The Beauty of Working Small

Untitled
6x6"
mixed media collage on wood

As I move into the new year I have several art commitments coming up as well as a trip to New York City, so
I am once again working small and on a variety of ideas and imagery.
I have not forsaken the "Botanist's Journal Series".
I am still working on those pieces, just mixing it up a bit.
Actually the flower in this piece is from a copy of one of the Botany pieces (see Golden Poppy, Dec. 14 post).
Look for this new small piece on Etsy after the New Year.

There is something very satisfying about working small.
 Immediate results and a sense of accomplishment that often takes so long to achieve when working larger.
It also allows one to try new techniques or colors, imagery or abstraction and then analyze what works and what doesn't.
Just what I need right now.

Golden Poppy

"Golden Poppy"
14x19"
mixed media collage on paper and canvas

These works based on my Dad's botany journals have been both challenging and rewarding.
I am beginning to include more paint and am letting the artwork speak to me about the size of the piece.
Initially they were all fairly square, but the materials I am selecting for the base surface is now dictating the size.
In this one I have put together canvas (top half) from an old acrylic painting and an old dark mono print on paper (bottom half).  The mono print got totally obliterated and hidden as I worked.
That disappointed me as I really liked the marks and character of the mono print, but it is still there, just part of the history  or soul of the piece.
Framing or presentation of these pieces is the next challenge!

Yellow and Red Plums

"Wild Yellow and Red Plum"
14x15"
mixed media collage on canvas

The support or surface of this piece is an old acrylic painting that I sanded in order to reveal some of the underneath layer. I am a fan of distressed and aged surfaces.  The sanding creates marks and areas that I can't achieve when I am painting. There is just something about these unexpected and worn surfaces that I like.
A revelation of the soul of the work.

I think I "chickened out" a bit on the direct drawing that I want to do by keeping it in that rather ambiguous lower right corner, deferring to some machine stitching lines that cut across the picture plane.  But I really liked the drawing of the red plums that was in Dad's original illustration...small yet important.

The Botanist Makes a Dye Bath

"Black Walnut Dye"
14x15"
mixed media collage on canvas

One of the things that John and I have an abundance of on our farm is black walnuts.
As a child my mother and I would go to her childhood farm in Shelby Ohio and collect black walnuts.  Mom loved the texture and flavor of them in her holiday baked goods.  And she was willing to go to all of the work and mess necessary to get those precious walnut meats.  Removing the husks can stain your hands black and getting the nut out of the inner shell is time-consuming.  Around our farm in Southington, the squirrels are the only ones who go to all of this trouble.

Until this fall!

 In October I decided to use the walnuts to make a dye thanks to a visit and some inspiration from Jessica at Praxis Fiber Workshop.  I dyed both paper and fabric in the walnut dye (see my post from Sunday, Oct. 25) as well as a few strands of linen, cotton and silk threads.
It felt good to use this free resource and I loved the results.  Here is the collage that documents the experience which I think fits in perfectly with my Botanist's Journal series.  

Indian Corn

"Indian Corn and Seedling" from The Botanist's Journal Series
14 x15"
mixed media collage on fabric

Still working with my dad's illustrations and notations from his college botany class notebooks.
This incorporates an old acrylic painting on the left with papers, fabric, painting, a piece of a vintage quilt, some stitching and drawing....Hence the use of the term "mixed media"!

Many Techniques, Many Layers

Rust Belt Landscape
Mixed Media on Board

This started out as a demo for a workshop and actually made its way to finished product.
That doesn't always happen with my demos.  It did take a lot of work for me to get it to this stage.
Many revisions.  I was working with the rusting technique, burning, and painting.
The other 2 pieces in this series are more blue and cool colors, so it was a challenge to work with the pinks and browns here.

I really like incorporating found materials in my work.
With this piece I was able to use some found metal objects to create the rust stains on the piece, and then use those along with some actual rusted objects. The incorporation of the gold squares reference another form of alchemy where no tarnishing or patination has taken place.  I wanted the contrast of the bright, clean gold color along with the rusted areas. The idea of a landscape comes from the architectural nature of the artwork...buildings, doors, windows, fences.
Bright and clean.  Rusted and tarnished.
Like life.

Many techniques and layers...my signature.

Life Maintenance or When Real Life Takes Over

"Botanical Lies" (first side)
Originally posted on July 1

"Botanical Lies" (reverse side)

So, you may have noticed that my posts have been few and far between as well as all over the place...artwork, gardening, canning the produce, old shorts, art fairs, workshops.   That is kind of how the summer has been.  Add in lots of company and cooking and hopefully you can see how real life usurped the idyllic art life.
When this happens I call it "life maintenance", just carrying on with all of the duties that daily life requires.

But I am closing in on finishing this two-sided accordion fold book titled "Botanical Lies" which I wrote about back on July 1 (Yikes!).  The top photo here is the finished side that was previously posted in July.  The lower and larger photo is the reverse side of the book which is almost done.  So close, and with the prediction of rain for this week maybe I can get into the studio because I won't be able to work outside.  The left half of the reverse side needs more work and I want to do some negative painting as well.  My goal is to get this finished this week.  And I don't have much more time to work on it as it has to be delivered to the show it will be in around the middle of September.

Taa Daa!!

"Botanical Lies"
This side done!  mixed media collage on paper

"Botanical Lies" detail

Finished this side, at least for now.
I was able to insert the dimensional grass element that you see in the detail.
It wasn't as hard as I was making it out to be when just thinking about it.
Sometimes I just overthink things.
Now, on to the other side.

More Progress on "Botanical Lies"

More progress on "Botanical Lies"

Slowly I am making progress on this piece.  Some of what I did the other day affected the right side.  Once I got in the groove again I was able to integrate the collage elements and what I had done previously well enough.
I am now considering some way to add some dimensional elements to this piece by having additional sections that project from inside the folded areas.  Hard to explain.  Maybe harder to do!  But I can see it in my head!
Of course, what I see in my head doesn't always make it to the final artwork.

And this is a 2-sided piece,  so I still have the other side to do.
Yikes!  Taking more time than I originally thought it would.

Progress on "Botanical Lies"

Progress on "Botanical Lies"

Thus far, I have begun to work from right to left (?! go figure) using acrylics and colored pencil to expand upon my drawings done with pen and ink as well as stitched line drawing.  When I work in sections as I have done here I always worry about integrating the 2 parts.  Especially if some time has elapsed as it has with this piece.  While I have been doing other artwork, I haven't touched this piece for a week.
We will see what happened when I get back to it today.
Then there will be another time lapse since company arrives tomorrow.
Can't wait to see you guys!!

More About "Botanical Lies"

Box for "Botanical Lies"

Botanical Lies & box

I love putting things in boxes!  So, creating this accordion fold book and finding a way to display it allowed me to utilize a box once again.  The tags hanging from the box in the first photo above show the title,"Botanical Lies".   The second photo  displays part of the accordion fold book (in progress) emerging from the box.

My book project is part of a larger body of work done by the artists who are a part of ABC...Art Books Cleveland.
We are participating in a display of book arts in conjunction with a larger exhibit at the Cleveland  Museum of Art,
"Painting the Modern Garden, Monet to Matisse".  For those participating, we are asked to create an original artist book that has a garden theme.  The finished books will be displayed in Ingalls Library located in the Cleveland Museum of Art  during the month of October with a special one night exhibit of the works in the atrium of the museum on October 14, 2015 from 6:30-8:00pm.

My idea was to create a book of fantastical flowers inspired by the work of Gaugin and Rousseau.  I started by drawing my own versions of flowers and adding found botanical drawings along with collage elements from works I had done in the past.  I did some stitching on the paper to emphasize leaves and stems which I plan to paint later.  Because I am stitching on paper, what I do on the front side affects the back of the paper as well.  So this will be a two sided book with imagery and information on both sides. I like that the stitching causes me to think. What happens with the stitching which was deliberate on one side affects  what I can do on the back or opposite side.  Working back and forth from one side to the other sets up a dynamic that doesn't happen when  one considers just the front or one side of the paper.

Arch and Ivy

Arch and Ivy
8x8"  mixed media collage

The last few pieces (some of which I've posted and some not) have been heavily layered.
I wanted to go back to work with layers that are thinner thus revealing, not totally hiding, the ground or base layers.
As with much of my work, the materials and process influence my decisions.
The circle of ivy leaves was one of the original elements in this collage.
The archway developed or appeared as I added other papers and paint.
I am finding that the stained tea bag papers remain transparent so what ever is underneath still has some presence.
They also take paint well.  The arch appeared from the stained marks on the tea bag and was enhanced by some
watercolor paint.

Integrating and Unifying

At the End of the Road
6x6"

This was total play!  I did not start out with an idea of what I wanted at the end.  The only preconceived element was that I would create some texture in plaster with a cotton doily I have.  As with much of my work, it is mixed media...very mixed media!  In the layers of the collage there are found papers, part of a photocopy of one of my artworks, plaster, shellac, watercolor and acrylic paint.  I worked back and forth between all of these elements, sometimes sanding the layers with my mouse sander.  I applied the shellac and used the sander the way one might apply paint or erase out charcoal or graphite.

Because plaster and shellac take time to dry between layers, I find that I can multi-task, working on several pieces at one time.  What happens in one piece often becomes something I incorporate into some of the other pieces depending on what else is going on in them.  I like that when I look at the finished works I often can't tell the order of my process.
For me this is the definition of truly integrating all of the elements into a unified whole.

Ten Little Leaves

10 Leaves
6x6"

More painting and stitching on  tea bags.
Here the artwork is done totally with tea bags collaged to a thin base paper then painted with watercolors
and hand stitched.
The tea bags accept the paint really well and the stained marks and texture from the tea is a bonus.
I cut through the tea bags in some areas to expose the white base paper.
I really struggled with those white recessed areas.   They were just too white.  In the end I used some colored pencil and shellac to tone them down.

For sale on my  Etsy site for $65.  

Back to Work

Swing
6x6"

So...finally I am back in the studio!  I still have gardening to do, but I feel like I can start to balance home and garden with the studio.  In the past, because I was teaching, summer was my studio time and the rest of the year was for teaching.  Now, I can flip-flop that and concentrate on artwork in the winter months and the garden and home in the summer.We will see how that works out.
So you have here another tea bag painting...a transfer of an original artwork onto a tea bag enhanced with water color and stitching.  I like the intimacy of these small pieces.  There is a freshness to them and an unexpected quality of play.

Thoughts About Time

Third Week of May

As we approach the third week of May, I am sharing the Farmscape piece I did in 2009 during that week.
As in my last post, this is a two-sided work showing 2 aspects of that week.
Time is often a factor for me...mainly, not having enough of it!
And I am certainly feeling that this spring.  I feel so behind in my gardening. I can't keep up with the mowing. And I try not to notice the record crop of dandelions.
But the tulips and daffodils were especially lovely this year and are almost done.
The apple and pear trees have finished their blossoms and it looks like there will be plenty of fruit.
The peonies will open this week and my lettuce, peas, and radishes are popping up.

So the notion of time can be a reference to how much time one has, how one uses that time, and how time itself
flows in a regular repetitive pattern that we come to rely upon.  As the song says,
"To everything there is a season...And a time to every purpose under heaven."
("Turn, Turn Turn" by the Byrds)

Two Sided Collage

Spring Collage (front and back)

I have talked about my two sided collages from my "Farmscape Series" but have neglected to post both sides of one of them.  Here is a collage from the 4th week in April.

If you follow the geometric aspects of the work you can see where the stitching and collaging on one side influenced what happened on the reverse side.  Usually one side ended up being lighter and brighter than the other.  I would start by collaging elements on one side of the paper, then reversing it to see what I might want to include on the other side.  I would return to the first side and do some painting, then reverse it and work on the other side.  It was a continual back and forth process.

This allowed me to make 2 observations about what was happening on the farm during that particular week.

And how do I know this was from the 4th week in April?

I included a code.

If you look at the bottom of the piece you will notice 

some stitched blocks with lines through them.

The number of blocks indicate the month and the number of lines indicate the week.

This piece has 4 stitched blocks with 4 stitched lines indicating the fourth week of April.

Asparagus, Dandelions and Rain..oh my!

Asparagus
13x15"  

I have not been writing as frequently of late as I have been in the garden and doing yard work.
There is a lot of that to do at this time of year, so I have been diverted from playing in my studio to playing in the dirt.
The artwork here is from my "Farmscape Series" done in 2009 where I created one 2-sided collage each week throughout the year.  The idea was to reflect abstractly the weekly changes in weather, landscape, atmosphere and my feelings about these things.

As I see the asparagus coming up in my garden right now and since I probably won't get into the studio again today I am sharing this collage of asparagus, dandelions and rain.  While we have a lot more dandelions than asparagus, our asparagus bed is producing quite well.

The collage incorporates a painted and silkscreened fabric with imagery that felt like asparagus to me when I found it in my stash as I was making the collage.  I am sure I was not thinking about asparagus when I painted the fabric, but that is the beauty of abstract work and saving all of my scraps.  The dandelion is from a photo I took of that puff ball dandelion top that is loaded with seeds to make....you guessed it, more dandelions.
(The pressure to have a weed-free lawn is not so great in the country.
We are happy just to have something green growing in the yard.)
And the rain shower is stitching.

So I am off to hang the laundry out and work in the garden and yard, "making art in my head" as I work.

Quilt on a Clothesline

Clothesline Art no. 3:  Quilt
6x6"

This is the third and final piece in this particular series of clothesline artwork.
It is a photocopy of an earlier collage with the addition of the sewn paper sheets and quilt.
I like how this piece looks as if it is hanging in a field of wheat.

The work is $45 with free shipping in the US.  Look for details on my Etsy shop.

More Clothesline Art

Clothesline Art no. 2
6x6"

Not everyone has white sheets. In fact, the  range of color and design in sheets today is amazing.
It is Friday here and a day when I typically do some laundry.  Should I string up the clothesline and hang my wash out?  It is currently 40 degrees but sunny.  I have never hung my laundry out while wearing gloves!