Art Archives - Page 12 of 27 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Art

Taking the day off

Today is declared to be a day off–after cleaning the studio. All of those bits of ikat tape are driving me nuts. If I would wear shoes, I probably wouldn’t find them all over the house, but …

Though, I say it’s a day off, it really isn’t, but it will be spent doing things other than tying ikat, which, by the way, is done for this project. I laid all the sections out in order to take the picture above and discovered that I had not done one section. You can see the cartoon on the left. Back to the ikat table and NOW I’m done. As for those other things, the list is a mile long, but maybe a visit to the book store will be added and crossed off first.

Spice of the month club

For Mother’s Day, my daughter gave me a subscription to the Spice of the Month Club. After rolling my eyes at this, my sisters and I thought this would make a fun once-a-month dinner for us to have at our mother’s house. We decided that five-ish on a Sunday would be good for all of us. I will cook the recipes that come with the spices, and everyone else would bring something to go with the month’s theme. We’ve done this once now and declared it good. As you can see from the picture above, last month’s theme was Jamaica. I’m not a huge fan of jerk, but this was used on fish, and surprisingly, everyone enjoyed it, especially with the mango salsa. This month I get to cook ribs for the first time in my life, and make ice cream in the ice cream maker I bought on sale and never used. The theme is Memphis spice. Spice ice cream, anyone?

Addendum: I have removed all links because I was receiving several emails per week about these links from the company. Sometimes more than once daily. Evidently they were broken, but the information contained here can no longer be found anyway.

There is a problem with this whole thing, however. These recipes can never be duplicated. You can’t buy the spices individually or even the grouping for the month. I asked.

The next dinner will have a Baltimore spice theme and include shrimp. Yum!

The same

As far as I’m concerned the word boring and all its derivatives should only be used in very rare occasions. After all, we do have the ability to do something else more entertaining–except when the job has to be done. That’s where ikat-tying is for me right now. It’s got to get done. I nearly always cut my cartoons up because they’re easier to handle, although I could probably roll them up, advancing the next section as one is finished, but I don’t. Of course, when the cartoon is cut up, lots of labeling has to be done. I number each section, write top and bottom so I will have orientation, and mark the center line, so that there is continuity from section to section to the whole. The only consolation is that I’m listening to a book that keeps my attention, although I can’t say it’s great literature. When my back tells me it’s time for a break, I move on to other things, although I do try to finish one section per day, at least.

So, moving on to other things…for a couple of days that involved using a new-to-me app called Art View. This is an app that lets you insert art into a room setting. I am using the free version, which has three rooms to choose from. If you want to pay, you are allowed to upload more art and have more room choices. I’m not convinced that’s a good deal. You can also take a picture of a room with the paid version. Once you upload your art, you can choose a room and place the art in the room. You can resize the art and move it across the wall to a location you like. Kind of fun.

Try it out. Tell mo what you think. And hurrah! Only two sections of ikat to go!

Ikat trimmings and other art

Ikat Trimmings, Sherri Coffey 😉

A different view of what I’ve been doing. These bits of ikat tape that are trimmed after tying are just thrown on the floor, and since I work barefoot, they have a tendency to get tracked all over the house. Yes, it would be better to drop them in a trash container, but they float to other locations in that process, so why bother?

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Below are some more photos from the Friday night art receptions at the Community Arts Center. There is some wonderful art displayed at the center. Things that catch my eye are usually whimsical, pieces that I admire the skill involved, unusual materials. or just plain appeal to me for whatever reason. And of course, I could not take pictures of everything!

Large metal sculpture: Sylvester by Stephan Potter

Stephen Potter

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The Menthol Mood by Nancy Lamb

Nancy Lamb

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Geo, watercolor, Megan Bise

Megan Bise

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Shape Shifting by Rebecca Low

Rebecca Low

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I wish my photo could capture the color better in Linear Meditation, below. Within the circles are bits of blue around the inside edges. There’s a much better picture on her website.

Linear Meditation, acrylic, graphite powder hand-applied, oil lines, Jan Ayers Friedman

Jan Ayers Friedman

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Resurgence, oak and aluminum, Joe Hyun

Joe Hyun-I can’t find a web presence for this artist. CAC website on TAC exhibition

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The picture below is watercolor, a medium that I wish I could use. I am amazed at the tiny lines in the piece that are created with watercolor.

Gryi 514, watercolor, Karen Ferrer

Karen Ferrer and info here

So, what do you think about this week’s art selection? Is there a favorite? Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine. 😉

How does it happen?

Ikat progress-repeat 10 times

How does it happen that some weeks are full of appointments and activities with no time left for work? That’s this week. In between having to leave for the various whatevers, you can see what I’m doing above. AND, may I say, I am so happy I kept fairly good notes when I wove this previous version of this design. This time around I am trying to actually track time and the amount of yarn used in each section. Why? I am tracking time to get a better estimate of how much time it takes to finish a project. As for the yarn–that’s a dye issue. Since I dye based on the weight of yarn, I am going to start with that number and estimate how much is covered with ikat tape, so that I can get the desired color. At least that’s the plan.

Last Friday were the artist receptions, including the TAC Juried Exhibit. I took lots of pictures. The picture below is from a gallery with the room full of these sculptures. Quite impressive! Nearly all are sold, except for the biggest ones. From Stacy Elko’s website: “They are constructed with flexible cane, handmade paper sealed to the cane and embellished with North African henna iconography.” See more on her website.

Fish Bomb Boat #19 From 7-Stacy Elko

Tuning Fork #20 Heather Pregger

Heather Pregger has a whole series of art quilts based on the tuning fork. I like seeing a series like this and how for you can take a simple shape and fly away with it.

Big Yellow Apple, Martha Bean, oil on canvas, 48″ x 48″

You need to read Martha Bean’s artist statement. Seven lines, clean and simple, like her art. She also has pictures of other art, plus more apples here.

Tick, Tock, the Game is Locked by Janet Morrow. Cast sugar

Janet Morrow’s piece is very unusual and dominates the space. Tick Tock, the Game is Locked… Yes, you read correctly–constructed of cast sugar.

There are more pictures, but they’ll have to wait. More tasks, appointments, events await. But just out of curiosity, of the ones posted here, which do you like best?

10th Annual TAC Juried Membership Exhibition

Prairie Rain

10th Annual TAC Juried Membership Exhibition

10th Annual TAC Juried Membership Exhibition

August 7 – 29, 2015
Awards: 7pm on August 7

Juror Cohn Drennan of Cohn Drennan Contemporary selected 40 artworks by 39 Texas Artists Coalition members from the 106 members who submitted. The mission of the TAC is to support the career development of artists, whether they are emerging or established, amateur or professional.

The following artists were accepted in the exhibit:

Scott Anderson, Amy Barrington, Brad Barrington, Bill Barter, Martha Bean, Carol Benson, Susan Brents-Sheldon, Jim Brightwell, Rick Bullock, Lou Chapman, Lauren Childs, Sherri Coffey, Suzan Cook, Patricia Cowan, Lisa Cunningham, Gen MM Farell, Karen Ferrer, Anastasia Gabriel, Thomas Helmick, Lee Hill, Joe Hyun, Ellie Ivanova, Nancy Lamb, Cynthia Lewis, Rebecca Low, Mitchell Marks, Lorrie McClanahan, Zahra McGinnis, Erin Miller, Janet Morrow, Teri Muse, Lee Alice Pablo, Heather Pregger, Valerie Ramos, Gary Reams, Britt Stokes, Chris Thames, Robertus van der Wege, Dotty Zamora

See more here.

How to waste time in just a few easy steps

I read a post by artist Karin Olah about how she has her art printed via Spoonflower to use on notecards. Here’s what Karin does: Spoonflower prints my art image on cotton. Then I sew it to a blank card, adding a few fabric embellishments. Since my artwork is Mixed Media painting with fabric collage – the fabric touch is fun. Here is the example I saw. You can see the fabric touches she added later.

Karin’s note card. Notice the fabric embellishments

Below is the original image.

Looking Towards Shelter, fabric, gouache, pastel, and pencil on canvas, 6 x 4 inches

Karin has done this before with completely different work. Instead of landscapes, still lifes.

Limited edition series of quilted art cards. These cards start with a high quality print on Kona Cotton; then they are hand stitched with machine embroidered silk leaves and highlights added. Each 5 x 7 inch card is unique, signed, and numbered.

Granted, her work is mixed media, which involves using fabric, paint, gouache, and pastels on paper. Karin’s originals were also 6 x 4 inches, which is the size of her Spoonflower prints. Still, I had to try. This could be addicting!

If I were going to use these on a card, I would then cut out each motif and attach it to a card. A slight warning here…It took me a bit to get the hang of their system. Finally, I reduced all of my images so that the neared a 4 x 6 in. size, then chose to see a full yard of basic cotton.

First, upload your image
Change the size so that it might be somewhere around 4 x 6.
Choose how much fabric
Repeat as needed.

Summer Stripes, hand-dyed wool yarns, tapestry, Private collection

Amazing how the design looks so different when used in multiples. The Spoonflower version below is the Summer Stripe from above.

Summer Stripes, used in multiples for fabric design. Original: tapestry, 36.5″ x 60″, ©Sherri Coffey

Here are some more Spoonflower designs with their originals.

Deep, Cool Water, hand-dyed wool yarns, tapestry, 44.5 x 24 inches. ©Sherri Coffey, Private Collection

Same as above but used in multiples. Original: Deep, Cool Water, hand-dyed wool yarns, tapestry, 44.5 x 24 inches. ©Sherri Coffey

Same as above but used as mirror image. Original: Deep, Cool Water, hand-dyed wool yarns, tapestry, 44.5 x 24 inches. ©Sherri Coffey

Sine Wave, hand-dyed wool yarns, tapestry, 34″ x 61.75″

Sine Wave, mirror image

Sine Wave, multiples

Wari, weft-faced ikat, hand-dyed wool yarns, 48 x 27.75 inches ©Sherri Coffey Private collection

Wari

Prairie Rain

Will I print these any time soon? Probably not, but the idea is worth pursuing at some point. Maybe I would even embellish with added bits. Try it for yourself, if you haven’t already. Have some fun, waste some time!

Getting there

I ordered the black ones second from top on the right from Jerry’s Artarama.

I finally just sucked it up and bought frames for the small pieces that I’ve been working on FOREVER. My friend Carol told me about floater frames, but when I looked at them on Dick Blick’s website, I just couldn’t see spending that much money for these pieces. After more days of not being satisfied with any of the solutions I’d come up with, I did a web search and finally decided to buy some from Jerry’s Artarama, not knowing if I’d ordered the correct size or if these linen-covered canvases would even fit the depth. They arrived today, and this is a totally doable solution–for now. What really sold me on these frames–besides the cost–was that they come complete with hardware, everything you need to hang the picture (or whatever). There’s even a video of how to use them. So, once I get these pieces into the frames, I’ll post pictures. This is still a total experiment, but useful information if I want to weave other small pieces.

Scotch masking tape

Totally unrelated to anything, I found this on the counter at Office Depot. Yes, I know they put those things there for people exactly like me who may make an impulse purchase. As one who laments the death of the cloth tape measure that was so easy to tape on a weaving in progress, I couldn’t resist. It is totally useless for weaving, but I liked it. Years ago, I got some really narrow adhesive measuring tape in the fishing department of an outdoors store. I placed it on the beater close to the reed. I had to use two tapes to go across, so I started each of them in the center so that the larger measurements would be on the outer edges. This way you can see the width of the warp in the loom easily. Of course, being slightly OCD-ish personality that I am, I count warp threads anyway. Scotch has a PDF of cute ideas for using their tapes here. You know, things to do in your spare time???

One day, the loom will be used again, after finishing all these small projects in progress. One day. Sigh.

Charcoal experiments

Usually when I use black dye, I am going in the other direction, that is doubling or tripling the percentage of dye, but the objective this time was to get a charcoal. The various shades don’t show up well in a picture, but there really is a vast difference. Since all colors have undertones, I decided to add my own choice of undertones to these yarns. The two on the left are straight black, although in different strengths. The two on the right have had another color added withthe black–middle right has the addition of mustard, the far right has a bit of blue added. So what’s the upshot? For me, I like the two on the left. By the way, a really great blog about color and your living spaces is Colour Me Happy by Maria Killam. Frankly, I’m not really into the decorating thing, but her blog is interesting because she shows how even the “neutrals” in the same family may not play well together because of the undertones, as some beiges are pinkish, some greenish, etc.

just a bit of the really wide piece

Maybe you can tell that I’m not really enjoying the finishing of these small pieces, maybe because I’m still working on them? Here’s the one I started on today, just a small detail snippet of it. I’m going to try a new way to mount this piece, since it’s such a weird size–9 x 60 in. Another experiment in progress.

The rest of the story

A continuation of some of the art from gallery receptions from last week… The two pieces below are both by Nicole Dane, an artist who received her BFA from North Texas University in Denton. More information about her here and here.

Untitled: From Our Bardoodle, 2014
56″ x 90″
Dyed & Discharged Fabric with Deconstructed Screen Printing

Prayer Flag: Blue, 2014 56″ x 72″ Dyed and Embroidered Fabric

This watercolor is by a Fort Worth artist Daniel Blagg. I always enjoy seeing his work; it makes me smile. It’s just so Texas. His paintings seem to preserve some of our recent past of old buildings, signs, and billboards. You can see more of his work here and a better picture of the Sky Ranch Motel here.

Sky Ranch Motel by Daniel Blagg

Getting out

Getting out to go to gallery receptions is something I am able to talk myself out of quite readily, not because I don’t want to see the art, but because I’m basically a hermit. BUT I am making an effort to get out more, and I am so glad I did. Friday night I saw such interesting art at the Community Arts Center. I’m only going to share a bit for now.

Donald Matheson has taken famous works and made them his own in abstraction. Each one of his painting was displayed with a small print of the original inspiration, such an interesting way to exhibit and to see how each was abstracted (is that a word?).

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

What I find fascinating is how Mr. Matheson took the basic lines of the original and used those lines and shapes to create a totally different painting. You can see more of his work (and better images) here. You won’t see the original inspiration there though.