When it Rains, It Pours - Inspiration

As I type, there is another thunderstorm outside with rain so heavy it's difficult to see across the street. This seems to have become the norm this summer. Lots of precipitation this year. Record snowfall last winter, now record rains. This past winter, when my environment was nothing but gray and white, I spent the time creating with that in mind.

North Wind is one in a series of work from my winter contemplation. Matted and framed to 8 x 10, it is made of silk from Japanese wedding kimonos, hand dyed silk, hand dyed cotton, rayon threads, beads and pearls.

When surrounded by snow, my creative spirit took it in. Water, in it's frozen state. Now that I'm surrounded by water in it's liquid form, what might my creative spirit do with it?

What's in a Name? (more on titling art)

In posing the question of whether all art needs a title, I was hoping to generate conversation. It did just that and I'm appreciative of everyone's thoughtful responses. They were somewhat varied, but most agree that art should have something that identifies it, whether it's a full title or an identifier such as "color study: blue and orange". I also read several articles I found on the internet regarding the subject.

According to Robert Genn, author of The Painters Keys, http://www.painterskeys.com " . . . titles serve to confirm what's seen but also to add knowledge, insight, and a glimpse into the author's mind set." In keeping with Genn, Holly Huffstutler's article at http://www.helium.com/items/1422709-titling-an-art-work-for-greater-meaning stated "art can be imbued with greater meaning with the addition of a title" and discusses how a title can capture the viewer and draw them into conversation about the work instead of dismissing it. She sites the example of Marcel Duchamp who took a urinal and placed it in a different context and titled it "Fountain". Both authors are worth the read.

The conversations are convincing. One should have some type of identification for each work of art. How else will you know which is which, after all? One wouldn't want a list of works with "Untitled #1", "Untitled #2" etc. That would be boring.

The title of the work in the photo is "Blooming". The title of the piece from yesterday's post is "Stormy Seas".

Ramblings and new work

If you look closely, you can see the thermometer on my back deck is reading -20F. The sun is shining, but it was cold that day. That was about 2 weeks ago. Today is 20 above. A vast difference, and a little break in winter. I think I've written before about how watching the weather in Iowa is a pasttime, but also a necessity. This is why. It gets dangerous. This is really not unusual for these parts.


It's probably because this winter has been so blasted cold that my mind is traveling to warm places. This is a new work in progress, called Tide Pool. I intend to build a shadow box frame around it and perhaps tone down the green background a bit.

It's made of silk and cotton fibers: silk hankies, rods and cocoons, thread ends from hand dyed cottons, shells, beads and stones. I have a second piece in progress as well. Just looking at these colors helps me feel a little warmer.

I've been trying to explore textures as well. The soft "hairy-ness" of the silk hankie to the stiffness of the rods and cocoons. Soft threads in contrast with hard stones, beads and shells as well as the irregular surface of the silk background all stitched to painted canvas. I think its an interesting mix and I'm enjoying this exploration.