everything upside down. I have a smidgen more color adjustments on the leaf before moving on to the next page. Not certain what I’ll put down yet, but it will come. I really shouldn’t be revealing everything as I progress, but I just enjoy sharing.

To create the image, I pulled out one of my dad’s art toolboxes of watercolor supplies. This particular box holds much more than watercolors: carving, drawing and many other surprises! I discovered he actually organized the watercolor tubes in ziploc bags, separated by color family (which totally surprised me because he wasn’t the most organized person). In general, painting is not an area I play with because it really baffles me. Give me a block to carve or a copper plate to scratch, and I’m a happy camper. Put a brush in my hand and it just feels wrong, but I’ll try anything.

A5 handmade sketchbook, watercolors, sakura micron pigment pen.

Rainy day

It continues to surprise me the energy level required for assisting my brother. For those who don’t know the back story, he suffered an anoxic brain injury last fall and spent basically 3 months in the hospital and is now relearning how to speak, walk and the works. Yesterday, he had his first outpatient rehabilitation center appointment. Of course, he was a tad confused about the date, thinking it was Sunday, but I assured him it was Monday and we were going into the hospital. We didn’t quite know what to expect, but he had two sessions with both the new speech & physical therapist. Wonderful people. He was so exhausted after it all and we still had some shopping to accomplish. I assured him we would tackle more jobs on Tuesday rather than wear him out more. I really hope he took his meds. The home care person didn’t wait for us to return home. Not like they help him much anyway. What a screwy system.

So I’ll be heading back to Eugene for more fun today. I started the water sketchbook drawing back on Sunday but haven’t been able to return to it yet. Drawing water is a serious challenge! Hopefully Wednesday when I have more mental/physical energy, I’ll get back to the page and complete the sketch and watercolor and start the other pages too. My brain is also wanting to do some research on a different project that is coming back into focus. So many ideas and not enough energy!

Handmade A5 journal with Arches CP watercolor paper & graphite

Beginning the Water Book

It’s Sunday and I’ve been working on the book for the collaboration. The book subject will be ‘Water’, which was influenced by our current lack of (in the form of winter snowpack), and the fact that I just returned from two weeks on an island. Today’s temperature isn’t super warm and it’s beginning to concern me about everything drying before sewing in the pages. I decided to create an inset piece using the marbled paper. Above is where I’m pulling the layers back on the board. Below is the section of marbled paper I chose for the cover.

Below is the interior paper.

Finally, a shot of the inset disc on the book cover. More pressing required. I might have to move things to the oven to speed up the process!

Adding pages and drawings to come later!

Marbled paper, Lama Li Lokta paper, linen tape, acid free board, and eventually arches 300gm CP watercolor paper.

Pulling together a book

I don’t often create books anymore and I’m wondering “why not?” They’re so much fun to create. All the papers to choose, both interior & exterior. Did I mention I’m a paper addict? I’m still working out the final colors, but I need to work fast. This is part of a collaboration between 4 artists: each artist creates a book, picks a theme, sketches on several of the pages and then sends it off to the next. Four books will be completed in the end, each completely different but connected. Once I complete my first round of drawings (and finish assembling the book) I’ll post images and links to the other artists. Interior paper is currently Arches 140# coldpress watercolor paper. Finished book is basically an A5 journal. So far the interior pages are that measurement, but the jacket is just a smidgen larger. I might need to tweak it a tad more.

Looks like I’ll be working hard on Sunday!

Relearning Life

Am I really home again? I could swear the warm sunny skies and sandy swim-able oceans were just a dream. The house is quiet, with exception of a ticking clock in the print zone. The cats are outside, a single Moby dog sleeping on the couch upstairs, cars moving to and fro on the main street to the east. The surrounding environment has morphed while we were gone. Green leaves have emerged and many of the blooming trees have completed their display. Fortunately the forest plants have just started. Trillium and orchids have been reported by many friends. I realize there is still more of spring to come!

We arrived home yesterday after a red-eye from Maui to Seattle followed by a quick flight to Portland. Moby was retrieved even before reaching the house. He seemed happy to see us, but it took a few hours before his brain chemistry settled down and he started acting more normal. Nigel was enthusiastically pleased to see us once he was let outside for several hours. Yes, I locked the cats indoors while we were away. His enthusiasm continued through the first night, sleeping on the bed, attacking my hands while I tried to sleep, yowling around the house until one of us yelled at him and he would come running with a happy chipper meow. I had thoughts of Simon’s Cat as he kept purring and walking all over me. 15 pounds of kitty love. This morning there was evidence of dried blood on the sheets from where he attacked my hand. The bedroom door will be mysteriously closed tonight!

I’m looking around the studio with glazed eyes, wondering what needs my energy. I have several things that need closure on my brothers behalf and for our taxes. It’s amazing how life come rushing back and slaps you in the face. All that beautiful warmth and love felt while on holiday is quickly becoming smushed down. This afternoon I’ll work on a book for a sketching collaboration due very soon. The paper below will become the cover for this upcoming collaboration. It holds the perfect sensation of the subject. I’ll let you guess at the subject matter!