William Morris Revisited

Much of art is about the process. Sometimes you already know the process you will use for a project. Sometimes you have to invent one to accomplish your goal. This was one of those projects. I wanted to create a reproduction of a William Morris tapestry from the early 1900's. I have always loved this style of design, and planned to display it in my own living room.

 

I started with a large panel, painting it a muddy purple color. After measuring out exactly where my tapestry would be placed, I taped off and applied Proceed Smooth Absorbent Texture and dragged a wallpaper brush through it vertically and horizontally to create the texture.

The trouble was how to transfer the design. There are a lot of ways to do this, but the rough surface complicated things. My solution was to cut a stencil of the darkest dark throughout the whole design. I used a product called QST for my stencil, which is similar to interfacing material available from fabric stores. It can be cut with either an xacto or a stencil burner, which will remove a slight amount of material. Perfect for the fine lines I wanted.

 Did I mention it was large? I wasn't dubbed “The Mad Stencilist” for nothing. It took me about 3 days to cut the stencil. Here you see it layed out on a 3 x 6 foot table.

When it was finished I aligned the design and used my airbrush to apply raw umber paint through the stencil to the tapestry surface. Once that was accomplished, I painted the various elements using a limited palette of Yellow Ochre, Oxide Green, Red Oxide and Raw Umber, all in Proceed Slow Drying Acrylics. These are paints that were formulated to have open time, which allows one the ability to move the paint and pull off some paint before it dries. That was very useful in revealing the texture as needed. The panel was sewn at top and bottom to accommodate rods for hanging and stabilization.

This was an unusual project, and though it was laborious, I have enjoyed the results for a number of years. I hope you enjoyed seeing my process for it, and can use some of the information included for your own projects. Happy painting!

Www.arttoliveby.com

www.madstencilist.com

Gems of Santa Barbara

After a long absence, we visited Santa Barbara last summer and discovered two amazing places 

not to miss on your next foray to the Central California Coast. There is a lot to see in 

Santa Barbara, with beautiful beaches and a great zoo. The historic downtown is 

beautiful, with Spanish architecture, tile walkways, and those wonderful red tile roofs.

When our B&B hosts said not to miss the courthouse downtown, we said "Sure, why not! 

We are going to be right down there anyway." Little did we know what we were in for, 

especially this mural loving traveler who has spent much of her career studying, admiring and 

and executing decorative painting and mural techniques. 

This building was dedicated in 1929, and I will let their website tell you more about specifics. 

I'm going straight to the eye candy! 

 

 

I am always so astounded at art 

and architecture of this scale

and so enjoy seeing unusual treatments, 

such as that of the sky in this mural. 

The underlying diamond pattern was

a unifying factor, and even though the 

brushwork was so apparent, it completely 

reads as sky when you are in the room.  

If that wasn't enough, we spent an entire afternoon enjoying the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens.

Contemplating a joyous balance of planted and natural foliage, we embarked on a 

wonderful walk through a creek-fed ravine, sat for long periods on private benches and sketched 

to my heart's content. It was just what we needed to decompress after a busy weekend in LA.


 

If you're in the area, these are definitely worth the effort to see. Happy travels!

Sheri Hoeger  
www.arttoliveby.com
www.madstencilist.com

Symphony of Wonder

“Find a quiet, private place. Then, follow these instructions for the first day:Imagine your best possible self at the end of a specific day in late 2016. See yourself in a specific place where you can reflect upon the day and the year. A favorite chair, a deck or balcony, a mountainside. (This is only a portion of the prompt from Jeffrey Davis of Tracking Wonder, but it is the part I latched onto.)

 

It is late September and my quiet place has a symphony of its own. I am sitting in the shade of an oak on the edge of the river, the sun glistening off of its currents, it's water rushing around rocks and boulders, trying to catch up with itself. At first it sounds like one big roar, but the longer I sit, the more nuances I notice within it. I start to play my game to find how many individual sounds I can detect. The gurgle as it wraps around stones that are close to me, a trickle here, a plunking there, where the water underneath is a little deeper. A sifting where it meets the sand. A bird calls, another calls back. The breeze lifts the leaves and clatters them above me, sings beyond me in waves that I can see coming. And going. 

The full experience of the symphony is auditory, olfactory, tactile and visual. All of my senses are engaged, especially my sense of wonder. I am concurrently observing the colors and textures and light. Movement that makes me a little dizzy if I track the water in a certain way. But the urge to drift along with the flow is irresistible. So many reflections. It is darker and bluer in the slope to the white foamy crest. I choose a favorite patch and try to determine what color is caused by the rocky bed, and what is caused by the reflection of trees and sky and clouds. Of dirt and stone above the surface. They are inextricable and exist only in that moment. There is always a surprise. A hue that seems more vivid than one would expect. It is my favorite. I savor it, and try to imprint it on my brain, as it will soon change with the light. 

It is only after this initial revisiting, this reconnect with my life's metaphor, that I can recline and let my mind drift over the last months and consider how and where I have done my best work, and what it has meant and to whom.

 __________________________________

During the month of December and into January I participated in Quest 2016, conceptualized and beautifully executed by Jeffrey Davis of Tracking Wonder. Jeffrey gathered 13 visionaries, thought leaders and individuals widely recognized in their fields and arranged for them to give us a prompt to consider, and respond to in whatever creative way we chose. As they days flew by, over 300 of us struggled to keep up with the pace of the schedule, as a lovely comraderie developed. Each of wrangled and wrote through our own struggles with the questions we were asked. Struggles with responding and with examining the life experiences that demanded attention and recognition as we worked to articulate how we envisioned our best work and our best selves for 2016. After the initial guest prompts were delivered, Jeffrey presented us with some exercises for synthesizing our responses for clarity and some additional prompts. It is not too late for you to join Quest 2016. I found it very thought-provoking and it has helped me to clarify my purpose and my direction for 2016. It did not lead me to any resolutions, (which have never sat well with me) just to deeper understanding and some lovely new connections with like-minded people. 

My word for 2016-CONNECTION!

Sheri Hoeger

www.arttoliveby.com

www.madstencilist.com

Thank you very much, Mrs. Abbott

When I was a girl of eleven, it was somehow arranged that once a week I would go to the home of Mrs. Abbott down the street in order that she might teach me how to sew. By hand. 

Mrs. Abbott had just one child, a teenaged boy.  She had an English accent and a very tidy home, with her sewing kit neatly stowed at the end of the sofa. 

Mrs. Abbott showed me how to cut the fabric with the pattern pinned to it so it wouldn't slip around. Each week I stitched a white apron with big brown polka dots, a gift for my mother. The fabric had a little waffly texture to it, and I remember adding some lace trim to the pocket and the hem. We sat mostly in silence, Mrs. Abbot and I, as she showed me how to keep my stitches even and how to tie a knot that wouldn't show or pull through. It was the first time I realized how lovely sitting and working in silence can be. As the 5th child of six, I was used to noise and chaos from morning to night. I didn't know until then, that there was another normal. A tidy and quiet normal where you could hear yourself think. 

I was thinking of her last week as I sewed an apron for my granddaughter. I use a machine mostly, but can still whip up a stitch when I need to. My home has never been as tidy as Mrs. Abbott's, but I still love to work quietly alone or alongside another. You never know what lessons are learned when you offer your time and expertise to another. I still hold those unintended gifts, like buried treasure.


www.arttoliveby.com 
www.madstencilist.com

Synchronicity and Camp GLP

I went lookin' for some sweet inspiration-Joni Mitchell
 

Last August I traveled to New York to attend Camp GLP, a summer camp for adult creatives and entrepreneurs who want to align their work and personal lives with their common mission of making the world a better place. This is the great effort of Jonathan and Stephanie Fields of the Good LifeProject. Three days of immersion into presentations by "thought leaders", artists, authors, teachers, shamans, business people, yoga and mindfulness practitioners. This event was held at a beautiful location, was well organized and even the food was good. 350 or so attendees came from all over the globe to connect, to discuss, to collaborate. One of those attendees and I connected immediately in that way that makes you wonder about previous lives. We were fast friends. 

What my new friend could not have known when she snapped that picture of our clasped hands at the talent show, is that the reason I came was to try to find my reset button. To rejuvenate my soul after so much sadness and my business after neglecting it for so long. To find a clear direction for my art going forward. She could not have known that I have lost three siblings in less than two years, and that as two of them lay in their hospital beds asleep, I snapped secret pictures of our hands clasped in love and pain and support, knowing their time here was not to be long. 
 

She could not have known that I put those pictures away, in my files and in my mind, telling myself that some day, when I'm ready to do my serious artwork, I will paint them. She could not have known that her picture was the synchronicity I was looking for that day, having been guided by Shaman Monica Kenton in her morning workshop to be on the lookout for it. She could not have known it would wake me to the fact that it is time for me to do my serious work. My straight-from-the-gut-through-my-heart work, that will include those photos but not stop there, but continue to explore the touch of hands and the energy and the experience and the love that they hold.
 

And so I started my Touch of Hands series this fall, and it has unfolded in ways I did not anticipate, as I am allowing it to pull me rather than pushing it. I have completed six paintings so far, many of which have been gifts. I have plans for many more, and am exploring different mediums for their expression. 

As an interactive branch of this heart-based project, I have created a Facebook group, 
A Touch of Hands, where anyone who is so inclined can post their photo and story of this simple, common human act that means so much day in and day out. It is a celebration of all the things a touch of hands can mean. This photo was posted by Rick Charlie, and you can see his story about it there. I would love for you to join. 


My Artwork: www.ArtToLiveBy.com
Stencils: www.madstencilist.com
Find me on Facebook too! 

Sedona, Red Dirt and Energy

I have spent many years studying art and color. This just naturally makes me a student of the world and all of its wonders. Or is it the other way around? On my recent trip to the Sedona area, I was so enjoying hiking and just being with the amazing rock formations, feeling lighter than I had for a long time. We spent two days in the area, exploring a few sites deeply rather than frantically driving around trying to see everything. We came across a little-used short path to a wonderful red boulder just perfect for sprawling on and enjoying the view of the Courthouse and Bell Rock. It was the perfect setting for some stream-of-consciousness thought, observation and conversation...




If you look into the daytime sky and let your eyes relax (like one of those magic picture books) you will see what appears to be tiny energy particles (white with tails) dancing in all directions. One theory is that these visible particles are ORGONE, also known as prana, life force, ki, chi, mana, universal energy...etc.  Another is that it is "just" an artifact of our eye, a physiological response to conditions and not "real".
Either way, that makes it no more or less real than color, which only exists in light and is perceived as an artifact of the cones in our eyes. The tree isn't green, it is only made up of a material that reflects green in light. 



Interestingly, there are other responses to color that occur without our awareness. We as humans respond to beauty and color. We are touched by a beautiful sunrise or ocean view or landscape. We are calmed by certain colors, invigorated by others. This response is not just psychological; there are also physiological responses. Check out these articles for further exploration at About.com and The New York Times.

I was pondering this as I hiked around Sedona, surrounding myself with the fabulous red rock and dirt, the contrasting plant life and the happy accident of wonderfully cloudy almost-stormy skies. We are absorbing color as we are absorbing light. 

In a place like Sedona, we are exposed to more red and orange wavelengths. I think this absorption of color is part of why it has long been a place people have migrated to for healing. It is not just beautiful to the eye. It is healing in other ways we can't explain. In addition to that, it is known for several vortexes, or places where the earth is at it's healthiest that have an energy that can be felt by people.






So much is going on around and inside of us all the time that we forget to be aware of.  We can surmise that there is much more that we just aren't aware of. It tickles me to be reminded that there are so many wonders and forces at work. And by the way, those little particles looked denser in Sedona than at home in CA. Imagine that! Better yet, see for yourself. http://visitsedona.com/

In My Right Brain

The closest I get to a quiet mind is when I do blind contour drawings. This is something I learned quite a few years ago when I attended a drawing class based on Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It was pivotal for me as an artist and has the beneficial side effect of disengaging the verbal left side by presenting the brain with an exercise that the right just takes over and dances through while the left brain relinquishes control and waits. Not always patiently, but it waits. And with practice you can train it to wait quietly and patiently with the added benefit of not only becoming a better artist but also increasing your powers of observation related to pretty much every aspect of your life. You don't have to be an artist to do this, and you will still benefit from it. 

Here's how:

Get a piece of paper or sketch pad. I like to use a big one so that I can scale the drawing to what I'm seeing. If that page looks too big and empty it is ok to draw yourself a square or rectangle that doesn't make you nervous. Use a soft, sharp pencil like a 2b 3b or 4b or one of those fine point pilot pens that glide along the page. If you don't have those, use whatever is available, but NO ERASER. You'll see why in a minute. 

Set something out to draw. That can be just about anything-it's great to just do drawings of opportunity. Place a flower in a simple vase or get a coffee cup or whatever interests you. Get comfy where you can easily see your subject and access your paper. Find a spot you want to start and place your pencil on the paper. You are going to follow the contours of the object with your eye and match what you see with your pencil. You are going to look only at the subject. Never at the drawing. Imagine that your eye is an ant crawling along the surfaces of your object, and you are following it with your pencil. If possible, try to do this in a quiet space. Someone talking or even a TV in the background will bring your left brain to attention. The point here is to engage the right brain fully. You will lose track of time and finish with a marked sense of well-being. 

At first, it's really hard not to cheat. You will want to sneak a peek. You will giggle. Go right back to not looking, unless you have traveled around that object for a while and are completely lost. Find your place and resume.

The more you do this, the more you will see. Follow whatever you see. You can set an order of things or travel randomly, it doesn't matter. Your drawings will look funny. Some of them will look really funny. Even your left brain can't judge that too harshly because, after all, you weren't even looking while you drew it. 

If you do this regularly, you will notice more about whatever is in your environment. An object will never be quite the same to you when you have observed it so closely, and that extends to objects that you come across and imagine drawing. This can keep you entertained in long check-out lines. As you develop your practice, try drawing your family when they are still or sleeping. Draw people in public. You will notice more about their demeanor, be more in tune with body language and facial expressions. Your drawings will be in better proportion, and will have a style that is just naturally you. Your essence will be present on the page, beautifully unfiltered by your own judgement. Your right brain knows how to do this, it just needs the opportunity. 

Seems I'm not the only one, and it looks like art as meditation is gaining attention and popularity. Have you noticed all the cool adult coloring books coming out recently? There is a great trend in giving yourself permission to just play. Don't think of it as wasting time-it may be one of the most important things you do for yourself. A recent article in the Washington Post explores this trend and some of the benefits of practice here.

And here's a great opportunity  

if you want to explore in paint! 

Barbara Ferrier, an artist whom 
I recently met at Camp GLP and online, 

has just launched her  

Mindful Painting Class 

that you can enjoy for free! Check it out.  

Wishing you a quiet mind, a little every day.

To see my artwork and creative business,  

check out www.arttoliveby.com

                 www.madstencilist.com

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