A Video Sneak Peek at Residency Work

I am trying something new here- a video! 

This shows you some of the new pieces I completed while at my residency in Virginia....

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!

The Commission Process Step 5-Imagery and Details: Shirley and Roger

Some parts of the process are exciting and quick- like the pour. But some are slower, more meticulous and exacting.  This week was one of those times.    I spent several hours two days in a row fine-tuning some areas of the painting, adjusting color, eliminating details I didn't like, accentuating those I did. Once I got it to the point that felt right- I the continued on with the next step- the grasses.

It was important to Shirley that the grasses retain their original “straw” color. I was going to use actual grasses- but during the process of attaching them, their color can become obscured, (or scorched by the torch!).  So based on feedback from Shirley on earlier pieces, I opted instead to silkscreen them on.  

  

I still wanted to use some actual botanicals in the piece, so I chose leaves in their color scheme, some dollar plants, and Queen Anne’s lace to incorporate.  Once again- I am very slow and deliberate about placement.  Composition – or the arrangement/balance of a piece- is very, very important to me.  I spent a good chunk of an afternoon going through my collection of pressed botanicals to find a good range of size and shape, and then laid them on in various configurations.  When I finally thought that I had a good arrangement- I left. ! Yes, I wanted to wait and see if I felt the same way the next day, looking at it with fresh eyes.  The next morning- I made some small adjustments, but went with the plan. Now to attach in the exact configuration I’d decided on!

I have done this process with with the encaustic wax on a smaller scale, but the larger scale here caused a couple of difficulties.  You must heat up the surface before applying wax, and to do so requires the use of a heat gun or blowtorch- both of which will blow all of my fragile and very light arrangements right off the panel!  I take a picture with my ipad so I can refer back to it- but then I weighted down the ones not being worked on to keep them in place while I heated and applied hot wax to attach the leaves or pods or flowers. It took all afternoon to attach them- but they are exactly where I wanted them :)

In the home stretch now- I hope! I think I am clear about the next step- 

but want to take a break and come back and look and see…

Here it is in its present state hanging on a small piece of studio wall painted in Shirley and Rogers colors....

Art celebrating love for June weddings!

I recently attended our nephews wedding, and, as I usually do- created a piece for them. I always enjoy blending information and imagery from two backgrounds into one- a metaphor for marriage, if you will. Here is my most recent:

Jared and his wife Dakota and got married in southern Illinois, so I found an antique map of the area to use.  I included the text from their invitation, and the upper right hand corner is a portion of the embossed envelope the invite arrived in.  “Love let us share our name” is one of many tattoos Jared is sporting, and relevant to the occasion.  I love to wrap imagery around the side, so used one of the sides to repeat the announcement, another with a map of his cross country trek, and another with map of places he has traveled to.  The rest of it was just pure fun with color and fire created patterns!

  

Dylan's bride Emily was obsessed with Paris, so had to include the Eiffel tower and map of the city.  Lilies are her favorite flower (and part of wedding bouquet). They met and U of I, so I included the seal of the university, and the circular grid pattern on the left was on one of their favorite buildings on campus. “Love is patient” was a line from one of their favorite verses and part of their ceremony.

Becky and Matt had to wait several years for theirs, but it finally arrived.  Their invitation of course is included, and also a map of where they met and now live. They met in the air force, so the logo embraces their invitation.  Their wedding song lyrics fall down the right, and Becky wore flip-flops under her wedding dress, so included those as well. (What a great fashion statement!)

I got to thinking how many of these have I made over the years? Too many to recall. A bride who wanted to give it to her fiancé for a wedding present commissioned the first wedding piece I made. She saved some of the lavender from the bouquet he gave her when he proposed, a response card from a favorite aunt, pages from a book that they both are enamored with, and a coat of arms from her background and an Indian deity from his. And of course- their engagement announcement! 

This next one isn’t necessarily wedding- but related.  A client came to me with a bottle of Dom Perignon (unfortunately empty :) and the cork. That had been their wedding present to their niece and nephew.  So for their first anniversary, they commissioned a piece that incorporated their wedding invitation, the cork, musical imagery (she’s a musician). The palette of the piece was inspired by the wedding invite, and they requested natural materials to be used- but allowed me to play with it and have fun! Which is a sure way to ensure a commission is a successJ