Wheat Field with Poppies
Untitled, lino cut
Snakes in the Grass
I have been working on several new plates, mostly relief plates of various easy cut. But I have started on one low-tech etching plate and a collograph. I have only printed from these so far… But here is the scan of another plate:
Plate Scan: Kneeling Figure
After the Spring Rain
I recall this as quite the favorite saying at some point in my childhood. But here beeswax is put to a different use. All the elements in the plate are coated with wax, and are the detritus in the gutter after a spring storm.
Bandages
The other piece is less obvious, and must be viewed more closely. Pieces of medical gauze drenched in melted beeswax wrap the spheres, which are scarred and marked with smears of brown & red, evoking wounds. Various small scraps of other material create texture and interest on these wounded globes…
Bandages, close-up
I have submitted this second piece, Bandages, to upcoming juried show at the Northwind Art Center. I don’t know if has enough impact or conveys the theme well enough. However it certainly fits the theme, being of a style, subject and medium that is “outside my comfort range”! I failed to get a hanger on the first piece in time to enter it.
Sandra Stowell Binary
Have you ever tried to develop a more elegant or more striking signature?
Sandra Stowell Binary V2
Surely we all want our signature to better reflect our personality, style and skills?
And an artist’s signature should enhance, rather than detract from, the art work. Many artists admire the Chinese chop or seal, and may create their own.
So recently I have been considering my personality. One of my aspects is my “geek” nature, manifest in my computer science background and continued use of computers. Hence this new idea for my signature: my name in a vertical column of binary code.
Some version of this experiment may become my “chop”… or not! But it will need to be a smaller, more discreet version of course. More work is in my future.
Binary Grasses
Talking about your own art work is difficult for many of us, for several reasons. Some of us feel that talking about your work may construed as bragging. We may be taught that it is rude to share personal information without being explicitly asked (and of course it is also rude to ask personal questions!) Some of us are just not especially articulate, and it is particularly hard to speak extemporaneously (so practice!) Some of us don’t think about our art in terms of words, and we may be reluctant to do so. We may fear that analyzing our work will alter it, and not in a good way.
But sometimes it seems desirable to use words. If you want to sell your work, words can help: you are very lucky if you can rely on someone else to sell your work for you!
Also thinking about your art can be helpful. While I choose to avoid defining my style or individual works using accepted categories of art history & theory, I think words may help me focus, and to choose the next direction for my work.
Recently I latched on to a few key words that seem to characterize my approach. Now I want to think about using these words to describe my style:
I cannot imagine siting down in front of view or lovely photo, and then dabbing in trees according to a formula “as seen on TV”. There is no joy for me in that approach. While it does frustrate me when I have a concept and no idea how to realize it, ultimately this is much better than knowing exactly how to proceed: it keeps me engaged and interested. And as I work on a piece, and I find that I need something different, I look around and reach for any suitable tool or media to do what that work needs at the moment. I improvise, and that is satisfying!
I may have a concept, and I may start drawing an object which fascinates me visually, but my goal is not to reproduce that object on my page or canvas. Rather my goal is to produce a satisfying art work: one which gives me a small thrill of pleasure and satisfaction when I look at it. I do not try to change you, or the world, but just myself a little tiny bit.
Tangled Twigs VIII: Here there be Dragons
This piece started continues my Tangled Twigs series, but with a very different twist. Inspired by the theme of the upcoming juried show at a local gallery, I decided to emphasize color and fantasy. I am not comfortable working with either!
I don’t plan to enter the show at Northwinds Art Gallery, being a bit sour on juried shows at the moment, but I did need to find a way to proceed with this drawing. I was stuck, and perhaps winding down on this series, so here there be dragons!
Grasses V, mixed media on art board
This continuation of my texture meditations started with embossing & black conte crayon, then graphite pencil. It was very dull, but I did not want high contrast black & white, so I added a little color.
I used colored pencil (including metallics), pan pastel, and for the extra touch you cannot really see in this image a three colored silk threads…
