Wine Bottle Dolls

Last week I had a couple of my creative friends over for lunch and stimulating conversation that always happens when creative friends gather.  The next day I went to the opening of a new exhibit at the Gallery Uptown here in Grand Haven, more stimulation. 

Several weeks ago I had the idea that a wine bottle bottom might make a doll body so I asked a glass artist friend to cut a couple bottles for me.  Saturday I finally got around to doing something with them.  One is a garden doll with beer bottle caps for legs and a polymer clay head.  (I drink the wine but the bottle caps come from friends.)

 

The second doll is still in process.  I decided mid-dollmaking that she would be a bell; however, not having planned that in the beginning she has no way to hang.  That doesn’t matter to me since she’s the experiment.  I’ll rig some way for her to hang and I already have an idea how to do the next one so it can hang properly.

I’ve also decided to use both parts of the bottle next time… that way I don’t have to make a neck.

Today is grey and wet here so I plan to stay inside.  I’ll work on her and maybe even get started on a painting I have had sketched ready to do for a very long time.  It’s time to get back to painting.

Citra-Solve and the New York Times Magazine

Today was a grey, rainy day here in my corner of the world so I decided I needed to bring some color into it.  I have several small frames ready to do something with so today I decided they should be covered.  I pulled out some New York Times magazine pages that had been treated with Citra-Solv and found some wonderful greys and some beautifully muted colors.  That was it… I spent the day covering small frames and one block of wood that I found in a dumpster.  I know the frames will get small watercolor paintings when I get some done.  The frames will also get an encoustic finish.  The block of wood is another story… a coat of clear Gesso first and them we’ll see where we go from there.  Meanwhile, here is a photo, not very clear but you can see the colors, aren’t they wonderful?!

More Monoprints

I’ve been neglecting my blog… for that matter I’ve been neglecting a lot of things; however, I have been working… some.  I’ve also been enjoying my grandson which is an excuse but truth.  He’s also the reason I got started on these monoprints that I am really enjoying.  It’s late and I’m tired but I did want to get a note on here to let everyone know I’m still here and to post a couple of the images I printed when I got back from my week long retreat at Spider Lake.  More on that later.  For now… a couple of images

Forgeries and The Magic in Paintings

“A painter who wants to involve viewers emotionally needs to leave us some work to do ourselves.  Once having collaborated, we find ourselves hooked.  A painstaking, seemingly perfect depiction of reality has its charms… but a painting that contains less hard information may nonetheless seem more real and compelling.  Consider a Manet oil of horses thundering down the track, all blur and commotion and energy.”  The quote is from The Forger’s Spell, a book  about VerMeer forgeries.  I thought it was a very good book, interesting in that I learned a lot about art forgeries and what well may have been the first acrylic paint. 

As for the art forgeries, now that I’ve read this I believe I have seen at least one Degas forgery.  At the time I saw the painting my first thought was that Degas was probably turning over in his grave thinking surely he should have destroyed this one.  Now that I’ve seen photos of some of the VerMeer forgeries I wonder how anyone could have thought they were VerMeer. Then I had another thought about art and art snobbery but that’s a whole different topic.

What I’ve been thinking about recently is the thing this was so hard for me to learn to do in my paintings.  I wonder if other artists struggle with it too.  I’m thinking of the quote above and two I have on my easel … “If it becomes too real it loses the magic,”  Claude Monet and “Don’t draw the object, design the page,” Alex Powers.  And from another book I just finished, The Swan Thieves, “That little bit of mystery every painting needs to be successful…”

I still struggle with it; that’s one of the reasons I was so pleased when I finally figured out a way to lose some of those edges in my painting and still do a very detailed , no magic about it, drawing.  Once the drawing is done, transfer it to the watercolor paper and begin a process of masking and pouring.  I haven’t done a painting in awhile because I have my grandson here a couple days a week.  That prompted me to start doing more sketching which is always loose. 

A week as Artist In Residence

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been back for more than a week already and still haven’t posted anything here.  I was privileged to be one of two Artists In Residence at the Terrace Inn at Bay View, a Methodist Chautauqua between Petoskey and Harbor Springs here in Michigan.  Artists, if you would like to know more and maybe participate contact Patti at the Inn.  She hosts a different artist every week during the season.

My week – I did a few plein air pieces which is something I haven’t done in a few years and I do want to get back to.  Here they are – by the 5th one I was almost satisfied with what I was getting.

 

I also did some sketching.  I’m happier with those results.  Maybe I should think sketch when I do a plein air piece.

This year the weather wasn’t very cooperative, wet and cold the first 3 days so we took in some lectures.  Lou Seipel was the speaker for the week we were there and her topic was Bridges out of Poverty.  She was a very dynamic speaker and interesting.  Like everything else, communication is key to helping.  We can’t fix but we can learn how to help by learning to communicate.  If you’re interested, there is a website,  www.ahaprocess.com.

I also worked on some monoprint plates but haven’t printed them yet, when I do I’ll post them.   As I was looking through my file for the images from last week I saw the earrings I made with my friend Annie’s help.  I do slide off the  page now and then and these earrings are a testament to that… copper, etched with my designs and finished with heat and colored pencil…

A bit of history about watercolor

Did you know that watercolor painting goes back to the caveman?  He mixed blackened charcoal with water to draw on the cave walls.    I’m headed up to Petoskey, Michigan, actually to Bay View which is a Methodist Chautauqua.  I’m one of two Artists in Residence at the Terrace Inn there and on Wednesday I have to give a talk and demonstration.  I’m going to talk about the history of watercolor and thanks to a bit of my own research and that of a good friend, Sandy Meyer, I think I can pull it off.  I’ll also do a demonstration of the watercolor monoprint process I use because it’s something anyone can do.

But more on the history;  modern use of watercolor began in England in the late 1700s.  Until 1766 watercolors were basically pigments mixed with water-soluble gum and had been sold as dry lumps which had to be grated, then mixed with water.  William Reeves found that honey mixed with gum arabic would stop cakes from crumbling apart and allow them to be molded into regular shapes.  His brother, a metalworker, made molds and in 1766 Reeves and Son opened a company supplying the army and East India Trade Company with the first watercolor paint boxes.

In 1832 Henry Newton and chemist William Winsor added glycerin to the pigment which kept it moist.  Now watercolor no longer needed to be rubbed with water to loosen the pigment but could be used straight from the pan.  Then in 1841 the first collapsible tube was made.  By 1846 Winsor and Newton took off with the idea and started selling all their artists paints (oils included) in tubes.

Interest in watercolor grew rapidly here in the United States and in England.  Many American artists were influenced the the British artists who came to the United States to record its natural wonders and beauty.  By the late 1800s American had inherited from the British a mature technique with unique properties but what they did with it was pure Yankee Ingenuity.  American watercolors exploded in all directions.  Between 1870 and the 1920s some of the most important American artists were using watercolors:  Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer, James Abbott McNeil Whistler and John Singer Sargent.

Today there are more artists using watercolor than any other medium, even though it is believed to be the most challenging medium.  It’s advantages:  it’s instantly ready to be used, easily cleaned up with water when done and there are no chemical hazards involved with it… an ideal medium.

Here’s another of my watercolor monoprints and if you’re interested, I’ve posted several on my website that are available and affordable.  Here’s a link,  www.helenpercylystra.com.

A bunch of boats & a bundle update

First the bundles; I checked them last Saturday after a week of rain and saw that even though I had coated the matboard substrate front, back and sides with a sealer, a week of rain had the paper separating from the board center.  No matter, I am looking at what happens and not worrying about what happens.  I’ll be checking again tomorrow.  This week has been mostly sunshine though it did rain today.

The rest of the week has been spent working on more monoprints, getting ready for another exhibit that opens June 4.  Six from this week are boats or boat related…

Some time ago I set up an Etsy Account but I haven’t put anything up for sale on it.  I’m thinking of putting some of my monoprints on there.  Has anyone else done Etsy and if so, what do you think?