sasha en plein air

June 17, 2010

2010-06-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

I went into some nearby woods today. The thread kept ripping, the mosquitoes/bugs kept biting, which made me twitch and wave my arms around, and I couldn't really get anything done. The curved needle really does work much better - I can actually put stitches through the earth.

Summertime, May 2010.

2010-05-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the weather is fantastic, and I've been trying to keep up with my outdoor ventures... although I've been busy with other things lately, so it's hard to make time for field trips.

I've resumed my experiments in trying to sew up the ground/plants. I went to my favourite field and wooded area in the center of Windsor (the unpopular South Cameron wood lot). It's a place that is slowly shrinking because of residential developments. I like to check up on that region frequently, and I've done a couple of my groundscapes in the field. There's a group of deer that keeps me company sometimes.

As you can see, the sewing is still awkward and I still can't do it as extensively as I'd like. Maybe the problem is that I'm not a good seamstress, but it is very difficult to manage such delicate surfaces, and the thread keeps getting tangled in the surrounding plants. AND I'm using water-soluble thread now, which makes it even more awkward (you can see the thread beginning to dissolve in the picture with the chunk of moss). I bought some different types of needles which I'm hoping might make things easier.
Still lots of learning to be done, and the learning is probably the more enjoyable part of this project. I feel more connected to nature through the frustration of my unskilled attempts to take control of something beyond my human powers.

[PS: The water-soluble thread is supposedly biodegradable and safe for the environment. I e-mailed the manufacturer and was pleased to receive a response, stating that it's safe even if ingested.]

the past week (end of Nov., 2009)

2009-11-30T13:32:00.001-08:00

Colonization project:
I will colonize the world, but not "I" exactly. I will act as a sort of advocate on behalf of nature. I don't know if I can take it seriously, it feels like a big joke. I'm not sure if it makes sense, but I am sure that in some way it is a commentary on the transience of land ownership, and how ridiculous the idea of owning a piece of earth is. The plan is to make flags, and to go out and colonize places by sticking the flags in the ground, which are biodegradable and so would disintegrate along with my "ownership". For now I'll focus on Windsor, especially areas that will soon be developed into subdivisions. Later, probably while I'm moving to the location of my Masters program (if I get into Victoria), I will move my colonies in a westward fashion (manifest destiny of the Sash empire).
Originally, I was going to hand-weave each flag out of cotton string. but that takes way too long. and just doesn't seem right overall. using regular store-bought fabric doesn't seem fitting either. So recently I came up with the idea of collecting materials from the area which I wish to colonize, and then sewing those materials into a rough flag-shape.
So here is the result:

I like the way it blends with the landscape... makes it the landscape's flag more than mine. It looked kind of crappy when i was sewing it at home, and i was thinking "what am I doing?! this looks like an amateur highschool project". maybe it is an amateur project... but I think it's still part of my process. and it might evolve into something really good later.

(Today:)
Actually the process of sewing the leaves and grass together was such a delicate and beautiful act, that I resolved to turn it into a whole new ongoing project, which I believe is more spiritual and holds more potential than my flags.
The idea is to sew the surface of the ground together - to create a kind temporary web between the elements. I went out today to try this out, and it was very clumsy. I have to work on perfecting my technique, and if I do perfect my technique I might invite other people to join me. What's the good of doing this if there's no audience except trees and birds? It's an educational process about connecting to and respecting the environment. But all that will have to wait. I have to wait until spring to continue this process, my hands went numb today.
Today I used regular cotton thread, but I ordered some water-soluble thread online (which is usually used in quilting and other such crafts). I think the water-soluble thread would be much better at communicating the idea of transience. It would also be really interesting to use glow-in-the-dark thread, but I have yet to find out if it's biodegradable.

Anyway, here is what I did today:

(Maybe I don't need the flags at all? Maybe I am "colonizing" just by interacting with nature in this way? oh but sticking a pole in the ground and proclaiming ownership is such fun)

the past few months

2009-11-30T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. In the past few months I haven't had a chance to dedicate enough time and effort to working outdoors, and especially to updating this blog.
In the summer I didn't do any extensive outdoor work (unfortunately, now that it's getting cold and miserable again I suddenly begin to feel the urgency to go out and create... leave it to me to choose adverse weather conditions for work. This might have to do something with other people wanting to stay in in the winter... Too many walkers, bikers, joggers, dog-walkers, and children out in the summertime - to disruptive to my liking.)
I participated in an exhibit related to Sandwich, which was concurrent with the annual Sandwich festival. I walked the streets in that area, and painted pieces of my wanderings, such as the pavement or lost objects. I couldn't muster the courage to actually paint outside for that series, I painted from photographs. Needless to say it wasn't as rewarding as painting from life, but some pieces turned out to look quite nice. They're all very little paintings (smaller than your computer screen). My infatuation with Nu-Lustre-55 (high-gloss epoxy) is still going strong!

Sunday, Feb. 8, and today (feb. 10)

2009-02-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I once again went to paint in the backyard, the finished product is shown above... I suppose it's not the best picture. I have yet to figure out how to document my art with good quality at home... everything is always crappier at home for some reason... but maybe i just have a crappy camera, it tends to make things too pixellated/fuzzy.

The weather is getting warmer now, so I believe I'll venture outside the backyard soon. I'll try to find some actually interesting earth areas.
Also because it's getting warm, I've been going for more walks. and because the snow is melting, all kinds of crazy stuff is turning up! This is the best time of the year for me. I should have been prepared for it, but I am not. I should have had 10 canvases prepped for spontaneous trips to paint my exciting new finds, but I have only 1 to spare at the moment. So when I went for a walk today, I found a really awesome cat but did not paint it. There was also a rabbit I found yesterday, and did not paint it either (maybe next week). But I did go back to take pictures of the cool cat, which you can see below:

(s)he appears to have been sliced in half on a weird diagonal, and it looks like a very clean slice too. I sketched the cat a bit too.. not sure if I'll go back to paint it from life yet. It might be gone later, it's in a rather suburban area where people like to go for walks, so someone might think it's not a pleasant thing to see and get rid of it... or recognize the cat as their own and take it away... who knows.
such a weird cat...

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

2009-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I'd get back into gear.
I won't be looking for dead animals again until it gets warmer. I haven't seen too many lately anyway.
For now the focus is earth as a dark space, so I will try to paint soil/sand/stones. There's a lot of snow about at the moment, and it won't be going away for quite some time, so for now I cleared off a section in my backyard and covered it up in case it snows again.
It's a completely different experience. No pressure at all in this private space of mine, just wondering if my immediate neighbours will notice me.... but they never look out their windows. (the beauty [?] of suburbia: everyone hides in their little ugly units of bad architecture, not paying attention to the people who live their lives only a few feet away... I have no idea what my neighbours on the right look like.)
The painting turned out nice I think. It's a good start... I might post a picture later.

2008-12-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

Monday, Dec. 1st

2008-12-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

I went into a field just to paint some ground and stones. turned out rather well, though i had to finish half of it indoors because it got too damn cold. Fields are windier than pavement.
no one came to see me, I was hidden behind some tall grass.
on the way to the field, though, when i was leaving Nick's apartment I accidentally pressed the 'panic' button on the car key. I didn't even know the car key had one. There was an embarrassing moment infront of nick's landlord. It took me a while to figure out why the siren started and how to stop it. I don't think the landlord was very happy, his kids were probably in bed or something and i disturbed the peace and appeared foolish.
what a tangent... I must apologize, nothing exciting art-wise has happened, so I guess I'm just filling up space.

I'm finished painting outside for the winter. I'll probably draw, because it's possible to draw with mittens (might be clumsy, but would make it all the better), but painting is a bit of a pain. too cold... I'll wait until spring.

Tues. Nov. 25, 9:10-9:30 pm

2008-11-25T21:39:00.000-08:00

I found a squirrel today off a sidewalk on Campbell. I think it fell out of a tree. It looked quite comfortable, actually, almost like it was having a nap out on the grass.
No confrontations. I was afraid the person whose house I was infront of would question what I'm doing, but there was a dark comforting TV glow illuminating the whole house, which calmed my concerns. Some cyclists had to go around me because I was right on the sidewalk. This made me nervous and I decided I should hurry up and leave. The cars didn't bother me at all today.

2008-11-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

monday, nov. 24, 7 p.m.

2008-11-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

I found a fantastic fresh dead pigeon (or dove). It's missing a head and has both claws unharmed, and fresh red intenstines. It was an interesting experience painting it, because it's located right on the corner of an all-way-stop intersection. No one talked to me, but almost every car stayed at the stop sign longer than usual, perhaps they were trying to figure out what I was doing. My parents and dog came out too for a few minutes (the find is only a 3 minute walk from my house), I asked them to take some photos of me painting outside. It was good moral support, I was feeling very nervous with all those cars stopping. One child stared at me for a long time, it really creeped me out.
I'll try to post the pictures soon.

Maybe I'll find the missing head tomorrow? probably not though...

2008-11-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

nov. 22, 7:20-8 pm

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-23 – 11:16:29

I painted that weird skeleton in a ditch last night. It was nice, i don't think paid attention to me.

I really have to get some safety cones.

saturday night, and today

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-18 – 21:01:05

The weather has been dreadful lately, for my purposes.
On saturday night it stopped raining for a bit, so I ventured just outside of my house to paint dead earthworms. It turned out pretty well. it was a pleasant deserted evening, but it started raining again later.

Tonight the weather is bearable, though it is rather chilly. I went searching for more animals earlier in the day. I didn't find anything usable. I found a very peculiar skeleton in a ditch, however. It's large, so I will go to paint it when my larger canvas is prepped. I can't seem to figure out what it is. My guess would be that it's either a large dog, a small deer, or a goat. It was partially covered by a large green plastic bag. Part of my process is not to disturb the natural process of decomposition, but I had to see the rest of the skeleton, because outside of the bag there is only a hip visible. Under the bag there were lots of maggots. I was not expecting it, considering the freezing temperature. Maggots are always shocking and disturbing. I always feel shaken and grossed out... maggots are the only things about death that make me pause and wonder if death perhaps isn't such a beautiful thing after all. But it is.

It seems there is no more social confrontations so far, which is why I am writing about the technicalities of the whole process in general...

nov. 11, tuesday (today)

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-11 – 23:02:07

I managed to gather my social strength and went to paint the squirrel, but it was gone. Someone must have removed it, very peculiar...
I did find a rat(???) across the street not far away though. Nothing interesting happened.

Monday, nov. 10

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-11 – 19:27:25

nothing happened while I was painting. Something odd happened when I was on my way to paint, though. I was getting out of the car when two well-dressed young Chinese men, who were kicking a little soccer ball back and forth, asked me if I knew any Chinese families on the street. I replied that I don't know them personally, but there are a few (this was near by boyfriend's place).
Nick, my boyfriend, came to visit me briefly.

The painting looked much better in the dark.

I saw a dead squirrel by Home Depot, it's a fresh kill (probably last night) and I will go to paint it shortly. I feel rather nervous, however... having palpitations just thinking about it. it's in a very open place with lots of traffic.

Tuesday Nov. 4, around 9:45 pm

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-05 – 17:25:11

A guy in a red van honked at me. It was very unnerving. it was probably to signal that there's a car coming up behind me, but I was obviously stationary and I could obviously hear the car without the honk. It made me angry and I decided to finish up and go home.

Sunday, between 8:30 and 9:30

by sashaenpleinaire @ 2008-11-05 – 17:22:20

I was painting on the side of the road outside of Devonwood, crouched down infront of my canvas and being close to the (smelly) dead animal I was painting. Many cars went by, some slowed down. At one point a green car drove by and then backed up in my direction. The lady unrolled the passenger window and said "Are you ok?" "yeah" "oh are you just painting? I thought you took a fall!" "No, I'm ok, thank you." She apologized and drove off. I wasn't expecting the apology.

older entries

2008-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

I started at a different blog site but it turned out to be kinda crappy... so I've moved here. I hope this works better for me. Here's the link to the other one: http://sashaenpleinaire.blog.ca/ , but I think I will post the older posts here as well.