Category Archives: WIP

WIPs or RIPs

This month EBSQ is hosting a “Work in Progress” themed show. The idea is to actually enter and ‘show-off’ your dusty, old, and abandoned projects that have lost favor in the studio. In fact they must be sitting stagnant for a minimum of six months.

While contemplating which ones I might dig up for this show, I ran across Sharon B’s blog “In a Minute”. She had just reorganized her studio in a take-everything-out-and-put-it-back-in-while-dumping-stuff technique when I found her blog. But apparently she has been documenting her WIPs for quite sometime now. She divides up her projects into a couple of categories, some of which I had heard before and others that were new to me.

WIP (Works IN Progress) This is a project that is CURRENT, being worked on in the here and now.
UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) This describes those projects you started with good intentions but that have been pushed to the bottom of the pile in favor of other things…. They may never see the light of day again, and if we were really honest with ourselves we would get rid of them!
WISPs (Works in Slow Progress) Different from UFOs in that they may have been worked on now and again, with continued but slow progress either due to the complexity or other projects that have more important deadlines.
PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks) I think this was on her blog, but might have come from some long line of followed links… but I LOVE this one. I admit I have some of these! YIKES! A bunch of supplies, stuffed into a bag that will probably be forgotten and become a UFO. My PIGS tend to be projects I take from a class or event and then it goes back and forth from event to studio with intentions of finishing, or even working on while travelling.
RIPs (Rest in Pieces)I am suggesting that perhaps there needs to be a new category. I have several of these and I don’t even think they can count as a WISP. The pattern that was cut out… and then NOTHING else has happened! It is just resting there in a box in pieces! But this might also be the category that I assign to things that just need to be buried and gone. Forget about trying to finish this, physically get rid of it and move on.

So like Sharon, I plan to start this new year with reclaiming, domcumentingÂ and cleaning up the WISPs, PIGS and UFOS! Luckily EBSQ also inspired this with the current show! AND I really need to be on a craft/paper/fabric DIET for a while till my studio is more manageable!

Making Window Collages

So a few people have asked about how I make my window collages. A few years ago, I taught a workshop on how to do this technique on a smaller scale, some of the images shown here are from this workshop and NOT my artwork, but they show the process.Â I shared these stepsÂ in an online lecture at EBSQ. You can read moreÂ from that 2004 workshop at EBSQ.

The windows are a long PROCESS. And admittedly I haven’t taken on the task since I moved my studio to the attic some 3 years ago. I only have a little pull-down ladder access to my studio so hauling up big heavy windows from the basement hasn’t been a priority. I have been adapting this technique to fabric instead. But if they start selling at the gallery I will need to get back in gear with this style of collage. I still have several windows waiting for their transformation and even sketches from the hand series that I began. My paper collection has not dwindled by any means… but could use some reorganization. So this gallery opening has in fact been an inspiration and motivation to get back with it.

So here is how I create my window collages….

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