Hula Hoops and Hopscotch

"Hula Hoop and Hopscotch Memories"
24 x 30"
mixed media on paper

This piece sat for almost 2 weeks on my work table with the bottom part glued and the top part a mystery to me as to what to do with it.  My creative spirit got all caught up in those spirals on the bottom and couldn't seem to move forward.
Yesterday I just went into the studio with a devil may care attitude and came up with this.
Sometimes I need to let the muse take over.
She said "Don't over think it, Clare!"

www.claremurrayadams.com

When the Artworks Talks to Me

"Vivid Dream"
24x30"
mixed media collage

So...this is the piece from March 6th where I left the work untitled, having forgotten the title I was originally thinking of.
Now it is titled and the artwork is updated...a bit different from the one you see in the previous post.
I am having a lot of trouble with the framing of these larger pieces.  Because they are on paper and I am using wet adhesives and paint the paper gets rather wrinkly.  Putting the piece behind a mat is just not working out.
So I took this out of the frame and mat and attached it to a larger piece of mat board.  This still left some wrinkles and marks that I didn't like so I added some additional pieces of collage to the edges.
It looks much better although I would have liked more negative space around the whole piece.
But it now float on top of the board under the plexiglass and frame.

Lesson learned!
I always like it when the art work talks to me.
This piece said "I do not want to be trapped under a mat."

When in Doubt...Collage

Mixed Media Collage on Board
11 x 14"

The underlying basis of this collage is a mono print.
The large pink area reveals what can still be seen of the mono print.
The rest of it is pretty buried in the layers of paint, fabric, shellac and sanded plaster.
Working abstractly, without any reference to an object or some real subject is difficult for me.
I don't mind if the final artwork references something to me or the viewer, but I really wanted here to just work with shape and composition, color and texture, without relying on a collaged image.
I wasn't able to do this successfully in the mono print alone.
But I feel I had more success once I started collaging, using the mono print as one of the contributing papers for the collage.

Order / Disorder Mono Print

Order / Disorder
Mono Print on Paper
11 x 17" 

Order / Disorder
Ghost print on Paper

Mono printing with paper stencils, textures and ink applied with a brayer.
There is a freedom and sense of play when working with mono prints.
While there is this accidental quality to the process, one also has to think about the rearrangement of the pieces on the paper.  Think ahead and anticipate but be prepared for the unexpected that can be either rewarding or a bit of a disappointment.

Another Iteration

Mono Print Dress 3

Those of you who know me and my work know that I often work in a series.  I do several pieces in the same vein, really trying to mine the idea or the materials.  Mono printing easily lends itself to this kind of process.

Above is the third printing of the plate with the dress image on it.
I added some collage elements..can't help myself.  And a little bit of colored pencil.
I think its done, but not sure.
The middle print from the same plate is still being considered.

Generally as the plate gets reworked I like the results better.
The nuances that happen are things one can't plan for initially.

Mono printing!!

Untitled
14x22"

I took a mono printing workshop last Saturday.  Part 2 of the workshop is this Saturday.

I forgot how much I love this process.

I had so much fun. 

The class was taught by Lisa Schonberg at Zygote Press in Cleveland. http://zygotepress.com

She is a great instructor and the facility is wonderful to work in.

I made three prints all from the same plate.  This is the first iteration.

I was so excited that I came home and unearthed my press and spent this week making a space in which to do more mono printing.

Got to go...I have lots of ideas.

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 Scary Part...Going Too Far

"Three Calla lily Leaves"
from the Botanist's Journal series
15x15"
mixed media collage on a paper and canvas support

The Calla Lily leaves are really layered into this work.  Part of one is clearly  seen on the right side, but the viewer has to really look for the other two.  I was able to add some direct drawing (the black active circles and Xs) over top of the work which was very scary to do as I had put a lot of work into the piece and was worried about ruining it.
Isn't that always our worry...that we will go too far or sometimes not far enough.
Lots of transparent layers has long been one of my goals and something I think I often achieve.
Now the act of adding direct drawing using paint or sewing lines is the next step or challenge for me.

Apple Blossoms from the Botanist's Journal

"Apple Blossoms" from the Botanist's Journal Series
14 x 20"
mixed media collage on canvas

The illustration of the apple blossoms and the writing about it are layered on a painted canvas with papers, fabrics, and threads.  Sewing paper seems to be imbedded in my art practice.  Also incorporated are mono prints on silk organza and some stamping.  There is some dimension to the work from the sections where a vintage quilt was incorporated.  I really want to incorporate more direct drawing into these pieces but am having a hard time making that leap.

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"!