The home/studio remodel continues and I now have three new 8 foot long lights in my work space!
 not the greatest photo, but you get the idea! I had no idea how dark it was and how much my eyes must have been straining with the old lighting. Look at the difference below – new lights in the space on the left hand side of studio, same old lighting on the right half of photo:
 Left side of photo: new lighting. Right side of photo: old lighting. I know it’s a little over the top, but since I built my dream studio, it made sense to also install great lighting. This part of my work space is where I spend most of my creative time AND it doubles as the gallery during our open studio events – now it really does have gallery lighting.
Selecting Color
One of my favorite parts of the creative process happens in the beginning – selecting the colors that will play well together in a new piece. Currently, I’m working on several pieces that each start with a breakdown screen-printed dye drawing, and then I audition a few other colors from my hand-dyed fabric stash that I’ll use to enhance the composition.
 auditioning colors for a new Linescape textile painting  fabrics that will become a new blue-violet textile painting  a green, acid yellow, and orange Linescape waiting to happen I’m continuing to make new works in my Linescape series and have just crossed a new threshold with these – for the first time I’m starting to combine my natural plant-dyed fabrics with my procion hand-dyed fabrics. Will post a photo when I get the first of these done.
And speaking of LineScapes, Gallery 360 has now sold 6 of my 12 LineScape textile paintings that they’ve been showing – pretty cool!
My Artist Talk, Workshop, and Artists’ Reception: All in the next 2 Weeks
Tomorrow evening (4/5), there’s going to be an Artists’ reception at the Studio 12 Gallery in Denver for the ‘Scapes group show. Hoping to make it down for the reception and to see the show.
This coming Monday (4/8), I’ll be the featured artist guest speaker at the Rocky Mountain Creative Quilters Guild program in Fort Collins.
Next Sat/Sun (4/13-14), I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned about natural plant dyeing, teaching a workshop for RMCQ. Looking forward to that as it is a full workshop and sounds like the participants are really excited – hope we have some good weather as we’ll be brewing with cauldrons in the great outdoors!
What big fun plans do you have brewing to welcome in the Springtime (or Fall, as the case may be) ?
Happy St. Pat’s Day! Although mostly Swedish, I have some Irish roots too. Here’s some GREEN in honor of the day….
 LineScape #21 textile painting (WIP) detail #1 This piece has been in progress for a couple years now. I’ve recently been re-inspired to finish it as it plays well with the other LineScape maps I’ve been making lately. It’s a special place holding good early summer memories, strength, health, and energy – good thought medicine as I work on it. I like having it hanging around on the wall.
 LineScape #21 textile painting (WIP) © Ayn Hanna It’s the site of one of my favorite sprint Triathlon races – the Pelican Fest, in Windsor, CO. It was one of the first triathlons I competed in and although it’s been several years now since I’ve raced, just seeing this map gets my adrenaline going – good memories!
 LineScape #21 textile painting (WIP) detail #2  LineScape #21 textile painting (WIP) detail #4 © Ayn Hanna This collaged work of soft old cottons is fitting, to this landscape and the miles and memories I’ve logged within it. It’s my inspiration, remembering how good it felt to be training and racing. And that’s the first step, imagining it happening.
We’ll see, it could happen again.
It might be a Zen thing. It’s definitely my favorite recurring dream.
I’m playing golf, enjoying the great outdoors, warm weather & sunshine. Feeling good and strong physically and emotionally, swinging the club. I tee up the ball, take a practice swing or two, and launch a great drive (I know it’s so because of how good it feels).
 "LineScape #21" (in progress) deconstructed screen-printing, cotton batting, cotton stitching And then it happens.
Just as the ball takes off, I become the ball. And now, I’m sailing into the air, flying high above the fairway, over the tree tops. I’m high enough to see for miles – and what a beautiful view it is, so still and clear, even as I am sizzling through the wind. All seems right with the world, aligned – I’m in the vortex. I’m flying for a much longer time than a ball normally would, suspended in air and time.
And when it comes time for me to “land”, it is always a soft, easy landing, either on the fairway, often on the green, sometimes just off the edge of the green. As I land, the ball becomes the ball again. And I become the golfer, seeing my ball where it has landed, preparing for my next shot.
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Funny thing is, I’m really Not a golfer. I mean, I’ve played a few times, had a couple lessons and I like the game and would love to play it more often, but I just don’t have the time right now to add that into the mix. For now, I have my dream. And in my dream, my game is really good!
Remodel Update
Life is good – we have our dining, living, and bathroom back again! Here’s a few photos of everything all “spiffed up” for our dinner and dance party last weekend. (Wii and Just Dance = fun, fun, fun!)
 (clockwise from upper left) dining room table view; "silver" vestibule with colored doors; dining/living room view from stairs; living room view looking toward our studios Thanks to my partner, our “gallery”/living space has a new updated look, just in time for the upcoming Ft. Collins Studio Tour. She’s so talented with these kind of living space make-overs, she may soon be adding this to her repertoire of creative offerings.
Like a Rolling Stone….
While the paint has barely dried on this project, we already have a bid and plans moving for our NEXT home improvement: 3 different electrical projects which will “light up” my studio work area better so I can SEE what I’m working on and give us more power to stitch, saw, cut, sand, steam, simmer, and dye.
We’re revving up our ART-making engines as we approach April here at Hanna-Gilhooly Studios. Between now and July, we have 5 Art Shows we need to create work for and I’m also working on getting my online store stocked up with new merchandise. I’ve also got 2 Artist Talks and a Workshop scheduled in the next month!
Stitching, stitching, stitching…..
Carpet is in! Painting is finished! And we’re on the verge of getting the living room, bath room, and dining room back together again.
 (clockwise from upper left) living room with new ceiling, carpet, lighting, and paint; bathroom with new carpet, paint; new ceiling fan; new carpet on the stairs. After a month of having workers coming and going, it is such a relief to have our home back. Doors and fixtures are still being re-attached and furniture still yet to be moved back in place, but wow, it’s looking good.
Our home is our gallery, our show place for our work. We hold 2 open studio shows/year, so we continue to work on improvements that will provide a better showcase for each successive show. These latest updates will mean better lighting in the living room gallery space, and some fun new color surprises in the studio and bathroom “vestibule” area (more pictures to come on that).
 LineScape #20 (in progress) © Ayn Hanna, Textile Painting (breakdown screen-printed cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton stitching) In the studio, I’m continuing work in my LineScape series. LineScape #20 is nearly finished. It’s a whole cloth piece of cotton that I screen-printed with dyes using the deconstructed (or breakdown) screen-printing process. It reminds me of the colors and marks I’ve seen in the land while flying over the mid-west in late summer/early fall. I added straight line stitching in multiple sympathetic colors, to both unify the “fields” and reference the furrows.
The meditative stitching filled 2 roles – it helped complete this piece and gave me some peace (of mind), a retreat from the remodel distraction. I find I can solve a lot of the world’s problems (in my mind at least) while stitching and ironing.
New work in the ‘Scapes Show, opening March 1st
I’m excited to have 2 of my textile paintings included in this show at Studio 12 Gallery in Denver. Barbara and I both have work in this show (see her “cutout city” pieces in the top photo on the postcard below). The opening for the show is Friday, March 1, 5-9 pm.
We are not going to be able to attend the opening due to another event we have here in town that same evening. But, the show is up through April 12th and there is going to be an Artists’ reception during “first Friday” gallery walk night on April 5th and we plan to attend that evening.
Lots more great ART work, ART-related events, and ART career development going on in my world right now. And more colorful, powerful dreams. I’m in the flow and trying to stay there. Color. Texture. Line quality. Drawing it all together in art and life.
I think 2013 is the year of Color, and Dreams for me.
What is it for you?
Carpet arrives tomorrow. Today I realized
I’m gonna kinda miss this ol’ bare bathroom floor.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve watched the unpretentious marks develop into unplanned compositions, recording the history and story of this old floor.
It reminds me of the early 90’s when I moved into an old abandoned apartment in NYC. It hadn’t been lived in for at least 20 years and had 3 old layers of linoleum curling up from the floor. When I pulled up that old linoleum, I found a bunch of yellowed newspapers from the 1940’s with a bare oak hardwood floor underneath it. Made me wonder about who had lived in that space before me…..
Tomorrow the next layer in the story of this old house will be applied and my intrigue with the floor will fade. But I might just need to leave some such similar surprise as I found in my NY apartment, for a lucky future inhabitant of this place to discover one day.
last night
that I was Hillary Clinton’s assistant.
She was still Secretary of State, very strong, vibrant, and happy. (I was excited and happy too….waaaaaay less stressed in this role than I am in my current day job.) Hillary and Barack had stopped by our home for a dinner party. We were joined by several of our close friends as well.
It was a big fun time, although I didn’t get a chance to talk with Barack. He was laughing and getting on well with my friends, all having a good time in the living room (which was finished being remodeled, had furniture, and looked good).
I was in the kitchen and out around the BBQ, gathering some food for Hillary.
And it seemed perfectly right that all she was eating
was a hot dog, with lots of yellow mustard on it.
What do you think of that?
And this, another new piece in progress….
 a new piece from my "LineScapes" series, work-in-process (breakdown screen-printing and stitching on cotton fabric)
So here we are, 2013 – the whirl and whiz of year end holidays are but a blur and the reality of a new year is setting in.
The New Year’s Eve Gala in Telluride was a smashing success, and a whole lot of fun! (Snow, cold, mountains, a great feast, meeting lots of great people that love – and buy – Art…what’s not to love about that?)
It’s a brand new year. With new art.
 A new piece from my "LineScape" series, work-in-process (breakdown screen-printing on cotton fabric) And a big new role at my day job.
An evolving Art Business plan (Just finished up a 6 month long Arts Incubator program, building out my art business plan – specifically around teaching workshops), recognizing what has worked during the past year and letting that inform my focus and goals for this year.
A new spring semester CSU Artist intern (an introduction and more on this later).
And, a new bathroom/living room remodel in our home. Nothing like living (and working) in chaos! It’s all for the better-ment of our lives/open studio events.
 Our dining room (top) is currently home to everything that used to be in our living room (bottom). It all started when we had an intake pipe burst in our main level bathroom a mere 12 hours before our holiday open house event in Dec. Quick removal of the bathroom carpet (and other clean up) saved our open house event. Working through plans to replace the bathroom carpet led us to address so many other needs.
You know how it goes….if we’re going to replace carpet in the bathroom, we should just do it for the living room as well, and if we’re going to do that, well, we might as well get rid of that popcorn ceiling, and if we do that, we should upgrade the lighting in the room and paint everything too….
So before you know it, we’ve got all the furniture from the living room piled in the dining room, electricians, dry wall, and carpet guys in our living space, and the first floor of our house relegated to spackle, blue tape, and protective plastics.
 More new "LineScape" series work in process (breakdown screen-printing on cotton fabric) It is chaotic right now, but I think we’ve learned how to thrive in this chaos – or at least still maintain a high level of productivity.
In addition to being completely consumed with learning a new role in my day job, I’ve got several new works in progress (preparing for 5 new shows I’ve already got on the calendar for 2013) , while also figuring out my expanded teaching schedule for this year – I love how this part of my art business is growing organically, through direct contacts and word of mouth, just seems like the right way for this to happen.
I’ve not done a “formal” evaluation of my goals/results from 2012 nor written out my goals for 2013 yet. Still, I have a really good sense for what I accomplished in 2012 and what adjustments I plan to make for 2013 (relative to my personal, Art, and Art Business goals). More on this later.
For now, the most important thing is, even though our physical home space is in turmoil, we can still (usually) find the things we need to carry out our daily activities, the bathroom toilet is still functional (no matter that there is no door), and Emma’s squeaky balls and towels are readily available (and so far, she’s still a brown dog – we’ll see how long that lasts with all the white painting going on).
Wishing you a very safe, merry, love-filled Holiday Season and best wishes for a wonderful New Year to come!
Holiday Show Photos
Our 2012 Hanna-Hooly Holiday Open House was a big fun party with a non-stop flow of visitors throughout the entire day. We estimate we saw around 200 people come through the studios that day and had a great time visiting with new and old friends alike – thank you all for stopping by!
 Some Happy Customers with their new Hanna-Dyed scarves and pillows Thanks to the help of good friends (BIG thank yous to CL, Christy, and Andrew!), our home and studios were festive and sparkling showcases, with holiday items galore.
My studio was transformed into a boutique, with 55 Hanna-Dyed scarves adorning the walls and 18 Hanna-Dyed pillows scattered about the tables. There were also a few textile paintings mixed in as well.
Other than the bare wood floor in the downstairs bathroom, there weren’t any noticeable signs of our narrowly-averted night-before-the opening plumbing disaster (thanks again to CL, Andrew, and Matt!). And that reminds me….one of our “must get” home maintenance items on the list for the after holiday sales this year – a wet/dry vac.
Let’s just say that standing in ankle deep water in one’s studio with water raining out of the ceiling at 1 am on the night before your big open house party is NOT an ideal time to discover that your shop vac is a dry-only one.
Continuous Improvement
After each open house event, we do a debrief, to evaluate what went well and how we can make it a better event next time. Just as we had hoped, this event keeps getting bigger and better each year – as our involvement in the arts community expands, so does our circle of friends.
We’re improving our event organizing skills, from planning and set-up to managing the actual party.
One of the things that helped make our event better this year was that it was a big team effort, with help and support from many friends and family both in event prep/set-up and event management throughout the day. It really does take a village to pull off a big event like this – Our many thanks to all of you for all of your help!
Onward Ho!
I must admit, it’s taken me a few weeks to recover my energy – as an introvert, the holidays and parties really wear me out!
But this week, I’ve started pulling my piles of works-in-progress back out of the closets and racks they were hidden in during the studio clean-up. With an eye to a couple of upcoming shows, I need to get busy making some more textile paintings in my LineScape series.
And, as 2012 is winding down, its also time for some year-end review and goal setting for the coming year. I already know that I’ve accomplished a lot this year in some areas that I was focused on, and completely missed the ball in others. The review will be good to re-set my course for 2013.
Still, our rolling stone keeps rolling along, with one more big ART Gala event yet to come this week before I can set my sights on goals for the new year. It will be a festive white winter wonderland in Telluride, a perfect setting for an art show and new year’s eve gala, featuring the artwork and an artist talk by my partner, Barbara Gilhooly.
Happy warm and safe Holidays to You and your Family!
Yes siree, the Hanna-Dyed line of domestic goods is expanding….and now includes Pillows!
These are handmade from pieces of hand-printed 100% pimatex cotton which absorbs dye beautifully.
 "Geometric Layers" pillows by Hanna-Dyed (18" and 16" hand-printed cotton with faux down inserts) Printed using the oh-so-much-fun deconstructed screen-printing process, each piece is a one-of-a-kind original painterly print layered with multiple colors and textures of dye, then cured, washed and pressed before assembly. (These are the same materials I use when making my layered textile paintings as well.)
 "Bold Botanical" pillows by Hanna-Dyed (18" and 16" hand-printed cotton, with corduroy backing and faux down inserts) There’ll be several sets of these lounging around at our Hanna-Hooly Holiday Open House Event on Dec. 8th.
 "Geometric Layers" pillows by Hanna-Dyed (18" and 16" hand-printed cotton with faux down inserts) I hope you can stop by the Open House Event to see the full range of new pillows and let me know what you think.
Maybe we’ll even turn it into a giant pillow party!
Show #1 in Minneapolis, MN at Gallery 360
Back from the quick weekend trip to MN for the show opening at Gallery 360 (the show will run through Jan 13th) and on to preparing for 2 more upcoming shows, the scarf bundling and ornament stitching are continuing full speed ahead.
 Bucket o' Bundles I just shipped off a box of 16 eco-dyed and black discharged/screen-printed silk scarves and 15 holiday ornaments for the Holiday “Handmade by Us” sale and party in Saint Paul, MN.
This show opens this Thursday and runs through the weekend, so if you’re in the area and looking for something cool and handmade, stop on by – should be a really cool event with over 20 artists participating this year.
 a couple of my discharged silk scarves that will be available at our Hanna-Hooly Holiday Open House event this year Show #3 in Fort Collins at our very own Hanna-Hooly Studios
Please save the date, mark your calendars, and stop on by for our 3rd Ever Annual Hanna-Hooly Holiday Open House party on Saturday, Dec. 8th! (That’s 11 days from today!)
We will have an abundance of new artwork, scarves, pillows, holiday ornaments, trees made from trees, snacks & libations, an awesome kid’s craft table, and general good holiday cheer to share with one and all.
 pile of eco-dyed silk scarves  silk, maple and eucalyptus leaves, steamed with iron These photos are a small sampling of scarves I’ll have available at our Open House event. More previews to follow in the next several days!
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