Curiosity Killed The Cat

 

Curiosity may have killed the cat but it’s my best friend in my studio. I’m an inquisitive artist, always wondering what if. Currently my works are usually abstract, collage – or a combination of both. I work intuitively.

I like old. I’m drawn to vintage papers, especially letters; their softness that says they have been read, reread, cherished and sometimes tied in bundles with ribbon. Others are crisp, stiff, not read and reread but saved in a book or a bowl, something that’s a reminder of who it belonged to. I also love worn surfaces and structures along with stone fences and buildings – and old boats. Elements of some show up in most of my work.

My collages often begin with vintage papers in a pile on my desk.  I pick up one of them and randomly place it to start my piece. My paintings are layers of textures, old papers, paint, ink and graphite. They usually begin with spontaneous mark making and splashes of paint. Often I add a bit of collage material.

From there my intuition takes over. Sometimes I pay attention to it, sometimes not.  With each experiment I learn something and like my intuition, sometimes I pay attention to it, sometimes not.

Happy Thanksgiving

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." A.A. Milne.  

The work in process is finished.  And on the way to looking for something else I found a couple projects that I had forgotten about which reminded me of the Milne quote.

I stitch.  At one time I was an avid knitter but I stopped because my fingers didn't like what I was doing.  I still do embroidery and I crochet.  They are both good evening projects, relaxing and not reqiuiring a lot of thought.

Recently the crochet projects are what I found while looking for something else.  I wonder why I hadn't finished them but no matter, it's not too late.  This is part of a scarf that I finished today.  The color seemed to me to be appropriate for fall and Thanksgiving.  

And I am ever so grateful to still be able to stitch and do all of the many things I do.  I'm also grateful for a healthy family, good friends and to live in this small town in the great state of Michigan.  I am blessed.

A Work In Process

 

This piece has taken on a life of its own.  It started many layers ago, so many that I have to guess at the number.  My best guess is 12.  I put it aside 3 layers ago. Here is what it was before this layer. 

The colors weren't working for me so I covered it all up with Titan Buff which is the layer between these two. Then I decided on two colors that I wanted to try and started to put some paint down.  Soon the painting decided which way it wanted to go so I went there.  But soon my own ego got involved.

When I realized that was happening I stopped.  Now it's going to be set aside again for awhile.  This layer may be the final.  But when it comes out again I may decide it needs more.  

I do want to finish this and move on to a new piece so I'll get it out next week.  In the meantime if you have any thoughts on this let me know.

Another Challenge

Well, not really because I do try to do at least one small piece every day.  Art Every Day Month over on Facebook posted a challenge for November.  I joined but haven't posted over there.  I was thinking that might prompt me to post on my blog -- not daily but every week.  So here is the first week in November.

They're all small, the largest is 9 x 12 inches.

And after I finished this little 6x6" this morning I didn't feel inspired to do anything else.  When all else fails what do you do?  I sometimes watch videos done by other artists hoping something inspires.  This morning I watched Robyn McClendon do some mark making with blocks of wood and rubber bands.  Then I remembered doing this a long time ago and thought -- why not.  So I made some collage papers.  And that prompted me to get out some other mark making tools.  The papers aren't done but here is a sample of what I've got so far, and the tools I used to do it.

Turned out to be a very productive day.   Oh and one more thing.  I have joined Daily Paint Works and have a blog on the site.  Since I do try to get something small done every day I decided to give it a try.  So far I have posted the daily pieces I've done and a couple that I had done earlier. I may expand the site and add other works for sale.  Go over and take a look, here's a link.  I'd love to know what you think.

What do Art, History and Swimming Have in Common?

 

Did you have a favorite teacher in school?  I had three: Miss Dewey for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th grade Art, Mr. Garber for U.S. History my senior year of high school, and Miss Campbell was my high school gym teacher.  The pumpkin is one of my 4^th grade drawings for Halloween.  Seems appropriate to post here today.

I was one of those right-brain learners back when schools thought the only way to teach was the way left brain individuals thought and learned. Miss Dewey understood my right brain way of thinking and it worked well for me.  Unfortunately she was only in my class for an hour one day a week. She always gave me an A and sometimes an A+. I didn’t get another A+ until I was in college.

Art is also the reason Mr. Garber is a favorite. He too understood we aren’t all left-brain learners.  He gave us an option at the end of the semester, a term paper or a project of our choice that depicted something we had studied during that year.  I choose to do an oil painting of a plantation with hard to see slave quarters behind it, visible only if one looked closely. I got an A and he asked to keep the painting.  Of course I let him. Now I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo of it but that was 1957, I was more interested in a grade than keeping track of the painting.

Miss Campbell had nothing to do with art so why was she a favorite?  My other love was water, being in it or on it. It still is but that’s an aside. Swimming was part of gym in high school and Miss Campbell was one of the teachers.  She selected a few of us for Synchronized Swimming.  We were good! We demonstrated at a major university. Unfortunately we got no recognition from our school, girls didn’t do sports.  But it didn’t matter, to me. I was in the water and loving every minute of it.

I wanted to continue swimming in college so I signed up for a class.  After the initial swim where the teacher put us through the paces the instructor told me I couldn’t take the class. Maybe I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, I had to ask anyway.  Her answer, “I can’t teach you anything.”  What a bummer, I guess Miss Campbell was a better teacher than she was given credit for.  However, not being selected to be in the synchronized swim class prompted me to take Senior Life Saving and Water Safety Instruction. They gave me more time in the pool and prepared me for a job as a lifeguard during summer break. Good choices.

And another of my 4th grade drawings....

I Never Thought I'd Be An Abstract Artist

Over the years I’ve traveled down many artistic paths.  Watercolors, oils, textiles, graphite, printmaking, jewelry and clay were steps along the way.  I've even done some china painting. Here are some versions of past works:

Recently I've settled on abstract painting and collage.

 

Looking back at pieces that got the most attention through the years, Abstraction and Collage seems to have always worked their way in to some of my work.

I like old. Papers worn and cherished by someone before they found their way to me.  Objects that show signs of wear, peeling paint and other well worn surfaces get my attention.  Those elements show up in most of my work.  Here is a sketch done after a day taking photos at a pile of old dock parts.

Parts of this may find the way into an abstract piece. I have boxes of sketchbooks full of scenes and subjects that caught my attention over the years.  My newer sketchbooks tend to have more examples of marks, shapes and textures that get my attention.

 

Rearranging Always Reveals Something

Clutter clearing again.  And this is one of my finds.

I found it on a floppy disc so you know it was awhile back. I don't remember doing abstracts back then but I must have been thinking about it.  

For several years the office just off my studio hasn't been used as an office.  Our house is old and a wireless connection just doesn't go everywhere.  Before wireless my computer was on the desk on one wall and the printer was on a small table on a different wall.  Enter wireless -- it reached the printer but not the computer.

So I got a laptop and moved it to the desk in our den and the office became a place to put stuff that I didn't want to deal with at the time.  Well time finally came this week.  I got tired of walking back and forth between the den and my studio office.  My printer was on its last legs and I had recently been researching wireless boosters. I bought a booster and a new printer.

The booster is wonderful, I can get a signal anywhere in the house, even on our patio.  Hooray! But now it's time to make room for the laptop on the desk where my computer was still sitting.  That never went away though I only used it for one thing -- my painting inventory.  That is the inventory up until the time I went wireless.  The program I had didn't get upgraded to work on the newer versions of Windows so I disconnected the computer from the internet and left it working.  Someday I may take the time to move all of that information to the laptop -- maybe.  

I'm not done sorting but I've found all sorts of old photos and other things I've saved.  So far I've spent 3 days sorting and pitching.  Hopefully I will be able to finish this weekend and get back to making art on Monday.  And be able to do my scanning and computer work in this office just off my studio.  Life is good!

My Usual Morning Ritual In The Studio

It didn't happen today but I'll get to that in a bit.  Usually I start my studio day with a little collage like these two.

I have boxes and baskets of little papers, I'm trying to use them up.  These are small, the largest is 4x5 inches.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet but that hasn't stopped me from making them.  It's the doing that's important.

But something else is important -- feeding my soul.  And that's why this morning instead of going into my studio I went in to our garage and blew up my new inflatable kayak.  This is a replacement.  The first one leaked but that didn't keep me from liking it.  Instead of just sending it back I asked and got a replacement.

When my paintings were realism they were usually boats. I especially love old boats; rowboats and oars had been an ongoing theme.

I love being on or in the water, it feeds my soul.  We sailed for many years but that was a long time ago.  My husband doesn't have the same need for being on the water that I do so for the past several years I've gone on an art retreat at Spider Lake where I get my water fix and do a lot of painting.  

This year that wasn't enough, I needed more time on the water.  I took skulling lessons which had been on my bucket list for more years than I care to admit.  Loved it but -- I don't have a place to keep a skull on the water and haven't seen an inflatable sooooo I bought the kayak.  

While my husband doesn't need the water, he does enjoy being out on it so this afternoon we are headed out to try this new one.  He'll rent, I'll use my own.  He enjoyed it the last time we did it, who knows, he may decide he likes it enough to get one too.

The Art Of Not Knowing What The %&# Will Be Under There

It's the surprise at the end of the process that makes poured watercolors and gelli printing interesting and fun.

I love my gelli plates, I never know what I'm going to get when I pull the paper off the plate.  Sometimes it's wonderful, sometimes okay and sometimes not so much. That's part of the fun for me. (If you're interested in knowing more about gelli printing here's a link to gelliarts.com.)

It's very much like my poured watercolors one of which is the first picture above.  For poured watercolors instead of an easel my paper is in a jellyroll pan.  I literally pour very wet watercolor paint onto the paper and I don't want it all over my table.  Along with the very wet paint I use a masking fluid that is much like rubber cement in that it protects an area but can be removed. The process is masking, letting the mask dry, then pour the first layer of watercolor. Let it dry. Then add another layer of masking and repeat until only the darkest value is exposed. The rest of the painting is buried under the masking which has to be removed before the painting is revealed.  Like the gelli print, it could be wonderful, sometimes just okay and sometimes not so much.

But with both processes I can keep working on a piece until I'm satisfied, or in the case of the watercolor, use it for collage.  All that excess water in the jellyroll pan makes backs that are wonderful colors blended.

I enjoy the process of pouring but I'm not the most patient person. The pourings require waiting time.  Layers have to dry and sometimes that takes all day.  I use a very heavy watercolor paper. And finally, all that dried masking has to be removed.

Gelli printing dries quickly so the next layer, if needed, can be done almost immediately.  My gelli prints are often collage material but doing them made me realize acrylics and abstract paintings could also be interesting and flexible.  Like watercolor pours and gelli prints that turned out not so well, another layer on an abstract piece that isn't working could make a huge difference.  The layers add texture and another layer of interest.  

So I'm doing lots of experimenting with gelli printing, collage and abstracts and really enjoying the journey.

 

Why Am I Posting A Photo Of A Shirt Sleeve you may wonder --

Because it no longer has paint on it. Since I don’t always remember to put on an apron or paint shirt when I work in the studio I often have paint on my cloths. Usually that gets covered up with a stencil design or a small painting – or sometimes several stencils. Recently a cool day at my art retreat in Traverse City got me into the only long sleeve shirt I had with me. It was a good one, I didn’t want to get paint on it so I was very careful – I thought. It wasn’t until later in the evening I saw the back of my right arm in a mirror. A long streak of turquois paint on my good navy-blue shirt. Earlier in the week I was on a hunt for Murphy’s Oil Soap which I use to clean brushes and brayers. I will even work on dried paint. When I showed my shirt to my retreat buddy Terry, she suggested soaking it in Murphy’s. “If it works for dried brushes it may work on your shirt.” Hmmm -- why didn't I think of that. When I got home I tried it. It worked! The shirt is as good as new. I wish I had taken a photo of before and after. All I have is after and what you see is it. Not a speck of turquois paint and it went from the cuff up to the first dark shadow. If you don't clean your brushes with Murphy's you should. It's so easy and keeps brushes usable for a very long time. Here's how I do it – after you’ve wiped as much paint off as you can with a paper towel or any paper (collage material,) put a drop of the soap in your palm and rub the brush into it. I rinse and repeat until no more color comes out. For dried brushes and brayers which I always seem to end up with, soak them in Murphy’s for a day. Then I use paper towel to start getting the paint off. Most of it will come off the brayer easily. For the brushes I lay them down on a paper towel and use a stiff brush to pull the paint out. The only way you can tell my brayers aren't new or at least cleaned after every use is by looking at the handle.

I Still Remember that Sinking Feeling

I’m remembering my first poured painting. I’d seen a demonstration and wanted to try it so I started with a very complex drawing of buoys hanging from a ceiling. Once that was done I started the process of masking and pouring. First masking the lightest color, pouring my watercolor paint, letting it dry, repeat until only the darkest or brightest was left and the final pour was done. Then let it dry again before finally taking all the masking off to reveal the finished piece. Disaster! I had a real mess and was ready to give up on the process. I’m sorry I didn’t photograph it but at the time I didn’t want any memory of my failure. But I didn’t throw the piece away. It was a few days later when I looked at the disaster again and thought – what the heck, it’s already ruined, I can’t make it any worse. I got out watercolor crayons, pastel pencils, colored pencils and oil pastels and went to work on my first mixed media piece. The result – satisfaction

And it sold the first time I showed it. That was several years ago and my introduction to mixed media. I've been playing with it off and on since.

My Annual Art Retreat

 

I make little cairns when I swim during the retreat.  

It started when our sons were in junior high.  They’re both in their early 40’s now. The last several years have been at Spider Lake but it began at Oxbow in Saugatuck. 

Terry and her family were visiting; they live on the other side of the state.  We were talking about our sons going to camp and I said I never got to go to do that.  Home growing up was on the shore of an inland lake and I had a rowboat and my own speedboat.  My dad was not willing to send me to camp.  “Do you know what they do at camp?  They do what you do every day here at home.”  So Terry suggested “art camp.”

So we took a painting course at Oxbow. While there we took all the meals with our classmate before driving back to Grand Haven to unwind, review the day – and go through several of my art books before a good sleep. My spouse and my son stayed at his parents so our mood wasn’t broken.    By the end of the week we decided that it had been worthwhile but we could probably get just as much out of it if we just took a week without our families and worked on our art.  I had several art books that we could use to guide us as well as the instructor at Oxbow had.

The next summer a friend of Terry’s let us use her cottage on Case’s Island in the middle of Lake Fenton.  An added benefit of that location – we could swim every day in addition to making art uninterrupted.  We could eat when we got hungry.  When we broke for a meal, we either discussed what we had been working on or looked at the art books I brought along.  After a meal and a swim it was back to work.

After two years on Case’s Island her friend sold the cottage.  While at a family gathering I was moaning about losing our spot for a retreat. My brother said he and my sister-in-law just bought a place on Spider Lake near Traverse City that we could use.  With the exception of one year when they were remodeling, we’ve been going there ever since.  Still the same routine – make art, talk, eat, swim.  This year I spent most of my time coffee dying and gelli printing papers for collage.

 I did a couple warm up exercises but will probably trash them or use them as a base for collage.  The start of two small pieces, part of my “In The Zone” series look promising.  Time to get to work on finishing those.

It's Almost Time For My Annual Retreat

 I am so ready for Spider Lake!  But, before I go -- The Art Tribe is hosting a reception this Sunday at the Gallery Uptown.  I wrote about that exhibit earlier.  Next week is the last chance to see it so the Tribe is gathering to be available to answer questions.  We'll have some cookies and punch and some excellent art so if you are in the area do stop and see us.

I leave for Spider Lake on Wednesday, after my friend Karen's Picnic, I think it's 17th Annual Remission Picnic though we missed 2020.  You all know why.  

Now it's time to start thinking about what I'm going to work on while I'm there.  I've currently reawakened an interest in archeology so I may do a bit of reading and playing with some prehistoric marks.  But I also want to play a bit more with collage and abstract.  Guess I should start a list. Or wait until Tuesday night and just start putting stuff in my bag.

Art Tribe Inspired, a New Exhibit and New Work

Art Tribe – an inspiring and supportive group of artists. The new exhibit in the Gallery Uptown's Walburg Gallery features work by one such tribe. One of its members is a world traveler. When she recently shared a boatload of travel photos with the tribe, the concept of this show came to be. Each of us selected photos that inspired at least one of their works in the show.

These are two that I picked.

The two images inspired paintings that don't look anything like what I was seeing. But that happens often.  There often is a circuitous route to the end result.  The piece below, The Lord Potted Clay & Put Words on it. Sumerian epic poem c1800 BCE  was inspired by the bottom photo above.

and this one, Sarciphagi  was inspired by the top photo.

So how did the two top photos lead me to the two totally different paintings?  It certainly wasn't what I had in mind when I picked them.  I love old walls and old cemeteries.  I also love water and arches which the curve of the brick reminded me of. 

As I began to scribble on the supports I was using I remembered a trip to San Antonio when we visited some of the missions.  Who knows why, it just did. I went digging for some of my photos.  Those I found brought me back to the photo on the top, the arch of the wall and the colors.  Recently I’ve also been studying some ancient marks and symbols that seem to be universal.  Going through my San Antonio photos I found several that included some of those universal marks so I included them in both of the pieces; however, more of them are visible in The Lord Potted... than in Sarciphagi.

 

10 Feet Tall and Bullet Proof

And a clutter free studio so I can get back to work on this piece.

10 Feet tall is the feeling to strive for – when you finally don’t care a wit what others think about your art you feel 10 feet tall and bullet proof, at least I do.  Travis Tritt’s sings about a fellow who achieves that feeling with drink but that isn’t necessary for most artists.

It isn’t easy to achieve the feeling, but it is what I strive for when I’m painting.  My current work is abstract, both paintings and collages. Every now and then I think I shouldn’t be veering off in that direction, I should stick to the realistic watercolor paintings that I know I’ve had success with. That is especially true when someone tells me they don’t like something about a current painting.  Even if that same person really likes some of my new work – just not that one.  But my studio has become so cluttered it was difficult to work.

It was time to do a serious sort and purge.  I began to pull boxes off the shelf and empty them onto my already cluttered worktable.  As I pull boxes out to go through them I realized that much of the stuff that is just taking up space says perhaps my work is actually going in the right direction. 

I have boxes full of papers and paintings that didn’t work. The blue one shown below is part of a watercolor painting, the only part I liked.  The house is a painting that didn’t work but I love the soft colors that just happened on the back.

The paintings were in there upside down because it was usually the back I was saving.  Many had colors blending in unusual patterns, not necessarily good patterns but something I thought I could do something more with.  But I never did.  The papers got put in a box on a shelf and there they stayed – out of sight, out of mind.

Which also made me realize that I need to see things I’ve been keeping or it just isn’t there. Now any boxes that were randomly covered with colorful bits of paper, probably when my 42-year-old son was still in college, have been replaced by plastic bins that I can see into.

Having started this project I decided I had to set myself a deadline and stick to it.  An exhibit opening at the Gallery Uptown in July is one that I’m hosting and participating in.  I need to get some work done!  June 1st was my deadline and as of the morning of May 31 I did it. 

When I started emptying drawers, shelves and boxes every surface in my studio looked like this

 

And you couldn’t open this door; good thing there was another way in.

And now the surfaces are clear, our large recycle bin has been filled twice and three large garbage bags have gone to the curb. I posted a video of the clear space over on Instagram if you're interested, here's a link. It feels so good to go in there, I took a day to just enjoy it.  Now it’s time to make some new art!

The 100 Day Challenge Finished. What Next?

Here is a random selection of my challenge to do an art journal page every day

 

And the final day's entry

I have no idea where April went but here we are into May and I am just posting.  Certainly haven't kept my pledge to post once a week.  However, I did manage to do an art journal page every day so I'm taking that as a positive sign -- I'm going to do better about posting.

So what's next?  Well the rest of this week I'm concentrating on the ongoing reorganization of my studio.  There are so many things in there that I don't need so I am getting rid of.  I have more shelf space since I packed away used up sketchbooks and gave away or sold several art books.  I plan to have some very clear surfaces to work on by the weekend so Monday morning I can start a new challenge.  Not totally sure what it will be yet but I am leaning toward a small painting or collage every day.  I have time to think about it as I move things around or out.