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Keep up with the latest art and adventures from Rene Shoemaker Art!

Waking Up

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I’m curious - really - to know what gets you out of bed in the morning. Write and tell me.  

For me, it’s:

        a) deadlines,

        b) anticipation on starting the day, and

        c) getting up to see the morning sky.

These are the types of thoughts that are running through my head while I am waking up. Ready to start the day!

For example, right now, because I am working towards this deadline of having beautiful silk items for sale by Dec 11 for the Athens Artist Market, I go to bed at night reviewing what I need to accomplish the next day, and I make a mental list of what should be done first, second, third - and then anything accomplished beyond that is gravy. That way I’m not stressed out from not being sure of what needs to be done when I go out to the studio. I get out of bed and can go straight to work (after walking the dog, of course) ironing a silk, or waxing a design that I drew the day before, or mixing colors for the next pillow.

Then it is very satisfying to take a mid-morning break: a cup of coffee while I survey the projects spread out around me. The studio is small but I am finding creative way of storing and drying my pieces… while not stepping on them! As I look at the white silks, the wooden frames, and the pots of dye, I can imagine the project complete, and I can see all the beautiful finished pillows lined up on the couch at the Indigo Hotel, the cards on a table, and the scarves all hanging neatly in a row ready for people to come in and try them on and fall in love with them. 

Here is a photo of the dyeing-in-progress from earlier today:

And in the photo below, you can see the texture and sheen and beautiful colors of one of the new shibori scarves I am working on, in the ice blue that I wrote about in my post last month. They are layered in colors of blue - dipping each one multiple times so that I can get layers of color that tell intriguing stories unique to each piece. They tell stories of landscapes and sky and roads that travel to unknown destinations.

And that is my happiest wish for you - that you can think about your mornings before you have to jump out of bed - and that you take the time to travel to unknown destinations just to discover what might be there.

Creativity

Creativity is a fascinating subject and always worth a long conversation. Can you imagine how many books have been written on it, and how many classes have been taught and how many hours have been spent by creative people trying to be - creative?

I personally find the subject an endless source of discussion. Last weekend I drove up to Waynesville, NC and visited my textile-artist friend Suzanne (whom I met at a creative event) and discussed creativity, and the art of, with her and her fine-woodworking husband, John. 

                  

                                    Inspirational western North Carolina landscapes

This weekend, I am spending time with my daughter Kate discussing creativity - she is on her iPhone right now participating in a “tweet chat” (a conference via twitter) with hundreds of other creative people. On Saturday, Kate taught a class on block printing (and I was the class assistant!) at the Loft Art Supply in Athens, Ga. - so I got to play at creativity all day! 

Here are some photos from the Loft workshop. Kate will be posting more photos on Love & Reason this coming week - so keep your eyes open for it if you’d like to join us the next time she teaches a creativity class!

                                      Kelli cutting a corn cob for the pigeon she drew!

                                                      Rene inking geometric shapes.

    My sources of inspiration for the day, from upper left to right : R.Shoemaker Wren, C.Flight Speed, H.Matisse Le Retenu, R.Shoemaker N. Pope Street, and H.N.Werkman Compositie.


Shades of Blue

Boy, the autumn colors are beautiful right now. The leaves turning red and gold, the sunsets glimpsed through the silhouetted tree trunks and branches, the sunrises in the clear starry sky, and the infinite intense azure canopy above.

A new shipment of dyes arrived in the mail this week. I now have a sky blue, an ice blue, a blue grey, a periwinkle blue, and a turquoise blue, lapis, wedgewood, cobalt and teal blue. Do you think I went a little crazy with the blues? I cannot wait to start experimenting with them! I plan on dyeing silk charmeuse scarves in solid and shibori patterns. I’d like to layer the colors one over another.

 A few weeks ago, I promised a tutorial on tub dyeing. Included here is “Rene’s Quick and Dirty” tub dyeing instructions. If you want to try it, and have some questions about it, feel free to send me a message.

 Rene’s Instructions for Vat Dyeing 

 1) Wash and dry (natural fiber) fabric

 2) Dissolve un-iodized salt (1 container or 2.5 cups) into 2 qts hot tap water

 3) Dissolve dye: 1 tablespoon Procion dye to 1 tablespoon cold water.   Stir paste into the hot salt tap water

 4) Mix salt water & dye to dyepot to make 2.5 gallons dye bath - use a plastic or stainless steel tub

 5) Wet the cloth completely with regular water, squeeze excess out, then submerge in dye bath, using gloves and stirrer to protect your hands

 6) Mix 4 tablespoons soda ash or baking soda into 1 cup hot water. Dribble this into the dye bath slowly, and stir

 7) Stir occasionally for 15 minutes

 8) Rinse in warm water to remove excess dye 

 9) Wash with synthrapol in hot water, and rinse until the water is clear

10) Air dry – and enjoy!

                    

                                                                                        the autumn sky