I got a great start to Carve December. It is a stamp carving challenge on Instagram hosted by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer that I have participated in for years. I completed a set of blocks to make different arrangements of a golden spiral and some mandalas that can be made of some of the pieces.
I have also completed some squares, leaves and flowers from my usual body of work and a few more golden geometry pieces. However, I had surgery on my neck and it is preventing me from carving or doing much art at the moment. I have one more block that I hope to carve before the end of the month, but healing is taking precedence. Meanwhile, enjoy the prints of what I have done so far.
Today I was notified that a piece of mine was accepted in the juried show “Midwest Seasons” at the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau, WI. It’s a piece I just finished called “Olbrich Summer Dreams.” The orchid stamps are inspired by the orchids at Olbrich Gardens and there is a map that includes the gardens in the background. It’s a combination of block printed flowers, stencils, Zentangles and a lot of different kinds of paper.
Next week I’m going to be demonstrating gelli printing at Crestwood Elementary (5930 Old Sauk Rd in Madison, WI) from 6-7 pm. It is part of their Explore Arts Night and I’m curious about how it will go. It looks like there will be eight other artists doing demonstrations at different stations. It seems like such a great idea. That same night is the first open studio at Kindling Community Art at my neighborhood community center and I hope to stop in there for a few minutes.
On Thursday, December 12, I will be participating in a holiday art shop at Weichart Realtors at 2045 Atwood Avenue in Madison, WI from 5-8. I will have a selection of handmade books and little coloring books as well as some smaller pieces of art that would make wonderful gifts. There will be 5 other artist there and I believe their work includes jewelry and ceramics in addition to wall art, prints and cards.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 14 I’m teaching an Introduction to Zentangle class at the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI. It costs less than forty dollars and you will leave with your own Zentangle kit. It’s not too late to register here. We will learn some introductory patterns and then play with them in some festive ways. The circles of paper are called Zendalas and you will go home with your own finished Zendala.
After all that in one week I will be ready to rest. However it is Carve December on Instagram and I’m trying to carve a block/stamp every day. I think I may need to take a few days off next week. I’m also still working on my 100 mandalas challenge and I’m trying to use my new blocks to make mandalas. I have been taking a class from Clarissa Grande on Golden Geometry and it is fascinating. I will have a lot more to post about that class when I get caught up, but in the meantime I’m carving blocks to create golden spiral mandalas. The bottom 3 prints are the beginning of that and I have so many ideas of how to use them!
This is my most recent big piece and I call it Blue Skies. It’s kind of ironic because my sun sensitivity this summer was really bad so I stayed inside and worked on this off and on since June. The central picture is very early in the process and is mostly the original block print. I added Zentangles and watercolor and acrylics and colored pencils and I am calling it a mixed media monoprint. I think I’m going to submit it for an exhibit at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in January. At least every other week I walk past the place that local art is exhibited. Seeing my own art in medical facilities I go to was one of my main goals when I started making art again 10 years ago. It makes me so happy to share it with the nurses and medical professionals and they love it too. It makes us all more three dimensional to each other.
In the past I have done my own challenges during which I aspired to make mandalas (almost) every day for 100 days. I have been able to work on a mandala almost every day but a lot of my work takes more energy than I have on a given day. Frequently when I try to make a simple one it becomes complicated. So I once again am aspiring to make 100 mandalas by the end of the year, or make a whole lot and finish up a lot of works in progress. I started the project when there was a little more than 100 days left in the year.
Here’s an overview of week 1. I’m off to a good start! I did make 7 mandalas, but one is in the same sketchbook as the art supplies inventory rainbow so it’s not in the overall photo. Another one also appears twice as I combined a completed mandala with one that was in progress and not going well.
Sketchbook Revival class on art supply inventory taught by Janine Vangool of Uppercase MagazineCombination of dragonfly mandala and zendala featuring a pattern by Debbie Huntington.This zendala is from a class in the Tangle Talez workshop taught by Shie Naritomi.This zendala is a combination of one of my handcarved stamps and some Zentangle patterns.A collection of my handcarved stamps with some mixed media Zentangles and enhancements.Another Tangle Talez zendala. This one was taught by Anica Gabrovec (Zen.linea).The central portion of this mandala is another tile that was taught at Tangle Talez by Anica. I incorporated it into a collage that uses my stamps, zentangles and mixed media.
Newly completed collage titled Dane County Garden. Can you see the map in the background?
This month I am the featured artist at the Wisconsin Art Hub in Cambridge WI. This article provides answers to questions about my process of making art and development as an artist. It also provides more information about the classes I will be teaching there this fall. In April I will be having a solo exhibit there. Lots of exciting things going on!
Index Card a Day is an Instagram challenge intended to encourage a daily art practice. I have a pretty robust daily art practice and this year I created some small works on index cards for this challenge. Some are Zentangled, some are collaged, one is stitched and many include practice components for pieces that I am working on. I frequently use these index cards either on a plain book page or as part of a collage to create a note card for friends and family, as seen in the first photo.
Can you see components from these 2 mandalas in the index cards? I have a new solo exhibition scheduled for 2025 at the Art Hub in Cambridge. It is going to include 100 mandalas, some old and some new. These 2 are going to be part of that show if they don’t sell before then. I currently have 5 pieces in the $100 and Under show at the Art Hub this August and 3 of them are mandalas. I also have a prototype from a still life class I will be offering in October and a block print in that show.
So if you are in the market for some affordable art, head on over!
The EcoSquared Exhibit is going on right now at Hatch Art House. There will be a reception Friday July 12, from 5-8. I plan to be there and I hope to see you there. There is a lot of detail in these pieces that you can only see in person. What is EcoSquared?
“EcoSquared (eco for eco-friendly, squared for square art) focuses entirely on square works of art made with upcycled materials by local artists. This year will be a massive show of upcycled artworks with nearly 120 pieces made by over 40 Wisconsin artists.”
Hatch Art House is located at 1248 Williamson Street in Madison, WI. Their hours are M-F: 11am – 6pm, Sat: 11pm-5pm, Sunday: 11-4.
I have started working with a new gallery, The Art Hub in Cambridge. I will have 2 pieces in the general exhibit for the next six months. I will have more in the August show 100 and Under. There will be a fantastic selection of affordable art, as the title implies they will all be $100 or less. (photos coming soon).
The Art Hub is located at 145 W. Main in Cambridge, WI. Their hours are Tuesday -Saturday 10AM-5PM. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Mixed Media Collage Oct. 19, 1-4Altered Book Art Journal Nov. 22, 6-9Introduction to Zentangle Dec 14, 1-3:30
This fall I will also be teaching at the Art Hub. The fall 2024 schedule will be available soon here.
October 19th from 1-4 I will be teaching a mixed media collage workshop. “Create your own floral collage. This class is an introduction to gelli printing and mixed media collage. It is for both beginning and intermediate artists. In this class we will use acrylic paint and a gelli plate to paint a variety of papers to use in a 5×7 floral still life collage.”
November 22 from 6-9 I will be teaching an altered book art journal workshop with a focus on gratitude. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. “Learn how to repurpose a hardcover book using gesso, acrylic paint, writing tools and stencils. We will explore using what you find in the book for inspiration. An art journal is a great place to experiment with art supplies and different techniques. We will do a simple art journal page layout using mostly just acrylic paints. We will explore layering transparent and opaque acrylic paint to create a harmonious composition. You will leave with an art journal that doesn’t have blank pages, ready for you to keep making art.”
December 14 from 1-3:30 I will teach an introduction to Zentangle® class. “In this workshop you will get the tools and skills needed to create beautiful, small works of art using the Zentangle® Method of drawing. This meditative art form uses quality art supplies and simple instructions to create patterns to explore non-representational art. You will be using a Zentangle® kit that includes a professional grade Micron pen, pencil, tortillion, and 5 Zentangle® tiles. You will have 2 small abstract pieces of art completed by the end of the class and the kit is yours to keep.”
I finished the 100 day project again this year and felt it was my most successful one ever. This amazing set of torus mandala and seed of life mandala blocks and some coordinating center blocks will entertain me for years to come. Would you be interested in playing with one of the different sized sets? What size? Which combinations do you like best?
Here are the prints I made using these blocks and a page of sampler prints of my medium sized torus mandala. To see the development and samplers for the small and large torus mandalas and the seed of life mandalas see my previous post.
Still life pieces made by mixing and matching gelli printed papers and book pages snuck into all the mandala printing. I carved leaf and flower blocks and a block print template to make the different components. I plan to teach this as a class that can be easily modified for differing ability levels. I’m also thinking about putting these samples up for sale in a local gallery for $25 each. (details to follow)
I love to make cards with my blocks and here are some quick thank you cards I made. One of my goals was to print on fabric by the end of the 100 day project and I was successful in that I did make an attempt. It was a good learning experience and shows that I have plenty more to explore with block printing!
Let me know if you have a favorite piece or want prints of something from my Fine Art America product on demand shop. I don’t have everything uploaded so just let me know what you’re interested in and I will get it there for you.
Here is a selection of prints from the first 57 days of my 100 day project this year. I am exploring different mandalas. I started this exploration before the 100 day project started but I am really getting into it. I am having so much fun playing with block variations and enhancements.
I am specifically playing with torus mandalas and seed of life mandalas that are the basis for a lot of sacred geometry. The vesica piscis shape (the central overlapping portion of 2 circles – think ven diagram) that is created by the intersection of 2 seed of life mandalas provided an interesting design challenge. I also merged 2 seed of life mandalas without creating this shape in the blue print in the upper left corner.
You can see that I could not avoid my studio assistant. Apparently she really likes these prints. Her name is Soho. The upper left and middle photos have some prints that are only the vesica piscis portions of the seed of life overlapping block sets.
I’m going to create another set of blocks that are in between the big mandalas (4 inch radius of central circle) and small mandalas (2 inch radius of the central circle). And I hope to start printing on fabric.
My first solo art exhibit is currently open at Oakwood Village 5565 Tancho Drive in Madison, WI. It will remain open until April 30,2024. I had a reception and gave a talk on March 29. It was well attended and there were a lot of great questions.
Jeanette Clawson Art 