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We are raising two long-haired Chihuahua puppies, Garrison (left) and Lobo (right). The New York Times was asking for readers to submit puppy stories and photos, so I sent the photo above and the description below…
Lobo was a surprise Mother’s day gift for my Mom, Lola. We brought him to her in a baby shower gift bag. Before Mom opened the bag, my daughter, Laura, was clutching it so protectively that Mom asked, “Is there something alive in there?” We wordlessly handed the gift bag over, and Mom, who had been somewhat kidding previously, was astonished to see a tiny puppy with chocolate and black coloring evocative of a wolf pup. So a tiny “Lobo” came into our lives. A few weeks later, my habit of perusing Craigslist offers for pet adoptions landed me on a description of a Chihuahua-miniature poodle mix pup whose family was leaving town. They needed to re-home him. Just the age of Lobo, I had hopes he would be a friend upon which to unleash some of that astonishing puppy energy. Again calling upon the bag trick, I arrived home and handed my daughter a black bag that our older Shi-tzu mix, Darwin, used to travel in as a pup. A winsome gingery head popped out, and Laura pronounced that he looked like Garrison Keillor. Many years ago, we had a beloved dog named Harrison, so a Garrison seemed especially fitting. Lobo and Garrison are five months old now. Lobo is a goofy, headstrong fellow, seemingly on his way to Chihuahua gianthood at almost 8 pounds already. Garrison has a quieter nature, but is a wily opponent in their battles, despite weighing 2 pounds less. Eventually they sleep, often with their arms around each other, exhaling that sweet puppy breath.
I don’t often get political here, but because I feel so strongly about how J Street is finally carrying the message to Washington that many Jews support a 2-state solution for Israel and Palestine and want peace for all, I’m posting an e-mail from J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami about a recent meeting with President Obama.
J Street Supporter –
A big thank you to all the J Street members who responded so positively to my note about meeting with President Obama yesterday.
So many of you were gratified and excited to hear that J Street was at the table in the White House – but it left many of you wanting more color and flavor on the meeting. So here goes!
First, let me assure you that the President couldn’t have been clearer: making progress towards peace in the Middle East is a fundamental American interest – and essential to Israel’s security and stability.
He framed the issue as a strategic challenge in which the U.S. must pursue numerous goals simultaneously – ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring Israel’s security, dealing with Iran, and addressing the legacy of anti-American sentiment in the region.
He recognized that the United States isn’t going to see eye-to-eye with either the Israelis or the other parties in the region on every issue. When some Jewish leaders argued (as they did in the meeting) that progress toward peace is only made when there is no daylight between Israel and the United States, the President responded correctly that for eight years – when there was no daylight between us and Israel – there was no progress toward peace. The hard decisions weren’t made on either side – and the prospects for peace only diminished.
In talking to The New York Times yesterday, I described the President’s approach as “pushing while hugging” – his way of helping all parties reflect on whether their actions are really advancing their interests or not. Further Israeli expansion of settlements on the West Bank, and ongoing incitement against Israel in the Palestinian Authority, are good examples of actions that he sees as setting the process back.
To the extent that he’s asking for hard steps from the Israelis on issues like settlements, he’s going to be equally clear in what he’s asking of the Palestinians and Arabs. To those who say he’s being tougher on one side or the other, he maintains that he is taking a balanced approach and believes that pressure on both sides will be needed to move toward a resolution of the conflict.
President Obama is very aware that he’s talking about reversing decades of mistrust and working within a narrow window of opportunity to align interests in the region and reach a comprehensive resolution.
As he said, “This isn’t easy – if it were, we’d be talking about health care.”
I left the room feeling we are at a truly historic moment of opportunity. There may never be another American President who so clearly gets the issues strategically and has the political capital to try to pull off an agreement.
To succeed, I really believe J Street is going to be critical in demonstrating political support for the President and to those in Congress who support his efforts.
At this moment, Tom Runyan, my dear husband of 27 years is winging his way to a reunion of Peace Corps Korea volunteers. I am so excited and happy for him to see the country again that has had such an influence on his life. As part of the reunion experience, I scanned his collection of over 500 photos on black and white film and slides for him to share online with other volunteers. You can find links to all of these at segertzcollage.com/pckorea.
Thanks to Sparked.biz, an art & design collective directed by designer Geoffry Gertz (my wonderful brother!), I learned about an amazing site called Doodle-Buzz. (Find out more about Doodle-Buzz here at Sparked.)
When I played with Doodle-Buzz, I started thinking about its relevance to a theme for artwork that I’d been contemplating. About 15 years ago, or something like that, my husband gave me an advertising poster for Adobe featuring the words “mind, heart, what is art?” I still have that battered poster in my office (where I make a living as a graphic designer), and lately, I’ve been wanting to work with those same words in some collages.
So, when I saw Doodle-Buzz, I had this idea of doing a search and creating a graphical news feed (you’ll just have to read about Doodle-Buzz, and you’ll understand) using first the word “mind” and then the word “heart.” I used the graphics created in the collage you see above. I’m not sure if this collage is finished, but I thought the whole concept was interesting, so I wanted to share. The close-up image below shows the Doodle-Buzz part more clearly. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with Doodle-Buzz and collage.
I loved making these tiny Small Earth collages. Each is just 3″ x 3″. Packed into that small space are bits of mica, screen printing, metallic paint, and more. The museum matting and whitewashed frames help the little details pop out. These would look great as a pair. One frame has little square accents and the other doesn’t… but that helps keep things pleasantly off balance, don’t you think?
(click image above for larger view)
Purchase Small Earth 1
$50 + $10 ground shipping and insurance to US addresses (click image above for larger view)
Purchase Small Earth 3
$50 + $10 ground shipping and insurance to US addresses
Maybe you’ve see the infomercials for the Cricut electronic cutters. They work sort of like a print plotter, except they cut out with a tiny knife instead of drawing with ink. They’re promoted as a tool for scrapbookers and card makers…definately pushing the cutesy, adorable image. (Winnie the Pooh designs, anyone?) However, an electronic cutter is actually an amazing tool for the mixed media fine artist.
Electronic cutters have been around for ages in industrial applications like vinyl sign making and package prototyping. What’s new (in the past few years) is that relatively inexpensive home models have become available. These cutters are sold under a number of brand names. In some cases, the same manufacturer makes several versions under different nameplates. The web is full of articles comparing the capabilities and costs of these machines (this one for example), so I won’t repeat that discussion here. Suffice it to say that after several years of consideration, I now have a Cricut Expression Cutting Machine that I chose because I can hook it to my Mac to use my own vector artwork (with the addition of third-party software called Sure Cuts a Lot), it cuts in large dimensions compared to many other machines (up to 12″ x 24″), consumables such as blades and carrier sheets are reasonably priced and readily available, and the machine itself is priced economically (around $300) compared to other machines that cut material this large. (Most machines at this price point cut 8″ wide at the most.)
So, what do I do with this machine?
I use the Cricut in my artwork in a variety of ways, but today, I’m going to talk about making foam stamps and using them to create background papers for collage/mixed media artwork. I use “fun foam” type foam sheets to make the stamps. I can get a package of foam sheets at Big Lots for $2.00. I use the cutter to cut shapes out of the foam and then adhere the foam shapes to pieces of plexiglass, wood, or cardboard. The picture below shows several stamps with a concentric circle theme.
Stamps cut on Cricut Expression
To use the stamps, I paint them with acrylic paint or gesso and stamp them onto tissue paper. Because the foam is not super-thick, and because painting the stamps is not as even an application as using stamp pad ink, the stamped result can be somewhat blotchy and uneven. Sounds bad maybe, but that’s what I want. I don’t want a perfect image. See below for sewing pattern and regular art tissue stamped with the round and square stamps.
Sewing tissue stamped using foam stamps and gesso
Tissue printed with stamps made on Cricut Expression
Stamp made from fun foam
You can also see how I used the round stamps with colored tissue and acrylic paint in my Sketchbook Volume 3 Project for Art House Co-op (below). In several cases, I painted over the circles with other colors after the stamped tissue was adhered to the collage.
If you use acrylic paint, you know how easily brushes can get ruined if not properly cleaned. Hey, those things are expensive, so let’s take good care of them! The totally fabulous technical support at Golden Paints offer these simple steps:
To properly clean your brushes loaded with acrylic paints, do the following:
In a small container filled with clean water, gently push the brush hairs onto the bottom and move the brush back and forth until the majority of the paint comes out.
Pat the brush dry, and continue painting. Resist the urge to leave brushes in the water container, as this bends the hairs.
Once you are done painting for the day, repeat step #1 and then with your fingertips, work a small amount of a liquid soap, such as Ivory Liquid, into the entire brush. Be sure to work the paint deep into the ferrule (where the hairs meet the wood handle).
After the soap has fully saturated the hairs, repeat steps #1 and #2.
Acrylics strip the natural oils in real hair brushes, so to rejuvenate them, take a very small amount of a generic hair conditioner, such as Suave, and work it into the brush hairs with your fingertips until it begins to feel dry. It is important to NOT use too much conditioner. Shape the brush hairs to their original configuration, like how they looked when you first bought them.
Hang your brushes so the brush hairs are facing downward. We use Velcro on the end of the brush handle and apply Velcro to a shelf or table end near where we paint. This will keep any residual paint from drying in the ferrule. Allow the brush to dry.
Before painting, wet the brush in the clean water container.
If you follow these instructions, your brushes should last for a long time before they become irregular.
Find tons more tech tips from Golden here.
Cecil Touchon has designed a beautiful exhibition catalog for the Under the Influence show. The catalog is available to purchase, and you can also browse the whole thing by clicking “preview this book.” I’m so pleased to have my work shown alongside such a talented group. You can read Cecil’s description of the catalog below.
Artists were asked to make a work in honor of one of the artists that they consider as influential on their own development and to make an additional work in their own typical way of working. This international exhibition has participating artists from, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and the USA. ARTISTS INCLUDE: Gary A. Bibb, Joan Schulze, Robert Tucker, Anthony Cricchio, Katie Gutierrez, Dilar Pereira, Ellen Filreis, Catherine Molland, Berni Stephanus, Marianne Lettieri, Claudia Drake, Cecil Touchon, Reid Wood, Maria Spissu Nilson, Lis Gundlach-Sell, Nazimova Boheme, Susan Gertz, Keith Buchholz. ARTIST HOMAGES: Andy Warhol, Joseph Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Hanalore Barron, Paul Klee, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Rex Ray, John Cage, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Gustave Klimt, Georgia O’Keefe, Marcel Duchamp, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Kurt Schwitters, Hans Arp, Auguste Rodin and Johannes Baargeld.
I’m participating in the show with the two pieces shown and described below:
Homage to Rodin and Annie Lennox: In August 2008 I visited Philadelphia and discovered the beautiful Rodin museum located there. A piece called Andromeda was one of my favorites. The title ‘Andromeda’ refers to the daughter of the Ethiopian king Cepheus who was chained to a rock near the water to be sacrificed to a sea monster sent by Poseidon. Traditionally, the chained princess is shown standing or sitting upright, but Rodin shows the girl facing down, as if completely exhausted or weeping. For my “homage” piece, I paired an interpretation of Rodin’s Andromeda with lyrics from the Annie Lennox song I’ve Got a Life where the phrase “I’ve got a life, though it refuses to shine” from the song is evocative of the Rodin figure.
It Ain’t Over: For a partner piece to the homage, I decided to continue the Lennox lyrics with the phrase “I’ve got a life, it ain’t over” from the same song. In this case, the imagery is typical for my work, being based on natural, organic forms. I used the silhouette of seaweed to create a tree of life embracing the words.
Both pieces are collages of paper and acrylic paint on linen.
The Art House Co-op is creating a completely user generated visual encyclopedia and they need your help! I’ve just signed up. Why not join me in participating?
There are two parts to it: submitting words and signing up to participate in order to visually represent the words. After signing up, you will receive five 3×3in canvases along with your five randomly selected, user generated words to represent. At least one of your completed canvases will be featured in “The Art House Encyclopedia VOL. 1″ book. Find out more about the Canvas Project Volume 2.
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