True Adventures of an Art Addict

My Seven Links

2012-01-23T20:04:00.000-05:00

I took it as a great compliment when my dear friend Donna Drozda invited me to be part of the 'My 7 Links’ project. Luckily, she assured me there was no deadline, so my usual inability to get to all 1,329 things on my list in a timely fashion was not going to be a problem. I have to admit that when I realize how much time has gone by since the invitation, I feel a bit embarrassed, but I'm going ahead with it nonetheless. So, I hope those whose blogs I’ve invited will allow themselves the same lee way… and if the time or interest doesn’t fit, no worries. (I copied some of this from Donna; she writes much better than I do. I can hear her laughing at me now.)

Did I Dream This? by Donna Drozda

The idea is to go back to your own posts and find one to fit each of the 7 categories, then ‘pass it on' to 5 more bloggers, and so on, and so on, etc., etc., etc. The project is described as a way of “uniting bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint venture", and I'm all about uniting, you know?

The following are the 7 categories:

Most beautiful post
Most popular post
Most controversial post
Most helpful post
Most “surprisingly successful” post
Most neglected post
The post that makes them most proud
So, here goes!

1. Most Beautiful. I had a hard time deciding, but in the end I think I chose "White" 2/7/10 at least partly because we've had virtually no snow (or snow days!) this winter. On the day these photos were taken, we'd had the most perfect snowfall during the night, and then, in the morning, the sun came out. The result was dazzling.

2. Most Popular. I don't know if this post got the most comments, but I appreciated the support of so many wonderful blogger friends. Where can you find this many people so willing to cheer you on? I hope they also found some small inspiration in this story of conquered fears: "I Did It" 10/24/10

3. Most Controversial. I'm not sure any of my posts were very controversial. But I know that politics are not popular on art blogs, and despite my best efforts to keep my political opinions to myself, they just pop out every once in a while. I chose "Every day should be Earth Day" 4/21/09 , because everyone really should know about this.

4. Most helpful. Many of you told me that this post was helpful, and I, too, often need to remind myself that "Art Comes From the Making" 6/30/11

5. Most surprisingly successful. I was surprised to see how this post resonated with people; I had feared it might be too whiney, but it was something I just needed to say. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. "Here's How It Is" 2/7/11

6. Most neglected. "Interconnections" 11/29/09

7. The post that makes me most proud. I chose "Not an Open Book" 6/15/11. I'm proud of myself for not chickening out when it came to revealing the very personal subject matter of this piece, and for having the guts to try an unfamiliar form of expression on an important project.

The five bloggers I've chosen to participate in the 'My Seven Links' project are
Lynne Hoppe
Kim Hambric
Valerianna
Gwen Buchanan
Lynne Ciacco

Upcoming Exhibit at Audubon Museum

2012-01-16T13:00:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, I took 5 pieces to the John James Audubon Museum in Henderson, Kentucky. It was a cold, grey day, and the drive took about 4 hours each way, but I am very happy to be part of the exhibit.

One of my pieces is on the front of the announcement- the one with the blue crow taking flight, entitled "Rise".

The Audubon Museum is a beautiful stone structure built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938. Unfortunately, the weather was dark and overcast, and my camera batteries died, so I wasn't able to get a good photo. Maybe I'll have better luck when I go to retrieve my work.

"Seedling" will also be in the exhibit.

I'm also excited to welcome my new followers; I am always so grateful that someone connects with what I do. I hope you will all enjoy sharing my journey. The new year is starting off with a bang! I'm wishing the same for all of you, my friends, and many blessings!

Palimpsest:: Language - with convoluted commentary

2011-12-31T21:44:00.000-05:00

In a previous post, I showed you the beginning of this piece, and the second unfinished part was featured here. It has taken me quite a while, what with Christmas and other projects, but here is the final result.

Palimpsest: Language

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage maps, handwriting from 1930's composition book, vintage newspaper pages, vintage book cut-outs, 1950's dress pattern pieces, stamps on vintage paper, Chinese Hell notes, inkjet print, acrylic paint, acrylic gel mediums, Caran d'Ache crayons, watercolor pencils, stitching, vintage ledger paper, image transfers, brads, metal spinner, metal thingie (?), feather, pen nib

languages/alphabets: English print, English handwritten script, shorthand, Chinese, Spanish, Tibetan, Tibetan ideograms/ pictographs, cuneiform (2 Types), Mayan pictographs, English numbers/mathematics

Several of you indicated you wouldn't be bored by reading more about the concepts, symbols, and meaning of this piece, so here goes.

As I said, I started to consider the concept 'palimpsest' to my way of working, and drawing parallels between those ideas. Palimpsest is defined by Wikipedia as "a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again.". (recycling!) These manuscripts have often been disaggregated, deciphered, and used to recover important lost writings and other information.

palimpsest with Greek text of Luke (Wikipedia)

Much of my recent collage work has incorporated a process of layering in which materials are partially scraped off to reveal parts of what's beneath. The idea of the interplay between the transparency of layers and the mystery of covering other sections has always been present in my work- probably because I so inherently see everything as connected to every other thing; I just can't seem to separate them.

Angel of the Sunrise

So, back to the language thing. (If you're not at all interested in linguistics or the human brain, skip over the next 3 paragraphs.) As I shared before, language is my business, in a sense. As a special educator, I think a lot about ways to remediate my students' reading, writing, and spoken language deficits. As I watch them struggle with these skills that come so naturally to many of us, I can't help but wonder how the human brain processes language, and ultimately, how language came to be in the first place.

Needless to say, the topic is too complex for me do an in-depth study. However, I did encounter some interesting and useful ideas, foremost among them the widely-held belief that the human brain is hard-wired for language. Many would argue that this is the one characteristic that separates humans from other animals. Thought and language appear to be inseparable- we think in words, and apparently can't think without them. (You might be interested in watching this.) Why some of our brains seem to be hard-wired differently (or less) than others is unclear, but calls into question that whole "nature-versus-nurture" debate; research indicates that both are involved in this case.

As for the origin of language, no one can say for certain, because it happened so far back in prehistory that there's little evidence available. Research into this subject continues, and perhaps someday more clues will be discovered. I was surprised to find out, though, that preeminent linguist Noam Chomsky believes that language acquisition occurred over a short period of time as a result of a sudden gene mutation, while most other experts think it evolved slowly. Chomsky says: 'To tell a fairy story about it, it is almost as if there was some higher primate wandering around a long time ago and some random mutation took place, maybe after some strange cosmic ray shower, and it reorganized the brain, implanting a language organ in an otherwise primate brain'. While cautioning against accepting this literally, Chomsky insists that 'it may be closer to reality than many other fairy tales that are told about evolutionary processes, including language.' (Wikipedia, Origins of Language)

This brings me to myths, folklore, and mystical stories concerning language. There are plenty of stories about the invention of language, often imbedded within larger creation myths. What I found particularly fascinating is that the concept of the power of "the word" is basic to virtually all of the world's spiritual traditions.
"We find in the Bible the words: 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was God', and we also find that the word is light, and that when that light dawned the whole creation manifested.... It teaches that the first sign of life that manifested was the audible expression, or sound: that is the word." - from The Power of the Word. This same idea is echoed in the Hindu Vedas, in the Hebraic Kabbalah, in Sufism, Islam, Zoroasterism, and many more.

I normally don't like to explain the meaning and symbolism in my work to a great extent, because I believe each viewer brings his/her own experiences and perception to the piece, constructing an individual interpretation which has meaning for them. Please don't think that my meaning is the only one; it's simply the perspective from which I created the piece.

The idea of the invention of language and of the creative power of the WORD is embodied by this figure, who speaks the word of creation, OM, in Tibetan script. The sweeping shape of the dress pattern piece with stitched lines coming from the figure's (other) mouth represent the sounds being put forth into the world, and reinforce the idea of something being made, or created. The bird in symbolist art has long been seen as a messenger, due to its ability to fly to realms beyond our reach; the map within its body implies access to all parts of the world.

This part of the piece has so many layers of print and symbols that they blend together to form almost a unified surface. The red symbol tumbles out of the original utterance from the figure's mouth, breaking open like an egg to spill out letters and symbols.

I started on the bottom part first, before I really knew where the piece was going as a whole. I knew it was going to be about 'palimpsest' and 'language', but beyond that, my idea had yet to gel. I was hoping that it would reveal itself as I proceeded. After scratching and scraping and rubbing paint into the surface, I cut the book cloth and ripped a big hunk of it off, then stuck part of an old piece into the hole (yes, 'hunk', 'hole', and 'stuck' are the correct technical terms). I glued things on, ripped things off, scraped, peeled, and transferred. I did lots of this for a long time, and can't really remember what came first, next, or before. It was very therapeutic!

Some of the first things I glued on were from a girl's high school composition notebook, circa 1931, that I bought at a used book store. The girl, Margaret Duncan, was apparently quite fascinated with the newly discovered "Life of Our Lord" by Charles Dickens, which had just been published for the first time as a result of the death of Dickens' last surviving family member. As each section was published in the Lexington Herald Leader, she cut it out and glued it over her own compositions.

I was more interested in her writing than in the newspaper clippings, so I started pulling them apart in places where there was no glue.

By accident, on the back of one part of the Charles Dickens story, I uncovered an article about the execution of someone from the Dillinger Gang, which you can see in this detail. In another section, there was an article about the possible repeal of prohibition! As I scraped and uncovered and dug down into these old books and writings, I felt at times that I was time-traveling- it was really the oddest feeling. And so it seems fitting, I guess, that I finally finish this on the last day of this year.

I hope you've enjoyed my long and winding explanation, or, at least, that you didn't die of boredom. Happy New Year, my dear friends! Happy New Year, Margaret, wherever you are! Please give my regards to Mr. Dickens, and to the Dillinger Gang.

Scary Christmas to Me

2011-12-26T10:27:00.002-05:00

Christmas can be a bit scary. I don't just mean the whole "getting-the-house-cleaned-&-decorated-(omg- where did we put those ornaments?)-&-buying-presents-&-wrapping-presents-&-making-food-&-no-way-will-I-get-all-this-done-in-time" thing. No. My Christmas is even scarier than that.

"What could possibly be scarier than that?" you may ask in astonished skepticism. OK. I'll show you. Be ready to hide your eyes. It's-

a blank canvas. This simple white rectangle has struck cold fear into the hearts of artists for centuries, and I am no exception. The fact that I hadn't done this type of work in- oh, let's see- since I got my BFA in 1993- served to increase the degree of terror by a factor of about- well, a lot.

But I forged ahead, because, you know- it's Christmas. My baby (my daughter, who, by virtue of being my youngest, will always be my baby) had expressed to me that she wanted a painting of a big, red, 'abstract-ish' flower to set on her living room mantle. I chose one of my red amaryllis photos, and cropped it to make an interesting (or so I hoped) composition.

the original photo

I sketched the composition onto the canvas, bought paint, got out the brushes, took a deep breath, and began.

At the end of the second day (sorry, I forgot to photograph the first day), I was surprised at how far I'd progressed, and was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I guess it's sort of like riding a bike; it all comes back to you...

...or not. At the end of the third day, it seemed I hadn't gotten much done at all, compared to day two. What the heck happened? Well, I was suffering from a respiratory infection, and it could be that I spent more time blowing my nose than painting. Sure, that must be it, right?

The fourth day was a nine hour painting marathon; I could hardly believe it when I finally checked the time and found it was 4:00. I'd started at 8:00 that morning, and after being surprised by the time, I painted for another hour. At that point, I felt it was approaching the way I had envisioned it. What bothered me was the first part I had worked on- the big flower at the top left, which now seemed too flat and too orange. The stamens/anthers were also a problem; I couldn't decide if they needed to be brought out more, moved, or what. Two days to Christmas and counting.

The next day I resolved most of the issues. I repainted the left flower almost entirely, including the stamens, which I moved over toward the right. I repainted the background for at least the twelfth time, and decided to call it finished. Here is the final version. For whatever reason, the background color looks weird in this photo, but otherwise it's pretty accurate.

But then, my final, and biggest fear reared its ugly head: What if she didn't like it? Of course she would never tell me; she'd just live a tortured life with this horrible thing on her mantle. What was I thinking? The painting really wasn't abstract at all- my own personal style had taken over without me even knowing it!

It was Christmas Eve, so I resisted the temptation to re-paint the whole thing (yes, that insane thought did actually cross my mind), and decided to wait for her reaction before freaking out completely. (Yes, I can hear you all laughing right now...)

She loved it! She said she liked it because she could tell I painted it- it was my "style". Do you think she meant it? Maybe she just didn't want to hurt my feelings...

OK, now for an abrupt change of subject... I hope you've been reading Seth Apter's online collaborative project "The Pulse" on his blog The Altered Page. Part three, "Master Class", is now underway, and my answer to the question, 'If you could take a class from one artist from anytime in history, including the present, who would it be and why?' is featured on the Christmas day post. Please click on the link above or the image below to check it out!

Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season to you all, my dear friends. May you be blessed by true peace and joy.

A Brighter Day

2011-12-17T21:03:00.001-05:00

It's December now, and our weather is beginning to take on a darker mood- a cold, dreary, gray sameness...

... that seems to hover over us through much of the winter. John Updike describes it pretty well:

The days are short,
  The sun a spark
Hung thin between
  The dark and dark.

Such a cheery guy, right? Well, maybe that's a bit overly gloomy; but anyway, on days like this, my mind tends to dwell in brighter places.

I dream of meandering down the Kinniconick on a bright warm day...

...walking down to the place where I sometimes cross over to the island...

...hearing the crickle-crackle of the shale as thin layers snap under my feet.

If the creek is up, and running fast,

I'll never get across the slippery sandstones without bruising my behind, and getting very wet besides...

So I'll go back to where it's safer (though still pretty wet)- the point where water flows out of the swirl-hole. That's our "beach" on the left, and the island on the right.

Here's a view looking back at our little "beach" from the island.

Standing on the island, where it curves around the swirl-hole...

I gaze across the wide expanse of shimmering green reflections...

... to the tip of the island, which divides the swirl-hole from the other side of the creek.

My little "mental trip" is turning out to be longer than I expected, so it seems I'll have to continue it in another post. I'm feeling much better now, though- aren't you?

Sky Buddha

2011-11-27T21:22:00.001-05:00

"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true." -Prince Gautama Siddharta

Sky Buddha

ingredients: vintage book page, map fragment, decorative papers, image transfers, cut outs, various artist pens, watercolor pencils, acrylic paint

“How is it I haven’t seen this lofty sky before? And how happy I am that I’ve finally come to know it. Yes! everything is empty, everything is a deception, except this infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing except that. But there is not even that, there is nothing except silence, tranquility. And thank God!”
-Tolstoy, from War and Peace

The Top Part, So Far

2011-11-21T20:40:00.000-05:00

Here is my progress to date on the top half of the altered book cover I've been working on.

Palimpsest: Language

ingredients: acrylic paint, map fragments, Chinese Hell Notes, vintage book pages, vintage dress pattern, vintage math scratch paper, pigment markers, images transfers, brad, metal spinner

Languages/scripts: English (various fonts, typewritten, and hand-written), Tibetan print, Tibetan pictographs, Mayan pictographs, cuneiform (2 different types), Chinese, Japanese, math symbols, numbers

I'm moving forward with this piece very slowly. It seems that each language and culture that becomes part of it must be digested and processed somehow. I don't know how to put it into words, ironically, but as the layers of symbols in the piece build up, so do the impressions of their forms in my mind. This has led me to wonder about the relationship between language and thinking, which led me to research the topic. I may share some of this with you later, if you're not quite bored enough.

For a bit of background about this piece, and a look at the bottom part, go here. Hopefully, more to follow soon.
A bientot,
Adeu-siau,
Zai jian,
Khoda hafz,
Ciao,
Namaste,
my dear friends and fellow travelers!

Friday's Featured Favorite: Artist Kathleen Farago May

2011-11-11T19:03:00.002-05:00

I'm proud to introduce you to the work of Kathleen Farago May, whose digital art eloquently speaks not of cold technology, but of a spiritual realm that resides somewhere within the time and space of our souls. She gives visual form to states of consciousness I can only describe as transcendent. How she makes this magic is even more of a mystery, at least to the technologically uninitiated (like me); her skills are far beyond anything I can comprehend.

Why do you make art? How did it all begin?

I make art because I have to – the pressure to create comes from another plane. The rewards are a combination of peace and joy – sometimes the pressure lightens briefly. I have been creating since childhood, there was never a question of what I was here to do. There have always been questions of practicality and of how to finance the creative process. Even during those periods where there was no time or support for making art, I would take “photographs” in my mind, of the beauty around me and hope that my subconscious mind would store them. The evolution of my work from drawing to painting, to photography, to printing (etchings and silk screens) and finally to digital painting has been part of my life’s adventure. While my early paintings often expressed a rejection of traditional religious forms, each subsequent medium has allowed me to express more clearly the spiritual impulses that drive my creative work.

Who or what inspires you?

Though I am glad that I studied art history at university and have a grounding in what has gone before, it is primarily my Muses who inspire me. They have always been there, but it is only in the last two years that I have been clear that it is not “I” who is doing the work. Of course, the world, the people I love, the art and beauty all around me are all inspirational elements – but this would not be enough if I could not hear my Muses. My aesthetics, technical skills, and experience as a printmaker, photographer and painter are all useful, but ultimately the work would not have the energy it needs to come alive, without the Muses. I can see this very clearly when I revisit my earlier work, from a time when my awareness of the Muses was sporadic. You might wonder who exactly these Muses are? I don’t. I am simply grateful that we finally connected and that they share with such abundance. In the last two years I have produced approximately 600 new works. I don’t worry about where the Muses come from, because all anyone has to do is to look at the work and know that their intentions are positive and filled with love. I use the time-honoured term Muses for them, simply as a convenience.

What types of themes, ideas, or concepts do you explore in your artwork?

The range of my themes reflects the fact that I adhere to no single religious tradition; but rather stay open to guidance. The work is clearly influenced by my spiritual and literary explorations. I am thrilled when viewers recognize a reflection of the sense of the numinous that we feel when we acknowledge Oneness. Each piece is a process of discovery and unfolding. I am often quite surprised at the gifts that appear through this intuitive co-creation. The imagery is sometimes symbolic, a sphere, a face, wings, water, the sun – alluding to elements of philosophical and spiritual significance. When the images are not figurative, there is simply a feeling in the abstracted color-scapes and mandalas – a sense of awe, wonder and transported gratitude. If the work leads to someone asking new questions about their place in the cosmos, the elements of their lives; if a viewer can feel their heart more vividly, become more aware of the present moment and glimpse the flow of all that is here – then that painting is successful.

Do you have a work space or studio? How would you describe it?

My "twin flame", Bodhi, has been beyond generous in encouraging me to dedicate a corner of our living room for my computers and printers, and lately that is all I need for studio space. I would love to also have a “wet” space for paint and other messy techniques – I do love to get into tactile media, but that will come if it is meant to. My studio space and our living space are seamlessly intermingled - we still use this area for living and even eating – because the dining room has also been re-purposed. It is a lovely, warm, creative chaotic whirl, with many of the things that comprise our lives left out in the open – there is little time or incentive to tidy up, because the Muses just won’t wait.

What is your typical process for creating a piece?

Sometimes, with great anticipation, I set aside time to create; I am alone, the house is quiet, the dog is asleep and I can dive in with great gusto. Just as often, my Bodhi is talking to me, the phone is ringing, the dog is trying to corral us into meeting his schedule, dinner is running late – and I keep saying, “just a few more minutes, I'm almost done …” The inspiration to work is not something I can set up – I can only show up. I do have art that I have collected – mostly from unknown artists and some from a contemporary group collectively known as Visionary Artists – that I look to for inspiration, but I rarely sketch and never plan. Usually there is neither time nor need for any preparation – before I even realize it, a digital painting is forming on my monitor and I am so curious as to how it will develop. I do make aesthetic choices, and if I don’t like where a work is going I will sometimes stop and store it for another day. I have often returned to these unfinished pieces and completed them later, when I found a fresh insight about their direction and purpose.

What goals do you have for the future?

I hope the future sees me continuing to spend a great deal of time exploring this exciting co-creation. I would be immensely gratified if the work could be more supportive of the cost of its production – this is an age-old challenge for artists and it always has been one in my life. Another goal is to find ways to expose the work to more eyes – without having the traditional exhibition process consume time that is now being dedicated to creating. It would be delightful if the Muses would send me an agent I could entrust with the practical elements of exhibiting the work.

To see more of Kathleen's work, please visit her facebook galleries:

http://on.fb.me/in6ZVA

http://on.fb.me/kdARUb

http://on.fb.me/lVQV9D

http://on.fb.me/jmtmDQ

You can purchase her archival quality giclee prints here:
http://bit.ly/lW7Hmi

Other sites:

http://www.zazzle.com/kathmay

www.ChromaZonesKM.com
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1771598808040.2084856.1181364951&l=0f4642822b

National Collage Society's 27th Annual Exhibit

2011-11-06T21:02:00.001-05:00

I was recently thrilled to learn that both my entries were accepted into the National Collage Society's 2011 27th Annual Juried Exhibit. This year's exhibition is their first to be shown strictly online, which is cool, because it means that more people will have access to it.

There is an impressively wide variety of techniques, styles, media, and content represented here. I'm excited and honored to have my work included, and hope you'll take the opportunity to see the exhibit; I don't think there's any way you'll be disappointed.

I'll leave you with a new collage I just finished- one of the small ones I think of as studies or experiments. To be honest, I had no idea where this one was going, and I'm not sure if it's arrived there yet.

Untitled

ingredients: vintage book pages, image transfers, watercolor pencil, acrylic ink, Chinese hell notes, acrylic gel

I haven't come up with a title for this one- any ideas?

New Piece in the Works

2011-10-31T19:15:00.001-04:00

"In the works" is a convenient multi-purpose phrase which encompasses anything and everything from "floating around somewhere in my brain like blobs of that stuff inside of a lava lamp" to "partly finished and coming along nicely." In this case, I guess both of those descriptions apply to some degree.

I think about language a lot, because I teach kids who have language deficits, mostly in the areas of reading and writing. They also have poor vocabularies, and generally don't express themselves well in any context. And I was wondering what factors influence the development of the parts of the brain that process language, which led me to pondering the original development of language in early humans. I've also been thinking about the word "palimpsest" lately, sparked by Robyn's recent post on Art Propelled; before that, I had read about the "The World is a Town" mail art project, based on the Novgorod Codex. It occurred to me that there are parallels between my work and the concept of the palimpsest, since my pieces often involve applying layers and scraping them off, leaving traces of each previous layer beneath the next.

These were some of my lava blobs. Eventually they began to bump into one another, combine, and take on a form, which at this point looks something like this:

Palimpsest: Language

It is the cover of a typing text book from 1938. So far, it has been scratched, scraped, and painted; many types of writing, printing, and maps have been glued on, scraped off, and transferred. This is the bottom part of the piece, and it still has a ways to go. More progress will be posted as it comes.

Friday's Featured Favorite: Artist Kathleen Piercefield

2011-10-22T13:05:00.006-04:00

Each Friday, I thought it would be fun to feature a different artist whose work inspires me. Yeah, I know it's Saturday, but I only missed it by a day, right? Maybe I should just change the name of my blog to "Slower Than Molasses in January", but that's another subject entirely.

I'm so excited that Kathleen Piercefield has agreed to be my first featured artist, because I can't think of anyone whose work is more inspiring than hers. Not only is she a master of many media, she is a genuinely kind, generous, and intelligent person. Though we met only recently, I already consider her a close friend; we share many interests besides the obvious. Enough from me; I'll let you hear from Kathleen in her own words.

Ask the forest collagraph & monotype 15" x 22

Why do you make art? How did it all begin?

It all started with that first box of wonderful smelling Crayola crayons in 64 luscious colors! Really, I make art because I absolutely love getting my hands on art materials -- seeing them, smelling them, feeling them, and then getting caught up in that timeless state of being completely absorbed in a process. Some of my earliest memories are connected with drawing. I was an only child, and reading and drawing were the ways I would entertain myself. I could sit in my room or outside in the yard and be happy for hours, absorbed in that world I created with my books and my drawing. My father was a paper salesman for Mead Paper Company in Chicago, and he would bring home lots of paper samples -- different colors, different textures -- so I always had a fascination for paper, and for the different kinds of marks I could make on it. I think like most children I started out wanting to imitate what I saw; then later drawing and painting became more of an emotional response and a way of thinking about the world around me.

Look and look again
collagraph & monotype 15" x 22"

Who or what inspires you?

First and foremost, nature -- I'm fascinated by everything that walks, crawls, swims, flies & grows; the process of learning about these things is deeply enhanced by drawing their forms, and then the drawing in turn generates other visual echoes to explore. Reading frequently inspires me; I pay attention to the images popping into my mind as I read; sometimes they lead to very fruitful ideas. Also, as mentioned above, the materials and processes are their own inspiration. Specifically with printmaking, I'm in love with the smell of the inks and the feel of the paper, and with seeing the gorgeous marks that result when ink meets paper under the pressure of the press. The pleasure of these things is not only aesthetic but sensual and extremely addictive.

Looking at the work of other artists, of course, is a tremendous inspiration -- impossible to name them all but a few that come immediately to mind are Paul Klee, Andrew Wyeth, Rembrandt, Ben Shahn, Odilon Redon, Munakata Shiko, Mary Frank, John Tuska, David Blackwood, Lynd Ward, Hayao Miyazaki, Emily Carr ...I could go on and on. Reading about how other artists approach their work and think about their processes -- Ann Truitt's books Daybook, Turn, and Prospect for example -- can also be a tremendous motivator and makes me itch to get into the studio and start working.

From the Headwaters of the Eternities

etching and aquatint 12.5" x 17"

Do you have a work space or studio? How would you describe it?

I do! It's far from ideal, being several areas of basement space with small windows and low ceilings, but it's my space, where I can leave work-in-progress out on the table. I would like it to be clean and beautiful and light and airy, but in truth it is cramped, cluttered, always in a state of chaos -- but work is happening in it so that's what counts! My husband has, over the years, constructed storage shelves and work surfaces for me that have made the studio more efficient, and has patiently put up with the fact that, as children moved out and rooms were vacated, more and more of our house has become an extension of my art-making space. Of course the pride and joy of my studio is my Takach etching press -- I feel extremely fortunate to have access to a press whenever I want.

Chowder
collagraph, intaglio & polyester plate lithography 15" x 11

What types of themes, ideas, or concepts do you explore in your artwork? I try to access --and hopefully communicate -- the roots of my love for the natural world. One of my deepest concerns is how we humans relate to our environment -- or increasing don't relate -- and a lot of my work revolves around an impulse to say -- wake up! look! see what's around you with awareness and appreciation...and consequently, value it and take care of it. With that in mind, recording what I observe in nature is part of the work, but there's always an interplay between observing and evoking a personal response. I try to keep in mind Paul Klee's words: "Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible." Sometimes natural elements occur in my work as metaphors for human relationships -- what we share and what we keep secret from one another are recurrent themes; so are dreams and the imagination. I'm fascinated by the idea that the world we create inside our head is as varied and complex as the physical world around us, and in some ways just as real. Things I read give me ideas to explore -- the visual and metaphorical elements in Moby-Dick have been a recent topic -- and finally, sometimes I'm just discovering where I can go with a particular process; in that case, the work is all about the visual interaction of the materials.

A Bosom Friend collagraph and monotype with hand coloring

What is your typical process for creating a piece?

If I already have an idea of where I'm going, it usually begins with a lot of doodles. Sketchbook pages (I always have multiple sketchbooks going), scraps of paper, book margins, envelopes, & junk mail on the table get filled with little sketches and doodles that relate to an idea that's percolating in my head. Eventually I collect all the doodles together and start making larger sketches until I have a rough drawing of the desired size, and can transfer the basic shapes from that to a plate (or a sheet of watercolor paper, if I'm doing a painting.) I sometimes make "idea boards", on which I pin color swatches, pieces of different papers, magazine clippings and photos that relate to something I'm trying to bring together. And sometimes if nothing else is generating ideas, I'll go down to my studio and do some purely physical task, like coating a piece of board with gesso for a future collagraph, or filing the edges of a plate; doing that physical work will often clear my mind so ideas can start to flow.

Prairie Music 1 collage 6" x 4.5"

A lot of my recent work has been a combination of collagraph and monotype. Typically, I start with a collagraph plate, created by gluing shapes and textural elements to a board coated with gesso and acrylic medium. Once that is sealed and completely dry (which can take several days) I mix up some ink and apply it to the plate, then burnish it off with newsprint and tissue paper. I then lay a dampened sheet of printmaking paper on the collagraph and run it through the press. Depending on what I see, I may further develop the plate with more glued elements, or go on to enhance the print with layers of monotype -- created by rolling out a thin layer of transparent ink on a sheet of mylar and then wiping off selected areas before laying it on the print and again running it through the press. A typical print goes through the press at least five or six times, and maybe more.

In any case, once a work is begun I try to let the medium have its own voice, so what happens as the piece is coming together is partly what I planned and partly what happens of its own accord. I really like the fact that many of the processes I use -- collagraph, monotype, watercolor -- are unpredictable. I value the surprises that occur and find that many of those unforeseen results can lead me in good new directions.

The wise fool's tale collagraph 9.75" x 6.75

What goals do you have for the future?
To keep exploring; to never run out of new ideas; to grow; to become more proficient in the processes I use, and more productive in the amount of work I create. Art-making has not made me materially rich, but has greatly enriched my life; I'd like to continue sharing that richness with others.

To see more of Kathleen's art, go to http://www.kpiercefield.com/home.

The Same Thing, Only Different (Rust Never Sleeps)

2011-10-16T13:13:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd share these photos I took at an old abandoned 'tractor graveyard' near our place in Lewis County. Maybe it's because I feel a bit rusty, myself, these days, that I find these so interesting.

There is beauty in every thing, if we can only learn to see with the right kind of eyes.

Falling

2011-10-08T21:19:00.001-04:00

Falling

6 in x 4 in

ingredients: vintage book pages, magazine cutouts, watercolor pencils, Koh-i-noor pen

Give Away Winner + KMAC Show

2011-10-01T17:17:00.001-04:00

As usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short, as my granny would say. I tossed all the entries onto the floor, and my dog Scout was again imposed upon to choose the winner, primarily because she is stuck to me like glue 24/7. The first slip of paper she sniffed was the one with the name (drum roll, please)---

Egmont (The Artist Within Us)! Congratulations to you, Egmont; I hope you will enjoy your prize!

As you can see, this chore was extremely tiring for Scout; she had to rest up for several hours. OK, not really- this is what she did when I tried to get her to hold still for the photo!

A couple of weeks ago, when my son came to visit, we went to Louisville to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, to see the show "Moving Forward, Circling Back: Celebrating 50 Years of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen." I was so excited to have my work chosen for the show, but was not able to go to the opening reception because it happened right at the beginning of the school year.

In the lobby of the museum, there is a wall covered with "hubcap art", which I thought was very cool.

On one of the gallery walls was this signed poem by Kentucky writer Wendell Berry...

Above: digital art "Metamorphosis" by Bruce Robert Frank; wood vase by Paul Ferrell; ceramic plate by Wayne Bates.

I was greatly impressed by the quality, beauty and scope of the exhibit as a whole, as well as the way it was displayed.

Above: Fused glass by Ann Klem.

Colin viewing some of the pieces in the show.

Ceramic and mixed media "Too Tall Voodoo Doll" by Gayle Cerlan.

Above: ceramic vases by Amelia Stamps; "Green Crystalline Bottles" by Satian Leksrisawat; "Black and White Cream and Sugar", porcelain "Teapot on Tray with Cup" by Linda Bowman

"Things I Love About the New York Subway", silk, by Rebekka Seigal; Hickory chairs by Brian Boggs; "Seventeen 1934" fiber by Alma Lesch"; "WABI: Living with Solitude & Simplicity" handspun wool by Dobree Adams; "Dysfunctional Spoon: Bird's Nest" forged steel by Roberta Elliot; chenille throw by Churchill Weavers

Quilt "Chasing the Rainbow" by Janet R. Serrenho

Above: ceramic plate by Patrick L. Dougherty; metal sculpture by Dave Caudill; wood sculpture by Gregory K. Williams; glass by Brook F. White Jr.

Above: "Spring Parrots" dyed papers, by Carolyn Whitesel; draped weaving by Philis Alvic; "Prayer" monotype with mixed media by Sharmon Davidson

I've shown only a small sampling of the wonderful art in this historic show. There's still time to see it if you're in the area; it runs through October 15th.

Below, a peek at a few pieces from the museum's permanent collection. If you like folk art, you'll definitely want to see it!

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky

Stacks

2011-09-21T19:24:00.000-04:00

I have photographed my stacks for Seth Apter's Stacks Project, and here they are. These are my stacks of vintage books, which seem to be growing.ever taller. I'm kind of obsessed with collecting them. Some of them will be used for mixed media and altered book projects, and others I just love to marvel at.

Who doesn't have stacks of stuff sitting around? If you're an artist, you're bound to have at least one- it must be some kind of rule, or law. Or is it that we're all messy, or hoarders? Anyway, we might as well admit it. Seth's gone so far as to embrace it, and put links to all the hoarders'- uh, I mean- artists' photos on his blog, the Altered Page. Check them out here.

And don't forget to sign up for my give away! All you have to do is leave a comment on the previous post.

Hello, I Love You- and a Give Away

2011-09-19T20:47:00.001-04:00

Hello all! You may or may not have noticed my absence lately, but I wanted to explain.... There are several things keeping me away from blogland, but the biggest culprit is the increased workload at my job; the beginning of the school year has been overwhelming, taking up most of my "art-making" time. Also, I've had computer problems, not least of which is the apparent comatose state of my printer, which means I cannot print out images for transfers, nor can I scan anything, which is how I usually get images of my smaller pieces, which is all I have time to make right now. (whew! did you follow that?) On top of all that, my mouse was working only intermittently, and not without much coaxing and cursing. The mouse seems to be all better now, but the printer, alas, must undergo more tests and possibly a hospital stay, if I can find someone to fix it. OK, blah. blah, blah, whine, whine, whine- enough about that.

Now for the good news: I've wanted to do a give-away for a while now, so this seemed like an opportune time. I so appreciate the wonderful people of this online community; your support and encouraging messages have meant so much to me, and always lift my spirits. Whenever I ask for your opinions or advice, you invariably come through with insightful and practical ideas. As my 8th-graders would say: you guys are BEAST! As a thank-you, I'll be giving away one of my small collages, But Still (shown below),

But Still

as well as a package of decorative papers and vintage book pages (examples shown below).

So, this is how it will work: Leave a comment on this post, and your name will be included in the drawing. You don't have to be a follower, just a commenter. If you "like" my facebook business page, your name will be put in twice. Then, on Spetember 30, I'll toss all the names on the floor, and one of my goofy dogs (whichever one is handy) will "sniff out" the winner.

Arlo (left), Scout (center), and Sunny (right)

(cuter when they're asleep)

FYI, I'll be participating in Seth Apter's "Paper Stacks" fun on Wednesday, September 21 at The Altered Page. Be sure to check it out!

The Same Thing, Only Different (Sunflowers)

2011-09-05T20:40:00.000-04:00

Sunflowers. Not exactly where I would have chosen to plant them, but there they are- so why not enjoy them, right?

They are the essence of Summer, in all its glory...

Their bright colors and happy little "faces" always make me smile...

even as they begin to droop...

and bend under their own weight.

This one almost reaches the gutter...!

Their centers, with that lovely complex pattern...

made them Fibonacci's favorite flower...

As the seeds ripen,

the birds will enjoy the feast...

until all the sunflowers look like this, and then...

like this.

Goodbye, Summer! I'll miss you...

The Whole Shebang

2011-08-23T17:58:00.001-04:00

As promised, here is the finished version of my altered book cover.

As you can see, I've added a lot to the left side since I posted it here. The biggest change is the little girl; she is part image transfer, part drawing, and the flower "dresses" are image transfers of botanical illustrations from a textbook dated 1899. I've also attached a piece of mica, using eyelets and brads.

A word of warning: attempting to set eyelets in mica is not really a great idea, in case you're wondering.

Here are a few details of the piece:

When I was a child, I drew constantly, from a very early age, and loved to make things out of paper. My grandmother showed me an amazing trick. She would fold up a sheet of paper like a fan, make a few snips with the scissors, and when she unfolded it, there magically appeared a string of paper dolls, all holding hands. She told me that when she was a little girl, her family was very poor, and they had no toys at all unless they made them.

I had plenty of toys, including all kinds of dolls, but I found it more fun to make my own. My other favorite pastime was to run around in the woods like a wild animal, exploring every nook and cranny. Between my yard and the woods was our next door neighbor's yard, and it was here that I got some of my doll-making materials. I would find just the right stick for the body, and use either one of my neighbor's unripe grapes or apples for the head.

Usually, they wore petunias as dresses, and snapdragons as hats. Wouldn't you, if you could?

I liked to know the secrets of the earth, and how things grew. My grandmother taught me these things, and she also taught me to sew. All these images are woven together in my mind, a tangled collection of dreams and memories. If you peel back the layers of years, that world still exists, inside me.

We all have these layers of memory. How many of them are real, or have mixed with dreams and stories and other memories, slowly changing as that moment becomes faint and cloudy, as if behind an old, dusty pane of glass? And does that even matter, when what's inside our minds and hearts makes us who we are, whether or not it's strictly "accurate"? These are some things I've been thinking about.

Style File

2011-08-21T21:47:00.001-04:00

Apparently, blogger isn't going to let me upload any more photos. But you can still visit this week's Style File, part of Seth Apter's ongoing collaborative art project, The Pulse. So head on over to The Altered Page, introduce yourself to some new artists and their blogs, and find out how they describe their own individual art styles. Examples of their work accompany their words, so it's a real feast for the eyes and mind.

Personally, I find it difficult to pinpoint my own style and translate it into words; I speak much more articulately in pictures. But I gave it my best shot. Just click on the icon below, or on the words, "Style File" above. I think you'll enjoy it.

And if I'm lucky, Blogger may let me upload more images tomorrow...

The Other Side

2011-08-15T18:02:00.001-04:00

Here is the right side of the altered book cover I'm currently working on.

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage book pages, vintage sewing pattern, map, image transfer, hand-printed rice paper, monotype, acrylic gel, watercolor pencil, stitching, fossil.

Stay tuned for further developments!

New Work in Progress

2011-08-10T12:18:00.000-04:00

With the prospect of the beginning of a new school year in just a few days hanging over my head, my goal has been to finish, or at least get a decent start on, my next altered book cover before school starts. I'm feeling pretty good about where this piece is going (if not quite as good about where I'm going), in spite of some struggles with problems that I've hopefully remedied. Here is the left side of the piece as it stands now:

The book page and end paper are from a vintage book of Longfellow's poetry and other writings, and the plant with roots as well as the petunia are image transfers of illustrations from a vintage botany textbook. I don't know if you can see the little map scrap at the top right; it says, 'Old Davidsonville State Park'. (You can probably read it if you click on the image.) The odd thing about this is that it just showed up on my drafting table, and is not from the map I was using for this piece (which is now mostly torn off and underneath several layers of other stuff). I just happened to look down, and there it was- and I took no notice of it really, until I realized there was a familiar name on it. I guess it must have been in among some other things I pulled out of one of my scrap drawers. I have no idea where this park is; if you do, I hope you'll let me know.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photo; I just quickly stuck this on the scanner, and it's not entirely flat, so some of it doesn't show up well. I'll be posting better photos of further progress in the next day or two, and also explaining some of the meaning behind this piece.

Just so you know, blogger is not always letting me leave comments on others' posts, and I'm having great difficulty uploading photos; once uploaded, it sometimes won't allow me to add them to my post. What's up with that? Maybe I shouldn't have made that comment about blogger and I not being on friendly terms... should I apologize?

Noticing

2011-08-07T22:20:00.001-04:00

We had a few days out in the country at Shabo-Mekaw, where I was able to take some time to do nothing. Or, more precisely, I may have appeared to be doing nothing, but I wasn't- I was noticing. I had to think awhile to figure out what to call it... I was walking, yes, but not all the time; sometimes I sat down, or just stood in one spot for a while. At the same time, I may have been thinking- or not. Intermittently, I took photos as well. Well, so what? It's not really an astounding feat of multi-tasking genius, is it? Hardly.

What I was really doing is looking at things. Observing- closely, and carefully. Noticing. That's not so unusual, either... it's just that sometimes I notice things most people don't seem to think are worth noticing. For instance, I can be perfectly absorbed and enthralled for hours just roaming around the island, looking at rocks (or plants, or sticks...). One thing I noticed on Friday is that the patterns of spots and dots on many of them are quite beautiful, reminding me of abstract paintings.

The response of many people, if I say, "Look at the spots and dots on those rocks!" is either to pay no attention while saying something like, "Uh-huh", or to smile politely while thinking that my head is full of rocks, or both.

I'm sure these experiences sound familiar to some of you, and I would guess that this kind of noticing is part of what makes someone tend to become a visual artist.

I don't see it as a problem that most people wouldn't have noticed that the rock and the leaf are color-coordinated...

...or that the spots on this rock, when viewed very close up...

...are actually little funny-shaped crystals.

And while I was pondering all this, I noticed something else. It occurred to me that my favorite things to do as a child- exploring and noticing nature, and making things- are exactly the same as what I most love to do now. The essence of me, my most authentic and basic self, hasn't changed. What I noticed, I guess, is that I've never grown up! And I believe that's probably a very good thing.

What about you? What did you most love to do as a child- and are you doing that now?

Decisions, Decisions- Please Vote!

2011-08-03T13:04:00.000-04:00

This is not a matter of great importance- just something that bugs me. If you visit my blog regularly, you've probably noticed that I change my header frequently. The reason for this is that I'm never satisfied with any of them, once I've looked at them for a few days. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just ridiculously perfectionistic ol' me? I used to be a graphic designer; could that be the problem?

So, if you don't mind, I'm asking for a little help- I put my graphic designer pants back on (which were very tight, since they're from back when paste-ups were done with actual paste!), and came up with some new ones. I'm posting these, along with a few older ones that I think might be acceptable, and I'd appreciate it if you could tell me which one you prefer. Or, if you have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them- believe me, if you say you hate them all, it will not hurt my feelings. The question is: what should I do instead?

Thanks in advance for your opinion! So, here they are:

#1) The one I'm using for the header right now.

#2

#3

#7

Again, thanks for lending me your eyes and brains!

My Buried Treasure: Art or Consequences?

2011-07-28T10:56:00.001-04:00

In choosing my re-post for Seth Apter's Buried Treasure collaboration, I looked back through my posts with an eye to 1) what seemed to resonate with my readers, and 2) what still resonated most with me. In the end, I chose 2 posts which address questions about the importance of art from the artist's perspective; in other words, why do we do it, and is it worth it? I hope you like them.

What is Art Good For? (9/16/10)

This isn't really a philosophical discussion, as much as just my own personal opinion and perspective. I mean, I guess philosophy and opinions could be related, as in, "How many angels do you think can dance on the head of a pin?", but that's neither here nor there. For some reason this has been spinning around in my head lately, so I'll just throw it out there, because- frankly- I need the room in my head for other things.

Fossil Memory

It's hard to know where to start, so I guess in the middle would be as good a place as any. When I began working as a special education teacher, I was also going to school to obtain my master's degree, as a condition of keeping my job. The lack of time, two kids to support, and a SO (significant other) who put all my art stuff into the attic made it all but impossible for me to make art. I rationalized it to myself this way: "What good is art, anyway? It doesn't bring in any money, and I'm completely broke. It doesn't mean a thing to most people, except maybe as a way to decorate their living rooms." I told myself, " It doesn't help anyone; no one needs art."

I was almost able to convince myself that this was the truth; after all, the idea was founded on perfectly sound logic. I believed I didn't need it either, that I could satisfy my creative drive in other ways, such as by building a log house. That helped, but didn't quite get to the heart of the matter, and as time went on I felt as if my heart had a hole in it- an empty place where art-making used to be.

How had I so quickly forgotten the lessons of the past? Looking back on it now, I can remember many times when art literally saved my life, or at least my sanity (yes, I still had some at one time!). When I was teaching art in an elementary school -without an art room, I had to carry my supplies from room to room- and my kids were still quite young, I would come home totally exhausted. So, instead of working on any large, planned piece, I would relax at night by painting these completely spontaneous, quick little watercolors.

Gently swishing the paint around with the soft brush helped me to relax and unwind. It functioned as a form of meditation...

...allowing some of the day's stress to melt away, and reassuring me that I could still make art, even if it was only a little.

And, when my first marriage was failing, and I felt I would surely lose my mind if I didn't find a job...

Against the Tide

Waiting for the Storm

... painting these pieces allowed me to channel my emotions in a constructive way, helped me to work through some of the scary twists and turns my life was taking...

The Speed of Darkness

... and basically kept me from freaking out completely or jumping off a bridge.

So, for me, this is one of the things art is good for.

Here's How It Is (2/7/11)

Well, here's how it is: I am a bad blogger. At least, that's how I feel sometimes- not guilty, really- just kind of disappointed that I've been unable to keep all the balls in the air.

"Jugglers at the Cirque Fernando" by Renoir

I can't post every day, or even every other day. Right now, I'm lucky if I can post once a week. I feel bad when I don't have enough time to leave witty and insightful comments on all of my friends' posts, if I even get a chance to look at them. Admittedly, I feel at times like I'm seeing them the way one sees the gorgeously tantalizing flowers in the neighbor's garden from the window of a speeding car.

I feel inadequate, but all I can say in my own defense is that even the best juggler (which I certainly am not) can get caught up in trying to juggle more balls than he/she can handle without the addition of some extra appendages. (Yes, I realize I'm mixing my metaphors again; it's like a big ol' metaphor soup up in here.)

"The Egyptian Juggler" by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema

So, I've been wracking my brain about how I could resolve this problem. It came to me like a bolt of lightening out of the sky (no, that's a simile!)- there really is no way to solve this conundrum short of somehow bending time.

This may be possible in theory, but not even Einstein had the slightest inkling how to apply it to our every day lives.

But then I was reading a post on Rice Freeman-Zachery's wonderful blog, Notes from the Voodoo Cafe, that made me feel a bit better about the whole thing. She says this about working artists:
"You try to get in touch with them, and they don't respond, and you think, scornfully, "Diva!" But that's most often not it (sometimes that's it, but not very often). Usually it's because they have a certain day of the week in which they respond to email because the other days are a flurry of all the various things they have to do to try to stay afloat in an economy that bites and a culture that doesn't value working artists."

She goes on to say that most of us have to decide what we're going to give up in order to make art a priority, such as TV and the internet (except for blogging, of course). I have to agree; it's all about prioritizing. I rarely watch TV, except for the news and a couple of other shows. I don't have a social life, and my house probably isn't the cleanest, if you know what I mean. My husband graciously does most of the cooking. I try to answer emails, but sometimes it takes me a while. Sometimes I forget to respond to comments on my blog posts, but that's due to the age of my brain, and is not at all intentional.

I used to try to accept the fact that I didn't have the time to make art, but I failed in that effort, because I was miserable. I came to realize that I would have to make that time by deciding not to spend it on other things, like watching TV, or going out for drinks. If I have to cook, I'm probably not going to make something that takes three hours to prepare, and I made a deal with the dust bunnies that if they don't look at me, I won't look at them. If I have to work a full time job, then shouldn't part of the reward for that be that I get to spend my off-time doing something I love?

The Traveler's Tale: Balance

It's a balancing act, without a doubt- full time job, making art, marketing the art, etc.- but it's something I have to keep trying to work out as best I can. We may not be able to adjust time, but we can adjust our thinking. It really is, ultimately, all in how we look at it.

I added this to the end, because I think it expresses these ideas in a very creative and unique way. I saw this somewhere a long time ago, then recently again on C. Wright's Art Gallery blog.

Music Video for Tanya Davis's Song Art, by Andrea Dorfman

Back to Seth's blog for more Buried treasure!

Stay Tuned Tomorrow for Buried Treasure!

2011-07-27T10:12:00.001-04:00

THURSDAY, JULY 28,

Seth Apter, collaborative maestro extraordinaire, is doing his Buried Treasure feature again this year, and I'm going to play. All the participating artists will re-post their favorite posts from the past year, and Seth will post the links at his blog, The Altered Page. Follow the link above or below for more information, and be sure to visit his blog tomorrow to find all the Buried Treasure!

THURSDAY, JULY 28

Falls of the Ohio

2011-07-24T21:56:00.001-04:00

After dropping off my piece at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville, we took a side trip to see the fossil beds at the Falls of Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana, almost directly across the Ohio River. I'd been itching to go there for some time; after all, what could be more exciting (to me, at least!) than a 386-million-year-old Devonian fossil bed. When the river is at its lowest, 200 acres (!) of this former coral reef are exposed, making it among the largest naturally exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world.

Looking upriver, you can see Louisville in the background.

You may be wondering, as I did, where's the falls? One would think the name "Falls of the Ohio" implies an actual waterfall- right?

Like me, you would be wrong. The "Falls of the Ohio" was a series of rapids which made navigation almost impossible, so to circumvent these, the Portland canal with locks was completed in 1830. Later the lock and dam system on the Ohio changed this area even further.

Apparently, fishing is good near the dam...

As I began walking across the fossil beds, I was very excited to see a horn coral 18 inches long, and stopped to take a photo.

As I continued, I realized I was walking on hundreds of fossils literally with every step I took...

This 'beehive coral' had a diameter of about three feet!

There are several levels to the fossil beds; here I'm looking across the upper level toward the bridge.

As you can see, it's huge, and I only had time to explore a tiny fraction of it...

...which means that, of course...

... I'll be going back!

At last!

2011-07-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

I finished it several days ago, but didn't have time to photograph until yesterday, and the mica is very difficult to photograph, so I had to do it again today.

Here it is, parts to whole- sort of:

right side

left side

detail of the spine (not too great; I'm going to have to fix this so the mica lays more flat against the paper)

the whole enchilada (no, that's not the title; any ideas?)

ingredients: vintage book cover (and other parts), vintage children's writing paper, vintage sewing pattern fragment, monotype, image transfers, mica, embroidery floss, tissue paper, ink jet prints, Caran D'ache crayons, watercolor pencils

techniques/methods: printed, cut, glued, drawn, stitched

Upcoming Exhibitions and Anne Percoco

2011-07-15T22:29:00.003-04:00

On July 29, I'll be exhibiting my work at Art After Hours, along with several other local artists. Here's the brochure (click for larger view):

It's at the Campbell County Library in Cold Spring, Kentucky. If you're in northern Kentucky, please stop by, enjoy the art, drink some wine (proceeds go to the library), have some hors d'oeuvres and fancy desserts, and listen to live music. It should be a lot of fun!

And now, for something completely different.

This intriguing article and interview about artist Anne Percoco at the Artslant Rackroom caught my attention recently. Percoco uses a variety of diverse media, from collage to sculpture to installation to public art projects, to call attention to environmental issues. Her work melds art with social/environmental activism by re-using found or recycled materials, thus forcing the viewer to think about where those objects come from, and where they will ultimately go.

For instance, her new series of collages, entitled Field Studies, depicts forests composed entirely of images from discarded phonebooks, which were once trees.

I was fascinated by her series of Shrines dedicated to the drainage system at Rutgers University, which flows into a New Jersey river. She's now conducting workshops for a similar project involving the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, as part of the Flux Factory's Sea Worthy events: "In this workshop, participants will convert an old boat into a mobile shrine, constructed from primarily scrap material, and will travel along the now EPA Superfund site of the Gowanus Canal."

Here's a very cool Blurb book about her Indra's Cloud project in India:

Indra's Cloud by Anne Percoco by Anne Percoco | Make Your Own Book

And more good news, with absolutely no segue.

I'm happy to report that one of my monotypes, Prayer, will be included in an exhibition at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville. Of the approximately 360 members of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, the work of 52 artists were chosen to represent the guild in an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the KGAC. The exhibit is titled Moving Forward/Circling Back: Celebrating 50 Years of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, and will run from July 30 - October 15, 2011. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, August 11. I feel very grateful and honored to be a part of it. If you can come to the reception, I'd love to see you!

p.s. I feel I should apologize for the disjointed and disorganized structure of this post. I also feel pretty sure you don't want to hear the story of how it turned out this way. Suffice it to say that Blogger and I are no longer friends.

Altered Book Thingie Part 2

2011-07-11T18:37:00.000-04:00

I finished the second part of the collage/assemblage/altered book thingie! If you didn't see the first part, it's in the previous post.

Ingredients: vintage book cover, monotype, caran d'ache crayons, watercolor pencils

Soon I hope to have the middle part done, and then put it all together, so stay tuned...

My New Crazy Book Thingie: Part 1

2011-07-06T21:16:00.000-04:00

I have embarked upon a new adventure, sparked by the great fun I had creating this altered book/assemblage/collage. I'm not really sure what category these belong in, though. They are altered books, but might they be too altered to be considered altered books? I mean, I did alter them- if that's what you call ripping them apart, gluing stuff onto them (both 3D and 2D), drawing on them, cutting holes in them, and putting them together completely differently. I suppose they're not really books any more at this point, so perhaps 'assemblage' would be more accurate. Maybe I should call them 'deconstructed reconstituted former books.' Or just 'mixed media' art. That's pretty vague though...

Well, whatever it is, here it is!

Ingredients: vintage book parts, vintage child's writing paper, vintage sewing pattern fragment, image transfers, mica, embroidery floss, drawing pen.

So, what would you call it? Stay tuned, part 2 coming up soon...

Workshop with Radha Chandrashekaran + The Pulse!

2011-07-04T21:06:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday I attended a fun and fascinating workshop given by printmaker and mixed media artist Radha Chandrashekaran. She taught three separate techniques: acrylic gel image transfers, kalamkari fabric painting, and takuhon stone rubbing.

Kalamkari is the ancient art of decorating cloth using a kalam (pen) to draw patterns; the tradition dates back to at least 3,000 B.C.E. Above, Radha demonstrates how to make the kalam by winding woolen cloth around a bamboo stick, then wrapping the cloth in yarn or thread.

A piece of kalamkari- decorated cloth from India.

Radha demonstrates drawing with the kalam. The wool reservoir holds enough ink to make a long line without "re-dipping" the pen.

Participants get to try it out...

and see what happens...

Here Radha explains takuhon, a traditional stone rubbing technique invented in China about 1900 years ago. Rice paper is sprayed with water and placed over the surface to be printed,

then rubbed with a seed-filled cloth dipped in ink.

Workshop participant Kathleen Piercefield working on one of her pieces.

This was so much fun that I got quite involved, and didn't take too many photos from this point on. It's not that easy to participate in a workshop and photograph it at the same time!

A couple of the rubbings I did using Radha's laser-cut wood blocks.

This is a piece Radha was using to demonstrate gel medium transfers. Please visit her website and take a look at her gorgeous work.

BA-BOOM, BA-BOOM...
No, it's not the sound of fireworks (good guess, though). Nope! Guess again...

It's the sound of a PULSE! More precisely, the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- "a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community [masterminded by Seth Apter of The Altered Page]. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals." What could be cooler than that? Get on over there and check it out!

Art Comes From the Making

2011-06-30T08:35:00.000-04:00

I've been doing some small collages lately, most of which I consider to be primarily "just" practice and experimentation. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I know this much is true: art comes from the making. My undergrad drawing instructor used to say this all the time. At first I thought it made no sense at all. Of course the art won't be there if someone doesn't make it! It's like the phrase so many people are saying now, "It is what it is". I mean, that goes without saying, doesn't it? Taken for its literal meaning, it actually denotes nothing at all, but the connotation is that you can't change the aforementioned "it" - you just have to accept it and move on; it's a given. There is an understood meaning associated with those words which amounts to much more than the sum of the words themselves.

OK, so what my instructor meant by that vague and seemingly meaningless phrase is that the only way to make better art is to keep making art. If you're uninspired, make something; if you're blocked, make something; if you feel like giving up, make something. Maybe it won't be great, or even any good, but if you keep going, it may, eventually, lead to something good (or even great). Eventually. In the meantime, you are honing your skills, and learning from each mistake, as well as from those things that, surprisingly, work out better than you ever dreamed they would. You'll take risks that you probably wouldn't take if you're thinking of it as a perfectly finished piece of art, and arrive at better ways of doing things.

I may have said all this before, but I think it bears repeating, mainly to remind myself of its fundamental truth. For most of us, there are no shortcuts; as Einstein said, "Genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 perspiration." Don't sit around waiting for something to happen, for a bolt of creative lightning from the sky to enlighten you with some amazing idea. It takes profound perseverance, hard work, and practice to achieve success. So that's my little motivational speech to myself, and to any of you out there that may need one as well. Or, if you're tired of hearing it, you can just refer it to the Department of Redundancy Department.

OK, I feel much better now. So, here's my latest collage:

Wheels of Dharma

ingredients: vintage book pages, map, watercolor pencils, image transfers, inkjet print

With that in mind, just for the heck of it, I decided to have another go at this one:

Impermanence

ingredients: vintage map, vintage book pages, magazine cutouts, watercolor pencils, image transfer

OK, now go make something!

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. -Pablo Picasso

Moss, Hemlock, and Magnolia

2011-06-27T21:54:00.002-04:00

We continue to experience soggier than usual weather here. It's probably not a great summer for those who like to spend their time at the pool, but there is an up side to all this extra moisture- the plants of Shabo Mekaw are lovin' it. For those who aren't familiar, Shabo Mekaw is our beautiful 60 acre paradise out in Lewis County, at the edge of the Appalachian plateau of Kentucky. It is normally a more humid place than here, but I could tell that the droughts and hotter temperatures of the last few summers were taking their toll on the sensitive inhabitants of that delicate ecosystem. Frankly, I was particularly worried about the health of the hemlocks, the big leaf magnolias, and the mosses, which seemed to be struggling. But this year, they're beginning to come back.

I don't know the names of all the mosses that grow here,

but I think this kind is called shining club moss.

The plant with tiny white branches is a mystery- strange, but beautiful...

I call this pillow moss, for obvious reasons.

Close up, it looks like feathers, and does feel soft enough to lay your head on...

To walk through a hemlock glade is to feel peace...

...to see the world through a curtain of green lace,

...to be sheltered by an umbrella of giant magnolia leaves
(often longer than my forearm),

this is peace...

The Presence of Trees

by Michael S. Glaser

I have always felt the living presence
of trees
the forest that calls to me as deeply
as I breathe,
as though the woods were marrow of my bone
as though
I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching
arc of the larger canopy
beside a brook bubbling to foam
like the one
deep in these woods,
that calls
that whispers home

An Assortment of Cool Stuff to Share

2011-06-20T09:07:00.003-04:00

These are just some random things I wanted to share; I thought you might find them interesting and/or helpful, but didn't feel any of them required an entire post. Most come from my internet wanderings, or from links people send me or post on my facebook wall.

My son posted the link to this on my facebook profile, about National Geographical photographer, Frans Lanting, and his project which attempts to portray the history of the universe. Here's a bit of a summary from the project's website.

Frans Lanting’s LIFE: A Journey Through Time is a lyrical interpretation of life on Earth from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity. The LIFE Project aims to bridge the gap between nature and science, and is realized through the integration of photography with the performing arts and the world of life and earth sciences, in collaboration with partners and institutions around the world. The LIFE Project includes a multimedia orchestral performance, a traveling exhibition, a large-format photographic book, and this website. Public outreach includes an ongoing series of appearances by Frans Lanting at venues across the United States and Europe, including the TED Conference, Stanford University, the National Geographic Society, the Long Now Foundation, and many others.

Here's the TED version of the slide show, but I encourage you to watch the original full size one at the website; just click on "start the journey."

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Writer/artist/filmaker Shawn Daniell has a wonderful arts blog called ArtSeen, where you can read arts news, movie reviews, interviews with local artists, and more.

I'm honored to be the featured artist right now on ArtSeen; you can read Shawn's interview with me by clicking here. Please check out all the other great articles on ArtSeen, too.
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I really wish I could see this- the Princeton University Art Museum is exhibiting the collage and assemblage work of Kurt Schwitters until June 26, so if you're close to the area you still have a few more days to see it.

From the Princeton University Art Museum website:

"Kurt Schwitters: Color and CollageSchwitters is one of the most influential artists to have emerged in the years following World War I. In response to the turmoil then afflicting German society, Schwitters developed a unique form of artistic practice, one that merged art and life, embraced disparate media, and utilized found objects and printed materials. In 1919, Schwitters christened this body of work Merz —a neologism derived from the German Kommerz (commerce)—which culminated in a series of collages, assemblages, experimental poems, prints, and sculptures, most famously, the Merzbau, a three-dimensional environment initially realized in Hannover in the 1930s."

So cool, right?

Merz Billdross Fett, Kurt Schwitters

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Finally, I love this Nick Bantock tribute on Blurb. Artists from around the world each created a piece in the style of Nick Bantock, and they are all quite inspiring.

Nick Bantock Tribute | Make Your Own Book

Enjoy!

Not an Open Book (submission for "The Pulse of Mixed Media")

2011-06-15T12:58:00.002-04:00

I created this mixed media altered book/ assemblage as a submission for Seth Apter's book "The Pulse of Mixed Media" to be published in Spring 2012. While my piece wasn't selected for inclusion, the experience of making it was an invaluable one. I had done some assemblages in the past, but had never made one from a book, so there was a good deal of trial and error involved. I ended up taking the cover off the book and attaching it to an old game board, which was not in my original plan. My good friend Cynnie, of Galerie 46, helped me figure out how to re-construct it so it would open like a book without tearing. I learned so much from this project, both technically and personally, and hope to create more work like this in the near future.

Here is the text I wrote to accompany my submission:

My Innermost Self- Sharmon Davidson

“Not an Open Book”

Probably the most intensely personal work I’ve ever created, this piece also represents somewhat of a departure from my usual two dimensional format. The “fairytale book” motif relates to the belief that our most fundamental selves are formed in childhood, and to the important part that fairytales and their illustrations have played in my development as an artist. Because the innermost self is, by definition, hidden, I have used two locking doors to conceal images symbolizing the two sides of myself. Behind the left door is the darker side of my nature- the fears and insecurities that hold me back as I strive to become the person I want to be, reflected by the tethered bird who tries to fly. Like most of us, I have allowed “monsters” of my own creation to frighten me. The right door reveals self-acceptance, hope, and the potential for positive change. The vintage pattern pieces were used by my grandmother to make maternity clothes for my mother, adding another layer of meaning to the piece. In the end, I begin to see a pattern for stitching myself together in a new way, and have captured the “monster” inside the egg- a symbol of transformation. Perhaps my darker nature, too, will transform as the egg breaks open.

(click on photos for closer view)

front, both covers closed

right front cover

left front cover (with spine)

left side open

left side,back

inside left cover

right front cover

right cover open

inside front left

inside right

inside back

The words on the back left page come from one of my favorite songs by Paula Cole:

Real Abstract

2011-06-11T12:59:00.002-04:00

If you've been a reader for a while, you've probably noted my fascination with photographing the abstract patterns that result from the interplay of water and light. If these were painted, would they be masterpieces of abstract art? Or should I just leave them as photos? Something to think about. While some have been altered using Photoshop, others are straight out of camera, or have only been "auto- leveled." (For those of you not familiar with PS, "auto levels" is just a standard adjustment meant to correct color and contrast to "normal".) The variations in pattern, color, and form never cease to surprise and amaze me.

This one has had nothing done to it except auto levels, I swear. Freaky, huh? If I saw this without knowing what it was, I don't think I would ever guess it was water.

Again, just auto levels...

When I look at these, I know beyond any doubt that I can never create anything so beautiful. Who do I think I'm kidding, calling myself an artist? On the other hand, maybe I should paint them; it would be a challenge, and probably lots of fun. But there they are, already.

Re- Revised (Major Fail?)

2011-06-09T07:36:00.000-04:00

Well, it just kept bugging me. And I said to myself, leave well enough alone, or you'll screw it up completely. I tried, I swear I did, but that's just not how I'm made. In the end, I knew I would never be satisfied until I at least made an attempt to fix it. This is what I'm talking about: one of the pieces in my "The Traveler's Tale" series. You can see others here, here, and here.

Here's the first version. Well, to be completely honest, it would technically be the second; this was originally an old monotype that I decided to recycle. At this point, it still felt unfinished to me, so I made a few changes:

I warmed up the white in the figure, because I thought she needed to look a little less frozen (or dead?). The blue wave at the bottom was so dark that, visually, there was nothing to hold the eye from sliding off the page, or to bring it back up to the figure. Lightening it seemed to anchor the composition somewhat. I added the starfishes to the sky. I then pronounced it "finished", and put it away.

This is the part where I started wasting a huge amount of time and effort, because I felt it wasn't finished. This is kind of embarrassing, but maybe you can learn something from it; I know I did.

The first thing I did was to cut a little off both sides, to bring the focus in closer to the figure. What bothered me most about it, though, was that it had a "velvet Elvis-y" kind of feel, and overall was far too contrasty. I thought it might help to lighten the value of the water surrounding the figure, so I added some green paper which appeared to be pretty translucent- until the glue dried. It turned disgustingly pastel-ish and opaque. It's hard to tell from the photo just how horrible it was, but trust me- yuk!

Next, I tried a blue paper, but it was even worse (you can see a bit of it above on the right side). Apparently I neglected to take a photo of this stage, probably due to being distracted by intense frustration.

Next step: rip and scrape off as much of the paper as possible. At a complete loss for any idea to keep this disaster from snowballing, I could come up with nothing other than to cover it with more of the blue ocean map. Once I had done that, it became clear that it was too light, and therefore not helping the contrast problem at all. Darkening it seemed the only solution, so I added layers of acrylic ink until I thought the value was dark enough (you can see this below). Problematically, the map didn't absorb the ink well, instead building up a gloppy surface somewhat like a floor that's been waxed too many times without being stripped.

At some point I also realized I had forgotten the bird. All the pieces in this series must have a bird- it's symbolically important for the narrative. I actually did two birds. The first was a total fail; the second was okay, except for the color I chose for the lighter value. Oh well- that hardly mattered now, with the whole thing such a mess. What to do?

When in doubt, chop off another piece, of course. Truthfully, I don't recommend this- I was desperate. After that... well, cover up that gloppy blue somehow. Also, I really wasn't fond of the way the water was cut up into pieces. I was digging around in my flat file for a piece of silk tissue, and having no luck finding it, when I came upon some ogura lace paper. Why not?, I thought, and proceeded to glue it on over the map. I then used a purple map to cut new pieces for the bird, and glued it over the green.

Interesting. I think it's an improvement, and at least I don't hate it. So this is where it rests- unless I take a notion to screw it up some more...

Note to self: Try to leave well enough alone.

We Remember

2011-05-30T20:59:00.000-04:00

It's Your Turn to Invent the Universe This Time

2011-05-28T14:39:00.002-04:00

It's Your Turn to Invent the Universe This Time (I'm Out of Tape)

6" x 4"

Ingredients: map fragments, vintage sheet music, vintage book page, acrylic ink, acrylic gel medium, magazine cut-outs, tissue paper, Koh-i-noor pen, watercolor pencils on multi-media art board

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
-Douglas Adams

An Hors D'oeuvre (without a funny title)

2011-05-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

I just noticed yesterday that I've only done 2 posts so far this month. Time has raced by so unbelievably fast, with the end of the school year (only 2 more weeks- and only 1 of those with the kids!), mountains of special ed. paperwork, and general exhaustion. I feel like I've been working so hard, and with nothing to show for it! I've even forgotten to welcome my new followers, and I sincerely apologize. I'm so grateful to all of you, and hope you enjoy coming along on my adventures.

Just so you don't think I'm a total slacker, here's a little hors d'oeuvre. I'm sorry about the blurry photo, but my scanner does not like lumpy things. Also, I couldn't think of a good title for this one. The best I could come up with was "Ashes to Ashes, and Dust to Dust in the Wind", but that just didn't get it for me. Feel free to make suggestions.

Ingredients: map fragments, vintage book pages, vintage ledger page, watercolor pencils, copper crayon, image transfer.

In the meantime, I am working on the salad and main courses- coming soon, I promise!

The Same Thing, Only Different (Azaleas)

2011-05-14T19:44:00.000-04:00

While I'm working on more mixed media art to share with you, I thought it would be nice to share some more photos. In the past six weeks we've had maybe five sunny days, and I was lucky enough to be out at Shabo- Mekaw on one of them. Even better, I was there while the azaleas were in bloom, and the butterflies came out to sip some nectar...

Now, I've got to get back to work! Enjoy!

The Same Thing, Only Different (Bluets)

2011-05-07T22:05:00.000-04:00

My favorite Spring wildflower isn't the brightest or showiest; in fact, the bluet is so tiny, it could easily be missed. It doesn't grow here in Kenton County, where I live, nor in southwest Ohio, where I grew up. When we bought property on the Kinniconick Creek in Lewis County, I was excited to discover many species of plants I had never seen before. A delicate little four-lobed star of pale blue with a bright yellow center, I couldn't help thinking of it as a faerie flower.

See what I mean?

104 Moons in the Seventh House of the Rising Sun

2011-04-30T19:41:00.001-04:00

Ingredients: vintage ledger sheet, vintage book pages, decorative papers, map fragment, magazine cut-outs, watercolor pencils, Koh-i-noor pens, acrylic mediums.

I'm really having fun with these titles! This is another of my little 4" x 6" experiments in what I've come to call "stream of consciousness" collages. They're completely unplanned; I just grab what ever's lying around and start gluing. Whether or not they pan out as decent pieces of art, I learn something valuable each time I make one.

In this case, I think the title may be better than the collage, but it was fun to make, nonetheless. By the way, if you get the allusions in the title, congratulations- you are officially old!

Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall...

2011-04-26T22:42:00.000-04:00

It says, "a little", right? I'm afraid there must be some mistake, because we passed "a little" somewhere around three weeks ago. Here's what the sky looks like right now:

This is how it looked yesterday:

The day before?

The day before, and the day before, and the day before that? Yep, exactly the same. And tonight, tomorrow, the next day? Well... storms, then rain, punctuated by heavy storms...

SERIOUSLY?!

I know I really have no right to complain. My house is dry, unlike many others, and in most parts of the area, people can still get to their front doors without the use of a boat. We have had a couple of tornadoes touch down, but no towns here have been leveled. But still- it gets old, doesn't it?

I mean, just look at my garden! Anyone care for a swim?

The poor sugar snap peas have rotted in the ground (for the second time), and the broccoli plants are drowning.

Over the weekend, the sun actually came out for about 15 minutes, so we rushed down to the river to look at the flood.

This used to be a street, but is now home to some very unconcerned geese...

Goose butts, everywhere I go, now!

Do they really need a sign telling people the steps are closed?

Furthermore, please don't try parking in this lot...

At the confluence of the Ohio and Licking, the water from the Licking is moving so fast, there are actually- er- browncaps.

Take a wild guess what's looming on the horizon again! Yep, it's time to head back to the car...

At least this little guy doesn't seem to mind the rain...

and some day the sun will shine, somewhere... over the rainbow...

The Source

2011-04-19T19:07:00.001-04:00

"What's up with all the round things?" This question was put to me some years ago by a guest critic in one of my classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. I think he (whose name I don't remember) was an art professor at the University of Cincinnati, and of course he didn't exactly say, "What's up...". But he noticed that my work was full of 'round things', and advised me to consider what they symbolized. Because they obviously did have a personal meaning for me, a meaning I couldn't articulate, floating just below the surface of my consciousness.

Kalachakra Matrix

It took a while. In fact, I forgot about his question entirely. Until one day, years later, while taking a bit of an inventory of my work (like the piece above), it just hit me out of the blue. Seeds! Yes, that was it- what it all grew from, what it all came back to.

Secret Garden

Of course, this is only one layer of meaning, and there are many others closely intertwined. But that was the foundation, the inception of the idea- the source.

Seed Mandala 10

Seed Mandala 23

Seed Mandala 16

Well, there are many, many more examples, but for now I'll show you the one I just completed.

Where the Seed Goes

Ingredients: monotype fragments, silk tissue, acetate, acrylic ink, Caran D'Ache crayons, cheesecloth, watercolor pencils.

11.5" x 9.5"

Deconstructed Reconstituted 3-Layer Buddha (With a Cherry on Top)

2011-04-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

Ingredients: image transfer, vintage book pages, metallic paper, map fragment, magazine cut-outs, acrylic ink, watercolor pencils, Koh-i-noor pens. 6" x 4"

This was another of the pieces I was working on for the postcard show. I feel like I should explain the long and somewhat bizarre title of this piece, in case you're wondering. (And who wouldn't, right?) So, here's the story:

1. I started by gluing down a bunch of old book pages and stuff, then did the image transfer of the Buddha grid, using acrylic gel medium. It worked quite well.

2. I proceeded to paint it and color it and glue more stuff on around it.

3. After a while, it got all muddy and floopy-looking, so I covered it with more book pages and did the transfer again. Again, the transfer came out perfectly.

4. I then commenced to mess it up once more, chiefly by way of adding some metallic crayon stuff that I didn't like. (You never know until you try it, right?)

5. I had one more copy of the Buddha grid, so I thought: why not? Yep, you guessed it; I covered it with some more vintage book pages, and did the transfer ONE MORE TIME- hence, the "3-layer" part of the title. This time, the transfer didn't go as well, mostly due to the crappy metallic crayon, which the transfer didn't want to stick to. So, I thought:

6. It looks like doo-doo, so what's to lose? I started pulling the layers apart, just to see what happened. Of course, most of it came apart in pieces. This is where the "deconstructed" part of the title comes in.

7. But, I had most of the top layer, and a few other pieces that were interesting, so I tried putting them back together to form a semi-complete image, fitting them together like a puzzle. I felt almost like an archeologist (which I have always wanted to be), piecing together fragments of some broken, long-buried artifact. Okay, you can see how pathetic my life really is, but I was having fun! I'm sure "reconstituted" isn't what they actually call it, either; I think that's orange juice, or powdered milk. Whatever.

8. At this point, I started to like it more, and not just because I got to pretend to be an archeologist. I now had a sort of pieced-together Buddha made from acrylic gel, kind of a very bumpy and stretchy decal.

9. I put some more stuff on the background, and then glued it down, glued on some more stuff, and- Voila!

I'm pretty sure the "cherry on top" is self-explanatory.

But Still... (too late)

2011-04-09T16:26:00.002-04:00

But Still (1891)
ingredients: map fragment, vintage ledger pages, vintage book pages, papyrus, metallic joss paper, decorative paper, ink, watercolor, found objects, brass wire

Well, long story short, I was working on some 4 x 6 collages with the intent to enter one of them in the National Collage Society's Postcard Show. However, I misread the prospectus, and thinking that the arrival deadline was a postmark deadline, I missed it! (Aaaarrrrgh....) Let this be a warning to you, people- read the prospectus carefully!

So anyway, here's the first one I made; let me know what you think. (Sorry, the photo is kind of wonky- the angel's body is metallic, but you can't tell here.)

p.s. I'm still waiting for that full time secretary to show up; any takers yet?

A Little Color

2011-04-05T20:35:00.007-04:00

It could be said that I'm addicted to color, and I would freely admit it. I don't know about where you live, but here, it's been, as George would say, (little darlin') "a long, cold lonely winter". I'm ready for Spring, I'm tired of gray and brown, so I say here comes the color!

Marketing researchers have spent considerable amounts of money trying to figure out the psychological effects of colors. Of course, it's not an exact science, because each person has his/her own unique associations with colors, resulting from personal experience. But there are some associations that tend to hold true for most people. See if you agree.

WHITE

purity
innocence
cleanliness
sense of space
neutrality
mourning (in some cultures/societies)

GRAY

neutral
timeless
practical

BLACK

authority
power
strength
evil
intelligence
thinning / slimming
death or mourning

RED

love
romance
gentle
warmth
comfort
energy
excitement
intensity
life
blood

ORANGE

happy
energetic
excitement
enthusiasm
warmth
wealth prosperity
sophistication
change
stimulation

YELLOW

happiness
laughter
cheery
warmth
optimism
hunger
intensity
frustration
anger
attention-getting

GREEN

natural
cool
growth
money
health
envy
tranquility
harmony
calmness
fertility

BLUE

calmness
serenity
cold
uncaring
wisdom
loyalty
truth
focused
un-appetizing

PURPLE

royalty
wealth
sophistication
wisdom
exotic
spiritual
prosperity
respect
mystery

PINK

romance
love
gentle
calming
agitation

BROWN

reliability
stability
friendship
sadness
warmth
comfort
security
natural
organic
mourning (in some cultures/societies)

Some of the associations seem a little odd, but for the most part, they make sense to me. I got the color association information from a cool art therapy website; you can read more about it here.

Now that we've considered each color separately, lets mix them all together, shall we?

These incredible large-scale installations by Mexican fiber artist Gabriel Dawe certainly encompass the entire color spectrum.

Plexus 3 by Gabriel Dawe

Plexus 3

Plexus 2 by Gabriel Dawe

Plexus 4 by Gabriel Dawe

To see more of Gabriel's work, visit his website, here.

And now, for the final color overdose; check out this video of artist Holton Rower at work! (Turn up the sound, too; the music is great.)

I find this video mesmerizing! Okay, maybe I am easily amused, but I hope you enjoy it as well. I also hope you enjoyed my little color tour! Thanks to my son, Colin Reusch, for sending me the links to these two artists.

Silly Questions

2011-03-27T17:25:00.000-04:00

Some things to ponder...

If the supermoon was so super, why couldn't I get a super photo of it?

1. If we can't walk on water, what are the chances we can sit on it?

2. Is it a park, a pool, or a river?

How come no one says, "What, what, goose butt..."?

Do these numbers seem upside-down to you? Shouldn't 45 be higher than 15?

If my daughter is engaged, does that make me older than God, or just older than dirt?

Raven and Crane- part 2

2011-03-19T19:29:00.001-04:00

As Raven spread his inky wings to fly, darkness spilled out from beneath them, filling the emptiness with all the pieces of the mysterious Night. The beautiful Moon sailed through the sky, and the darkness was dotted with countless swirling stars. The Moon's glowing face spun slowly out of hiding until her full roundness was revealed, and then back again.

See part 1 here.

- This story is my own, and does not intentionally draw from any existing story or myth. The style and inspiration come from the traditional creation myths of many cultures, including Celtic and Native American.

Re-Vision

2011-03-13T13:44:00.002-04:00

I don't usually do collages that don't contain some of my own drawing or monotype work, but I thought I'd give it a try. Why I thought that, I don't really know, since I'm generally quite terrible at this type of work. In my last post, I included a collage I had made by combining different papers. In keeping with the theme of clouds and rain, my intention was for the piece to express that mood, so I wanted to do something a bit simpler, softer, and more monochromatic than my usual riot of intense color and contrast. (Okay, stop laughing; it is too possible!) The result was less than satisfactory; in fact, it was boring.

As I sat looking at this piece and pondering what might be done to improve its awfulness, I though perhaps I had been over-confident; maybe I should have started small. "Go big or go home" is not always a sound philosophy. So, I began cutting it into smaller pieces, which seemed at once to be an obvious improvement. I worked on each one individually, while still keeping them similar enough to work as a series.

Symphony of the Rain (Overture) 4.75" x 5.75"

Symphony of the Rain (First Movement) 6.25" x 6"

Symphony of the Rain (Second Movement) 5" x 5"

Symphony of the Rain (Third Movement) 6" x 4.75"

Ingredients (all 4 pieces): vintage ephemera, decorative papers, magazine cut-outs.

What do you think? Better, or not? Any and all advice would be helpful!

The Time of Gray

2011-03-06T20:40:00.001-05:00

It's the time when all you see is gray...

It weighs down the sky...

wrapping hills and trees in delicate layers of gray tissue.

And then it begins....

Symphony of the Rain

ingredients: vintage type paper, vintage piano book page, magazine cut-outs, various decorative papers

Strange and Amazing

2011-02-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

During my recent internet excursions, I've come across some very unique art. You've got to see these!

I've never seen anything like this. Jason de Caires Taylor makes life-size cement sculptures, then submerges them in the ocean...

With the passage of time, they become habitats for the little sea creatures, who gradually alter the appearance of the sculptures.

You can see more photos of this amazing installation and read the entire article, Drowning Beautiful, here. I encourage you to visit his website, where you can read more about his work, and watch the lovely videos that provide extended, 360 degree views of the works in situ.

Next, I'd like to direct your attention to the work of Siba Sahabi, an artist whose stated intention is to "build a bridge between the orient and the occident."

From "Bucchero" series

I don't know about that, but I know that what she has built is incredible- all these pieces are made of paper!

Paper! Seriously??

"Bucchero" series

It seems to beg all kinds of questions, such as, to begin with- HOW? I can't even imagine how you'd begin, and then, how you would keep it so perfectly round and even?

And how long would it take to make one? I mean for her, not me, because it would obviously take me the rest of my life...

Kerameikos paper porcelain

And while we're on the subject of the completely unbelievable...

Have you ever seen the pencil lead sculptures of Dalton Ghetti? Take a closer look...

Yep, that's right- pencil lead.

I'm completely dumbfounded. This guy must have amazingly steady nerves, not to mention uncommonly acute eyesight.

Dalton Ghetti uses only a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife to carve these minute works. According to this article, he even refuses to use a magnifying glass and has never sold any of his work, only given it away to friends. Though he doesn't have a website, you can find several good articles if you google his name. He also had a show at the Silvermine Art Center in Connecticut.

This one took him two and a half years. Are you amazed yet?

Art Club + Butterfly Project = Awesome

2011-02-13T11:20:00.003-05:00

The art teacher and I sponsor an after-school art club at the middle school where I teach. I thought the kids might like to make butterflies for the Butterfly Project, an online art collaboration organized by Trudi Sisson of Two Dresses Studio. All of the butterflies sent to her will be displayed on Trudi's blog, so the students were pretty excited about the prospect of getting to see their creations on the internet. They couldn't believe their work would someday be on display in the Holocaust Museum in Houston.

We gave them a wide range of media choices, lots of materials, and let them go at it. All they had to provide was the creativity, and there was certainly no shortage of that!

Here are their creations, ready to send to the Butterfly Project. How cool is that? I'm so proud of them!

If you want to join, click "Butterfly Project" above, or you can click the icon on my side bar. Happy flying!

I was just notified by Seth Apter of The Altered Page that my entry will be featured in today's posting of Collector's Edition: Chapter 7. This is part of a huge ongoing series of collaborative online art projects that Seth dreamed up and has been coordinating for some time now, called The Pulse: The State of the Art. I'm so grateful to be a part of this amazing project, as well as a part of the online art community it chronicles. There is lots of cool artists' stuff featured today, so get on over there and check it out!

Here's How It Is

2011-02-07T19:50:00.001-05:00

Well, here's how it is: I am a bad blogger. At least, that's how I feel sometimes- not guilty, really- just kind of disappointed that I've been unable to keep all the balls in the air.

"Jugglers at the Cirque Fernando" by Renoir

"The Egyptian Juggler" by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema

This may be possible in theory, but not even Einstein had the slightest inkling how to apply it to our every day lives. Where's my Wayback Machine when I need one?

But then I was reading a post on Rice Freeman-Zachery's wonderful blog, Notes from the Voodoo Cafe, that made me feel a bit better about the whole thing. She says this about working artists:
"You try to get in touch with them, and they don't respond, and you think, scornfully, "Diva!" But that's most often not it (sometimes that's it, but not very often). Usually it's because they have a certain day of the week in which they respond to email because the other days are a flurry of all the various things they have to do to try to stay afloat in an economy that bites and a culture that doesn't value working artists."

She goes on to say that most of us have to decide what we're going to give up in order to make art a priority, such as TV and the internet (except for blogging, of course). I have to agree; it's all about prioritizing. I rarely watch TV, except for the news and a couple of other shows. I don't have a social life, and my house probably isn't the cleanest, if you know what I mean. My husband graciously does most of the cooking. I try to answer emails, but sometimes it takes me a while. Sometimes I forget to respond to comments on my blog posts, but that's due to the age of my brain, and is not at all intentional.

I used to try to accept the fact that I didn't have the time to make art, but I failed in that effort, because I was miserable. I came to realize that I would have to make that time by deciding not to spend it on other things, like watching TV, or going out for drinks. If I have to cook, I'm probably not going to make something that takes three hours to prepare, and I made a deal with the dust bunnies that if they don't look at me, I won't look at them. If I have to work a full time job, then shouldn't part of the reward for that be that I get to spend my off-time doing something I love?

The Traveler's Tale: Balance

Artists and Blogs You Might Enjoy

2011-01-29T22:14:00.001-05:00

One of the most original artists I've come across lately is Vitche, a Brazilian street/graffiti artist whose art was described as "urban interventions about environmental themes and general conscience." He now makes art in a great variety of media, including wood, puppets, iron, mud, canvas and photography. I can only describe the style of his work as eclectic, and truly his own.

carved wood sculpture, untitled, by Vitche

carved wood sculpture by Vitche

untitled painting by Vitche

untitled sculpture by Vitche

You can find Vitche's blog here.

I have fallen in love with the blog- called BICOCACOLORS- of Spanish photographer Elena Nuez. I don't know much about her, because her blog contains very few words- just photo after fantastic photo. Each engaging post is a mini-portfolio of related images, sometimes of the same object from different viewpoints, and sometimes of objects tied together by shape, color, or theme. Here, take a look; you'll see what I mean:

These images

are just a few

from the amazing post

called "Colors."

These are a small sampling

from the post "Riotinto"

by Elena Nuez.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Last, but in no way least, I'm happy to announce that my dear friend Ken Lobitz has started a blog called Kinniconick. He eloquently tells the story of Kinniconick Creek, including memories and stories of the many years he and his family camped and fished at Shabo Mekaw.

For those who aren't familiar, Ken is the man who, back in the 1960's, built the original cabin on the beautiful 60 acre property my husband and I now own in Lewis County, Kentucky.

I mention Shabo-Mekaw here fairly often; it is my sanctuary from the rat race, and I find much inspiration and spiritual renewal there. We only recently came to know Ken, in a somewhat strange manner- you can read about it here.

Ken is a gifted writer- I only wish I could write half as well. Here's a little sample from his blog, Kinniconick:

"Kinniconick has survived into the twenty-first century. We can only pray that it will always flow. My memories go back more than seventy-five years and I remember the tales of my father and grandfather before me, so I have stories to tell."

The Start of Something?

2011-01-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

This came to me one day...out of the clear blue sky, as they say...

Before there was anything, Raven and Crane were there...

True Adventures of an Art Addict

My Seven Links

Did I Dream This? by Donna Drozda

The idea is to go back to your own posts and find one to fit each of the 7 categories, then ‘pass it on' to 5 more bloggers, and so on, and so on, etc., etc., etc. The project is described as a way of “uniting bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint venture", and I'm all about uniting, you know?

The following are the 7 categories:

Most beautiful post

Most popular post

Most controversial post

Most helpful post

Most “surprisingly successful” post

Most neglected post

The post that makes them most proud

So, here goes!

2. Most Popular. I don't know if this post got the most comments, but I appreciated the support of so many wonderful blogger friends. Where can you find this many people so willing to cheer you on? I hope they also found some small inspiration in this story of conquered fears: "I Did It" 10/24/10

4. Most helpful. Many of you told me that this post was helpful, and I, too, often need to remind myself that "Art Comes From the Making" 6/30/11

5. Most surprisingly successful. I was surprised to see how this post resonated with people; I had feared it might be too whiney, but it was something I just needed to say. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. "Here's How It Is" 2/7/11

6. Most neglected. "Interconnections" 11/29/09

7. The post that makes me most proud. I chose "Not an Open Book" 6/15/11. I'm proud of myself for not chickening out when it came to revealing the very personal subject matter of this piece, and for having the guts to try an unfamiliar form of expression on an important project.

The five bloggers I've chosen to participate in the 'My Seven Links' project are

Lynne Hoppe

Kim Hambric

Valerianna

Gwen Buchanan

Lynne Ciacco

Upcoming Exhibit at Audubon Museum

Palimpsest:: Language - with convoluted commentary

Scary Christmas to Me

A Brighter Day

Sky Buddha

The Top Part, So Far

Friday's Featured Favorite: Artist Kathleen Farago May

National Collage Society's 27th Annual Exhibit

New Piece in the Works

Friday's Featured Favorite: Artist Kathleen Piercefield

The Same Thing, Only Different (Rust Never Sleeps)

Falling

Give Away Winner + KMAC Show

Stacks

Hello, I Love You- and a Give Away

The Same Thing, Only Different (Sunflowers)

The Whole Shebang

Style File

The Other Side

New Work in Progress

Noticing

Decisions, Decisions- Please Vote!

My Buried Treasure: Art or Consequences?

Stay Tuned Tomorrow for Buried Treasure!

Falls of the Ohio

At last!

Upcoming Exhibitions and Anne Percoco

Altered Book Thingie Part 2

My New Crazy Book Thingie: Part 1

Workshop with Radha Chandrashekaran + The Pulse!

Art Comes From the Making

Moss, Hemlock, and Magnolia

An Assortment of Cool Stuff to Share

Not an Open Book (submission for "The Pulse of Mixed Media")

Real Abstract

Re- Revised (Major Fail?)

We Remember

It's Your Turn to Invent the Universe This Time

An Hors D'oeuvre (without a funny title)

The Same Thing, Only Different (Azaleas)

The Same Thing, Only Different (Bluets)

104 Moons in the Seventh House of the Rising Sun

Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall...

The Source

Deconstructed Reconstituted 3-Layer Buddha (With a Cherry on Top)

But Still... (too late)

A Little Color

Silly Questions

Raven and Crane- part 2

Re-Vision

The Time of Gray

Strange and Amazing

Art Club + Butterfly Project = Awesome

Here's How It Is

Artists and Blogs You Might Enjoy

The Start of Something?