The Art of Making New Varieties of Art

It's been a happening week around here, with three different art projects, one of them a new art form entirely, the other two new techniques in classes at Gilda's Club in Louisville.

Monday I made a stepping stone that includes glass globs (the blue bits around the outside), bits of detritus picked up while walking the dogs, three bullet casings, and what I think was originally a pendant.  I picked that piece up at a yard sale 10 or 15 years ago.

Tuesday I started a book art project in a 5-week workshop.  It's only just begun, but I brought it home lest it get lonely without me. I may glue some pages together before the next class session, because this book has -- oh, I don't know -- 50 pages?  100?

Turns out that after I did the cover, painted most of the inside right-hand pages, and wrote a few words here and there that I want to do a sustained narrative . . . but not 100 pages worth, stamping them one letter at a time.  Not even 50 pages.  I'll let you know what ends up feeling right.

Thursday I did this sunflower painting using thickened acrylics and a palette knife. Are you as crazy about the textured surface as I am?  I'm looking forward to painting an iris or forty using this technique.

Rounding out the week's lessons, I took my first Tai Chi class on Tuesday.  I enjoyed it more heartily than I do yoga, probably because movement is the task, rather than movement being the tool that allows you to reach a pose.  Joint flexibility and better balance are the benefits that convinced me to try; getting to be Phoenix and Dragon and the other creatures is what will keep me at it.