Autumn (???) in Charleston

I am experiencing Autumn for the first time in Charleston, South Carolina.  Fall has always been my favorite season.  I am a huge fan of red, yellow, orange and brown leaves.  To be surrounded by a cacophony of falling leaves  is one of my greatest pleasures.

Yet, here, most things remain green.  Maybe more leaves have yet to turn.  Time will tell.

Until then, I will focus on the details.  The autumnal details.

When yellow and gold leaves are difficult to find, flowers will do.

A stunning, fading rose against yellowing leaves.

Ginkgo leaves.  My favorite.

Fall-tinted buildings become much more significant this time of year.

These yellow-flowering shrubs are everywhere.  I have yet to learn their name.

Ripening fruit.  Coloring foliage.

I have yet to find a leaf this color here.

Staged.  Couldn't help myself.

Love that finial in the corner.

More floral beauty.  So many plants are still in bloom.

Would one of these be missed?

Gorgeous leaves and branches against those shutters.

Random beauty.

Unidentified berries.

Anyone know what this is?  I do know that as the fruits ripen, it will become more vile in appearance.

I'm looking forward to watching nature change over the rest of the year.  I am not looking to the freezing temperatures we will have over the weekend.  Just one night, but that will be enough to do plenty of damage.  I guess a flake or two of snow would be too much to ask.

Decline and Fall - Completed

Decline and Fall, 18 x18" collage on board ©2013 K. Hambric

So not the best photo.  I'll be taking a much better one for the soon to come new and improved website.  Soon.  I'm practicing my procrastination.  And doing very well, thank you.

"Civilizations."  They come.  They build.  They conquer.  They screw up.  They fall.

And what is that '50' stamped on there?  That's my new age.  I'm including my own declining and falling.  Why not?  I'm not sure about the conquering, though.  How does one go about that?

Decline and Fall - In the Beginning

A trip to buy beads - diverted.  Just happened upon an antiques store.

Books!  I could use a few "new" books to slice up.  Was I feeling lucky?

Yes.

  

Not much to look at from the outside, but a promising subject.

And another promising subject.

But, most importantly, vintage gray end papers.  Gorgeous vintage gray!  $5 per book.  Two end papers per book.  Worth it.

Now, I needed a project.  And I had certain colors in mind for this gray.

I always know the colors are right when I feel it in my teeth.  Too much contrast or too many jarring colors and to look at it makes my teeth hurt.  But the teeth just felt right with this.  Just enough of a twinge.

Wonders Never Cease

Wonders Never Cease, 20 x 20" mixed media on board ©2012 K. Hambric

Wonders Never Cease is part of an ongoing series of collages.  While the series itself does not have a name, it has a theme.  The ugliness and beauty of nature.  Human enjoyment and fear of nature.  The urbanization and suburbanization of our world.  Human happiness among the chaos.

A new website will be coming soon and will contain all of my new, larger pieces.  I am scouting out appropriate galleries here in Charleston.  I must rewrite my artist statement, bio and other blah blah blah items.  I'm sure that is easy for some, but I do not find it easy to talk about myself or my art.  I've heard about those elevator statements where one must be able to explain their work in the time it takes for an average elevator ride.  Strange how it can take me months to come up with something to say about my world in 20 seconds or less.

Now it is time for coffee and glue.  Hopefully not together.

See America Now

Monday was studio cleanup day.  Dusting.  Putting away things from before the summer up north.   Picking up of little dead things with lots of legs.

Tuesday was studio day.

I can't say I had been too creative over the summer.  My plan of a large series of small quilts didn't get too far off of the ground.

Would my studio time in Charleston be productive?  How long would it take before I became inspired?  I paced.  I looked at books.  I stared at the computer.

Then I decided to finish unpacking.  On the top of the box marked "studio," I found an old guide book I purchased on Etsy over the summer.  And there it was.  Right on the cover.  Those old greens and reds.  I would have to put some other colors with them.  But the deal was sealed and I got out the scissors.

 Here is the first little 5 x 5" square.  Only 15 more to go on my new piece, "See America Now."

Humidity 95%

Back in Charleston, SC.

Hot.  Well, actually pretty warm.  I think this mid-80 stuff might just be a cool spell.  Humid, definitely.

Slowly things find their way into their original nooks and crannies.  Some things are finding new places.  Some things will just have to wait awhile (much to the dismay of my husband).  Things must move a little slowly.  The combination of a broken toe and 95% humidity will see to it.

The studio needs some sorting.  But every time I walk by the door my heart races.  I cannot wait to get to work.

Soon I will totter out for some iced coffee.

This Week at Camp Lazy

8:45 - Wake up

8:45-9:30 - iPad movies in bed

9:30-9:45 - Breakfast

9:45-11:45 - Who the hell knows

11:45-12:15 - lunch

12:15 - 3:00 - who the hell knows

3:00 - 4:30 - do something constructive time (no parental monitoring)

4:30-5:30 - lounge in bathtub (probably unnecessary as no calories were burned)

5:30 - 6:00 - piano practice

6:00-6:45 - who the hell knows

6:45 - 7:15 - dinner

7:15-8:00 - movie time

8:00-???  story time, reading, who the hell knows, bed


My daughter has spent most of her summer in camps.  Acting, cooking, hiking, swimming, other kinds of activities that require more than just breathing.  Now, camps are done and the adults in the family are out working, cleaning for the renters, and packing for the move back to Charleston.  I don't have time for parental monitoring.  I'll be paying for this later when the iPad has fused itself to my daughter's hands.  I'm racking up the bad mothering citations.

And my stories about children in other countries working in mines or mills get no reaction.

Dew Point

Dew Point, 5.5x4", fiber ©2013 Kim Hambric

Another little dark one.  And there are a few more I need to photograph.  And even a few more that will never see the light of day.  Their reality just didn't match up to my vision.

These little pieces are now in my Etsy shop.

Summer of Fabric

Nightblooming, 5.5 x 4", fiber ©2013 K.Hambric

A summer return to State College, PA.

A respite from the summer heat in Charleston, SC.

Today's temperature in Pennsylvania - 89.  In Charleston 84.

I'm sure the proper order of things will come about soon.


I'm back to using fiber for the summer.  The vast majority of my paints and paper, and most other necessary items, are still in Charleston.  My fabrics, threads, beads and sewing machines remain here in Pennsylvania. I've chosen to work mainly with scraps this summer and create very small pieces.  I would rather be working with my paints and papers and be creating with happier colors, but here we are.

I'm trying my best to have fun with these pieces.  Sometimes fun for me can be a bit dark.  I'm not creating as readily and prolifically as I planned.  Perhaps it is the result of having only darker colors to begin with?

While I am enjoying a quiet summer here, I'm trying my best NOT to count down to the end of summer.  Exactly one month.  School starts down there for my daughter in mid-August (yes, southern people ARE crazy), so we will be thrust back in the land of heat and bright color in just four weeks.

I'm trying to convince myself to go into the studio and play around with my dark, earthy fabrics.  It is quite hot. Especially in the attic studio.

Tomorrow.

What to do with those pesky magazine subscription cards

Glue them onto a cradled wood board

Start smearing on paint with a credit card

Add more paint

Carve a stamp

Stamp repeatedly

Draw some flowers

Add more paint and some stamens

Debate whether the piece needs anything else.

Start another.

Abner

Abner Ben Yoder King Stoltzfus, March 2000-May10, 2013

Abner, dog of many names (not all good)

Abber

Abnerito

Abernito

Abenair

Pup

Puppito

Idjit

DogDog

Fool

F#*@monkey

Stinkbucket

Littledawg

For the Love of Pete

Damnit

Sir

Son

Ate his last stick on Friday afternoon.  Well missed.

The Littlest Thing

Somehow the photo of this little guy did not make it into the last post.  This might just be my favorite little "lost" plant.

I wonder what will become of it.

Charleston. The Little Things. Part 1

I've had my new Canon Rebel camera since Christmas.  I have done so little with it.  I'm somewhat intimidated by it.  I am easily intimidated.

Today I decided to take a short walk with my camera.  My plan was not to take "big" pictures.  I am most fascinated by the little things in my new town -- especially the small bits of foliage that have carved out hostile places to live.

I can somehow relate to them.

Take to the Sky

Fish are Jumpin', Cotton is High - in progress

Recently, I was shuffling through some unused drawings I had cut out of textbooks and never used. Two jumped out at me at practically the same time -- the yellow cotton piece and the jumping green fish piece.  Immediately, the song "Summertime" jumped into my head and this collage began.  I have no idea how many recorded versions of this song are out there, but to me, only one stands out.  Way out.  No one can top Janis Joplin wailin' out these words:


Summertime, 
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Oh, Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But until that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With your daddy and mammy standing by

Summertime, 
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

Songwriters: GERSHWIN, GEORGE / HEYWARD, DU BOSE / HEYWARD, DOROTHY / GERSHWIN, IRA

Janis puts a certain kind of melancholy and desperation into this song that completely resonates with me.  The sky is yellow with heat.  There's joy and release in letting everything that's inside of you out into the air.  The menace of sorrow and rain is a wide ribbon of black on the horizon.

and Beyond

(exploration and experimentation)

I'm finally working on my newest piece in more than three months.

I've heard of artists moving and, between packing, moving and unpacking, almost no time was lost.  Can't say that about myself.

A new city invites (demands) almost constant exploration.

My new piece is based on exploration and experimentation.  I've spent this week working with Vasco
da Gama, Charles Darwin, Ferdinand Magellan, Isaac Newton and Henry the Navigator (whoever that is).  The piece also includes some bird and boating imagery.  Perhaps this all reflects my move to Charleston.  If so, it was not intentional.  This piece also contains a diagram and information about diphtheria.  I'm hoping there is no connection there.

To infinity . . . and beyond!

New Studio

Finally.

Much smaller, indeed, than my Pennsylvania studio.  And I must say sorry to my guests who won't be able to stay in this room when visiting.  Note the palmetto tree outside of my window in the top photo.  Love it!  I've seen squirrels in it gathering fibrous bits and pieces to build their nests.  Note, also, kitty cat.  While many, many repairs were made to the house, she was hidden away in this room and lived in the cupboard for several days.  It is a bright and warm room and is now her favorite.  I will have to work hard to keep cat hairs out of my work.

Since these photos were taken, we have hung up most of my larger pieces.  It is so wonderful to have vertical walls!

Now it is time, finally, to go into the studio and make a hell of a mess.