The week of discoveries......

That's what it has been!! A week of discoveries. So many good things to share.....first - Pinterest - it's for me! Okay, I've tried FaceBook - It had it's good things, but for me? Can't say it was a program that did it for me. Tried Tumblr, but to be honest?, I just didn't get it! I know many of you out there are huge fans of this program and I actually follow a couple of them, but again, just didn't do it for me. Google circles sounded way too labor intensive before I even got started. Then I found Pinterest! It's true, I'm an image junkie, but I'm also into many other things and now I can put them all in one place. It just makes sense to me. If I love it and want to refer to it again, I can pinit! My boards are in progress, but what this has done for me is to give me a place to organize my head!!

 Loving my iphone more and more each day. Finding out things about this little guy that are fitting right into how I live my life. It's just fabulous! Things I thought I wouldn't use, I'm finding that they are replacing scattering things all over the place. I click 'on' and there is my world sitting in my hand. Wow, who knew! And on the oopsiedoodle (my brother's word) side, the phone goes to my studio and is looking like it, but hey, pristine is not my MO, so that's okay! A bit of paint, pencil, etc., doesn't hurt anything. It's like crappy looking luggage, nobody else really wants it! AND my newest app is the 'hipstamatic' camera app. My oh my, do I love it! I know there are other fans out there and I can certainly see why.

And now for a bit of art! You know my waxy creations I've been doing?, well, they mostly fell apart - bad fusing and probably not a good surface, etc, etc., BUT!!!, after peeling off the wax that cracked, the surfaces that I was left with are WAY BETTER!! It would be almost worth going through this whole process again to get this kind of material to collage with. AND I have found the best glue - It's a PVA white glue and it is heavy duty - reminds me of some glue I used in Canada a couple of years ago which I was never able to find when I got back home. Since I'm not product oriented and am really about just messing around in my 'art lab' these are the things I love to discover. The photo below is a detail of new work I'm in the process of doing. These are pieces ripped from the original wax pieces and the wax peeled off. There is still a very thin coat of bees wax so it's still waxy heaven! On my way to better fusing and more discoveries!

Detail of work in progress, mixed media collage on board with hints of bees wax!


just added this little video I shot with my, wait for it, IPHONE!! and it shows me pulling apart one of the waxed pieces - It's a weeny video, but you get the idea......

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'Cause For Sunshine'

It's like all things - the more you do, the more you discover. I've messed around with bees wax for years but never really stayed with it. It was always a diversion. Well, I have stayed with it for the past week and am finding I have entered new territory that really interests me. Collaging bits of wax paper I've used to lift oil paint from my work (god, I have stacks of it everywhere) onto rice paper, layering wax, painting over, torching, burning, waxing, painting, ripping, attaching - the possibilities are endless. Painting with my little torch is thrilling. All that wax and oil moving about the surface. Painting more and scraping back - it's very addictive. The photo below is a piece of paper I worked on yesterday.

mixed media on rice paper with bees wax, 'Cause For Sunshine'

 If you like, you can see some other wax pieces I've posted on my flickr site by clicking on the flickr badge on my sidebar. I hope you are all having a fabulous week!

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what ignites the fire......

It's so interesting to me what 'ignites the fire' for the creative process to jump start - I don't have one specific thing that sets me off - for me that is part of the discovery process in my art practice - this past weekend it was ripping the paper off a surface I had been working on a few weeks ago(you can see the start I made at that time in the previous post). That's all it took for me to begin working - a surface that already had history, an interesting texture, the bones of a map already formed -I seem to be drawn to very humble materials right now - this is work on cardboard and I'm still working on cardboard - it has its own challenges and for now I'm finding it very satisfying - it rips very easily and allows me to use paint, wax, wax paper and just about anything I want to layer - I'm going about putting together the pieces of 2012 - these pieces will be used throughout the year in all kinds of ways - the first photo shows what was left after I tore the top layer off.........

the pic below is the finished painting.....

mixed media and bees wax on cardboard, 'Cotton Candy'
the black lines were made with my torch and peeling paper - you can see all the burning in real time but it doesn't show well in the photo......


Happy Wednesday everyone!

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slowed way down.......

That's what I've been doing lately. Going very slow.   After my big gush of work I stepped away for awhile.  My physical health was improving and I needed to focus on that.  Working my body again really drained me of energy.  I'm thrilled that I'm getting better, albeit slowly, walking somewhat normally again is wonderful.  When I went into my workspace this afternoon to grab a few things, I took some pictures and tried to remember what I was doing.

the photo above shows some deconstructed bits and pieces I had laid out on a board. Hmmmmm, don't have a clue where I was going with that. 

the pic above is a detail of something I had on the easel. This actually made me want to open the paints and start working, but not today.....

and on the same piece I had started ripping off some of the paper, that also interested me......

I will be finding my way back into the work this weekend - there was definitely stuff cooking when I left last week..... The last pic is a photo of my new iphone!!! I always like to share things I'm mad about and this new phone I'm definitely crazy mad about!!! I could go on and on and I know those of you who already sport one of these could probably do the same. It's amazing.

The weekend is riding in and I hope you all have fabulous plans!! see you on the other side of it!

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ps - if you've looked for me on Facebook lately, I had to deactivate my account - ran into some unpleasant speedbumps

restless......

I have knocked out close to 20 pieces on paper in the past few weeks and I was DONE!!! Out of the 20 pieces I was able to resolve about three of them and the rest are waiting their turn to find out what their fate will be - resolved painting, fodder for collage, steps to other paintings, etc., etc., etc. When a person is done, it's time to switch gears. Bees wax seemed a good choice. I heated some up, pulled out some rice paper, an old board and loaded my little torch - exactly what the doctor ordered!! Bees wax is so yummy! You can glob it on thick or just glide the wax brush over the surface - I grabbed my scrap box and added bits from other projects that I've deconstructed. I was able to burn foam core, muslin, paper, netting and a few things I didn't recognize. The piece below pushed me to another one on canvas that I finished today. This feels like a good direction for awhile. Using what is laying around the workspace - something very satisfying about that.

 mixed media with bees wax on board, 31x13.5, 'She Let Out The Clutch'

Hope you are all busy making art. January is almost over and that means we are heading out of the dark/cold. It gives me hope.

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deconstruct/reconstruct

I haven't done a progression in awhile, but I've gotten so many emails these past few weeks about my technique that I thought I would document a painting from 'deconstruction' to 'reconstruction' - the process is all intuitive and doesn't mean much using words, but a series of photos gives a better idea of how my process works - The first photo is a painting I did last year that I never connected with - the resolve always felt contrived so I thought it would be a good one to use for this progression -

the next photo shows my first marks to deconstruct the painting - white oil pastel and yellow ochre

these next photos show the deconstruction process

now I see a new shape emerging....I start carving out the new images

the next pic is the place I start editing - I got so involved in the next part of the process that I didn't take anymore pictures until I finished the new painting

Here is the new painting - I feel a connection to this work and call it finished for now

mixed media on board, 24x24, 'When Madelynn Dreams'

I hope this answers some of the questions I've gotten - I just paint! I'm not a technical painter - I work wet on wet - I don't mind if the colors get muddy - I like the color of mud - I love when I get to the editing part - add, subtract, add, subtract, take out my favorite part, take out another favorite section, take out all the ambiguity- done!

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Saturday Armor

It's a very real challenge to work in my workspace during January and February - I basically have an outdoor shed with minimal insulation that I converted into a workspace - IT IS COLD!! I have a little space heater and that gets the temps into the 50's and then I layer my outerwear and that lets me work for a couple of hours during the day which I am so thankful for!! I can bring work into the house to dry. We've had little showers of snow for the last two days, but it doesn't even stick to the ground, thank god! Other places are not so lucky - being so close to the water keeps us a bit warmer and I'm very thankful. I have finished several paintings in the past few days and I'll share the one I finished today. The work, even though a bit more settled then a couple of weeks ago, is still coming pretty fast. I don't question this anymore - I just take advantage of it and paint as much as possible. This too will stop and then I will have to dig deep to start new work. And when those dryer times come, there is the excitement of trying new things - I always love messing with video, or my digital camera, new mediums, etc. But for now, painting is on the front burner.

this is oil on paper, 24x19, 'Saturday Armor'


Another Monday has rolled out and I hope you are all on board for the week!

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