Week in Progress

WORK IN PROGRESS

Having a blog that's all about the process of making art (well, at least 90% of it) inspires me to keep my camera by my side or think about what I'm doing as if in front of an audience.

Sometimes.

Other times, a lot of times, it needs to be personal. Undocumented.

So instead of giving my normal post in ridiculously full detail, here's my week of impressions (pun intended).

* Week started with a dream "seeing" new art I wanted to make/explore.
* Continued research I started months ago about photo transfers.
* Had test runs - many fails, lessons learned.
* Made lists, sketched ideas, spent a lot of time thinking out the process to achieve desired effect.
* More testing, better results, lack of materials (for now) to take the next step.
* Other art stuff.
* Celebrated four years of being married to the love of my life. :)

I'm finding patience in art making, I'm allowing my ideas to fully flourish in the time that they need. I'm also trying to let my initial inspiration flow into the next evolution of that idea. Keep flowing, keep moving with an idea or the thread of an idea.

Allowing creativity to happen organically sure fights against everything else my culture tells me. The whispers of the muse say I'm right on.

Go figure.

Painting on a rainy day

Taped off unstretched primed canvas on board. Ready to rock it!

Initial sketch with orange water soluble crayon.
Bottom left shows just the sketch, the other two have a layer of acrylic varnish that has smeared some of the color.

Tools of the moment.

Outlining with a dark gray to see how that looks.
Everything could have ended right here.

Using a rag to wipe away brights.

Decide after filling in negative space that things are too controlled.
Get a little loose in the bottom right painting.

Now they're all moving in a more free form direction that makes me happy.
It began to not be fun. I decided fun must be included in the process.
Bringing in some sgraffito techniques as well.

Palette, techniques and lessons learned are brought into the larger piece.

Many layers of varnish, paint, water soluble crayon and oil pastel later...

I really enjoyed this way of working today. A mix between small studies and one larger panel that was informed by the lessons and techniques learned in the sketches. In this moment I'm feeling the wonderful relief that there are limitless paintings to create and not enough time on Earth to paint them all. I've experienced a little bit of I've done this before, this isn't anything new lately that didn't sit well with me at all. The "limitless paintings" mantra has served me well through the last decade plus, so when a voice of doubt snickered Maybe that's so, but maybe you can dry up too I think it snapped me awake with fear and desperate acts to prove myself wrong. It's working for me.

I've been embracing the unique atmosphere of our current weather pattern. The frequency of sudden and powerful thunderstorms has been intense and it looks like we should get used to it for the rest of the week. We lost power for over 8 hours on Saturday night and it led to a great evening hanging out with friends by candle light in the porch of the studio as well as a faux camping experience sleeping out there for the night. Summer is alive and well in New England and the wet, heavy, humid or pouring rain (as it was today) condition affects my painting by creating more wet on wet conditions. Acrylics can dry in a heart beat in dry heat, but in this weather, things are different - I'm relating back to my days of oils with this weather and it's fun, it's a different kind of challenge.

The three study paintings are finished after some final layers of drawing and I'll share them soon.

Lesson Learned - When and When Not to Attack a Big Canvas

Sometimes I wonder if I'm sharing too much on my blog. Maybe I'll lose some of the mystique of my work if I put it all out there. But since it's mostly fellow artists that read my blog, why not share the downs as well as the ups? It's the reality of it all, right? The fantasy life of an artist goes something like this - artist wakes, drinks coffee contemplatively, turns on some music and then the magic begins and continues until a painting is complete. But that's not how it works, at least not for me. There's a lot of wrestling mixed in with the "magic". There's second guessing, laughing out loud, cursing and frustration. But all of that makes the moments that click that much more powerful and exciting. You know how it feels when it's not working and you know how it feels when it is. When you are doing nothing but fight it's time to put that aside and ask yourself why - these are moments to learn something and I learned a lesson yesterday that dawned on me as I was about to fall asleep.

I had a fantasy of stretching a mega canvas, attacking it freely and somehow magic would simply occur and lead me towards creating a painting that would blow my mind. The problem was it's been a while (maybe three weeks?) since I've painted and, as I said in my other post, it takes a while to get back in the groove. I got the painting to a place that I was satisfied to say "oh just finish it and move on" but with such a huge canvas, how I can really settle for less than my ultimate best when I expect someone to pay big bucks for it and dedicate a large space of their home to? I can do that with smaller paintings, they can (and should be) my experimental zone. So here's my own lessons learned and guide to painting monsters.

* Get back in the painting groove with experimental small/medium sized surfaces.

* Look at what's working in my smaller work, what I like and want to see on a larger scale and base larger pieces on that - aka KNOW what I'm getting into before I begin (which I don't often do in my abstracts, but it's needed on a large scale - at least a general direction).


* The only exception to the above is if I'm completely in the groove, feeling the magic, feeling the moment - that's the only time I can crank into a biggie with no guide or expectations.

UPDATE 1/10 - OR keep fighting, challenge yourself and screw the rules.

So after all of those various versions of the big canvas you saw, I honestly might gesso over the whole thing and start over. *gasp!* I know, I know... but it's just too big to be just okay.

TODAY'S GOAL: Process these lessons that came in the wee hours of night and work on some smaller canvases to get the ball rolling again...





On another note, I created this banner last night for http://www.livefunky.com/ - what do you think?

Tests = Lessons Learned

Test One, Test Two: Front, back

These two pendants are the best of the test subjects so far. I played around with using original art on paper and prints under the glass and I will continue to explore that, but I really like the look of these one of a kind reverse paintings/mixed media pieces. I worked with layers of acrylic paint, tissue paper, acrylic gel medium/varnish and a decorative paper backing. The whole look that I'm going for and the right materials to make that happen isn't quite there yet, but I learned a lot from these test works and they serve as a good taste for what you can expect in my Etsy shop shop very soon.

What I've Been Working On

Ah lovely creative chaos. I've been having a lot of fun exploring new ideas, techniques and materials for my livefunky products. I'll explain this picture working my way down from the top.

Handpainted terracotta pots - These particular pots were painted years ago (2002) and I'd like to get back to working on them. At the time I used acrylic paint and acrylic gel varnish to seal them, but through years of wear and tear, the paint hasn't held up to the elements. If I make these again, I'll be using paints and varnishes specifically for this usage. But at the moment I've got plenty of other irons in the fire so the pots will have to wait.

Glass bubble magnets - (Glass piece shown over old sketch). The set you see here were made using my Mod Circles patterns (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23724210). I used the craft store bubble and acrylic gel medium. I've run into a couple of problems with these. First, the glass bubbles aren't perfect - it's hard to find one that is completely free of dings, dimples and air bubbles. The second issue is in the adhering of the image. I tried the gel medium but I think I'm going to have to use Diamond Glaze (which is what most people use when they do art to glass work). Which leads me to...

Glass art pendants - I just got my order from http://thosesweetsensations.etsy.com/ for a set of rectangular glass pieces and bails. This glass is "crystal clear" which solves the problem I found with the bubble glass. I'm going to wait until I get the Diamond Glaze before I start experimenting with these, but I'm very eager to get going.

Handpainted rock magnets - Like the pots, this isn't a new idea for me. But in the past my rocks were promoted as "pet rocks" or paperweights and I painted on collected rocks I found on walks in the woods. These new rocks are choice, flat, black river stones that are light weight and smooth to paint on. I think people are more likely to put a cool art object like this as a useful tool on the fridge rather than taking up more space on their desk. We all have more than enough "stuff" filling up our work spaces!

last but not least...

Mandala collage/painting on record albums - Being a music lover myself, this idea does at first sting a little - how can you destroy a classic album?! But no worries, it's my mission to use the least desired record albums ever made. The collection of records I recently picked up are actually quite funny, I'll have to do a separate post about them. One of my favorites is "Alabama Christmas" - you should see the inset pics of how Alabama spends their holiday. It's a laugh riot. Anyway, this is the first one I started and it's not done yet but I like where it's going. I'm working with cut out shapes of paper and craft papers as well as acrylic paint. I'm sure more mixed media action will come into play, adding a three dimensional element to the artwork. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with these. I think some will be mounted as artworks, others will be mounted as artwork. Perhaps I could offer both options to buyers... We shall see.

So yes, that's where I'm at right now. As I think of ideas for products and experiment with them, I'm also thinking about the total package for presentation. The whole process is a lot of fun to get into. Meanwhile I'm promoting my annual art (or yart in Etsy lingo) sale at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/, having fun with family, gardening and all around enjoying life. Rock on.

(Psst - if you haven't already, leave a comment here to enter to win a free set of magnets!)

http://jessicatorrant.blogspot.com/2009/06/magnet-set-give-away.html

Harry and I had a productive day

A few weeks ago, this beautiful woodpecker got himself stuck in our screened in porch. It's a common phenomenon for local birds as we have two doors wide open all the time that they can fly into and, sometimes, not find their way out of without a little assistance. Last year I cut a trap door in one of the screens for a feathered friend, but this woodpecker wasn't finding it - he bounced along the top edge pecking away, probably wondering what strange part of the world he had found himself in. Finally I cut another slit in the screen along the top of a panel and he found the escape route in no time. Rob and I thought he was so beautiful, we looked him up online and discovered he was a Hairy Woodpecker - naturally, I named him Harry.

So today, while painting in the studio in the backyard, I heard the unmistakable knocking of a woodpecker - could it be, my red headed friend, Harry!?



Why yes! There was Harry - or not - let's just assume it was the same bird. He was so concentrated in his work, he never noticed me sneaking up on him to take his picture. While I'm alone working during the day I chat with the wildlife - the black butterfly that loves the forsythia, the pair of robin lovers that flirt and flutter around the yard, and now, my main man (or lady?), Harry. I love the sounds of the forest. The many bird calls are like a dense symphony. I put words to certain calls today - one bird says "Vick! Vick! Vick! Vick!" like a hyped up fan chanting the name of their favorite rock star. Another exclaims "my tea! my tea! my tea! wait!-wait!-wait!-wait!-wait!... (and as if on second thought) no,,,, no,,,, no" and yet another says "whaaaat?" like it's unsure of itself. At least that's what I hear. This is what's going through my mind working out there... I know, crazy right? Yet somehow this sort of stuff keeps me sane. Go figure.

This painting is coming along. It's a work in progress still and I took this picture just after the sun set so the colors/contrast aren't exactly what they are in real life but you get the general idea. I worked over the whole surface with a unified color and now I need to get back into those circles and develop them the way I see them in my mind (ethereal, glowing orbs). I'm thinking warmer tones will be reintroduced and that will alter how I handle the rest of the piece. The painting is called Leaning and it's part of this new series I've been developing called Relations. The series is an exploration of the many elements of human relationships, expressed in an abstract language. In Leaning, the thick wave of blues represents exactly that - a wave of the blues - arching over, anticipating the downward direction until it is lifted by the light and love of others. The band is broken and pieces of it turn upwards, inspired in light by the help of a loving influence. I'll write more about this series and each piece once they are completed.

WIP

Here's the latest work in progress shot of the biggie in the basement. In the last post you saw how I worked out the composition. Now it's getting to the color stage. First, I just fill in the spaces with whatever colors I've got around, it doesn't really matter (though I do end up having some kind of unintended harmony regardless). The second layer of color is when I start testing out the colors in my mind on the surface - like how would a lime green look here? - as well as getting more fine tuned in application. The first coat soaks into the canvas, the second creates that "plastic-y" acrylic film that I really love and the third (and forth, fifth, whatever) is sure to have the level of density that I'm looking for. As it stands now, I'm 95% finished with the second coat. Now I have to go down and start really thinking and tweaking things. Standing back and looking for a long time at the whole and it's parts and back to the whole again...

So don't get too attached to these colors as they will surely change with the final layers. Up towards the top, there is a strong horizontal line that cuts down in an angle to the right. I'm wondering if that's too solid, too heavily directing the eye down and off the side of the canvas instead of bouncing it around the whole surface. It feels too tilted. Maybe I can break up that line in some places and find a way to redirect the eye back into the whole...

Time to get back to work.