Tag Archives: Susan Abbott

Four Ways To Add Color To Stick Season

I think it’s safe to say that the last gasp of summer is now behind us. That fact, paired with the latest COVID restrictions on social interactions here in Vermont, point to more time for reading and digging into creative outlets, online and otherwise.

November Trees

It’s a time when we can all use a bit more color in our day-to-day, so I thought I’d share a few of the things that have brightened my outlook:

I’ve been enjoying the American Craft Council’s weekly post “The Queue”. It’s a series of interviews with 2020 ACC Awards honorees, often including a short video of the artist. The ACC is a wonderful resource; I encourage you to spend some time exploring the Stories section of their website. The satirical sculptures of recently featured Bob Trotman caught my eye several years ago, so I was happy to become reacquainted with his work on a deeper level via “The Queue”. With a background in philosophy, not art, Trotman was originally most interested in studying the idea of the individual. But as he developed an art career, his concerns turned toward examining the machinations of society. As a result, his artistic commentary is largely aimed toward money and power in America.
Considering the unprecedented behavior we have been witnessing from our out-going president and his enablers, Trotman’s powerful voice is more resonate than ever.
Another resource that delicately walks the line between delightful and educational is Vermont painter Susan Abbott’s Painting Notes Blog. Always enriching without being didactic, Susan shares her extensive knowledge of art history from both a visual and personal angle. She shines a contemporary light upon the artists and works that have gone before us, and who have laid a path for us to follow. If you’re interested in book suggestions from Susan, look for her generous response to my question at the very end of the comments section of this post.
Beginning with the lock-down last spring, several major textile organizations joined forces to offer weekly “Textile Talks” — video presentations and panel discussions that surround a huge variety of subjects related to textile art.
All can be accessed via YouTube.
The recent “creative discussion” between color icon Kaffe Fassett and his niece Erin Lee Gafill covers their personal history as well as the habit they’ve developed of painting side-by-side. They’ve recently released a book of these parallel works called Color Duets. Anyone who knows and admires Fassett’s work and his long, illustrious career will enjoy the conversation. Particularly inspiring is the way Fassett straddles different media while maintaining the consistent thread (sorry for the pun) of color.
And finally, if you too are a student of color, you know it’s hard to beat a garden – flower or vegetable – for the lessons it can teach. Our beds may be all buttoned up for the winter, but even as the snow flies we can dream about next year’s glory…while learning a thing or two along the way. Two resources that will be scratching the color itch for me this winter are Darroch and Michael Putnam’s Flower Color Guide and the Floret Flowers website. There are plenty of lessons to be gleaned from each, but perhaps more importantly during these crazy, stressful days, they both offer pure, visual delight.

Flower Color Guide

❖

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I can’t let the occasion pass without saying how grateful I am that you choose to join me here every other week, sharing your ideas and comments along the way. Please accept the suggestions above as a token of my gratitude. Be well and wear your mask. We’re all in this together.

Linda ©2020 Elizabeth Fram, Ink, graphite, and colored pencil on paper, 11 x 8.8 inches. It’s always fun to see what each person chooses to include in the selfie they send me, because it’s a further window into who they are. Linda made the paper batik behind her and I think it’s an apt reflection of her bright spirit. All 13 pieces in my COVID-19 Selfie series can be seen together on my website.

The Wisdom of Orchids and Octopuses

I had so hoped that this guy would be finished in time for this week’s post, but it’s been too short a week in the studio and I’m just not quite there yet. You will see the reason for this next week, but in the meantime, I’m reassured by some unexpected wisdom, surprisingly learned from my five orchids.

In process © Elizabeth Fram

It wasn’t until we moved to Vermont that I could even keep an orchid alive. I’m sure a good part of that new-found luck is due to the wonderful light we have in this house. Because they seem to be happy in this environment, I’ve been able to watch my orchids pass through several cycles of their various stages of growth.

In process © Elizabeth Fram

I guess you can find a parallel for anything if you take the time to notice. As I was watering said beauties on Sunday, fretting about how little time I would have in the following days to finish up this piece, it occurred to me while looking at the tiny buds that will gradually develop into a spray of beautiful, long-lasting blooms, that there is much to be valued in things that evolve slowly.

In process © Elizabeth Fram

Too often we’re in a rush to get “there” — for the art to be finished, for the flower to bloom — rather than savoring measured growth by relaxing into the various layers of process along the way. But there’s no hurrying with an orchid; it isn’t in a hurry to arrive, and it isn’t in a hurry to leave, which is another characteristic that makes it so special.

Hindsight is teaching me that unless there is a looming deadline, it is often best in the long run when circumstances are such that I can’t charge ahead full-speed. Forced “intermissions” provide time for reflection and the distance necessary to see aspects of a piece I might otherwise have missed.

Orchid

So with that in mind, I’m easing up on any negative sense that I am lagging behind on this piece and instead am learning to embrace the deliberate advantages to be found when things unfold more slowly.

❖

I’ve been so happy to see that Susan Abbott is posting to her Painting Notes blog weekly. Her posts are a wonderful combination of art history, art theory, personal studio experiences and gorgeous art — her own and that of a multitude of masters. Susan’s teaching skills (which I happily benefitted from in a sketchbook workshop last fall) shine through in her writing. Without being didactic, she shares her wide knowledge while humbly managing to sprinkle in plenty about the challenges she regularly faces as she works. It’s a great reminder that we’re all in the same boat. I guarantee you’ll not only be inspired, but you’ll walk away feeling all the richer for what you have learned.

10 Best Finds From 2018

This year I have finally surrendered to the fact that December is a period of limited hands-on studio work. There are just too many holiday details and business-related organizational tasks that need to get done so, rather than beating myself up over lack of production, I’m going to embrace that approach and actually write it into my plan for 2019.

For one who straddles left brain/right brain thinking rather than falling solidly into either camp, I’m actively working to accept the reality of December in a positive way — not least for the comfortable element of rhythm it contributes to the year’s end. Among many other things, this final week of the year caps off thirty-one days of reflection about the past eleven months – what worked and what didn’t, and of course plenty of excitement as I look ahead.

Mulling over 2018, here are the “10 Best” that I either found or was introduced to this year:

Stonehenge paper – This reasonably-priced workhorse is acid-free, 100% cotton, and comes in sheets or pads. It accepts a variety of media, wet and dry. I like its smooth surface and solid weight.
Saral Transfer paper – As I wrote in my March 8th post, I learned about this product from Michelle Kingdom’s interview on textileartist.org. It’s a great option for transferring an image to fabric. Because it’s available in both light and dark colors, it is possible to use with either dark or light fabrics. The only con is that it is extremely fugitive (a good thing in the long run), so you have to handle the transferred image very gingerly so as not to rub it off too early.
I learned about jazz musician Tommy Flanagan from one of my life drawing mates. Find him on Pandora or Spotify for hours of fabulous background music for drawing, writing, or just plain thinking!
What would I do without podcasts to listen to throughout long stretches of stitching? Here are three that have become my new “go-to’s”:
- But That’s Another Story with Will Schwalbe. Asking the question ‘can one story change the course of your life?’ these one-on-one discussions cover the moments and the books that most affected each creative interviewee (mostly writers).
- Just The Right Book! with Roxanne Coady. As a bookseller with an online book subscription service by the same name, Coady caters to individual tastes. Her podcast is a series of in-depth discussions with authors that are much more than a mere recap of their writings. Try this fascinating episode with author/historian Joseph Ellis: What the Founding Fathers Would Say About America Today
- Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. If you’ve read any of Gladwell’s books you will appreciate his penchant for above-and-beyond research. This series reinterprets something from the past: a person, event or idea…something, as Gladwell puts it, overlooked or misunderstood.
My Modern Met – A feast of art and design
Sun Star Delde Slide Pen Pouch – This little number is compact, yet I can fit 36 colored pencils in it — and then some. It has a water-resistant lining with a pocket, and the best feature is it doubles as a mobile stand-up holder.
HAND/EYE Magazine – Yes, I’m biased because they recently published my article Paying Attention, but I hadn’t heard of HAND/EYE before the editor contacted me, so I had no idea what I was missing. Because of the brevity of the articles, it’s perfect for dipping into for a quick read and it’s a tremendous resource for learning about the wide scope of though-provoking work currently being made.
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit – This was the first book I read in 2018 and, aside from art books, it is the only one of the many that followed it that I expect to return to in 2019. It is beautiful literary non-fiction that balances feeling both personal and universally resonate in the connections it draws between us all. I plan to reread it slowly and considerately.

As a parting shot, should you need a boost as you deliberate how to manifest your creative aspirations next year, read Vermont painter Susan Abbott’s inspiring post ‘Choices’.

Best wishes for your creative and productive 2019!

Traveling With Your Sketchbook

I think Vermont is beautiful at all times of the year, but these past short weeks of peak fall foliage take the cake.

We had two days of upper 70’s weather last week — perfect for enjoying the colors of fall while clearing out the last of the tender veggies in order to get the garlic bed ready for planting.

Such beautiful scenery made the hour-long drive each way / each day this past weekend, to an eagerly anticipated workshop given by Susan Abbott at the Highland Center for the Arts, anything but tedious.

The Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro is a beautiful venue/resource. It’s mission is to provide “a balanced, year-round schedule of locally and nationally sourced performances, exhibitions, and events suited to serving the residents and artists of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom”. Lucky for us, you don’t have to live in the Kingdom to enjoy it.

Around a decade ago I discovered the expansiveness of the art blogosphere. Susan’s paintings/blog/sketchbooks were among several* that opened the world of drawing back up for me in a major way. I don’t attend many workshops, but when this one on Travel Sketchbooks surfaced, I was eager to sign up.

©2018 Elizabeth Fram, 5 x 30 inches, Ink and Watercolor on Paper. One of Susan’s tricks is to take a sheet of watercolor paper, cut it into 4 strips and then accordion fold the strip into equal sections. The result is a mini-sketchbook that is small enough to tuck into a pocket.

It was cold, windy, and rainy our first day, so rather than venturing outside, we took advantage of Ethan Hubbard’s striking black and white photographs of “Old-Time Vermonters” in the gallery of the art center as a way to practice capturing a human form quickly and concisely. Paired with Susan’s slides of Greensboro architecture, we had a taste of creating a sense of unity between a diverse images.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day – perfect for being outside. We were warmly welcomed at the Laggis Bros. Farm by human and canine owners alike. With 500 or so Jersey cows who didn’t seem to mind our attention, plus 1500 acres of beautiful farmland vistas stretching into the distance, we had the best of all worlds at our disposal for practice.

©2018 Elizabeth Fram, 5 x 10 inches, Ink and Watercolor on Paper This and the sketch above are both two-panel sections of another accordion sketchbook. Each square was drawn individually, which explains why the barn to the left of the milk truck is cut off abruptly. I tried to carry some element of each panel into the next to give a sense of continuity.

It was a productive couple of days and Susan was quite generous with her wisdom.
We were immersed in the discussion and practice of contour and gestural drawing, negative space, page design, color theory and the idea of weaving a narrative throughout. All that, sprinkled with art history and plenty of examples by famous and not-so-famous sketchers to study, among friendly workshop mates, made for a fun & rewarding weekend.

*Inspiring sketch artists I discovered all those years ago whose work you may enjoy too are:

Laura Frankstone of Lauralines – look at her galleries over the years
Danny Gregory
Katherine Tyrell of Making a Mark
France Van Stone of Wagonized
Amanda Kavanagh – I’ve linked here to the sketchbook page of her website

I’m as big a sucker for baby animals as anyone. Who could resist this day-old calf, snuggled in its home-made blanket sewn by the farmer?