from the studio of raquel p miller

Cheers to this March Newsletter

that I am releasing halfway through April!!!

Yeah!!!

I hope you all are well and enjoying the sunny days we have been having.  The photo above is the day we realized Big Sky's crocuses were coming up and blooming.  My whole mood changed that day and I was just happy to wander in and out of the store (I work at Artist & Craftsman in Portland) and feel the sun on my skin.  

For the month of March, I spent most of my studio days preparing a proposal, which I had never done before.  It took a lot of work!  It was an interesting process to curate my own body of work into one cohesive whole for a potential exhibition.  It also allowed me space to truly process what I had been doing, connect the dots, and in the end, I felt really proud of myself.  

I also got my wisdom teeth out finally!  Seriously, it's been about 4 years in the making.  And in my delirious state of recovery, I started making my own paper. I really love learning new processes and techniques and incorporating them into my work.  Because I was spending so much time on my proposal, I wasn't creating as much new work but making my own paper from old artwork gave me a moment to get out of my head, use my hands, and in the end lead me to some new sketches and work.

Lastly, I was accepted into the Harlow's 26th Annual Juried Art show, ART2021, juried by Barbara Sullivan.  My piece, Selfie in Anish Kapoor's 'Untitled, 2010' will be on view at The Harlow in Hallowell, ME from April 23rd through May 29th.  I'm so excited to be apart of this show.  The town of Hallowell is literally so cute so I highly recommend trying to visit.  They will also have a virtual way to view if you can't make it.  

<3 enjoy the rest of April!  

Raquel  

"Selfie in Anish Kapoor's 'Untitled, 2010'" 
Acrylic on birch panel 

8" x 8" 

2020

ART 2021 will be on view at The Harlow

100 Water Street, Hallowell, ME 

April 23-May 29th

MAKING MY OWN PAPER! 

My first batch was the pure pulp from my old watercolor paintings which turned out to be a white with a pale blue hue so for my next batches I wanted to try making colored paper.  I used acrylic paints to dye the paper & pictured above are the color palettes I was working towards.  

My set up: I really was trying to work with what I had.  I used up as many tupperware as I could find in the kitchen, found an old bucket we never gave back to Starbucks when we worked there, and used a bath towel, and sponge I had in the studio, along with the items I did need to purchase. 

To the colored paper batches I added iridescent flakes, Kona Pulp which are fibers from burlap coffee bags, and dried flower petals.  This batch is from the pink paper with iridescent flakes. 

My mould and deckle resting on a bath towel in the first step of soaking up the water after the initial pull.  

Another goal I had when making this paper was to reuse as much as possible, and use up all of the pulp.  This photo is of a hand poured sheet of paper, so it's pretty lumpy, but I laid the flower petals in a way that inspired a painting.  

WANT TO MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER?

What you will need:  

• designated blender (i got mine for $8 at goodwill) 
• paper to make pulp (i used recycled watercolor paintings, but you could use junk mail, cardboard, receipts, etc..) 
• containers (tupperware or medium storage containers) 
• strainer 
• sheet or cloth to dry paper on (i used an old sheet and cut them up to size) 
• two frames of the same size to make your "mould" and "deckle"  

I literally watched a bunch of random tik toks and just went for it.  In total, I spent about $40 dollars on supplies ($8 blender, $4 on a storage container, $4 on a strainer, $18 on two 8" x 10" frames and 2 5" x 7" frames) .  There are some really great youtube videos and paper making tik tokers out there that have great resources.  

Thought I just had:  at some point I might make a blog post for a more in depth process on how to make paper.  If anyone has any questions, please reach out and I'm happy to help! 

I STARTED A NEW SKETCHBOOK!

This page was completed on March 20th.  

I think I hyped up my wet media one and was just making bad stuff and felt as if my sketches had no purpose so I got a new one that is the *perfect* size and I'm in love.  Ideas are flowing and it feels good.  Officially obsessed with "landscape" style sketchbooks. <3

NEW WORK :

I've been experimenting with Khadi Paper and masking fluid recently as I work through some new ideas.  This was one of my first test paintings and I have since tried two new masking fluids and moved on to a slightly less tearable paper.  I think I've made 7 webs as of now.  

SEE YOU IN MAY 

Thank you for making it through another newsletter!  

I have two of my "New Year, Full Moon" 4" x 6" paintings left:

#2 (Sky Blue + Green Gold) and #5 (Indigo + Light Ultramarine) 

which can be found in my shop.  

Visit/follow my Instagram for a collection of photos from my recent trip to the CMCA.  

I will be adding a post from my trip to the PMA on March 26th.  

lastly, forward this newsletter along to any art loving friends who might enjoy.

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