Of Note

Here are a few things on my radar right now:

1. Is Mending the New Shopping? via Surface Design Association eNews

2. Angela Holland's collages!

3. Design Matters Podcast with illustrator extraordinaire Maira Kalman.

4. I just finished reading Ray Bradbury's semi-autobiographical novel Dandelion Wine (because of Sandra Brownlee's textile that I photographed in May 2014). It's a book about twelve-year old Douglas Spaulding's summer of 1928 when he woke up to the world around him. Basically, it's a book about wonder, awareness, and taking notice.

Quotes: Albert Einstein

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." 

–– Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American theoretical physicist

Studio Series: Dartboard pattern screen-print

Dartboard pattern screen-print © Karen Thiessen, 2016

My winter printmaking class has finished and the spring class doesn't begin until the end of April. Fortunately, I have a significant stash of screen-printed as well as found papers with which to collage. The dartboard pattern is one of the first designs that I created in Photoshop (about eleven years ago). It's an image of a dartboard in my family room that I put into repeat and then layered. In early March I decided to see how the design would look screen-printed and I like it very much. I printed an apple green ink over a dark green paper that my friend Bob gave me (on the other side is one of his print rejects).

April snow!

Oak leaf in April snow; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Here in Ontario, Canada we were blessed with an April 3 snowstorm. This oak leaf landed on the snow and the sun warmed its dark surface enough to melt the snow beneath it. Isn't the leaf crater beautiful?

Writing and the business of art

I'm finally in the homestretch of writing my various artist statements, bios, and support material and I feel great! My studio work has slowed to accommodate the research, writing, and endless rewriting and this feels okay for now. Unfortunately tax season is upon us here in the great white North (yes, we had a snowstorm on April 3) and more office work calls my name. The studio spirits may not appreciate this.

For most of my career I kept weekly office hours, but over time I've moved away from this routine because the new work demanded all of my attention like a needy child. The work has now developed enough that it's in that independent adolescent phase and it is time for me to review my work routines. Today I just finished reading David Usher's Let the Elephants Run and in one of the final chapters he talks about operational infrastructure. I'm on it, David! By the way, it's a great book–– I even did most of the exercises in a new notebook, a first for me.

Quotes: Jussi Adler-Olsen

"Somewhere behind Florin's armour a reaction flickered. Carl had just given him what everyone wishes for. To hell with caressing people, flattering them, and showering them with gifts. The only thing people really long for is respect. Give your fellow humans respect and they'll dance, his teacher at the police academy had said. Bloody right." –– Jussi Adler-Olsen (b. 1950), Danish author

Source: Jussi Adler-Olsen. The Absent One. New York: Dutton, 2012; p. 70.
* Special thanks to my aunt Irene for recommending Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series.

Studio Series: Two inch collages b

Two inch collages b © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Happy April first! How did that happen so quickly?