Splashy Block O'Love...using water patterns

For my next batch of blocks o’ love valentines, I treated myself to some new acrylic spray paint by Liquitex!

They seem to have a bigger range of colors, and hoping they clogged less frequently than the ones I was using prior-(Montana Gold brand). And since the valentine palette is not my “normal” color range, I needed to add some more colors to my collection (note- any type of rationalization is acceptable when it comes to buying new art supplies!! :)

Anyhow armed with these new colors, I warmed up in my art journal and I pulled out some papers to practice on. My theory is when you are doing processes that require quick 

spontaneous actions, you need to do lots- some to warm up, and then make many so you have options and can be selective about which ones are the best. Picasso said the artist best tool can be the garbage can! In other words- edit yourself. If they suck, paint over them and keep going. But if they work- they deserve to live:) It’s being able to recognize the difference and stop at the right point that has taken years to perfect. So those fun splashy designs you see and think must've taken only a moment to create are are usually the 6th or 7th or 10th attempt, not the first.  Why not just apply with a brush? Because I think naturally derived patterns are gorgeous- and letting water do what it does naturally creates some lovely shapes and patterns. Thus- my use of many fluid processes…

So on with the fun part! I did some splashing, spraying, then quick wiping away before the paint had a chance to dry.  A couple of them I dropped in some liquid inks on, maybe some more water, and let them dry.  Seal them up with a quick layer o clear acrylic once they were dry and they were ready for next step.

 For this one, I liked the pattern created by the water so much, didn't want to add too much more - so I opted to add two little hearts and no text or screens. I scrubbed/sanded off a little more magenta to have a simpler background for the hearts. Then I cut some stencil hearts, but once I sprayed them I thought they were a bit too solid- so to add some texture I scratched back into the paint with the end of a paintbrush. I thought it still needed a little more contrast/definition, so I loaded one of my new ink pens with FW inks in black, and just traced the hearts with playful lines and a couple o dots here and there.  Voila! dry, spray seal,-done! 

This block was bought to give to a mom and her little girl… sweet! 

Spreading the love….

See the rest of the blocks o’ love here….

http://www.cherylholz.com/art/artwork.php?Subject=1760

The process behind "Walnut Blues"

Today doing a visual tracing of the development of "Walnut Blues."

Got my walnut inks in the mail, and couldn't wait to play with them. I used the back of an old print, partly because I hate to waste paper, and partly because I though the printmaking paper surface would be a lovely absorbent surface to test out the inks! so used some walnut ink, and also diluted a mix of FW acrylic inks. 

Then I played around with layering some old handmade paper (slightly spattered with ink) and a page form one of my flea market antique books. 

i put the papers on wax paper to save the work surface- and thought that was a waste of ink, so did a monoprint of sorts with the raw wood panel to pick up the excess walnut ink. loved the pattern it created! 

played around pulling together different collage elements..ik

toying around with the idea of adding a willow twig

then gently taped them tougher with painted tape to make it through the sewing machine....

so I had a collage sewn together...

I adhered it to the panel, embellished with some graphite, ink, and wired that willow twig on 

(after coating it with walnut ink and spraying to seal it!)

http://www.cherylholz.com/art/detail.php?artid=129539

Probably not what my mom had in mind...

...when she taught me to sew!  I can't really pinpoint what motivated me to do this-maybe all those lovely papers I've been collecting and altering?  All I know is that I kept waking up in the morning with the urge to sew these papers together, so....I lugged the sewing machine to the studio, wrestled with the tension knob, and started sewing!  I love the pattern stitching makes- even without thread, but then there are of course a whole palette of colors of thread, and the lovely little threads that are like fringe along the edge.  And bonus- I can immerse them in wax as well so they can play with my encaustic works! 

Here’s an example of how one came about...

arranging and selecting the papers/shapes/textures...
(an old intaglio print that I painted on,
(see this post http://holzstudiosampling.blogspot.com/2015/10/altered-papers.html),
banana bark paper, a page from an old encyclopedia of Britannica about louis XVI...)

stitching some of the layers together...

considering the background...

keeping the threads out of the way from the blowtorch and wax...

auditioning it on its panel...

adding some more layers of texture and staining- and i think she's done.... 

Flock o' Geese ATCs

Sometimes while working and focusing on one piece, it will overlap or flow into another.  Sometimes its just a practical thing- using up the end of a palette- but often times its because you didn't say everything you wanted/needed to in one piece.  I think a little bit of each happened here. While working on a portion of the large project I’ve taken on (see Midwest Shrine),
http://holzstudiosampling.blogspot.com/2015/04/planning-for-next-big-thing.html

 I shaped a portion of Aldo Leopold's book, "Sand County Summer” into 2 gothic shaped doorways. As I was carefully screening them on, I was reading the text about flocks of geese arriving in the spring.

 

Totally not planned,  the text ended up on the ATCs because I hate to waste art supplies- and I had a fully loaded screen with ink, took a look around- and found a fitting place to deposit it. But then I wanted to see actual geese, not just the text describing them.  So for the small ATCs I was working on, I made a screen of geese in various sizes and positions to include over the text describing their arrival.  Those led me down its own path and imagery, and now love these little guys.  Two have the text in them- then I went a little “goose crazy” and started flying geese into quite a few ATCs….

the beginning....

 the middle..

the end! 

 More examples- before and after staining....

  

"going with the flow...."

Irish ATCs

( These were scheduled to be posted while we were in Scotland and Ireland- but Blogger had different ideas. So- a little late but the art remains the same)

As you are reading this- I am now in Ireland!!  It is a big part of my heritage, but I noticed that the closer the trip got, the more my choices became Celtic ones.  I am going to show you what that looks like here! 

Ogham ATCs

I first became acquainted with Ogham characters during my first trip to Ireland almost 2 decades ago. While seeing the Book of Kells exhibition at Trinity College, these intriguing writings just grabbed me for some reason I can't completely articulate. I bought a postcard to remind me of the marks, (no photos allowed!) then found many other examples on various rocks and ruins during the rest of the trip. I came back and did a little research, and although I am not a linguist, this is my best explanation: It is an ancient alphabet whose characters are based on 12 trees. Found throughout  Ireland, archaeologists now think it might have been more widespread than that- because they've unearthed examples in north and south America that also contain examples of it.  At any rate- the following pieces have excerpts from the Book of Ballymote, in which the priests during the dark ages tried to record what knowledge and history they could preserve.  For some reason, in my mind's eye, a line of Ogham finished these perfectly! 

Irish music

And then, of course, there is Irish music.  After having just seen U2 in concert a month ago, I am still reliving that concert via their songs while working at the studio!  So this piece once again started with alcohol inks on encaustic board- a lovely surface for encaustic. 

I added some contrasting pan pastel blue, then wrote in the U2 lyrics that were playing while I worked- a favorite song of mine-  "Walk On"

  (All that you can’t leave behind is not just referring to actual luggage :) I collaged on a little strip from an old fossil book, and then waxed it. I then took a photocopy of some grasses, “auditioned” them on top of the piece, liked how it looked and what it added, so made a silkscreen of it. 

Screened it on, added another layer of wax, and stopped before I went to far!!  

Here is Walk on -performed live at Slane Castle in Ireland. Imagine! 

Slainte!

Planting Art seeds in the UK

( These were scheduled to be posted while we were in Scotland and Ireland- but Blogger had different ideas. So- a little late but the art remains the same)

In preparing for our trip to Scotland and Ireland, I made a dozen or so ATCs.

For those of you who don’t know, ATC stands for artist trading cards. They are pieces of board or paper that are 2.5” x 3.5,” the same size as a baseball trading card. They are little tiny baby pieces of art that were originally traded, and now ACEO’s- art card editions and originals- are sold as originals or small series of prints.   The intention for mine was to plant them on both “islands” during our trip, giving them to people who I enjoyed or may enjoy a tiny piece of art.  So I thought it fitting while I’m in the UK, I’ll highlight them on my blog!

Magenta Grasses ATC

This first one I started with some alcohol inks, which I am currently in love with. It’s serious-want-to-get-engaged kind of love :)  I am going to need a cabinet storage area soon! Such vibrant colors, quick drying, and have awesome interactions with other materials.  It’s a loose start, but I like the proportions of negative to positive space…

Went a little crazy here…

So I simplified a bit with alcohol and some coarse kosher salt…

Sometimes there is a method to my madness- other times I love just foraging through my collections to see what feels right, making a right brain rather than left brain connection… that's how I happened upon some patinaed copper that worked beautifully with the magenta.  A wee bit of pressed goldenrod balanced the strong horizontal nicely, but still not feeling done….

Added “living in the moment” in white….

But once I added wax I lost the delicate writing. So added some abstract script, highlights on goldenrod and linear pattern with the contrasting white. 

Done, stamped, signed, and ready to be packed for the voyage!

Slainte!