Illustration Friday

This collage is titled "Find Your Way" and includes part of a poem I wrote about my mom (pictured here at age 4).

cleaning up

I need to move some things out of the studio. First thing to go is Argyle Dance...

Altered Cabinet Card

I did this about a month ago, along with several others--those are lost in the mess...

That October Morning

The text on this took forever to find... Love the texture of the background and the reversed French dictionary pages.

An experiment

This isn't finished; was inspired by an article in the most recent Somerset Studio. I've had fun working on these little collage houses.

Tense Day

Tomorrow morning I'll drive over to Santa Barbara for a long-overdue mammogram. I'm scared--this "tangle" of something in my left breast doesn't feel like the cyst I had in college...this is too difficult to write about, think about, talk about--yet it's all that's on my mind.

The Stars Sing, Too

This piece sat absolutely glaring at me for almost three months before I wrote the words that finished it... The small vertical text reads "Even the stars sing as they wheel through the heavens."

Even the Stars

I love this one--it may need a black frame to finish it, though the canvas is finished on the sides... This is actually the third collage I've done on this particular canvas, so there's no shortage of layers here!

It always amazes me how a piece will sit in the studio, just waiting for the right moment to finish itself. If I'm content to wait, the right words and images show up eventually.

Peeling paint technique

I learned this from Claudine Hellmuth in her first book, Collage Discovery.

First, make sure that your surface is well-sealed. I use gloss medium (any brand will do; I use Liquitex). Then apply a good layer of Vaseline wherever you do not want the paint to adhere; err on the generous side of both quantity and placement--it's easier to go back and do this technique a second time than to try and scrape off dried paint. This is the voice of experience talking. Next apply a coat of liquid paint over the Vaseline (heavy bodied paints are difficult to spread without getting Vaseline all mixed into your brush). After the paint is dry wipe the Vaseline/paint off the canvas with a paper towel. As a final step, wash the surface with soapy water to get the greasy residue off. If you are working on watercolor paper, as I was with the postcard, just use a baby wipe to wipe the surface.

Toujours Trois

One of the pieces I worked on yesterday--I like the peeling paint on the edges...

Here's a shot of my lovely newly painted kitchen! So clean and bright compared to before...

Warm sunshine

The weather's turned, here in Central California. I love this time of year, with its cold nights and deliciously warm days. The air in the studio feels frigid this morning since I left the windows open last night, and the morning sun warms me as itshines through the east window on me as I work. I feel very lucky right now.

A bit guilty, too--I feel as though I'm kidding myself by sitting out here "making stuff" every day, telling myself that 'this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now' when the truth is that this is what I want to be doing right now. Big difference! The drive to create just seems so overwhelming, I'm not sure I could stop making stuff if I wanted to! I'm trying to treat this as a job, but if I'm honest I'll admit that I'm having so much fun that it couldn't possibly be a job.

If I didn't have a family, I think I'd live in a studio like this and work just enough to allow me to do lots of art. I'd use found materials more--

I was looking at Joseph Cornell's work the other night. At some point I want to see an exhibition of his works, see them in real life. His assemblages exude what seems to me to be a strange magic, juxtaposing seemingly unrelated elements in a way that creates an intimate potent connection. I'd love to do that in my work.

I'm interested in assemblage, too, though I haven't really gone there yet. (I talked about starting to work on canvasses for two years before I actually tried it!). I've been collecting strange little pieces of daily detritus for years and someday I'll start to use it.

Paint from this morning should be dry enough to work some more...Off I go.

Yesterday's art

I finally got to work yesterday--worked on three canvasses, mainly on backgrounds. One canvas ended up being completely covered up except for one little corner. It just wasn't working, even though I liked the individual elements and the bright pyrrole red of the paint.

I've been painting my kitchen cupboards white, so a lot of time has been spent scrubbing, sanding, priming and painting. Tedious work, and difficult, but so rewarding! The room looks so much brighter.

I've got some new ideas, but I think I'll have to get over disliking my handwriting to pull them off, as they require scribbling things all over the piece. Again, I guess it's just a matter of starting...

Mondays

I'm discovering that Mondays are tough whether I'm working outside the home or not! I've been having trouble getting started today--it feels so good to be here in the studio, but I haven't started working on anything today, yet.

I'm finding that having the internet available out here is more a distraction than a help. It's too easy to start wandering around the web and not accomplish anything...

No more procrastinating--I'm off to work on something.

Postcards

My son asked "Why are you making postcards?" as though...well, as though I were off my rocker or something. The answer? "Because I feel like it and it's fun."

Substitute Teaching

This morning I subbed for a teacher at the school my kids attend--I was in the office and one of the maintenance people came in and asked if Mr. --- was there, as his students were all standing outside his door. Obviously, he wasn't, so I went over to the classroom to fill in until he arrived.

I had so much fun! I forget how I love being in a classroom, how much I love being with kids, how much I love just communicating the things I know, hoping to get the kids excited about the things that excite me. I was only in this eighth grade English class for half an hour, just long enough to get them started on the lesson plan (make corrections on one sentence, do a ten-minute free writing assignment (love that!), have them count how many words they wrote, and get started on the assignment of writing a paragraph describing a person--we were talking about powerful verbs and then the teacher arrived. Disappointing, even though I didn't want to stay all day long and I'm sure my eighth grader wouldn't have wanted me to sub for his class, too! Zoologist in Training was in that first period class--at least he didn't mind! Very fun morning.

question for the day

So here's my dilemma:

I love the look of a richly layered collage, the feeling that I can look and look and look and always physically see something new...

but I also love looking at a collage with just a few key elements juxtaposed to each other in that way that grabs you and holds you...

in both types, there is much to think about; a certain kind of mystery and power; and while I talk the good talk about following my instincts and just getting out of the way, I can't put this conflict out of my mind. What I need to say to myself is that it's an issue that will resolve itself as my style changes and grows and develops. But what exactly is my style?

Ah, there's the rub.

Scrapbook

A friend of mine (most generously) allowed me to borrow and scan the scrapbook her mother made for her in the late 30's-early 40's--it includes pictures, Valentine's and birthday cards, invitations, letters, and report cards, as well as handwritten comments by her mother, all in wonderful faded brown script. I'm not sure that I would ever let it out of my sight, were it mine--so thank you, Nancy!

Another small quilt

I'm getting the chance to work on these small quilts during the evenings, and because they're so small (this one's 6"x8") they finish quickly and easily.

I don't feel like writing today, just sharing what I've done and getting back to work. Once the weekend is here, I don't get to spend as much time in the studio. I feel so blessed to spend my days doing something I love so much that I'm sorry (almost) to see the weekend arrive. Yesterday I spent much too much time drifting around the internet, so today I'm going to work!