Thursday, October 29, 2015

Collecting and Pressing Autumn Leaves...


So taking a break from my collage-a-thon to capture some of the leaves while they are still here!  I love to use botanical specimens in my work, and save a few exceptions, they need to be pressed very flat to make them easy to work with.  So every year I spend a chunk of time adding to my ongoing collection so that in the middle of winter (or early spring) i have many colors, size and specimen options to choose from.  
    

 I used to do my collecting of leaves lots at once, and it would take me and my assistant half a day or more to press them all correctly. They would take up half a table workspace for a couple weeks while they dried. This year I'm approaching it on a smaller scale. Since I already have a pretty big collection, I'm pretty well set, but you never know when you're going to need a certain size or color or shape.  Since I can't do this in this in the middle of the winter, I'm doing it now. For the most part sticking leaves in the old telephone book or book is fine, except for the species that have a really thick stem, then you have to build up on either side of that stem so that everything will dry flat.  
For example, this branch of sumac leaves has a pretty thick stem, so if just stuck it in a book the parts of the leaves right by the stem would not be pressed flat.  

so I lay it on acid free blotter paper

Then build up around the stem with other pieces of paper until tis flush with the stem.  

More blotter paper and cardboard to cushion, then another piece of wood before starting on the next layer of the stack. 
Then I weight the whole thing down more with sand bags. 


Now wait a couple of weeks. Its important that they are thoroughly dry and free of moisture before embedding them in any medium.  

Heres some lovely perfectly flat specimens! 

 


Once they're dry, then I need to store them in a way that will keep them safe and that I can find them. 
If I have an abundance of one particular type, I like to try and put them in a file folder, like these honey locust leaves. 

  


Then I organize them by color so I can easily find what i am looking for when adding them to a painting!



How long did that painting take you? I started preparing for it  a year ago ... :) 



















Thursday, October 22, 2015

Altered Papers

So today I got out on my flea market purchases, and thought I would at least make a couple of small collages. Wrong. I thought they needed a little marking up, so I started spraying, painting, sponging and in general messing with them. People always ask me how I do a certain portion of a painting, and sometimes I cannot remember. Sometimes I think they feel I am being evasive, but truly, once I get into the zone, I just start making shit up and I don't record it for posterity. I couldn't tell you everything I did today, but I tried to take pictures, even though I lost my phone at some point under the papers! This is so much fun, I complet

ely lost track of time- which is s good sign..! I feel like I could do this forever, but I suppose at some point I would want to try and assemble them. And that is the next task. But for today-a lot of fun was had marring up an Encyclopedia Britannica from 1911, poetical works, and the "Secretary’s Desk Book" from 1933, which cracked me up with everything included that they considered imperative for a secretary to know....  
Here's some of the ways in which I "altered" the papers I collected..........          

I pulled out some stencils I had forgot about to get me going ...   







Then pulled out my new favorite- walnut ink!!  Gorgeous sepia tone I couldn't get enough of....







 





Picked up the excess...



Then, feeling on a roll, pulled out even more potential papers.  
These are prints that I made that didn't make the cut for various reasons- but are on gorgeous printmaking papers and still have portions that are printed well...-so- lets muck em up! 


Start out with some subtle pan pastel...


Sprayed ink...


and walnut inks! 


What the hell- lets throw some acrylic ink on there...



OK, maybe too much...


Use another print to pick up the excess....


and an encyclopedia page as well (apparently I overdid it!)


Then- I had bought some marbled paper that I just loved the pattern of- but just wasn't my color palette exactly- so- put on another layer on them as well! (or 3...)


Little too much- so- lets transfer it to another (a monoprint by some standards- I think not so much...)



                               















OK- not much room left!! better give it up for the night...





Thursday, October 15, 2015

Fun in foraging for collage fodder....


So in keeping with my renewed interest in collage, last weekend I went to our wonderful local source- the Kane county flea market- in search of some new material.  We had to bundle up a bit for the unexpected early fall weather-but was well worth the effort!   I haven't been there in years, but garnered the help of my experienced friend Jackie, who lives nearby and knows the layout and vendors and where to go for what (including lunch!).   She helped me navigate and find old natural history books, encyclopedias, prints, maps, and boxes...
 I had to leave before I couldn't carry my backpack any longer!  


And here is the curious thing, depending on your worldview.... I went looking for what appealed to me- old text, diagrams of natural phenomena, good literature that is beautifully patina-ed in its old age.  And when I delved in further at the studio- Scotland, which I visited recently, kept showing up.  

The "poetical works" I picked up was of Robert Burns! Robert Burns widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland or "the ploughman poet"  (the term I love) was the son of a tenant farmer, though his father had made sure he was really fairly well educated for the standards of his day.  He found time for his art and enjoyed all that life had to offer despite the demands of his life!   




And then, when I randomly opened a very old encyclopedia of Britannica, 
Countless Scottish earls showed up!  



And then- Mary queen of scots!! 
Had to bloody up that page, knowing her story....


Regardless off how you look at "coincidences"- what it says to me is that I need to go back into the photos I took there and spend some time bringing them to the studio...
 ( I don’t envy the time spent in front of the computer during my favorite season), 
but it'll happen....
and, of course, I need to go back to Scotland (and Ireland) again!