White Rooster Studio

It’s been an absolutely incredible week and a half!

You know those weeks, when everything just seems to click and goes right? That’s been my week and a half and I am going to accept it for the gift that it is.

First off, I was presented with not one, but TWO, job offers – on the same day, no less – last Wednesday. My previous position was outsourced this month and it was my goal to get myself into a new position as quickly as possible.

I had known about this situation for almost a year, so I had a lot of time to think about my next steps and what I wanted my next position to be and I had plenty of time to prepare for the dreaded endless rounds of interviews.

After some deliberation, I made my decision and am gearing up to start my next challenge on February 18th.

I completely believe that with the stress of acquiring a new position taken care of, my stress level completely plummeted and this past week in the studio have been incredibly productive.

This week I have completed Pismo 6 (F) (this would be the 2nd version) AND Pismo 13 (M):

This make the Pismo Series ~38% completed… there are five that I have decided to re-do: Pismo E, I, J, L, &W, which leaves eleven that I have not experimented with yet.

I still have another week before I start my new position, so I certainly hoping that my good luck continues and I am able to post another completed picture (or two?) soon.

I have updated my Pismo Series portfolio page, so please check it out if you are interested in checking out all of the completed pictures.

I will be taking the completed pictures out for professional scanning within the next couple of weeks and once I have the scans back, I will be busy creating new items for my VIDA Collection and Etsy Shop.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

The ninth artist that will be highlighted is: LOUISE BOURGEOIS:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (25 December 1911 – 31 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of themes over the course of her long career including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the unconscious. These themes connect to events from her childhood which she considered to be a therapeutic process. Although Bourgeois exhibited with the Abstract Expressionists and her work has much in common with Surrealism and Feminist art, she was not formally affiliated with a particular artistic movement.”

Wikipedia continues: “In 1954, Bourgeois joined the American Abstract Artists Group, with several contemporaries, among them Barnett Newman and Ad Reinhardt. At this time she also befriended the artists Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. As part of the American Abstract Artists Group, Bourgeois made the transition from wood and upright structures to marble, plaster and bronze as she investigated concerns like fear, vulnerability and loss of control. This transition was a turning point. She referred to her art as a series or sequence closely related to days and circumstances, describing her early work as the fear of falling which later transformed into the art of falling and the final evolution as the art of hanging in there. Her conflicts in real life empowered her to authenticate her experiences and struggles through a unique art form.”

 

MOMA is a wonderful resource for images of Louise and her work, please check out https://www.moma.org/s/lb/curated_lb/

There is a interesting looking documentary on Louise called: “Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine” that I have managed to locate and will be viewing it during the month.

 

 

I am also in the process of hunting down a good biography of Louise and there are a couple of strong contenders: “Louise Bourgeois” by Frances Morris and “Louise Bourgeois: An Intimate Portrait” by Jean-Francois Jaussaud:

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of February for more photos of Louise and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing like the feeling of conquering an especially difficult design challenge!!

As many of you know, I have been having a very difficult time with Pismo 2 (B) and had  recently begun a 5th version of this picture. I am happy to announce that as of this afternoon Pismo 2 (B) is completed!!!:

I value and have saved all of the previous versions of Pismo 2 (B) because I learned so much from them: what worked, what didn’t, what could be used in other pieces…. Art is a continual learning curve, constantly evolving as you do – as you push designs and materials and test new ideas.

To show just how much this project has evolved since it’s conception, please check out all previous versions:

With the completion of Pismo 2 (B), this makes eight Pismo Series pictures completed – ~30% completed – and the 2nd picture completed in 2020!

On to the next one!!!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

New Year, New studio goals!!

Since initiating the Pismo Series in July of 2018, there has been a LOT of trial and error in the development of the overall look of the project. All of which has been incredibly beneficial for me as an artist, but still left me with the feeling that I should be further along with this series by now.

My initial goal was to work out the design issues in 2018, complete half of the project in 2019 and the 2nd half in 2020… I have to let go of my self-imposed deadlines and simply allow this project to develop at it’s own pace.

As of January 12, 2020, there are six completed pictures in the Pismo Series: 

There is also one that is ~90% completed… (I am conflicted, there is a part of me that feels that Pismo 9 (H) needs to be re-done to resolve some lingering design challenges and another that feels that it is fine the way it is)…

… and seven that I have decided to re-do: Pismo B, E, F, I, J, L, &W, which leaves thirteen that I have not experimented with yet.

I had been hoping to add another picture to my complete list today, but it was not to be. So, Friday afternoon I was working on the 2nd version of Pismo 5 (E) and I made a fatal mistake:

Do you see it? Yep, the red circle on the left has the intended shading while the red circle on the right has the incorrect or inverse of the shading design 😦

I have to admit that I was more than a little bit upset with myself for this glaring mistake – I honestly DO NOT know what I was thinking while working on this section, but, stuff happens, right? I was THIS close to completing the picture and I really liked the way it was coming along, so…

Good news, I can re-create this design relatively quickly.

Bad news: I have to re-create the design.

I did mention in the title of the post: NEW OBSESSIONS, so here they are: handmade books and scrolls!

I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make handmade books and during a recent visit to the Western Ave Studios, I came across a postcard outside of a studio advertising handmade book classes. So I looked into them… which led to getting several books out of the library on how to make them and watching videos online for small book projects.

I made a small investment in a beginners bookbinding toolkit, some sample packets of handmade papers as well as a pad of scrap-booking paper that would be perfect for my color scheme:

In one of the books I borrowed from the library, I became fascinated with a small section on how to create art scrolls… so between learning how to make my own books, I am in the process of developing a project that would allow my work to be translated onto scrolls.

So far, 2020 is off to a very interesting start and I can’t wait to delve into these two new projects and well as seeing where the Pismo Series will take me!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The eighth artist that will be highlighted is: ISABEL BISHOP:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Isabel was an American painter and graphic artist who depicted urban scenes of Union Square, New York, from the 1930s to the 1970s. She is best known for her depiction of American women and as a leading member of the Fourteenth Street School of artists.”

A quick summary of the Fourteenth Street School of artists can be found at: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/fourteenth-street-school/

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information available for Isabel, no biography (from what I can tell), no website, just a couple of articles and her catalogue raisonné.

While looking into her online for this post, I came across some fascinating artwork of hers that deserves to be revisited:

Artists like Isabel are the reason that I create these Artist of the Month posts: so none of these artists are forgotten and, hopefully, they will be introduced to a new generation of admirers.

I did manage to locate online “Art Talk: Conversations with 15 women Artists” by Cindy Nemser and Isabel can be found on pages 303–320… now all I have to do is just to get my hands on a copy…

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of January for more photos of Isabel and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

White Rooster Studios is thrilled to announce that the Etsy shop will be adding new items at the beginning of 2020!

1. Printed Pacerback Tops – these tops are a lightweight material and feature original artwork from my I Ching Series, to start, the tops will be sold in XL: 
   

   Creative Action Front

   

   Creative Action Back

2. Modal Scarves: These scarves are 100% Lenzing Modal – Modal is a luxuriously soft botanic silk fabric made of beechwood. Its botanic origin makes it eco-friendly and its fineness is comparable to that of natural silk. These scarves will also feature original artwork from my I Ching Series and come in one Size: 28″ × 78″ (Approximate): 

Additional information – as well as pricing – will be added the first week of January, 2020!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

I will be entirely honest: I look forward to attending at least one Open Studio event at the Western Ave Studios in Lowell, MA every year… but due to some recent health issues, I really wasn’t in the mood or frame of mind to visit the studios on Saturday afternoon.

I toyed with some excuses as to NOT visit the studios… then I felt guilty about even thinking about not going… so I set a time-limit: about two hours or until I feel unwell, whichever came first.

The Western Ave Studios are a massive complex of five floors and three buildings of artist studios, so we took the elevator to the 5th floor, planning on making our way down and, hopefully, running into some friends along the way.

We step off the elevator and I am already thinking that this is going to be too much for me… and then I wander into the studio of an artist I had not met before. I was completely entranced by her work, absolutely loved the ideas behind a series she was working on and then we started talking and next thing I knew, I was sharing some postcards of my work with her and everything just changed inside of me: I was no longer thinking about how soon I could go home or how poorly I was feeling… I felt alive and excited about sharing with another artist about my work and listening to their ideas.

That one act of kindness from a fellow artist made all the difference for me that afternoon. And I encountered the same thing in several more studios that I wandered into: kindness, acceptance, sharing… and, healing.

I cannot stress enough the healing power of art on the mind and body.

A simple two-hour visit to a free open studio event benefited me more than I could ever have imagined. I had been feeling isolated as an artist lately and by going out and networking with other artists, I felt rejuvenated in regards to my work and excited about the connections I had made.

If you are in the Lowell, MA area, I highly recommend attending one of their monthly Open Studio events, you can check them out at: https://westernavenuestudios.com

WAS has more than 300 artists and there is absolutely something for everyone there. You can meet and talk to artists about their work, attend classes, lectures and sponsored events – one studio was advertising Handmade Book Classes and I immediately saw possibilities of utilizing this in my work, so looks like I will be checking that out soon!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.