I'm a Scrappy Momma

As I said in a recent post, studio clean up has been happening.  Once I finally get started on a project like this there is no stopping me.  The "getting started bug", unfortunately, does take a super long time to take hold though.  I haven't been able to work in there since early December.  (Note to my Mom:  I'm going to show a really messy mess now, so don't look.)

The main advantage of cleaning the studio (beyond the obvious of having a clean studio in which to work) is that it inevitably spawns ideas.  Some are big and some are little.  On the side of "little", here's a fun paper doll I made quickly in an effort to not have to find a place to put the things I used to make her.  Make sense?

The doll piece was a left over from the Handmade Paper Guild collaborative piece called Twelve Angry Men seen here in a very bad, blurry photo from our fall 2009 show.  The Angry part will have significance, as you'll see.

The paper scraps (leg, hands, belt) are left over from my participation in the Swatch Swap and I used them just as I found them:  no cutting.

The figure was already dyed but needed some emphasis so I tried, for the first time, some Pan Pasels that I got for Christmas.  Fun stuff, by the way.

The doll face, well, that's just a first attempt.  Let's just say that I won't be jumping on the Female Figure Mixed Media band wagon that is so "in" right now.  :)

As for the Scrappy Momma part.  It has a double meaning.  Obviously, you can get the Paper/Scrap tie in. 

The other part is that a few days before I made her I was blindsided with a loud verbal attack, accompanied (for emphasis) by a door slam in the face, by an acquaintance/friend in a parking lot.  I asked, what was intended to be an innocent question, in the wrong tone or something.  I slunk away, with my jaw hanging open and still have no idea of how/why this came about.  After a few days of dwelling and fretting about what I could have said, should have said, shouldn't have said, etc., I got a phone call and was told that I needed a diagnostic mammogram.  Guess what?  The incident in the parking lot is now NOTHING.  A big, fat, giant nothing.  It is of absolutely no importance at all!  Thankfully, two days later the diagnostic mammogram also came up with nothing. 

So, I made a Scrappy Momma doll in memory of this incident.  Be scrappy!  Little things don't have to become big things.  And, move on as quickly as you can because oftentimes you're the only worrying about it anyway.

Here's to a clean studio and all the junk it brings to the surface.

Lorrie

PS.  No, I don't have red hair.

I am an Artist!

For the past several years I've been fortunate enough to have had a shared studio situation in downtown Kalamazoo. The gentleman who gave me, and several other area papermakers, this incredible opportunity was no longer using the space and equipment as much as he would have liked. He opened his space and his arms to several of us struggling to work. Papermaking is not a messy art but it is sloppy and does require a lot of room, water and drainage. Sure, it can be done in the kitchen. A garage works too. However, neither spot is ideal. When I got the call that I was to be included in The Kalamazoo Paper Collaborative it truly was a dream come true. Everytime I went down there I felt so "cool". I finally had a place to work, I worked regularly, I got better. More importantly, it gave me "permission" to call myself an artist. When asked "what do you do?", I now could confidently and proudly say "I am an artist". For some that mental barrier comes down with the first commission check, for others it might be the day of graduation from art school. I suppose for others it might not be a barrier at all. All I know is that it felt great!

This summer the studio was dismantled, moved and turned into the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center. http://www.kalbookarts.org/ It is an even larger space that has printmaking and bookbinding equipment, in addition to all the papermaking equipment that was moved. They offer great classes too. The opportunity for even more people to use this space is now possible.

Maybe now there will be more "artists" in our midst. I hope so.

Lorrie