I Am Grateful

Four months of radio silence is enough for me--it was snowing when I signed off and here we are on the cusp of summer! My on-line life has been relegated primarily to Instagram where I've been sharing bits of process from the studio.

I've had a lovely break though I dare say it is no longer a sabbatical per se but a new direction entirely. Two concrete decisions have been made. First, the doors of Sushipot have closed for good. Second, I miss blogging so here I am!

My first task back in February was to purge my studio of clutter and give the walls a fresh coat of white paint. The physical chore was a cathartic process and it literally gave me a clean slate to forge ahead into new art-making territory.

Lots of ideas and work are coming out of this time of experimentation. Patterns have been formed, textiles cut, ideas perused, stitches stitched, books read, sketches drawn, wax melted, objects gathered, paper torn and the list goes on and on.

I look forward to looking back at these weeks and sharing my new work with you. In the meantime I thank you for the encouragement you've showered on me via comments, messages and emails. The support during my hiatus has been overwhelming and I am grateful.

Wall Dolls

A trio of wall dolls are coming together nicely in the studio. If you follow along on Instagram these are old news....if you don't, I'd love you to come say 'hello'! You can find me @sushipot. As for these ladies I'll be back later in the week to share the finished pieces.

Mended Pages

More often than not it is the imperfection of a thing that makes it special. When I'm browsing through old books for collage material the pages that have flaws are the ones that stand out to me. Whether they are mended, scribbled, torn or stained these blemishes are what I seek.

All images gleaned from The New Beacon Primer by James H. Fassett. Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Laite. Published by Ginn & Company, Boston, USA, 1921.

Paper Snippets

The pile of paper snippets on my work table is starting to grow. I've been gleaning images here and there over the past few days. The grand plan is to turn these into the first batch of collage blocks for 2014.

Studio Snippets

A couple snippets from 'round the studio. Coming soon (most likely next week) Autumn-ish/Halloween-y blocks and some assemblage critters too. Have a beautiful weekend.

Studio Tidbits

A delightful pile of treasures arrived this week from the studio of artist Elizabeth Rosen. Lizzie and I had great fun unwrapping all these wooden bits 'n cuckoo clock parts. We entertained ourselves for some time playing around with various arrangements and pausing to share on Instagram of course ;)

Elizabeth's shop is a wonderful mix of carefully selected goodies for the mixed media artist and her own magical assemblages, paintings and mixed media work. Be sure to browse her shop when you have a minute--you're certain to find inspiration!

And...here's a peek at my work table this past week. I got a hair brained idea one night and started "skinning" my pile of old book covers.

The "book skins" are currently being stitched up into a pair of small art quilts. Hope to have them finished up next week to share with you. If you're on Instagram, you can find me there as 'sushipot' (duh!). Then you can see these tidbits from the studio faster than I get around to blogging 'em.

A Midnight View

A view of my workspace around midnight last night (er...this morning).

'Round The Studio

Images from in and 'round the studio recently (mostly from this past weekend). I've been assembling new pieces, sorting objects and gleaning collage material. It feels good to stay busy and I'll have some fun things to share with you very soon.

Body Parts & Crisco

Here's a peek at some scavenged body parts and a can of Crisco that will be making their way into new pieces this weekend. If all goes according to plan I'll have some fun assemblage to share with you on Monday (or maybe even Sunday night). We shall see. What are you doing this weekend? Does it happen to involve lard?

Late Night Bricolage

I was up late last night working on a new grouping of collage for my Bricolage series. After losing track of time I realized I never prepared a blog post for today so instead you get to take a peek at this pile of un-stitched collage. Happy hump day!

Work In Progress

Another version of my "eat your heart out" assemblage is coming together in the studio. It will be in the shop this weekend so "keep an eye out" for it!

Harvesting Hearts

A view of my workspace last night. I've been receiving a few patient inquiries as to whether or not I'll be posting new Doll House's with anatomical hearts for the upcoming season of love. So, last night I "harvested" a few hearts and began laying out some new pieces. Stay tuned for these new assemblages--there will be more than just your run-of-the-mill Doll House coming to the shop in the next week.

Leftover Snippets

An arrangement of leftover snippets from a piece I was working on last night.

Collage Grid In Progress

This collage grid is one of several works in progress here at Sushipot. I'll have some new assemblage pieces to share with you tomorrow. See you then!

Pile of Objects

Last night I was trying to plan out some new assemblage pieces. This is one of the piles of objects I gathered for the session. We'll see what happens with them. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.

Collage in Progress

I was up late last night (or should I say early this morning) working on some new collage pieces. This is a snapshot I took before cleaning up. You can see a couple pieces from my Bricolage Series in the bottom left hand corner. I'll get them stitched up today and have them in the shop soon.

Work In Progress

The obsession with shredded paper continues to grow. I'm loving these jeweled tones and working within the constraints of gluing down one strip at a time--side by side--watching a pattern emerge. It's kind of therapeutic and I found myself falling into a meditative trance while working on this piece. Kind of like the time lapse video I watched recently of Buddhist monks creating a mandala. Hmmmmm. Anyhow, I really think this piece has a "Chinese restaurant" vibe going for it right now. We'll see where it ends up in a few days.

Doll House no 336

Doll house no 336 was completed over the weekend and is now available in the shop. I kept my camera on hand while working on the piece so I could share a few images of my process with you.

The image I chose to adorn this doll house was taken from an obstetrics manual published in 1884. It is a diagram illustrating the blood vessels of the female pelvis.

Once the image is adhered to the front of the doll house I collage the other surfaces with old pattern tissue.

Piles and snippets of pattern tissue take over my workspace when I'm working on these pieces.

Finishing up the back of the piece with one last section of pattern tissue.

After the piece dries overnight a dark patina is applied to the entire surface and the doll house is ready to varnish and display in the shop.

Assemblage Composition

When I create small assemblage pieces I like to plan out several at once. This way I can move from one to the other while paint is drying and resin is curing. These are some of the pieces composed over the weekend. Now I just have to figure out the best way each component should be joined together. They will be in the shop later on in the week.

Collage in Progress

Today has been one of those days.
A sketchbook collage in progress.
Yes, I always make a huge mess when I work.