Seed Stories V and VI

I mentioned before in a couple of posts that my three miniature pieces from a traveling exhibit called Tripletta were sold, and that I was working on pieces to replace them. You would think that making something 2.5 by 3.5 inches would be easy, but apparently it is not, at least for me. I'm having a hard time getting inspired to make more pieces on the Seed Story theme, which my original pieces were based on. I suppose it's not strictly necessary that I continue that theme, so I made some pieces that I call Prayer Flags (here, here, and here), which I may send to the show. But I'm also trying out some Seed Story pieces, just to see which I like best.



So here are a couple of new Seed Story pieces. See what you think:

Seed Story V

Seed Story VI

All of these pieces are monotypes with mixed media, by the way. So, what do you think? Do you like these better than the Prayer Flags? Thanks in advance for your opinion/help!

Time to Push?

I don't really have much time to read art business books or blog posts, but I try to spend at little a little bit of my rare and cherished free time learning about how to be an artist, as opposed to how to make art.  In truth, it's a pretty boring subject, but one that's important to those of us who aspire to attain even a modest amount of "success"- insert your own definition here - as artists.

So lately, things have begun to pick up a bit, and I have been selling some work, as well as being invited or selected by juries to participate in some fairly important exhibits. Recently, my work has been published in an art 'coffee table' book as well as on a book cover, and I've been notified of a show (possibly solo) coming up this year. So here's the thing: isn't this the time to push?  I mean, now that I've gained some momentum, I feel I should work as hard as possible to take advantage of it.


 Here are a few of the things I'm working on now:

 If you've been reading my blog lately you probably remember my Book of Secrets.  I've laid this one aside for a while to work on other things, while contemplating issues I still haven't found answers for, such as:

 Snakes eyes,...

                                                                                       ... or no snake eyes?
And what about the nagging questions around locks, latches, chains... or what?

Here's another piece in progress:

For this one, I cut some old book covers into panels, and attached an old 'star guide', game piece, puzzle pieces, and monotype scraps. 

I like how it's coming along so far, but my big question is how to attach the panels together.

I was thinking of something like hooking them together with large jump rings, but now I'm not sure.  Sew them onto ropes or cords of some kind, maybe?




  Stay tuned for the next post, because along with the answers to these and other burning questions,

... I'll show you, in depth, what's on my easel! 




 
So, what do you think?  Time to push?

Stuck in the Middle Again...

I have been steadily working whenever I get a chance.  In the past, there were far too many times when I'd get 'stuck' while working on a piece - just couldn't figure out what to do next to save my life.  I would waste time fighting with it, trying this or that idea, and hating them all.  A good solution, I thought, would be to work on more than one piece at a time, so that I could let one rest while I attended to another, thus lessening the frustration as well as giving it time to percolate in the back of my mind. This also keeps me from wasting time, which is at a premium. I'm sure many of you do this, and it's generally a very good strategy.

However, I have now reached this impasse with 2 pieces at once.  Story of My Life, which I showed you at an earlier stage of unfinished-ness, has come a little further, but then ground to a halt again.

The other one I'm currently working on is this, with the working title Doors of Perception:

The problem with mixed media is that you may not have exactly the right 'thingamajig' or 'whatchamacallit' you need in order to complete the piece to your satisfaction. One thing that helps when doing this type of work is to have a wide variety of materials available. The more stuff you have to choose from, the greater the odds that you'll have the perfect object or material in your studio.  Unless you have so much that you can't find anything, which is a whole other sack of potatoes. The other drawback is that you may be regarded as a hoarder.  My kids are not shy about telling me this; other people are probably thinking it, but are too polite to say so.


So, in the meantime, what do I do? Start on another?  Make pesto?

Finally!

I started this piece several weeks ago, and then I just got stuck.  It's strange, that something that initially seems to fall into place so easily can suddenly hit a wall- that "I-have-no-idea-what-to do-now" place that leaves you feeling frustrated.   It's like you're breezing along a familiar road, when all of a sudden you look around and realize that you're completely lost.  When this happens, I find it's best to put it out of my sight for a while; if I keep pushing at this stage, it's like beating my head on a brick wall.  The result will not make me happy.

Something shifted on Friday- the alignment of the stars, the flow of ions in my room, or, more probably, the little people inside my head (ha!), and I knew.  So out it came, and here it is.

As Above, So Below

Ingredients: Multi-media art board, Rives BFK, monotype, vintage map fragments, watercolor pencils, 

Caran D'Ache crayons, various papers,  acrylic gel, PVA glue.

Transformation 35

I finally finished this piece that I had started before I left for vacation. It's been a little strange transitioning back to "real life"; I just can't get the Rocky Mountains out of my head. I'm working on some other pieces, though, that I'll be posting soon.

Transformation 34

I just finished this piece, which I have been struggling with for some time. I have no idea why; it seems pretty simple and straightforward. Sometimes I think I can become too analytical, nit-picking and agonizing over every little decision. It can be difficult to just let go and be in the moment of creating. When I worry too much about the result ("Don't mess up!", as one of my professors told me), I just can't seem to get out of my own way. I always tell my students that making mistakes is nothing to fear, as long as we learn something from it. Words of wisdom, indeed. Remember: it's the process, not the product; it's the process, not the product...

Transformation 31

I actually finished this piece a couple of weeks ago, but just didn't post it because I wasn't 100 percent totally sure it was finished. Making decisions is not one of my assets as a human being, but let's just not go there... I have a couple more of these in the works, but as I might have mentioned before, I feel like this series has almost run its course, or come to an inevitable conclusion, or is stale and boring (at least to me). I really want to move on to something different, but I'm not sure exactly what. Once again, the old indecision problem has reared its ugly head. If any one has ideas or experiences you can share about how to handle this transition, please let me know.

Reflections

I thought this photo (top) looked a bit like stained glass. It reminded me of Kathleen's beautiful glass work. The second version is my attempt to make it appear more glass-like. The upshot of all this is that I'm using Photoshop as a diversion from my other work because I'm blocked- absolutely no idea what to do. Sometimes I find it's best not to try to force it, but instead to step back and do something else for a while. I'll let you know how that goes. But I am having lots of fun with the photos, for now.