Author Archives: stclairc

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About stclairc

Abstract artist, photographer, writer

Random numbers

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I indicated in an earlier post that I would place the trellises in my front yard by randomly selecting a numbered square from the grid I created.  I’ll be using a random number generator on-line:  http://www.random.org

Here are some great quotes about randomness.

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.  —Eric Hoffer

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.  —Robert R. Coveyou

To dare every day to be irreverent and bold. To dare to preserve the randomness of mind which in children produces strange and wonderful new thoughts and forms. To continually scramble the familiar and bring the old into new juxtaposition.

Sewing the canvases

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After repairing the sewing machine and finding a copy of the manual on-line, I started learning to use it. Sure wish I had taken home ec in high school! I can’t imagine how I’d be getting along right now if I hadn’t taken typing, then. You never know what’s going to come in handy in your life, especially when you are seventeen years old. I marvel at the kids who have already figured out that they are going to become pediatricians or accountants or morticians. At seventeen, I barely had enough sense to get out of bed in the morning, so how did I figure out that it was a good idea to take typing?

Well, back to sewing. I’m pretty good at following directions, so I was able to load the bobbin, thread the needle and begin practicing sewing. Getting the tension right between the needle thread and the bobbin thread was a challenge. The manual shows how a correct stitch is supposed to look; none of mine looked that way for the first hour. The needle thread was either too tight or the bobbin thread was too tight. I just said that I was good at following directions, but there was one that I missed that made all the difference: you are supposed correct the needle tension with the presser foot lowered. I kept trying to set the tension with the foot up. When I discovered what I was doing, it only took another thirty minutes to adjust it! Not only do I follow directions well, I’m also patient.

This project is all about flexibility and improvisation, so I’ve made another adjustment to how the canvases are going to be displayed. Originally, I thought I would just hem the edges of the pieces and attach grommets, but I decided that might not be secure enough. After some deliberation, I decided to cut two pieces of canvas for each shape that will be on the trellises and create pillow-like objects: three-dimensional “sculptures” instead of just flat, two-sided paintings. I’m planning to stuff the pillows with the millions of plastic grocery bags that we accumulate and with the packing peanuts we’ve saved from previous moves. I knew those would come in handy eventually.

After cutting all the additional pieces, I started sewing then together. Here is a photo of cutting and one of sewing. I also pressed each piece so it would provide a smooth surface for the painting, which will be done before I stuff the pillows.

Electric scissors Sewing the canvas

Ironing the canvas

I started preparing the canvases last night by gessoing them. If you aren’t familiar with the term “gesso” you can go to that all-purpose, pseudo encyclopedia, Wikipedia, to find out more than you could possibly want to know about it. Here’s the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesso

As the painting progresses, I’ll add photos.

Peace

A little bit of sewing machine history

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On Monday afternoon, I went to the Singer Sewing Center to see if they could open the sewing machine case.  The key had been lost during one of our moves and my attempts to open the case had proved unsuccessful.  

 

At first, it looked like I was going to be out of luck there.  The owner said she didn’t think they had a key, but an associate came out of the back and said, “I think we’ve got one.  Give me a minute.”  I could hear him rummaging around and in a bit he came out with a tiny piece of metal that was, indeed, the right implement for the job. After he had opened the case, he checked the machine out and told me how to open it once I got it back home.  Fortunately, I had the right size screw-driver and that issue has been solve.  Here’s a photo of the machine and case.

 

Singer and case

 

On Monday night, I had to do some repair work on the machine.  When I uncoiled the electric cord and cord to the foot-pedal, they broke in several place, being very brittle.  Here’s photo of the part of the cord I had to repair and a shot after the repair.

 

Repairs

 

Brittle connections

 

Last night, I asked Suzanne to help me set up the machine to use and after a bit of fiddling, she decided that she didn’t remember how to put all the pieces together.  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d used it, thought it was probably right after college, the sewing machine having been a gift from family friends.  

 

Since there was no manual in the case, I turned to “the Google,” as our not-at-all-dearly-departed ex-President would say and went to the Singer Sewing Machine site.  What an amazing place!  Singer has been in business since 1851 and they have incredibly complete records back to the 1870s.  

 

I located the serial number, plugged it into their data base and discovered that Suzanne’s machine was one of 25,000 manufactured in Elizabeth, New Jersey in August, 1919.  It is a model 128, which was introduced that year.  Between March, 1919, and June, 1924, nearly 300,000 were manufactured.  

 

It appears that, Singer shipped the assembly of this model to Quebec in 1924, but Elizabeth, New Jersey must have been the center of production for Singer in the United States until the 1930s.  They also built their early machines in Podolsk, Russia; Wittenberge, Germany; Clydebank, Scotland; and, Bridgeport, Connecticut.  In the 1920s, Singer expanded it’s manufacturing process to Pakistan, Colombia, Turkey, Argentina, Philippines, Italy, Taiwan, Brazil, France, Peru, Japan, Australia, Chile, and Mexico.  Today, sewing machines are manufactured all over the world.

 

I was able to download a copy of the manual for the sewing machine and will be trying it out tonight.

Further evidence of “tempus fugit”

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It’s actually been over a week since my last post and a lot has taken place since then.  Probably most important among the changes, I’ve rename the project from “Of fence” to “Trellises.”  When I first conceived this venture, I was looking at the three pieces to be grouped and moved together as “a sort of fence.”  As I began constructing the three trellises, however, I came to see them less as a connected unit and more as individual entities that need to move on their own.  Hence, the fence has ceased to exist and the trellises have emerged.

 

Another reason for the renaming:  a trellis is usually a free-standing structure which supports fruit trees or upon which vining plants climb.  Not only are the trellises I’ve constructed meant to stand on their own (at least I hope they do, literally and figuratively), but they are also the structures which will support my painted canvases (the fruit of my creativity?).  Additionally, trellis is an appropriate title since I am erecting three structures and the word trellis derives from the Latin trilix which is a shortening of tri- (three) and licium (to warp thread).  Some parts of the three trellises have been bent or warped, so I’m honoring the spirit of the word.

 

Other things that have taken place:

 

  • The trellises have received an initial coat of paint (except for the copper tubing, which I will help to acquire a patina).  Additional banding will be added in the palette I will be using for the canvases.  I’ve chosen the palette from the paint I’ve wiped on a t-shirt I’ve used in some of my other art.  Here’s a cropped scan of the t-shirt.

 Tshirt

 

  • The grid has been devised.  I started with the aerial photo from the Johnson County appraiser, did an outline of the house and trees and then added 5’ x 5’ segments in the major areas of the yard.  Originally, I was going to grid the yard in 4’ x 4’ segments and locate the trellises using the corners of the these squares as the beginning points.  When I decided to treat each trellis as an independent actor, I reconsidered how to site them.  Unless I find that this regimen does not work, I’m still going to use a random number table to find the squares (numbered from 1 to 28) where the trellises will be erected.  For the orientation, I’m going to spin a compass and see which way it points.  So if it’s showing SSW, the trellis will be sited within the square pointing south-southwest.

 

10500 Pawnee

 10500 Pawnee layout10500 Pawnee gridded numbered

 

  • The front yard has been laid out for the grid. 

 Finding the edge  Corner marker

 

  • Canvas panels have been cut.  The edges of these will be sewn to keep them from fraying and grommets will be attached.  I’m taking Suzanne’s sewing machine to the Singer store today to see if they can unlock the case.  The sewing machine is probably sixty years old and in one of our recent moves, the key, which was attached to the handle by a cord, was lost.  The keyhole is a round opening with a square slot into which the key fits.  I tried opening it with a variety of Allen wrenches and a file with a square end, but to no avail.  The trip to the Singer store is imminent.

Laying out the canvas  Fitting panels  Canvas panels

Of fence — constructing

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Last Saturday, I began constructing the “trellises” that will hold the painted canvases. Here are some photos of the construction process.

 

Tools
These are some of the tools I’m using at this stage of the construction.

 

Testing layout
After trimming off the unnecessary small limbs, I tested a layout using copper pipes as cross supports.

 

Joining
I joined the copper pipes to the uprights with small screws, after hammering the ends of the pipes flat and drilling pilot holes.

 

Trellis 1
This is one of the trellises beginning to take shape.  I used twine to tie some of the smaller limbs to the copper pipe and to the uprights.  The shape has a bit of Gothic window look to it.

 Trellis 2
This second trellis is in process.  There will be more horizontal pieces added in order to attached the canvases higher on the structure.

Trellis 3

Here is the third trellis.

Constructing the trellises is a bit of a discovery process; or perhaps it’s more like a jazz improvisation.  I have a general idea of what I want the piece to look like and have all the “notes,” but putting them into the correct sequence isn’t predetermined.  I don’t have a score, to continue with the metaphor.  I haven’t sketched out what I think these things will look like, ultimately, but when I start creating the canvases, I may start putting the whole piece down on paper, although since this is, in part, an organic piece, it may grow organically.  Part of the improvisation.  

More to come.

Of fence — photos, part 1

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Here are a few photos of the process of creating Of fence.

Maggie inspecting the work

On the left, you can see the remains of the cedar.  The taller piece is going to become another art project.  Maggie is inspecting my work.

Trimming cedar limbs

Trimming the cedar limbs.  I filled eight lawn waste bags that day.

Pruning a viburnum

Pruning a viburnum that had gotten overgrown.  These limbs will become part of the trellis structure.

Of fence — the proposal

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A couple of weeks ago, I was removing a cedar tree in my backyard that had died a while back (actually, it wasn’t dead, but it was well on the way).  I cut the top fifteen feet out of the tree and left a “stump” about eight feet tall at the base of which, I planted a wisteria that I plan to train up around the remaining part of the cedar.

As I was chopping up the limbs of the cedar in preparation for our local trash hauler, it occurred to me that it would be an awful waste to throw the larger limbs away.  Just after we moved to our new house, I constructed a trellis for a climbing rose from limbs I pruned out of a couple of overgrown viburnums.  An idea began to form:  why not do an art piece from the limbs, combining the organic materials with paintings on scraps of canvas?

As the idea has evolved, here are some other aspects of the project that I’d thinking about:

  1. I’m going to construct three four by six foot “trellises” that will incorporate some copper pipe bamboo, along with the canvases.
  2. The trellises will be erected in our front yard.
  3. The trellises will be placed on a grid that I will be laying out in the next week.
  4. The grid will be four by four foot squares, numbered consecutively beginning in the northwest corner of the yard.
  5. The first trellis will be place on a grid square selected by using a random number table.
  6. The orientation of the trellis will be determined by designating the corners of the grid square northwest (1), northeast (2), southeast (3), and southwest (4); using the first number in the Friday Missouri Pick 4 drawing (which I will enter on the off chance that I might win enough to pay for this project), if it is 1-4, as the beginning corner; if the first number in the drawing is not 1-4, I’ll go to the second number; if the second number is not 1-4, I’ll go to the third, etc.; if none of the numbers is 1-4, I’ll use numerology to arrive at the first corner (I’ll explain this more fully in a later post).  The second corner will be determined by flipping a coin three times (I’ll also explain later how the combination of heads and tails will indicate the direction).
  7. The second trellis will be adjacent to the first and the third will be adjacent to the second.  The orientation will be determined in a similar manner to the first trellis.
  8. The trellises will be moved every two weeks on Sunday afternoon, through the end of September.
  9. An area underneath each trellis will be stripped of grass and a combination of perennial flowers, shrubs and bulbs will be planted, extending the outcome of the art project into next spring and summer.

So, that’s what I’m working on.  I’ll post some photos of progress shortly.

Greetings (no you are not being drafted)!

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This is a blog about my art and about a new project that is just getting underway:  Of fence.  Between now and July 4, I’ll be constructing a piece of art that will be installed in my front yard.  I’ll tell you more about it as I complete various pieces.  I’ll also include photos of my progress.  Stay tune.