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.”
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.
I am continuing my exploration of block printing for my 100 day project. I have been so excited about exploring torus mandalas and now I’m playing with the seed of life mandala.
This year has been a productive year for art, but not as many big pieces as I have made in the past. My most recent larger piece is Garden Party Mandala that is an experiment for a larger piece that is in the works. This one is going to be on exhibit at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in January of 2024. Keep reading for more information on this exciting opportunity.
It was a really great year for me on Instagram. I reached 1,000 followers and successfully participated in the 100 day project and Carve December. I just finished up Carve December and I’m really excited about it so I’m going to show pictures of it first.
Carve December is an Instagram challenge created by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer 11 years ago. I have participated for a few years but this year was something special for me. Julie provides a prompt for each day and this year I followed the prompts. I was exploring hexagons and ogees from a pattern design class I had just finished (description and photos below). I threw in some other shapes and also carved a few larger stamps that I have big plans for in 2024!
Carve December 2023Stamps from Carve DecemberSmaller prints from Carve December
I took a deep dive into repeat pattern design with Ali at 3dottedpenguins. The class was so excellent. I have so many prints! There was a very inspiring and supportive community and the instruction was fantastic. I think the progress in my carving, printing and designs show the impact! It was also very helpful to have so much carving to do so no one block became too precious. That really allowed me to experiment with design and learn so much in the process. Playing with art supplies really is such a learning experience.
Ali challenged us to create a final project and I created 3! I was exploring integrating block printing into my mixed media art and also took one design bigger.
The 100 day project is another Instagram challenge that I participated in. The idea is to make art every day for 100 days. It can be whatever you want and I chose to create a small collage that included stamps, Zentange and collage papers and ephemera every day. It was an excellent exercise in creativity and I am happy with what I created. I have sent many out as cards and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those that remain.
One of the reasons I got back into making art 10 years ago was that I hoped to see it in medical facilities when I went for appointments. This dream came true in 2023. I had 2 pieces exhibited at the University of Wisconsin Hospital last year and I’m scheduled to have 2 more in January. I joined the Wisconsin Visual Artist association and the Madison Art Guild and they each exhibit art in the hospital for one month every year. This piece, Abstract Waterlilies, was one of the first ones. The other was one of my flower mandalas from 2022.
Stop in at Hatch Art House at 1248 Williamson Street in Madison to see these and other small works of environmentally friendly art.
“Join Hatch Art House this July and August for the 2023 EcoSquared Art Show! Hatch showcases a curated selection of various artworks by over 75 Wisconsin artists most of the year, but opens the front two walls of the gallery to all Wisconsin based artists for the EcoSquared show nearly every year since 2012. 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 marks the biggest EcoSquared exhibition yet, with nearly 90 pieces of square upcycled art by over 25 Wisconsin based artists!”
I’m exploring different ways of creating layers in the background as well as layers in the flowers. I am enjoying playing with circles to make abstract flowers as well as carving stamps. This piece inspired a new coloring page that is for sale as a digital download in my Etsy shop.
Day 100 of the 100 Day Project Sunflower to support Ukraine
This year my project was 100 days of color fun. I painted in this coloring page for the last day of my 100 day project. It’s for sale in my Etsy shop and the proceeds of the sales will go to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Emergency Response Fund to support Ukrainian refugees.
Here’s an overview of my 100 day project. Some of the color exploration that I did included mixing different color combinations in different brands of acrylic paint, playing with values of those colors or individual colors, gelli printing a whole rainbow of painted papers, compositions with a focus on value or different ways of making colors harmonize, combing color with Zentangle, much of it took place in the journal I created with Andrea Chebeleu from A Work of Heart Studio and some days just playing with color with whatever media I had at hand. And of course there are circles and flowers. Check me out on Instagram to see my full 100 day project @jeanette.clawson
Jeanette Clawson Art 