What is happening in my studio?

I have been putting off writing this post:  but the time has come to take action.  I have learned a lot so far and I have great ambitions.  But I need to regroup.  A lot of great things are happening in my studio, or at least I think so.  I would like to post them.  But lack of time, lack of organization and a new camera are keeping me from doing a very good or timely job.  I can’t seem to get ahead.  I can’t seem to take very good photos! 

I dropped my old camera.  I purchased a SLR. This camera is going to be great for me. I learning about aperture, raw, depth of field, light balance, tethering a camera and more.  Wow!  What a lot to learn. Learning new things is fun, but I am a little slow with machines.  AND I have new photo software to figure out.  Good photos are essential for an art blog.  It is all visual, right?

I am working on the camera problem.  I am trying to reorganize and I am trying to work out in my head what my goals are.  I want to be sure of what I want to do. 

So I am going on Hiatus.  Time to take a break.  During this interruption I will learn how to take better photos, plan what I want to say, develop a schedule of posting and put what I have learned from this blogging session to good use.

Thanks to all of you that have helped me get started.  I will try to make you proud!  Come back and see me in about a month. 

A PAPER ARTIST EXTRODINAIRE!

Bonnie Benson has just returned from California and a showing of the fabulous work of Isabelle de Borchgrave.  Ms Borchgrave is of considerable interest to me since she combines fashion, the figure, and paper in what could loosely be called a collage and more than a collage.

Here is what Bonnie had to report: A Sunday in San Francisco

Proclaimed from every light post, “Pulp FASHION the Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave” The show drew me to San Francisco like an oversized magnet.

Jump on the #38 bus, Geary Street, for a sunny ride across town to 33^rd Street.  Change to the #18 bus, or if your impatient like me, hike your way up the hill to the Legion of Honor where the Lions welcome you to a fantasy in paper.

You enter the show through Isabelle’s bigger than life studio.  Everything in paper, of course, and everything hugely over sized. Yes, pencils, scissors, paint brushes and paint pots all out of paper. The only fabric in the place was the table covering which is the actual fabric off of her worktable, and of course dated in the corner

 To the left several manikins show various stages of her design process plus, videos showing her working in her actual studio.

This is just an introduction to six amazing galleries overflowing with Isabelle’s art.  For those of us who love the detail, most of the garments were displayed so you could get your nose an inch away, before the guards started warning you not to touch.

It is amazing how many different textures she can get from one piece of paper. Pleated, all done by hand, crinkled, satin-smooth.  What may look like solid color in a picture has been over painted, sponged, brushed, or stamped. This woman has used every paint technique, every textured gel, and every kind of paper that you can think of.  Just about the time you “get” how she accomplished a look, she shows you three other ways to do it.  I was on my tenth trip through the galleries, in two days, I was still seeing new things, taking more notes, getting more ideas.

I ended up with a notebook full of notes, more than enough ideas to keep me going for more than a year. 

There is a beautifully done book of the exhibit, but like all her books it only begins to show the amazing talent of this woman. Drop by her website, www.isabelledeborchgrave.com and do plan to spend some time, checking out every button and watching every movie. 

If you live near San Francisco you still have a week to see Isabelle De Borchgrave’s paintings at the Serge Sorokko Gallery.

Dinah Shore House, Winchester TN

In April of last year I won a house at auction.  It is almost a hundred years old and the last owner had been in poor health.  The inspector said it was in pretty good shape considering.  But it looked bad and needed a lot of work.  Richard was discouraged and even I had a moment of panic after I made my bid.  I had only enough money for one bid and it was followed by complete silence.  What had I done?

For the last year Richard, Randy Judge and his friends, Randy’s mother and myself have transformed the house into the perfect studio and guesthouse.  I am across from the library, near a coffee shop and the post office.   I have lots of light and lots of room.  I love it.

From 5 to 7 on Saturday, May 7^th,  

we are having an open house 

to celebrate our first year.

If you live near by, come see our progress,

my new paintings and a few old paintings. 

Look for the yellow house across from the library parking lot. 

This is the house where Dinah Shore was born.  

It has a plaque in front put there by the city. 

That week end is the International Dogwood festival. 

Come see the work that has been done

 on the restoration of our historic down town. 

I hope you can join us, Anne

Armor, patterns and articulated figures

Armor covers the body in such a way that the covered figure looks like an articulated figure: a puppet or a robot.  The designs are so lovely on the original that it would be hard to improve on them, so it is probably best to just to be inspired.

Does anyone know who did the drawing below? 

I left off the name when I put this in my file.

 If I am going to blog, 

I will stop doing that!  

A really nice drawing of a man in armor,

 I would like to know the artist.

Busy Weekend

Now that April is here, I am beginning to panic.  I have an article for Artist Magazine that I need to finish up, the painting project I am working on and the Studio Visit on the 8th of May.  I have learned since Lara has been here how much I can pack into a day so I guess I will be designing invitations, drawing and writing full time for a while.  


Yesterday I produced a slide show at my class at Apple, lots of fun.  I am trying to up load it on my own.  I wanted it in ABOUT ANNE at the top of the blog, but no luck.   So here it is as a post: a year in 70 seconds: made with my Mac. My coach showed me how to do it in YouTube, but couldn't work it out at home: next time!  

It is a beautiful day in Winchester TN.  I hope Spring is here for good!

Interesting day in the studio!

Finally I have a camera!  It was harder than I thought to find one that would take good photos for printing and an easy one I could use.  We ended up with two cameras, one for Richard and my important photos, that I hope someday to be able to use, and a point and shoot.  (Even the "How-to for Dummies book" is too complicated for me to understand: I am dumber than a dummy.)  So Lara, my daughter and I spent the day arranging still-lifes and taking pictures and playing on the computer.  And covering more furniture with printed paper. 


I am now on Twitter!  ( @AnneBagby ) I am now on Hoot Suite and Alltop.  Lara is a great profile social media guru.  She also took the banner photo.  We go to Apple tomorrow to see if they can show me how to make a slide show.  If we are successful, I will post it this week.

Rubber Stamp cutting with Sandy Mashburn

Sandy Washburn is a friend and an experimental painter and mixed media artist from Tennessee. She is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and the Southern Watercolor Society. 


For those of you who live in Chattanooga, Sandy will be teaching stamp carving at the Townsend Atelier  Saturday, April 30 from 9 am  to 4 pm

Sandy and I are doing a workshop together for The TN Watercolor Society in June.   

I asked her if she would talk to us about carving stamps.

Thoughts on Stamp Carving by Sandy Washburn

Line and space are important within a carved stamp. Minimally carved stamps are typically uninteresting and do not reproduce good images. The initial drawing upon the surface to be carved can be minimal, but many more lines and shapes may be intuitively included as carving progresses. The process of carving a stamp is actually a subtractive sculptural one, where what is taken away is as important as what remains. Good sources of design are ones that have a lot of lines and contrasts that keep it interesting-thick/thin; straight/curved; long/short; open/closed, etc. Patterns in natural objects such as leaves, fish scales, flowers, sand dollars, pine cones, ferns, etc. are great starting points. Look to art history for other inspirations.

For the producing fine artist, stamps provide solutions for including pattern and texture- two somewhat obscure and difficult elements of art- into one’s work. Having spent hours painting patterns into watercolor and acrylic pieces by hand with a tiny brush, I can testify that artist-produced carved stamps can alleviate this tedious, time consuming practice. They also bring a freshness and immediacy to the painting that keeps it from looking overworked. Repeat patterns that vary in size and shape are a useful device for keeping the eye of the viewer moving around a piece of art.

Stamp carving is an art, and each carved stamp becomes a reusable relief sculpture in and of itself. As the stamp is prepared for use, chosen colors are rolled onto the surface, tinting the edges as the newness wears away. The stamp ultimately darkens and hardens a bit over time. It must be thoroughly cleaned with a brush after each use to maintain the fine lines etched into its design. Through this handling, inking, and cleaning, the artist becomes intimately familiar the lines and patterns. It becomes an artistic relic, evidence of the marks of its creator.