Bones Laid Out, Burial Series CLICK to see alternative versions
Category Archives: My Art
Thinking about … ambiguity
While considering entering a new juried show, I reviewed paintings by the show juror, Michael Paul Miller. His oil paintings are stunning: his subjects are attention getting and his technique is exquisite. All his work shown at Saatchi online is gorgeous & very impressive. The work is described as post-modern realism, dark and often depicting an environmental apocalypse.
I was much intimidated! But I sent the link to a friend, along with the show statement and 3 works I am considering submitting (advice solicited re: frames). This was her response:
The juror’s work does not intrigue me at all. It is so obviously and literally and constantly dark. But I think he would learn from your work. Your work is not propaganda from either the light or the dark side.
Wow, what a compliment! My work does not have the meticulous technique (and never will). But perhaps I don’t need to be intimidated by that fact. Although I am guessing that Miller’s gorgeous paint work, with a clear and assertive message & subject matterwork, will always appeal to more people than my ambiguous messages, my work does allows the viewer room to create an individual interpretation and response.
It is so not easy! I certainly prefer to think that my doubts, agonizing, reworks and difficulties make my art better. And that the end result is worth something to others, not just to me. Self-doubt hovers in the wings every step of the way, and I waver between triumphant satisfaction and complete confusion: do I “waste” my time? Well, no I do please myself, but I want a bit more than that! Click on the image to view all three possible entries for this next juried show.
Finally, four Sketchbook 2nd Editions are complete!
Coming Soon, I hope
Struggling (It ain’t easy)
Two current art struggles:
1) to create & print a good quality 2nd edition of my 2012 Sketchbook. This is my longest sketchbook, with images drawn directly into the book as mailed, spanning two pages. I scanned it, but did not take the book apart so pages are not square, etc. It is not sufficient to print out the scans! I want a book with all the images, squared, lined up, and looking good! I don’t need an exact copy, but want to keep the sense of the original.
A big problem with this is the limitations of my software: both OpenOffice & LibreOffice will print brochures double-sided BUT it is hard to preview the book layout (left vs. right pages). Which preview, if any, shows me the collated book end view, not the confusing 2-sided print order, or other view.
Worse yet is with the large number of full page images, both products get very slow, & buggy. They do not refresh the screen or preview correctly with a document this size!
2) I have several hazy ideas about a new work that will be a part of my “burials” series, but I am not making fast progress. I have a couple of poorly realized sketches, which I have trouble working on. I will try to focus on various parts, to produce drawings which may be incorporated, or just help me complete, the larger work. But these may have a life of their own instead!
Catching up on old chores (sketchbooks)
Still Struggling with this series!
Working from work by another artist
Sitting Northwind Arts Center with the exhibit Small Expressions (12/2013), I looked at Maureen Piper’s “Strata”, shown here, and drew my own piece, “When I Draw (Your Painting) Everything Changes”. Click on this image to start the slideshow:
Strata, by Maureen Piper
Such differences & such pleasure:
- The hand in Maureen’s original painting is frail and smaller. Everything is more delicate, and the strata below is softer. There are three delicate but strong translucent seed-moons that are also leaf. The hand has dropped these seeds to the ground below. It is a dark but hopeful winter image.
- In both versions of my drawing the hand is solid, substantial, and there are not seeds, but a single moon-world.
- In the middle monotone version, the hand stops you from approaching the moon and the land below it. You are held back.
- In the second version, the color creates a connection between the hand and the moon-world. The hand is either releasing that moon-world, or is pulling up the land to form a new world. You are the observer: which is it?
When I Draw (Your Painting) Everything Changes 
Between work
New lamp, but lit with battery operated LEDs for effect: click to launch slideshow
Using recent print work to make a new lampshade, and modifying a much older most unsatisfactory print is filling my time before a undertake a new larger project. The lampshade is getting more layers of bone, and the green will be toned down quite a bit (but still glow). The red & black print has been distressed with water, touched up with pen & pastel, then scanned and digitally modified.
