Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Retreat 2013! Afternoon of hiking and sketching...

If you have been following along, you know that I had the opportunity to spend a wonderful day at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute yesterday at an art retreat. I, along with about 8 other nature artists, spent time together catching up and creating some new artwork. We had a fantastic introductory class in etching with PCCI's first artist-in-residence, Doet Boersma. Read about it in my previous post.

After our etching class and a tasty lunch, we all spent the afternoon hiking the many trails at PCCI, sketching and painting whatever caught our attention. After such a long winter, it was a pleasure to have temperatures in the 60s and lots of sun! The woods are just starting to bud and spring plants are beginning to bloom.

I decided to hike one of the easier trails so I had plenty of time for drawing as I spotted wildflowers or other interesting subjects.

Three of us headed down toward the boardwalk behind the visitor's center, passing many,  pretty little spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) along the trail. These delicate, pink-striped flowers are among the first to pop up through the leaf litter each spring.

 


As we headed onto the boardwalk, I spotted a few blooming marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris). I missed the chance to sketch them last time I was here, so I set my gear down and decided to do a little drawing.

 

















Marsh marigold sketches are in graphite at the top of the page. Another plant that we saw everywhere was skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). They have some really interesting shapes and colors, so I had to stop and capture those, too. I ended up doing graphite and added colored pencil on top. Not the best combo, since it gets muddy and smears. But I wanted to add some color to indicate the deep maroon next to the light yellow-green in the same plant. 

In the swampy area near the rest of the skunk cabbage, I did a quick sketch of a tree with bright green moss growing by the roots. I chose to use gray toned paper for this one.

 

 Tree with skunk cabbage growing all around.

 My quick sketch on toned paper. I didn't do a great amount of detail, but really wanted to capture a bit of the moss.

 










I made my way up the blue trail to the Maple and Beech forest next. This is one of my favorite spots and one I visited before. The beech trees look so beautiful and delicate, especially the smaller ones, with their papery white leaves rustling in the breeze. 

Along this whole area, the forest floor is covered in leaf litter and other winter debris, but up throughout all of those leaves, sometimes growing right through them, are the spring wildflowers. I saw trout lily (Erythronium americanum) leaves everywhere, but only one blossom so far. My guess is that in the next week or two, that area will be bright with the curling stems and yellow blossoms. 


 





I also spotted more spring beauties and some clumps of light purple flowers that are slightly bigger than spring beauties. They also have a wonderful, hairy white stem. I believe these are hepatica. 
 

I found one with its three-lobed leaves intact and did some sketching on the same toned gray paper as the tree I did earlier. 

After I finished this study, I simply enjoyed walking the rest of the trail, looking for more flowers and listening to the birds singing. 

My last interesting find was right at the edge of the trail as it came out of the maple and beech forest into the prairie section. It was sunny on the path and I had my walking stick with me, as usual. I was studying the left side of the trail for wildflowers and heard a rustling off to my right. I stopped and saw a thick snake, about 14 inches long, with light tan and brown markings. 

It blended in perfectly with the surrounding leaf litter. It has stopped and was waiting for me to move on. Can you see it in the photo above? Its head is toward the top of the photo, right in between the sideways "V"-shaped tree branches and has two black patches on either side.

I took my camera out and captured a few photos before moving on. It flared its head out as it waited for me to leave, reminding me of a cobra. I thought it might be the elusive Massasauga rattlesnake, Michigan's only venomous snake. 

However, further research when I returned home revealed this to actually be an eastern hog-nosed snake. It is often mistaken for the Massasauga rattlesnake. Those dark head markings really clarified it for me - in any photos you see, the Massasauga has more of a striped appearance. Also, I read that the hog-nosed snake tends to flare its head when disturbed. Either way, a rare and beautiful sighting!

We finished the day by gathering in Doet's studio again to pick up our etching prints that we created earlier in the day and exchange business cards and contact information. I am so glad to have had the chance to visit PCCI and my artist friends, even if just for one day. I look forward to returning again!

Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Retreat 2013! How I spent the morning...

I had an opportunity to return to Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (PCCI) in Hastings, MI yesterday for an artist's retreat. I had a terrific time and met a great group of artists two years ago when we went.

Many of the same folks and a few new ones gathered again this weekend. I was only able to go for the day, but it was a gorgeous day. Temperatures were in the high 60s and the sun was shining. Fabulous after this long, cold winter! I managed to get some good sketching done and also had a surprise workshop from the first PCCI artist-in-residence, Doet Boersma. 

I arrived to PCCI at 9 a.m. and the day simply flew by. We started the day by heading to Doet's studio. She is an amazing artist and so generous to share her knowledge, time and equipment with us. A gracious host, she made sure we had our coffee or tea before we started! Then she proceeded to give us a quick class on etching (technically, drypoint - using an etching press to make prints.) We each chose a drawing or photo - either something from our sketchbook or a photo of our own from online that we printed out. I chose to work with one of my magnolia photos that I took last summer in South Carolina.

From there, we each cut a small piece of plastic binding cover material and chose an etching tool, which could be anything from a screwdriver to a scratchboard point or whatever hard-tipped scratching tool you prefer, as long as you can scratch your design into the plastic. The focus is on scratching the dark areas of the design as the print will be done in reverse, e.g., whatever you scratch the most will retain the most ink and print the darkest.

It turns out that my choice was a little ambitious since there is a good bit of dark background around the magnolia blossom and within the leaves. However, I plugged away and managed to get something decent to work with on the press.

Once our designs were finished being scratched into the plastic, Doet showed us how to choose various ink colors, with darker ones working best, roll them out and coat the plastic or "plate", working ink into the scratched areas with our gloved fingers, if needed. After wiping the excess ink off, we held the plates up to the light to see where we wanted to remove or add a little more ink. Using cotton swabs, I was able to take more ink off of the white flower to bring more light into the design.


Once we finished inking, we took a piece of water-soaked cotton rag paper that we prepared earlier and placed it onto a scrap piece of paper on the etching press. Carefully, I centered my etching ink-side down on the damp paper and put another scrap piece on top. I rolled the blanket layers down and then cranked the press to create a print. You can reuse the plate again and again, applying more ink, different colors, choosing to darken or lighten areas depending on how your print comes out.

My first print included mainly some green ink and turned out alright, but I wanted to tweak it some more.

 

First of 3 "magnolia" prints.

For my second print, I  added some brown ink to the background and darker areas, but clearly did not incorporate it as well!
 

 Second of 3 "magnolia" prints. 

My final print turned out the best, I think. I incorporated some reddish-brown ink and pulled out some highlights in the flower and bud a bit more. The sepia tones really compliment the magnolia as the back of the actual leaves is a rich, red-brown color.

 

  Final of 3 "magnolia" prints. 

It was such a fun process! Once we all did our first print, you could feel the creative energy rising in the room as people started thinking of how they wanted to tweak their prints, bustling about for more paint, wiping their plates to get the right amount of ink and "dirt" in the background. Everyone did at least 3, some 4 or 5. It was a productive few hours! Great to learn more about this traditional craft.

We left the prints to dry while we took a lunch break and spent the afternoon outdoors. Stay tuned for my next post with photos and sketches from the afternoon hike!

Happy Easter! And an intro to pysanky...

Happy Easter!

Khristos Voskres! (Christ is Risen!)

  

Wishing all of my readers a very Happy Easter and give you a little information on an ancient art form called pysanky. Many of you may be familiar with this beautiful tradition, but if not, there is a fantastic article that was in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently that can give you the details:

We have been doing the regular young-kid egg dyeing projects, but this year was the first year I was able to introduce my girls (ages 5 and 3) to pysanky. I am of Ukrainian heritage and learned this from my aunt and mother when I was just a bit older than they are now. 

It's been years since I have made them myself, but I am looking forward to doing them in years to come with my kids.

Although we weren't quite ready to mess around with the permanent dyes typically used for this, I decided to dig out the kistkas (wax writing styluses) and beeswax to give my girls a little introduction into how it is done.

I started by 'writing' a few dividing lines around the egg to show them, and then let them each try a little scribbling with the wax. They loved it.

Here is my older daughter giving the kistka a try.

Do you have any Easter art traditions in your family?

I hope that you enjoy this beautiful day!

25% off Sale!

I am finally running a sale! 

Select items in my Etsy shop are currently 

25% off!

There are some great deals here, just in time for spring and short sleeves!

Check out a couple of the 20+ items currently on sale:

This gorgeous triple wrap features shimmering 4mm round Pietersite stone beads. Also known as eagle’s eye, this rare variation of tiger’s eye contains shades of rich browns, coppery reds, cream and a surprising gray/blue. The stones are wrapped in 1.8mm bronze metallic leather with an antiqued gold button closure. Fits petite to medium wrist when wrapped 3 times.

This adjustable pendant features a gorgeous, large Mookaite jasper nugget in a deep goldenrod color with dark brown markings. This earthy design is finished off with dark brown metallic and cream glass beads. The stones are attached to 1mm dark brown, waxed cotton cord with dark brown S-Lon thread and two adjustable sliding knots allow the wearer to choose up to an 18” length (36" cord) when fully extended.

So, stop on by and look around, you just might find a great bargain!

Check back often for new items, too!  
 

New! Silk and Stone Wrap Bracelets

What's new in the shop these days? 

Well, after a busy holiday season and getting through some January colds and viruses, I had a bit of a drought when it came to new items for the shop. Feeling better this month, I was anxious to get back to my jewelry table! I have some wonderful supplies and was looking for new ways to combine them.

I dug out these beautiful, hand dyed, 100% silk ribbons that I ordered a few months ago. Silk wrap bracelets in various forms are popular right now, and I wanted to see what I could create that was just a little different than the many offerings currently out there.

I came up with what I call a 'Tribal Twist' Silk and Stone Wrap Bracelets. With a little bit of s-lon beading thread and some Czech seed beads, I strung stone rounds and nuggets in 6mm-8mm sizes, knotting the ribbon in between, to create comfortable, light and colorful wrap bracelets.

The beauty of these is the variety of stones and sizes I can create. I can add more beads for a shorter wrap, or a few less to fit larger wrists. All of the ones I have created so far will fit anywhere from a petite to large wrist size, wrapping three times around for most, twice for a larger wrist.

I am having a great time choosing stones and silks to pair up, so look for more of these in the coming weeks!

Crazy Lace Agate Pink Silk and Stone Wrap

 

Packaged on a bracelet card shows how it can look on the wrist. 

 

Fossil Coral Jasper Brown Silk and Stone Wrap

 

Labradorite Navy Silk and Stone Wrap.

Website Redesign!

One of the many things on my to-do list has been to update my main website. 

I use FolioLink, an artist and photographer website provider, and have for several years now. They provide great service and offer a good selection of templates. I have used the Berlin template for a number of years. It is clean and straightforward, but I was getting tired of it and looking for an update. I also have added the jewelry and craft side of my business, so the number of info pages and portfolios I wanted to include were crowding my navigation a bit in the old template (see the portfolio links at the top and the info pages at the bottom?):

 
I periodically looked for a new template, but never quite found what I wanted until they released Auckland (HTML) last year.

It actually took much less time than I thought to adjust my content to the new template and I basically worked on it over the last couple of weeks. It offers a slightly bigger image size for my portfolios (always a good thing when viewing artwork), and I really like the sliding menu on the left. It keeps the main content pane cleaner for viewing and then the user can always go to the left (or use the arrow navigation at the bottom) to move to another section. I an also add more info pages or portfolios without crowding out the navigation scheme.

 Main page

Sliding Menu

I think what I like most about this is that I could do it myself. A few emails to FolioLink and their prompt replies allowed me to tweak the template to match my color scheme and really capture the look I wanted for my site.

So, have a look at the new site here and feel free to sign the guestbook!

http://www.ccreechstudio.com

Have you redesigned your website recently? Or are you still waiting to get to that? :) What did you find easiest or most difficult about the process?

Budding Botanist? And a few sketches...

It has been waaaaay too long since I have done any botanical drawing. But just this morning, I took some time to grab my pencil and some paper to do a little sketching.

I can thank my older daughter, who is 5, for this for two reasons, 1) she loves to have us pick up a bunch of flowers at the store every so often so we bought a bouquet of spray roses over the weekend, and 2) they are starting to shrivel, so she asked to take apart some petals this morning before school.

I trimmed off a few flowers and buds and my little scientist (or budding botanist?) started peeling away the petals into a pile. The resulting stem, sepals, stamen and pistils were brought into the light of day and were begging to be sketched.

I love the curve of the sepals and the sharp point they come to at the tips. Although I am out of practice (my shading ended up a bit heavier than I intended...) it felt terrific to finally get back to it.

View from underneath the stems and sepals.

View from the side of the sepals, with some beautiful curling as well as a great view of the cluster of stamens and pistils at the center of the blossom.

 

The holidays and winter colds can really put a dent in any available creative time. Have you had any projects you have been away from and returned to recently? 

2012 Year In Review and Looking Forward - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2013! 

Welcome to CCreech Studio's 2012 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2013

I have seen similar posts on other artist's sites and thought this would be a great way to start the new year. 2012 was a busy year, creatively, and this is a great way to recall just how much was accomplished and take a look forward to what I hope to pursue in the coming year. So, let's take a look!

2012 Year In Review

1. I opened my Etsy shop almost one year ago, in January 2012
• I had 23 sales (of 30 items) in shop, but also about 30-40 additional sales outside of the shop, including sales made at booths throughout the year.
• My offerings started with leather wrap bracelets made with natural gemstones, but quickly expanded to include:
• Blank, hand-bound journals
• Jotter journals with reprints of my nature and botanical artwork.
• Natural stone pendants, most of which are on waxed cotton cord as an alternative to leather.
• Hand-knotted, macrame and gemstone bookmarks 
2. Advertised in a national magazine, FOLKMagazine.
• Participated in their Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway, donating one of my bookmarks that was given to a lucky winner.
3. Participated in three, in-person booth craft/gift shows 
• Saline Farmer’s Market (August 2012)
•  10^th Annual Kerrytown BookFest (September 2012)
• 1^st Annual Holiday Greens & Gift Market in Kerrytown (December 2012)
4. Consignment opportunities:
1. I am fortunate to have items from my shop on consignment at two local shops/galleries:
• Dexter Picture Frame Company
• Uniquely Yours Michigan
5. My first exhibit!
• The exhibit, "Illustrating Science: From Anatomy to Zoology", showcased scientific illustrations on a range of subjects, done by local illustrators. Four of my botanical illustrations were on display during June-July 2012 at the Ann Arbor District Library.
  
6. Drawing projects
• I had three commissions this year:
• Ink house portrait
• Ink portrait of a cat (Beacon)
• Landscape in ink and colored pencil.
7. Donated a bracelet for the 8th Annual Circle of Art benefit for Food Gatherers, a local food bank.
8. Donated a hand-bound journal to the American Society of Botanical Artists annual auction.
9. The indiexhibit
• Participated in the American Music Awards with two display items that were gifted.
• Participated in providing mugs and jewelry to three film projects being completed in the coming months.

2013 Goals

1. Keep creating!
2. Continue to add to the Etsy shop
• More hand-bound mini-journals with natural gemstones, silk wraps, and more.
• I enjoy creating blank ones for a variety of creative uses, including art, writing, photos, etc.
• Develop an idea for a journal format that a friend described to me last year.
• More bookmarks, bracelets, and pendants; including finding new stones to use, state-specific stones.
3. Participate in 1-2 booth shows
4. Continue my partnership with FOLKMagazine. for 3 of the 6 issues this year:
• I will have ads in the first three issues:
• Issue IX Winter 2013
• Issue X Spring 2013
• Issue XI Summer 2013
5. Continue consignment opportunities.
6. Create wholesale price sheet and look into wholesale opportunities.
7. Continue participating in The indiexhibit events as opportunities arise. It is a fun way to get a different angle of exposure and have my creations in different venues.
• Participating in the gift lounge at the Academy Awards ceremony (The Oscars) 2013 in February.
8. Participate in the 9th Annual Circle of Art benefit.
9. Draw more! I had some commissions, but did not really do much sketching or drawing last year. This year I *will* do more! :)
• Botanical and nature art - both sketches and finished pieces. I would love to do a few 'sketching' days at the local botanical garden.
• House portrait of my own house.
• Other commissions that come along.
10. Seek out other exhibit opportunities.
11. Attend the American Society of Botanical Artists conference in Pittsburgh in the fall.

So there it is! I am sure I will add to this list as the year goes on, but this certainly looks like a great start!

Do you have any creative goals for the coming new year? I'd love to hear about them.