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

Very Mixed Media

Window Curtain
From the Upcycle Series

This is the last piece in the Upcycle Series that will reference back alleys and doorways.
There are no other pieces of the old acrylic painting that I am recycling with  shapes on them that ft this theme.
I could have called this "Duplex" or Awning" but I like the white shape on the right that looks like a curtain blowing out of an open window.  It has been fun to play with the shapes that were already established and to find a way to work with them.

The original painting in this piece was mostly black.
I wanted to distinguish the door shape on the right from the rest of the piece, using red over the black to do that.  Along with the acrylic painting that I started with I also use craypas, water color, shellac, and closed pencil.
So very mixed media, which is what I do.
It works for me to be able to combine lots of media to work though an artistic challenge.

This piece is 6x6" priced at $75 including shipping to the US.  For purchase information, email me.

A Return to Doors

Back Alley
Part of the Upcycle Series

When I first started making quilts in the late 1980's and 90's windows and doors
were a large part of the imagery I used.

I have always liked the geometry that these architectural elements present.
Their visual impact carries a lot of emotional, social and sometimes cultural connotations.
Doors allude to the ideas of openings and closures, entrance and exclusion.

What kind of place is this with its dark exterior and crooked door?
Do I want to enter or stay out?
Is it day or night?
There is something both lovely and rich about the colors.
It is artistic intuition at its best.
I really like this one!

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping to the US.  To purchase please email me.

Letting the Work Speak to Me

Planar Analysis
Part of the Upcycle Series

This is what developed from the "before" picture I posted on February 6th.
It certainly took a different path than I thought it would!
There is a lot of history here, meaning that I really worked to get to this point.
And almost everything that was in the original piece of the old painting I was upcycling
got buried.  The only recognizable remaining part is the rectangle in the upper left corner.
In the original that rectangle was on the bottom left, so even the final orientation is different as well.

Below is a reminder of what the work looked like when I started.
Sometimes I just have to let go and allow the work do the talking.
This piece said "I do not want to be about small triangles."
Over all the final piece is a good example of letting intuition have its say.

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping to the US.  To purchase please email me.

(Before)

Getting There is Part of the Fun!

When in Rome...
Part of the Upcycle Series

In this series I have been working with an old acrylic painting, using sections of it and creating new works with those pieces.  Along with working small  (6x6") I have given myself some other challenges. I am
using plaster, shellac and encaustic paint trying to see how those
materials affect the work and how compatible (or not) they are together.

I have worked with encaustic paint for a number of years and like the way you can build up layers and scrape them away to reveal what is underneath.  I am finding that the plaster has similar properties.  I can apply it thickly or thinly and then sand, instead of scrape, to reveal the "soul" or history of the layers.

In the "Sun Series" I used lots of plaster along with the shellac.  Including the encaustic adds another dimension.
Now I have to consider when to apply each material as it is difficult to sand encaustic.
I like the depth that the encaustic creates and its transparency.
I like the crispness of the plaster.
I like the shellac for its ability to seal the layers and create a sense of luminosity.

The task is finding the correct balance between these materials that I really love using so I can create work that I think feels fresh and innovative.  As always I am looking for growth in my approach to mixed media.
I am not there yet, but getting there is part of the fun!

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping.  To purchase please email me.

Before and After/ Geometry and Whimsy

As promised here is the beginning of the next piece in the Upcylce series.  This is the backside of one of my old paintings and therefore the "before" picture.  I added some collage elements, some stitching and a bit of color.  The blank band at the top is the board showing as the painting section I had does not fill the whole 6x6" board.

From here I worked with color, shellac, plaster and encaustic, building up the surface until I was satisfied.  My whole focus in this group of works is to create surfaces that look aged  and layered.
Sometimes the changes until I reach the end product are rather subtle, but the end is achieved through lots of layering

In the final version  on the right you see that the main shapes have been retained, but the colors and textures are more developed.  I extended the shapes from the painting in the larger lower section into the top empty area.

I found that curved area on the lower right corner to be hard to work with, although I really loved that part of the work initially.
My goal was to create a balance between what was in the original canvas and what I wanted to do with plaster and encaustic.  Some elements got lost but when I added that section of raised plaster created by screening the plaster through a stencil doily I found what I was looking for...a balance between geometric shape and organic whimsy.

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping.  To purchase email me.

A Little Left of Center

Left of Center
More from the Upcycle Series

I received a comment when I posted some of the cut up painting pieces that the light side of the old painting was more interesting because the stitching was more apparent.  I think that each side has its own visual impact.  That is why I had such a hard time figuring out what to do with them originally.  I like both sides and wanted them both to be viewed.  But sometimes you just have to let go of an idea and let the art work have its say.  So now, in this series, I am using the pieces and only one side will be seen.

In this work I started with the lighter side of one of the pieces.  As you can see it didn't stay as light as it was originally.  I should have taken a before picture and will do so with the next light one. But when sitting next to one of the darker Upcycle pieces it is still light.  Although keeping it light is not one of my objectives.  I am more interested in making an interesting small work with textures and and nuances of the surface that was inspired by the cut up acrylic painting that i did so many years ago.

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping.  To purchase please email me.

Upcycle no. 3

Seven Up

This was a struggle and it shows.  The composition with my recycled painting was awkward to begin with.  I was trying to work with raised areas as well as that more flat area on the right.  I don't think it all came together for me.  I do like the stitching  in the white rectangle on the lower left and the use of wire which you can barely see in this photo.

There is always the question of whether one should abandon a work or see it through to the end. I chose to see it through and then to reveal it to the world!   Sometimes I need some distance and time away from the work to see what is going on and to see its value.  I think it remains to be seen if this piece stands up to the rest of the work in this crazy "Upcycled Series".

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping.  To purchase please email me.

Dark and Light, Front and Back

I thought I could share the small pieces of the painting I cut up to use in my Upcycle series.
I don't have a picture of the original painting but as you can see it was dark.  Or perhaps I was dark!

These pieces are about 4 x 7 ".  I don't know why I chose that size.  It probably made sense at the time.  Then I added some collage elements, stitched on them both with the machine and by hand.  On some I added oil crayon markings and shapes.

The bottom photo is the back side of the pieces with more collage, drawing and coloring.

So, why do I continuously work on both sides of the page?  (See my Farmscapes which are also two-sided.)

I think it has something to do with the stitching which makes a mark on the backside as well as the front.  I find those marks intriguing on the blank side of the paper/canvas.  It offers me a whole other surface to respond to.

When I was in graduate school, several people commented on the backside of my fabric pieces, finding them interesting on their own.  Actually, I think some of the people, professors especially, liked the back of the work better than the front!

So I have made an effort to think about this side/surface, although I have never been able to leave it alone....meaning just go with the stitching without adding anything else.  Perhaps that would be a good challenge for a series of small pieces.  And I think you can look forward to some of the pieces in the Upcycle series being light ones, using the backside of the work instead of the darker original painting side.

The Importance of Layering and Transparency

Door and Window

Here is the second in my Upcycling Series where I am reinventing old acrylic paintings along with plaster, shellac, and encaustic paint.  I had a lot of fun stitching the canvases from my old paintings.  Finding a way to use them with these other mixed media elements has been a discovery.

I find that I am using plaster and sanding in the same way I use encaustic paint and a razor blade to scrape and excavate to underlying  layers.  The more I work and experiment the more I realize how important transparency and layering are to me and my process.

This piece is 6x6" and priced at $75 including shipping.  To purchase please email me.