Here are the thumbnails, but click to see the Picassa Web Album of these pages:
My new downtown P.T. exhibit venue: Jim’s Barber Shop
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- Once again Working on the Moon
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- Held Rock IV w color
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- When I Draw … Everything Changes
January 2nd I got a call from Donna, at Jim’s Barber Shop (Polk & Water, downtown P.T. across from Quimper Mercantile). I left a card & request to hang artwork there after being told that they were ready for new art on the walls (local artists display for 2-3 months at a time, and there is no commission on any sales that may develop from the exhibit).
So I have a show! This is a nice brightly lit location with a fair sized wall for art, plus space above the barber chairs and elsewhere. I have a good collection up, but still need to create a list with prices…
The exhibit includes a selection of work from the past four years, with two very new pieces. Several works have never been previously displayed (outside my studio).
Hanging the show has been a lot of fun, with appreciation & questions from customers and from Donna, the manager & one of three barber stylists working here.
Working on the old, before ringing in the New (Year)
Considering the Possibilities: a Salon des Refuses?
I wonder how many artists in the local area who have submitted artwork rejected by the juror for Collective Visions Gallery’s 2014 annual show? Since many works get rejected, and most artists submit several works, there must be a good many rejected artworks in the neighborhood.
Enough for a Salon des Refuses? Certainly! And if there are too many, we would give priority to works by artists with all entries refused 🙂
But how to reach the artists? Advertise?
Where can we hold the show? Port Townsend or Bremerton? Hmmm, that is easy if I am to organize it: Port Townsend of course!
Let’s be thinking about this!
See these and more in this series on Facebook.
The Spill, Walking Bones Series
Bones in the Caul
Ph testing & treating paper
Having used some intersesting “found” paper for a print collage which turned out to be something I really like, I started worrying about the quality of these large sheets of colored paper. After a little Internet research, I bought a Lineco Ph testing pen, and tests on scrap seem to indicate the paper is acidic.
Mind you, all these ph test pens get some rather mixed reviews, and test reports recommend that you test the pen first yourself, and develop your own color scale since manufacturers information is not reliable! Still a few tests on paper advertised as acid-free produced a light lavender consistent with the pen instructions, while tests on tissue paper and newsprint were clear, indicating high acid content.
A small piece of the Walking Bones collage
So then what to do with my acidic artwork? I settled for buying a can of Krylon “Make It Acid-Free!”. A couple of test sprays did not alter the paper color or the ink colors. And my Lineco pen seemed to indicate lowered acidity, so I sprayed the work. Then I was in for a day of panic: several pinky brown patches, some quite large, scarred my work! Horror, and I gave it up as ruined when they remained after a few hours of drying time. Probably the spray was reacting to previously invisible oils, glues, or other material.
Next morning, surprise! The splotches had faded completely. The piece looks as before.
However on further testing of scraps, reapplication of spray, etc. I doubt the value of the spray. The purple writing of the test pen on the sprayed paper fades to almost clear very quickly (a few minutes), and a clear result indicates high acidity. The spray is probably a very thin porous coating of low acid material that does not really penetrate the paper. After three light coats of spray a whitish coat is starting to show on my colored paper.
So hard to know if I am wasting my time (and money). I would love this artwork to be a little longer lived & light resilient, but what to think? What to do!!??
Holiday fun in art class yesterday
Finally trimmed out:
Two Small Expressions
Two of my art pieces have been accepted in the December juried exhibit at Northwind Arts Center. This show opens Friday, December 6 at noon, and the Opening Reception is during Port Townsend Art Walk on December 7 – 5:30 to 8 pm. Juror Michael McCollum gives an Art Talk on December 15 at 1 pm.