It’s a collaboration, done by myself and five other artists. Our group was one of three and we worked under the expert direction and with the support of arlee barr through a Yahoo group. The artists are Paula Phillips of Massachusetts, Betty Donahue of Alabama, Anne Marie Desaulniers of Ontario, Carol Taylor of Wales and Nellie Durand of Michigan.

This project is based on the concept of Exquisite Corpses which is a round robin collaboration where each area is covered up before going to the next person. There are only minor hints given as to how it should be done and no one knows what the finished product will be like until the end when it’s all uncovered! This can and has been done not only with visual arts but also writing.

In this round, we were instructed to draw an overall design on a piece of fabric and then to visually divide the piece into six parts.

Most people did this as a grid but I am not a fan of straight lines, so I did free-form divisions. (I now know that the lines should be basted by hand as the machine stitching leaves indelible holes! I did mine on a deep green fabric and asked that some of the background show through. We were only allowed to give minimal hints with colour preferences. I asked for saturated, vivid colours plus metallic bronze and gold with no white. We could send along tiny bits of fabric (no more than 2X2 inches) or thread that the others could incorporate if they were so moved. In mine, you’ll see a teal coloured fabric on several of the areas.

Once the design was done, the originator chose one of the sections and filled it in with stitching, fabric collage, beading, embroidery, whatever our textile-style is. After finishing each section we basted a piece of covering fabric over it—front and back—so that the next person would only see what was left of the overall design, not our interpretation of it. We then sent it to the next artist on our list and waited to receive one from the person before us on the list. And so on and so on until we got ours back.

This began in June and ended—for me—when I received my EC back from the last person two days ago. Uncovering all those delights was like a second Christmas. Very fun!

My section (centre)

Anne Marie Desaulniers
(bottom)

Anne Marie did ‘thread painting’ along with gorgeous machine quilting and lots of details

Betty Donahue
(right bottom)

Betty added appliqued flowers and her own machine-embroidered butterfly

Carol Taylor
(top right)

Carol did a complex layering of tissue paper, gesso, paint, embroidery and applique. The leaves are fabric and the stems were embroidered and then painted.

Paula Phillips
(top left)

Paula included dramatic metallic flowers and detailed beading (including a dragonfly!).

Nellie Durand
(left bottom)
Nellie’s techinque is called Ortwork. Bits and pieces are layered under netting and then machine quilted.

As you can see, the work-woman-ship here is outstanding. Each is different stylistically but the whole really works. As the originator, there is an understanding that we can do whatever we like to the end product to integrate each section and make the overall design work. I have a few minor things I want to do but the amazing thing is that they are minor. As a whole, this piece has such impact and is so fun and rich!

I loved doing this project so much that I’ve signed up for the next one—due to start in a couple of weeks. I found that it did many things for me. One of my goals last year was to get away from my computer. This project gave me a reason and an excuse to do that. Each section is small and therefore do-able! and there’s a deadline. I also like that there are guidelines but only minor ones so that you have a lot of freedom to do what you like. Since getting my EC back, I’m still learning from seeing up-close the techniques that the others used. I’ll definitely be trying some of them out for the next round.

The most excruciating part of it is that we can’t post any photos of any of it until it’s done. For that reason, I’ll be posting lots of photos of the last one. Next you’ll see the sections I did for my group and, hopefully, their end products as well.

Here’s the link to the group’s blog: Exquisite Corpse Textiles

I’m brimming with ideas and creative urgency. I know I can’t/won’t get it all done but while things are percolating, I want to get some of it down.

I began a short story yesterday. It’s an idea that came to me over the holidays which, in and of itself, is something to celebrate! (getting an idea while busy doing lots of non-writing activities!)

While driving to and from Maine (and a wonderful Christmas with my younger son and gorgeous granddaughter!) I thought and thought and thought about it. Thinking about a story and writing it are two different things. But I’ve also learned that thinking it through is most advantageous. I believe that in the past I’ve sometimes been too eager to begin too soon. I’m still a bit uncertain about the unfolding of this tale, but nonetheless, I’ve begun and am excited about it.

I’ve signed up for a second round of Exquisite Corpse! Yay. That’s all I can say: yay!

I’m thinking of writing and illustrating some books for Cadi, my three and a half year old granddaughter. Um. Perhaps I should change that to A book.
Having been involved in the process of online publishing (see Third Person Press) makes me realize that I can do this for her, for myself and for very little money. And who knows where that might lead. Children’s books were an interest a long time ago and one that I studied and worked at for a long time. It would be good to get back to it. I have several ideas in the percolator.

A book about the house we live in. This has been an idea since we moved here. The house is old, we know a lot of the history of it and it’s interesting! I’ve been approached by a friend/historian/writer about it. He is doing a book about an old house on the island that has been in his wife’s family for many many years and has two houses other than mine that he’d like to see a book on. In other words, a series.

I’ve been thinking about it and know that my style of book would be completely different from a historian’s. But here’s what I’m thinking of including: some of my *artsy* photos of details of the house and yard, short personal essays, historical essays, and historical fiction, maybe a poem or two, maybe drawings and perhaps some transcripts of interviews with a woman named Georgie who grew up in the house. That sounds long but I think I would have to be extremely selective. Some of the fictional parts are necessary because 1) I write fiction and 2) there are gaps in our historical knowledge of the house and 3) filling in those gaps with conjecture would make the project fun to write and more fun to read!

So we’ll just have to see about that. It’s a huge project and I have no idea if my vision of it would be acceptable for this particular series of books. But it’s a definite maybe.

Then there’s that unfinished novel from last November…….

This must be done: I have two stories that are CLOSE to being ready to send out to possible publishers. I must do quick revisions, maybe give them to someone to review and get them out!

See other stories about and photos of our old house
Putting on a new roof: http://nancywaldman.net/2007/07/25/the-up-side-of-outside/
The White Lilac Fact/Fairy Tale: http://nancywaldman.net/2007/06/20/of-things-dreamed-of/
Near-by Fires and what I learned about what’s most important: http://nancywaldman.net/2007/05/17/weather-or-not/

I got away from blogging and even writing for The PCQ last year. I do not feel apologetic about it however. That’s because 2008 was one of the most successfully creative and full of my life.

One of the reasons for this is collaboration. Two of the projects that took a lot of my time were done with other creative people…some local and others far-flung.

The local one was the time-consuming and totally exciting collaboration between myself and fellow writers, Sherry Ramsey and Julie Serroul. Under the auspices of our Third Person Press, we spent untold hours reading, editing, talking about, re-editing, and polishing fourteen stories for our first release: Undercurrents. The process was enriching on many different levels. Most importantly: our friendship and respect for one another was deepened. Secondly, I learned so much not only about editing but also about writing. I felt that I was immersed in the short story for the year and it was good. I learned how difficult it is to write an excellent story! There are many pitfalls. But I also renewed my experience that with diligence, these are problems that can be corrected and good stories will rise up out of those pits.

The book was launched very successfully at the beginning of December. The promotional part of this project has been the hardest for all of us. We’re writers, not promoters! But we did it and are learning about that—as with all of this—as we go. Sales through December were way in excess of what we expected and we hope to continue to sell books through the year and beyond. See the previous post for a promotional video that Sherry put together.

Oh and I must mention that my two partners were kind enough to let me do the cover design! It was SO fun and a lot of people have commented on how much they like it. We don’t necessarily want people to judge our book by its cover but we don’t really mind if they buy it because of it! Again, I learned so much from doing it.

Further good news is that we enjoyed the process enough that we’re talking about the next one. JUST talking!

In addition to writing and revising (at least 12 times) a story for the anthology, I also wrote two others, entered a Writer’s Federation contest (no, I didn’t win anything but I was happy to get something sent off!) and began a YA novel that I—so far—love.

The other creative collaboration was a fiber art round robin done under the direction of arlee barr. This was the second round (I didn’t participate in the first) of an Exquisite Corpse project. Each person drew a design on a piece of fabric and divided it into six sections. We ‘filled in’ one section with fabric artistry and then covered it up and sent it to the next person on our list (Hi Anne Marie in Ontario!). They did the same and so on and so on until each one finally came back to the originator. Then we each got/get to uncover all the artistry and see what the results are!

I have yet to get mine…but I understand it’s in the mail (Hi Carol in Wales!) Ones I’ve seen so far have been amazing and beautiful. But again, more importantly, the process has been so good for me. I’ve never done anything like this, though I’ve always loved fabric, fiber art and have done many many kinds over the years. For me, it meant getting away from the computer and doing art. Each piece is small and doable and there’s a deadline which means I couldn’t let it go or get too busy. It was perfect! Thank you arlee and all the members of my group for a perfectly delightful creative endeavour. I loved it no matter what the end product looks like. And speaking of that, it’s been a bit excruciating not to be able to post photos of the work as I’ve done it! More posts will follow with the work and links to the other artist’s sites. Here’s arlee’s exquisite corpse blog.

Here’s one of my piece before I sent it to anyone else:

I was totally caught off guard by how many things there were to learn about designing clothes in SL. I’ve been slogging my way up the steep learning curve for the last two months. Now I feel I’ve definitely crested and am enjoying the ride (though I have no doubt there are many other hills in front of me.)

Designing in SL is mainly done off-world on my computer. I use both Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop Elements. Not because I recommend that but because that’s what I have. In fact, my Photoshop Elements is an old version and that’s probably why I need both. It’s working but I have to flip the images back and forth, so a new PS version will have to come my way at some point.

Most of the blouses, pants, regular skirt and jackets are drawn in a graphics program. For that reason, even though I’m spending a lot of time on this SL activity, I’m not logged into SL that much. I’ve learned an amazing amount about using the graphics programs in two months. Many of the formerly mysterious terms (alpha channels, for example) have now become tools of my trade. This has given me an almost daily need for the digital tablet I got last summer. I’m still in the process of learning the trompe l’oeil techniques that make the clothes look *real*—but I’ve come a long way.

There are two other ways of designing SL clothes. The first one is done in-world. In SL, residents build things—the houses they live in, the trees, roads, airplanes, pets—by using basic shapes called “prims” (short for primitives.)

Basic 3-D shapes such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones etc are manipulated and linked to other shapes and texturized to make up what you see in the world. Some clothes are made with prims.
The “flexi skirts” that move with your avatar and react to the physics of the world are constructed in-world. This was another learning curve.

Thirdly, there’s a type of construct that is a combination of a graphics program and in-world build and that’s the sculpted prim. In these, you design a three-dimensional object on your computer, upload it to SL, rez a prim, put the uploaded bit-map into the prim and *voila!* your design appears in SL. I’m still a real beginner at this but it’s good for making accessories to outfits such as belts, scarves, hats and so on. I had great fun making a martini and a top hat to go with a design I call Tuxedo FUNction.

Aplomb having her first martini; the chair she’s sitting in is one of my sculpted prims.

So those are the basics of fashion design in SL. So good-bye for now and I’ll leave you with Aplomb in one of her outfits—looking pretty darned sassy.

Then I disappeared (blog-wise) for over two months. From wading to immersion. Well…that’s how it goes, right?

From my initial apathy to the secondary intrigue to a subsequent and prolonged love-hate relationship, sometime in late March it all became addictive, all-consuming, and just fun. I recently met a newcomer to SL and asked her what she thought of it. She said, “It’s so silly and so profound all at the same time.” This sums up what I feel too. One day I heard or read the phrase, “What do you want to do with your Second Life?” and it hit me in the way that this virtual interface often does. You know it’s not *real* but the question is profound.

If I had a second life and this—silly virtual world that it is—was IT, what would I want to do?

I decided to start designing clothes. Though I’ve never had anything to do with commercial fashion in Real Life (RL), I loved it as a child, was always involved with fabrics because my mother sewed and made our clothes. Eventually, I learned how and made almost everything I wore during my teens through twenties. At that point I had kids (boys!) and we started wearing only jeans and knit shirts and sewing wasn’t fun anymore. So this is a return to an old love. A second childhood, perhaps. A second childhood to go with a second life seems just right.

More soon about my learning curve.

The photo is Aplomb at home in front of a painting done by SL friend, Luta Lussard (and RL friend, Sherry Ramsey). Her shop: A Space to Dream (link coming soon). Aplomb is wearing one of our newest designs from the Art Nouveau line. Once I get ready to *come out* I’ll do another blog/ catalogue for Aplomb’s designs. It and our shop will be called Dress with Aplomb…but I’m not ready yet.

In January, I did an article for The PCQ on Beth Felice who, as Annie Octavia, owns and operates a beautiful art gallery on Second Life called Gallerie Octaviana. In order to see for myself what it was about (she’s been kind enough to include some of my work in two of her shows), I made myself an alter-ego and made my first forays into this virtual world.

My name is Aplomb Pomilio. The name was chosen with tongue firmly in cheeque. I like the word, I like the concept and it’s something that I often do not have in abundance. I’m finding out that in learning how to navigate in a new world, aplomb is scarce. I find that I’m insecure about what to do, who to talk to, where to go. In fact, it’s like every experience I’ve ever had moving to a new place.

Odd, that.

This isn’t “real” and yet, my self, my mind makes it feel very real even unto bringing along very real emotions as I try to find my way in a new *place* among strangers. And this “realness” goes farther. I could have made myself anything I wanted and yet I’m pretty normal looking though young and with a great figure (I’m not foolish enough to pass up a chance at those two things!)

I want to write about this more as I’m finding the experience puzzling, eye-opening and more than anything else revelatory. I’m just not sure yet what it’s revealing!

One thing is sure: I’m absolutely loving the opportunity to play dress-up! As a child, my sister and I played paper dolls. We loved exploring fashion styles and opportunities that we would never get to experience for real. Being in Second Life has taken me back to that childhood delight but with such HUGE differences that it can hardly be over-stated. I have a gorgeous *me* with a great figure. A me that moves, walks, flies (badly), sits (sometimes in the middle of walls and objects), talks and as such, I can dress me up in hundreds of combinations of clothes and accessories—at this point, all for free. I haven’t spent a dime and I’m having so much fun.

My favourite so far: a Purple and Silver outfit. The overskirt is animated, it swirls as I move. The knee-high boots are purple with white designs—FABULOUS!

These days instead of playing a morning computer game or other “getting ready” activity before I settle into real work, I go to Second Life and decide what I’m going to wear for the day. Today, for the first time, I tried out an edgy look (for me and Aplomb, that is).

I also have some normal jeans, sandals and t’s outfits but even those are a lot more fun than what’s in my real closet!

This morning as I was getting dressed for real, I took a little extra care because…well, because if I’m going to take such care in a world that’s not real, I should at least make a little effort where it is.

More soon on groups I’m joining and what that’s like.

I love this little blog. I started it in full expectation of NOT posting often enough and then I did pretty well with it.

I am not a consistent person. Moodiness is so much a part of my genetic make-up that I am always astounded to learn that some people aren’t controlled by their mood-of-the-day. I’m drawn off task by not only moods, but also by the newest shiniest activity that catches my interest. And yet, I almost always return to what I love. And this blog, I love.

It feels like me, she said, shyly.

Fertile, then fallow, quiet without being private or secretive, heart-felt and earnest but with tongue-in-cheek.

Inconsistent. Also ambiguous. Moody.

January was a real up and (mostly) downer. I started an overly ambitious writing project that didn’t last more than two days. That led to a slump which caused me to seek solace in mind-numbing computer games, an obsession from which I haven’t fully recovered. There were other things. Emotional snowfalls began piling on, adding layer after layer of weight. Because it wasn’t a blizzard but a steadily growing accumulation of tiny things, I was unaware of what was happening.

I’m on the mend. Writing this is part of my recovery. I love this blog. I must do it more often and then I will remember other things that I love doing and I will rediscover the path to feeling that. Then, I’m sure, I will also get excited about the next new shiny thing that catches my interest. I can do both when I’m occupying the busy part of my life.

The illustration is of winter taken through the old stained glass panels in the stairwell of our house. Part of it I can see through and part I can’t and that is Like Life.

Hugs all ’round.

It’s going well.

I’m staying on track with the word count. It’s a little scary because I have no cushion but maybe that will come in the loveliness that is (usually; if your lucky and good) Week 2.

What?
We’re already days into Week 2?
oh my.

Yesterday one of those moments we writers live for happened.

I was doing something else. Not writing. Not thinking about writing, though I guess my mind was wandering over the literal landscape of the novel-thus-far, and without warning, an IDEA came. Whew. So great. This idea is so perfectly good and unexpected. It gives me real, plot-driven reasons to continue what I’m doing and will tie this (the third) book into the histories of the first two with such symmetry and excellence that it has left me with the FEELING that I know what I’m doing after all.

HOORAY!!!

It’s all illusion of course (that I know what I’m doing), but we writers don’t care. We love illusion.

Must. Go. Write.

Our Scaffolding,
originally uploaded by nuanc.

Two days ago we finally began again to work on the outside of our old house. This work has been going on so long that we actually purchased our own scaffolding.

Hmmm, come to think of it, that may be the very reason it’s gone on so long. If we were renting scaffolding, you’d better believe that Barry would find the time to work on it!

Either way, it feels great to be back at it. Last year Barry was so swamped with inside work all summer that the only thing we managed to do was move the scaffolding from the back of the house to the front. So it’s been two years since we did any painting and 5 years since we began it.

That first year, we laughed about it taking us so long that the first painting would need to be re-done by the time we got back around to it. We’re not laughing anymore. I think neither of us had any clue that it would take us this long. And the thing is, we’re five years older and not exactly feeling like spring chickens! Who knew that was going to happen?

Our house looked fine on the outside when we bought it six years ago, but it was very plain and had a flat roof. Predictably, that first winter, the roof leaked so Barry, who once made his living from carpentry, decided that he would put on a pitched roof the next summer. We were lucky enough to be able to get our talented and hardworking (!) friends, the Sobers, to help along with two young men (Mike and Andre) from the local trades high school, and the work was [mostly] done by the time winter set in.


The next summer we began to shingle and paint the gables and new roof line. Barry had always loved the wildly painted Victorians in Halifax and San Francisco, so we made our plan, chose our five colours and began on the first big gable.

I named the five gables—which are all different sizes—the granddaddy, mama, papa, teenager and baby gables. As of two years ago, we had finished all five gables and had only a stretch of roof line across the front of the house (see below) that had to be painted (still a complicated paint job, taking four of the five colours, but a breeze compared to the time-consuming gables). Since last summer was a bust for outdoor work, that’s what we’re doing now.

Once this is done, there’s plenty more work.

Our front porch has to be completely re-built! In August we hope to get the foundation and decking of that done. Next summer: the roof of the porch. The next? Painting the porch, including one more gable. And some time in there the bulk of the house has to be painted (it will be the same colour as the shingles of the gables) as well as all the windows. Any sane person would hire at least some of this done but so far, my husband’s sanity is questionable. I think even he, who likes to maintain control of his project, is wavering.

So why isn’t this unending project a drag? I certainly do not relish going up and standing on the top of that scaffolding! It’s something I’ll never get used to. But I am proud that I’ve learned to do it, that I still can do it and that I’ve overcome a certain fear of heights to do it! The main reason that it’s fun to get back to it is that it’s our project. Our house. Our scaffolding. Our colours. Our folly, if you will. The inside of our house is beautifully detailed and preserved. We feel that the outside should be as special.

We know not everyone would agree with our wild paint colours but we don’t have neighbours to offend so there’s no one to answer to. One day it will be finished and will be a show piece. And if that first grandfather gable is peeling by then, so be it. It’s an old house after all.

Before:

After:

Barry’s Patented 6-colour Painting System

I’m impressed with how easily we got back into this painting after a year away from it. Here’s the tricks of painting with six colors (counting the white primer) over 6+ years:

1) Keep the paint (the best quality you can afford) in your house; we have it in the closet under the stairs. You know, like the one Harry Potter had to live in, once upon a time.
2) Good quality paint brushes. We probably spent $25 CA on the four trim colour brushes but they are still perfect after five years. Of course, we are fanatical about cleaning them each time we’re through with them.
3) One colour = one brush. No exceptions.
4) For ease of use on scaffolding, we’ve taken large plastic ice cream containers and made wire handles for them. We pour the paint into a smaller plastic yogurt container (not the tiny ones) and put those into the larger container. When atop near the roof, the handles make it possible to loop the containers over the top of the scaffolding so that you don’t have to hold them while you’re painting. Good for those of us who are wary of Falling Off and need hands to Hold On. I’ve also put them on my belt when there’s no scaffolding handy. When not being used, we have lids for the yogurt containers.
5) One yogurt container = one colour. No exceptions.
6) We use a simple rope and hook and big ol’ plastic bucket to haul things up and down the scaffolding
7) This is totally Barry’s way of doing things. Mine would have been to just use any old brush on any colour and buy new ones next year. I’m proud to be associated with such adaptive compulsiveness. It works!

What it will look like (sort of):

In addition to that fancy camera, I got a computer drawing tablet and pen for my birthday.

I KNOW it’s going to be extremely useful
—especially once I get the hang of it—but so far, all I can think to do is play with it.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

This is one of the things I’ve done. It’s a doodle. An experiment with letters and other marks that could be letters. It was fun to do and as such, it feels as if I’m using my new tool (“For the serious photographer, designer and artist” the package states) as a toy. At what point do I begin to feel serious about it? My husband often asks when inquiring about what I did on a certain day, “Were you working or playing?”

Whew. That’s a tough one to answer. If I enjoy my work, does that mean it’s always play? If I usually enjoy my work but am dealing with a challenging problem, then is it work? Or if I am doing art for no one and no reason, but am frustrated by it, does that mean it’s work? Is doing art for no reason ever anything but play? Where’s the line between a “serious tool” for serious creative types and a toy for someone who’s “just playing?”

Ahh, I don’t care. It’s just my brain playing with words, isn’t it? And some days, that’s what art and work is all about.