Summer Update, Lovelies!

"Summer," hand-dyed, hand-spun, hand-woven, approx. 5"x8"

Hello lovely people.

It has been so long, and I have missed thine faces dearly.

I have been taking a break from school, as it is summer time.  I have one more semester coming up this fall, and I wanted to enter into it feeling more refreshed.  I tried delaying any art-making for the entirety of the summer, which only lasted about two weeks.

The little piece above is one of two or three, depending upon how much weft I have.  Last summer, I carried my drop spindle and a bunch of colored wool everywhere that I went.  I would then spin with the colors that I saw around me based upon the landscape and the weather of the season.  I created a single skein, which I set and wound chronologically, which started in May and ended in August.  The little weaving, done on a small lap loom, has a simple cotton warp and the weft is the hand-spun skein from last summer.  I have not altered the pattern or order of the colors, as I am pulling the yarn in order, from start of last summer to the end of it.  As it stands, it reads top down.  I am very excited about how it turned out, and I loved weaving on a smaller scale.  Normally, I'm a "go big or go home" type of artist, but this little piece has helped me refocus my energy and enjoy the little details.  I am currently working on her sister, and I hope to get a third out of my hand-spun as well, keeping them in chronological order.  In this way, I am documenting time with color.  Pretty cool, huh?  That big yellow band towards the top represented a huge field of dandelions that I passed by on a walk while spinning; I think that is perhaps my favorite spot, simply because I can recall the memory of that walk and how astounded I was by the vast sea of yellow dandelions sprawled across a field near school.

Aside from this little weaving, I have created another one out of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool also; the kicker with that one is that I didn't set the spin, so little twisties insisted on poking out while I wove it.  I've also been playing with a bit of sculpting, and I have started corresponding to a couple of people with art mail.  Art mail is cool because it can be interpreted in so many different ways by so many different people.  So, if you're interested in sending some art mail back and forth with me, let me know in the comments down below or shoot me an email: art.by.rosemarie@gmail.com.

My summer adventures have also brought me back to my parents' home where I helped my dad teach at 4-H Camp TaPaWingo.  We dyed our own t-shirts, wove, and made clay knee bowls in the classes that I taught.  It was a great time, but it was a pleasant reminder as to why I want to pursue college education.  As much as I love children, adults are so much better behaved (on average, though not always...).

I have also been updating a self-portrait project that I have running on my photo blog.  Hit the link above to check it out.  I'm still open for entries to the project, so perhaps that it something that you are interested in!

And without further ado, I have posted a bunch of photos below illustrating a bit of my summer.  If you're feeling a bit adventurous today, you may scroll down and view them...warning: there is a picture of raspberries.  I know, I know, very scandalous...

The girls from Manitowoc County that I chaperoned at 4-H State Youth Conference in Madison the last week of June.  Look, here we are having a blast, but I will never chaperon teenage girls ever again.  NEVER.  EVER.   

At the State Conference, we were expected to go to the workshops with the kids.  I ended up getting to go to this virtual reality workshop, which was pretty sweet.  Here is a cube, projectors on all sides and ceiling, where you wear sweet glasses that make everything look 3-dimensional.  Here, one of the delegates is doing a ski simulator, hooked up with an X-Box 360 Kinect system.  Very sweet.

Farm fields next door to my parents' house.  They are so lucky to live in a place so beautiful.

Another view of the fields.  My parents' house is in the distance on the right, hidden behind all of those trees.

My parents own a hobby farm where they have all sorts of creatures roaming about.  Here is my favorite old lady, Dilla, the Shetland fiber sheep.  Behind her is her little ram lamb from this spring; I love her freckles.  Cutie.

"The Unspun Hero," hand-dyed, hand-spun, hand-woven, 8.5"x13," mounted on a hand-made drop spindle.  The weird textures are the little twisties sticking about.  I happen to like that quality a lot.

I helped my dad with a couple of 4-H workshops that he ran through his office.  Here, we are outside testing out a  water rocket launcher that we made with the kids.

Here are the kids, group hugging so that they all get wet under the rocket launcher.  Sillies.

GASP.  I told you that there would be raspberries.  SCANDALOUS!  These are from my parents' garden.

My father, Kevin, being silly (or simply being himself, which I say lovingly) while we picked raspberries.

My mother, Tonja, being her motherly self.  This is Dilla's little man, and he wasn't feeling well while I was home.  Here they were giving him some medicine and lovingly scratching his head.

This was a little felt bunny that I made for a friend's baby daughter.  I put lavender essential oil onto the wool that I stuffed it with, so it's a very lovely smelling little bunny.  I am making another one for my god-daughter.

At camp, a student weaving with a Popsicle stick loom that I made.  Each child got their own loom like this and went to town on their little bands, even weaving in weird stuff like leaves, sticks, and tree bark.

One of the finished little bands that a student made.  I love it.

Dabbling with soap carving.  She is my rendition of the Venus of Willendorf, one of my all-time favorite sculptures.  The original was carved out of stone during the Paleolithic time period.  Mine is out of Ivory soap, and she smells nice.  I actually made this little piece while I was teaching at camp.  A fellow director, who is quite a fabulous person that I am happy to call a friend now, was teaching soap carving, and I totally got in on that.  I plan on exploring this further as it is inexpensive and fun.

My second-oldest brother and I went to Art in the Park in Appleton, WI while I was home.  This is a picture of a community project that they were doing; they are building a giant Cat in the Hat out of paper mache.  This was one of the coolest things there.  The rest was kind of ho-hum art that I wasn't overly impressed with.  You can tell that I've been in school a long time because I have seriously become a snob.  It's a dastardly fate, but one that I am willing to accept.

And with that, lovely people, I bid you ado.  As always, thanks for reading, and have yourselves a wonderful sort of day.

P.S.  If you would like to do mail art with me (basically pen pals but with ART!), let me know in the comments down below or shoot me an e-mail: art.by.rosemarie@gmail.com.  Also, if you're interested, check out the self-portrait project on my photo blog!  It's a project that I am very excited about, indeed, and I would love to share it with you.