So Far...

Despite drowning in a sea of product tags, focus keywords, alt attributes, meta descriptions, and SEO titles, I have managed to make a little more progress on When I was a Bird, a collage I had started for an art challenge a few weeks back. I took photos of it with my phone, and they did not upload to my dropbox. I have no clue why, but it is surely aggravating. So I took photos with my Panasonic Lumix, and couldn't get them to upload to the computer! Just one more thing, you know?

But I have managed to grab little snippets of time here and there to work this collage, mainly to keep myself sane. Now, back to work, and maybe a bit of studio time! I'll keep you posted!

Art Challenge: Birds

When I found out the theme for this week's Art Challenge was "Birds", I couldn't resist, despite the fact that I'm busy trying to build a new website (trying is the operative word here), and I've got tons of yard work and gardening to do, not to mention the normal everyday stuff to keep up with. But it's BIRDS, you know? If you've followed my blog for very long, or looked at my website, it's pretty obvious that birds are a very important part of my symbolic vocabulary. In fact, I did two long posts about birds in art, which you can read here and here, if you're so inclined.

So I thought I'd maybe just take one of my old collages that didn't work out, since pretty much all of them have birds on them, re-work it here and there, and voila! - a new bird collage. Nope. Ideas started whirling around in my head and I found myself starting a whole new collage, which I knew I wouldn't be able to finish in time for the challenge.

Work in progress: When I Was a Bird

But luckily, no one in this lovely group of artists cares much about deadlines or rules, so I'm posting what I've got so far. There's a lot more work ahead, but I think the basic bones of the composition are in place, and you can get an idea of where it's going. I will be sharing my progress here, so check back in a few day for an update!


Eric Adama of Cerulean is our kind host, so head over to his blog for the links to more bird art!

Art Challenge: Sticks

When Tammie of Beauty Flows chose the theme "sticks" for this week's art challenge, I knew I had to jump in! I love sticks - in the woods, on or off of the trees, in art, or laying in a pile in my studio. Here are a few of my favorites.

 Snow and ice accumulated on these sticks in my yard to make a lovely black and white abstract...

 Sticks with seeds overhanging the Kinniconick Creek...

 I used a smooth bleached stick from the creek in this mixed media piece called, "Flight Talismans".

 Sticks outlined in the light of the super moon...

 Weathered, twisted sticks on the sand dunes at Cumberland Island.

 My friend, Mish, trying to hide behind some bamboo sticks.  Not working too well.

Indigenous

Years ago, I used to make sculptures from sticks, grapevines, rocks and copper. This was the only example I could find. The background is a topological map of a region in Kentucky that is very important to me, the rocks, which have seeds or flowers of indigenous plants glued onto them, have holes in them and are hanging on - you guessed it - sticks.

 Sticks from a tree submerged in the Kinniconick Creek...

 Beech sticks still hold onto their leaves in winter...

A redbud tree in bloom...

Do you think that's enough, yet?  Thanks for inviting me, Tammie!  Go to Beauty Flows to see what the other participants came up with!

Art Challenge: Room With a View

Lovely Nadine of tinyWOOLF is hosting an art challenge this week; the theme is Room (with a view). An excellent theme, I think, because there are so many possibilities for interpretation.

I found this picture of a door in a magazine, and at first thought I would portray the view I see when looking out my back door. But honestly, it's not a very interesting view since all the trees had to be cut down, and thinking about it makes me sad.  Looking out my back door seemed a bit obvious, and I really wanted to do something more imaginative - give my brain a good workout. Also, I'm trying to develop the habit of never settling on my first idea, trying to push myself further on into new artistic territory.

Inside Out

collage with mixed media, 9 x 6.5 inches

At the time I was thinking about all this, I was listening to this podcast of NPR's Invisibilia, called Frame of Reference.  This is the teaser: "What shapes the way we perceive the world around us? A lot of it has to do with invisible frames of reference that filter our experiences and determine how we feel. Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin interview a woman who gets a glimpse of what she's been missing all her life – and then loses it. And they talk to Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj about which frame of reference is better – his or his dad's." It was very interesting, to me, at least, and being an artist, looking at how we frame things seems pretty relevant.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, I was still thinking about the door, and about rooms and views, which led me to thinking about how a room is defined, which led me to the concept of inside/outside. I hope you're not too bored with my rambling little trip through my thought process. (You're probably thinking, Blah, blah, blah, get to the point!) ha!

So I decided to focus on the frame of reference idea, but to flip the inside and the outside; in other words, the inside would be out, and the outside, in. To confuse things even further, there are objects that are inside that belong outside, and vice versa; but then again, which is inside, and which is out? I had a lot of fun playing around with the idea, and I hope you enjoy what I came up with.

For more interpretations of the theme, please visit tinyWOOLF for the links! And thanks for inviting me to share in the fun, Nadine!