Top photo from September, shot in the Orange Fire Ash Fog. Vote democratic to save the environment, before the rest of the country looks like the burning down west coast.
Bottom photo from March, when the sun was shining and the sky was Blue in California. Mannequin Bunny has since seen the light!
1. Latest, finished in August, using all silk scraps with some added collage silk birds: "Silk Scraps Birds" quilt front 48 1/2" W x 68" H
2. Silk back of "Silk Scraps Birds" quilt
3. Quilted face masks using original designed fabrics and original art bird applique
4. Quilt finished at the beginning of the Stay at Home Covid experience in March: "Two Birds" with wool punch birds and original design Running Artist Model fabric. 45" w x 62 3/4" H
All done in time to cozy up in winter. Looking forward to cooler weather since it is 106 degrees F right now. Crazy year, between Covid, fire, heat and rancid politics.
1. Pencil Drawing "Doomsday Clock" influenced by Laurie Lipton's much more fabulous pencil drawings. Done in an art Zoom session with 11 year old grandson. 9"H x 12"W
2. Paper collage in my on going series of "Strange Journey" works 11"x14"
3. Small ink and watercolor "Apple Nose." Not sure what to draw, I picked an apple from the backyard and the rest just happened. 6"w x 9"H
4. Cradled paper collage on board: "Big and Little Fish" "9"H x 12" w x 1 1/2"
5. Small cradled paper collage on Stretched canvas "Little Fish" "4"H x 5"w x 1 1/2"
After years of playing piano, by reading the notes but not understanding any of the basics, I've gotten interested in learning about music theory and composition. Fortunately, I located two very old music publications that my late, great, mother had in her music library (she was a superb pianist and composer) which are quite useful: Modern Styles and Harmonic Construction for Popular Piano Playing by Marvin Kahn and The Majors and Their Relatives by Eula Ashworth Lindfors. I'm also trying to wade through the Idiot's Guide to Music Composition and Music Theory for Dummies.
This new music interest was generated initially by a desire to clean up the poor recordings of much of my mother's music, which led to trying to learn both Cubase and Adobe Audition software. Playing with the new software enabled me to add musical elements to my mother's compositions (sound efx, loops, bird songs, etc.), which has led to a desire to try my hand at making my own original music.
Recently, I noticed a similarity between The Color Wheel (a circular guide to mixing color) and The Chord Wheel (a circular tool for composing one's own music). So I associated a different color to 8 chord tracks in a very simple scale exercise, then sought to create a video using those same colors synced up with the underlying chords. My late, great father's photography has also been accessed with an old photo of me filling in for Mary, in the tune Mary had a Little Lamb which appears towards the end of the video's soundtrack.
This short 55 second video is perhaps a bit too mathematical, the music too elementary and the whole not very artistic. But the new learning effort is taking my mind off of negative Corona Virus news and bad behavior societal displays. Escaping from time to time into nature, music and art are essential for trying to maintain some form of sanity in these trying times.
Top: Garden flowers in vase with mask Middle: My much younger self, the clown my aunt made about 80 years ago, a lamp, and roses in bloom in the side yard. Photoshop has much improved photo stacking. This is a combination of 8 images Below: Sam reflected in the window of Brookside, the local elementary school, closed for Corona Virus.
The Attraction to Utility Poles and Lines in Landscape Photography
It's good to have a project, during these days of required social distancing. I always have too many so am trying to focus on one at a time. Having recently expanded my interest in making soundtracks, with music recorded by various family members, I'm working on creating more video animations for my YouTube Channel that feature new music scores. This also requires selecting and editing photos based on a common theme. By current project is "Utility Lines in the American Landscape." With over 200 images now selected, it will take some quality time to meld them into something of interest. Then, more fun, going through reams of recorded music to find a good pairing of sound and image.
Sheltering in place brings out my family's genetic pioneer background: cooking, sewing and managing to survive (so far) independently while enjoying the finer things in life (good food and art).
Latest placements make food taste even better!
Top: New 3 original "Six Squares" placemats + a photo of the backing. Squares fabric left over from a quilt in process. These are 20 x 13 with cotton batting and insulation
Bottom: Smaller, older placemats (front and back) done on commission.
Since I'm now working on a new quilt, I thought I'd post the last one I finished this past January, after it got delayed a year due to illness. Above Bio Blanket finished in 2020, based on Frank Miller comic art and biography photos taken by my father, E.A. Autrey, as featured in the Growing Up Autrey book, published with Blurb. This only goes up to high school. A great deal happened after that!
I printed an original and a ghost of a blue flower on the last day of my 4 class KALA workshop. Neither of them came out well. So, I modified them digitally. They are better than they were!
I was having a bummer of a monoprint class at KALA last night and three away 3 prints and one failed chine colle. Finally, I reverted to my favorite theme - birds! This print came out OK. 11x14 charbonnel oil ink on a plastic plate. Messy process but can be fun.
Three Original Monoprints (Top left, Top right and Bottom left)
Three Monoprints (two ghost prints and one offset print), with mixed media added (ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel). Bottom run part of an on going Strange Journey series
Top: Offset print of the 2nd printing of my etched flower, without the concrete truck or stars (ie printed off of the original print)
Middle: The Ghost print of the top image (ie 2nd print from the original plate)
Bottom: Original 1st printing of my etched flower with stars (one fell off) and concrete truck. Part of my in process 'Strange Journey' series of mixed media images.
First two student prints from new Berkeley KALA class on monoprinting with Charbonnel oil inks and plastic plates. So much fun! Printing originals, ghosts and offsets. My one ghost was too ghostly (ie pale) so I'm going to paint or pastel over. My one offset was so light, the top print is actually printed on the offset of the bottom print.
