Cedar Mama

I've discovered I love carving wood. It's time consuming and can be hard on your hands, back and shoulders but I love the results. I could seriously see myself doing more of this is I weren't already in love with painting. Or if I were twenty years younger. Sculpture is tough on the old folks. This piece is called The Beginnings of Unconditional Love and was made for my beginning sculpture class. It's only about 8 inches tall and made of a solid chunk of cedar from a tree that Pop had to cut down. (Shout out to Pop for always keeping an eye out for tree trunks that want to be art in their after-life) The design came from a scribble drawing I made for an online art course a few years ago. You close your eyes and scribble on a piece of paper then look at it for awhile until a design emerges. This is what I saw in the scribbles.

It's a little silly I guess, but I have just always loved this little shape. I've had it in the back of my mind for awhile and have wanted to carve it for more than a year. So when I needed to start a new project, I found my chunk of cedar and hauled it to the wood shop at school.

I set about removing corners and extra bits with a band saw; a reductive process. I almost left it like this, cause it's so texture-y and awesome, but I stuck to the vision and ground and chiseled her down and then sanded and sanded and sanded till she was smooooooth. I'm pleased. Little mama, little one...

What's Been Going On?

   



  Well, What HAS been going on? A lot, but there isn't much to show for it. I'm taking three studio classes, beginning painting, beginning ceramics, and beginning sculpture. None of these classes feels like a beginner classe. Learning lots, working lots. 
     
     This is my first ever oil painting. A still-life (obviously) using only black and white paint. No pre-sketch, just diving in.

    

  This is the first color oil painting. Same still life, different angle. It's pretty lame but I promise I've gotten better since then.

    I have four LARGE paintings rotating on the easels at school. Large for me anyway. The smallest is 3' x 4'. 

Some of the handiest things I've learned this semester is how to build and stretch canvases and how to build frames for artwork. So cool. Now I can make any size I want.

Here is Sister helping me gesso the canvases and another small one we found in the closet. She knows I'm used to having Gus' help on all outdoor projects and she does her best to fill his shoes.

I also finished this about two weeks ago for the sweet grandbaby we are expecting mid-December. This was so much fun. I've missed quilting. This is the first quilt I've made in probably 7 or 8 years. Lots of work but nice. The border is from the fabric in her crib bedding. So sweet!

I have a couple of sculptures I wouldn't mind posting but I need to take a photo or two. I'll try to do that this week. Meanwhile... if you'd like to check it out I made a website... michelletaff.com  I have a couple of the sculptures up on the site and a few of the watercolors from this summer's class. Not a lot on there yet. It's time consuming and time is a precious commodity these days.