Monday, June 3, 2013

Between Phases

Big News! - look who came into my life this week. (:D!!)

sooo smart - she has already figured out that Mom's favorite chair is an excellent napping spot

Looks like I will have a second adorable feline assistant (who I am thinking of naming "Mini")!

(Ok, gush, completed, haha, back to art ;)). This week I refined some existent pieces:

"The Forest of And, And, And"
 - filled in all the spaces between the letters with tiny, red parallel lines

- added a layer of transparent black to the whole piece

-added white tiny parallel lines to the figure to connect the figure and background stylistically

-added the back layer of black (it's textured wallpaper, spray painted and mounted to cardboard) to both frame the central portion and close the edges so that no open space comes into contact with the picture plane (making it even more "airless")






"Neo-Gothic" (below) will be on display this summer as part of the exhibition "Clothing Optional" at the National Association of Women Artists Gallery in New York ( :)! ). I thought some more about emphasis by reduction and decided to try again on the back panel (one of the things I like about collage it allows me to wait longer and test out different things before making a commitment - it's a very "flexible" medium in that sense (love).) This time, I wanted to make the back panel using a single color so that the orange and blue in the main panel stand out more. Making this was painful (I desperately wanted to add gold, black, blue and neon yellow at various times during the process), but I'm glad I stuck it out because I think it works(?!?)
Neo-Gothic (Iris)

I hadn't realized how similar in concept the scalped edges of the paper in "the forest of and, and, and" (above) are to the shaped and mitered edges of the panels in "Neo-Gothic" (right). Still thinking that through, but it looks like going back into these may have been a good idea...

speaking of "and, and, and"...
I couldn't help myself from making new things too ( ;)).
A very exciting opportunity arose  to make a larger scale installation piece for DownStreet Art this summer! I've started on another giant collage, except this time, I'll mount the parts directly to the wall. Picture this - an entire menagerie of Chimeras (!!!!!) These are the "first batch":




Mini is already learning to be a good little studio helper by establishing scale and 
acting as my "fur model" (while napping, naturally)
 
It was a full week, and in a para-art, life adventure - I traded a drawing for some help identifying the plants in the yard (and then did lots of weeding). It may take a while, but now I know what's poisonous (always a good thing to know!), and can work towards reducing down to what's colorful and/or smells nice - Beautiousness!