Sunday, May 31, 2009

October Fields


The last two paintings from the October Fields series. I started them with a red underpainting and I'm really happy I did. I've been studying Tracy Helgeson and her bright simple landscapes. She underpaints with red and orange and I love it. I was able to keep them simple and happy (for me) I have darker ones I'll post next:)



Wednesday, May 20, 2009

More Collage


More about recycling and collage. This collage is one of the latest group but the one that has stayed the most true to my original idea for the series. I want to reuse as many materials as I can and, of course, the more I look the more I find. This monochromatic collage is on a board of shredded paper that I molded with glue and formed into a square by pouring the pulp into a wooden frame. Yes, it took forever to dry. (I should only make the pulp castings in the summer when I can set them outside to dry in the sun). The most active piece is a couple of styrofoam meat trays (which I collect for painting trays) that I cut into bits and pieces and strips and then glued together. After priming the whole thing I brushed on what seems like many layers of color. It was black and then it was red and then it was gold. Never quite right and never quite sure where it belonged. I had it on a crinkly textured background free floating in the center but it just was not right. This collage had a lot of corrugated pieces and in the moment when I finally realized that reducing the number of items was the answer I saw the styrofoam tray piece ( now painted white......to start over) and plunked it onto the corrugated strip. The line beside it is a piece of caulking that came off of an old window and the tin can lid ...painted white after opening a can of black olives ....and now part of the truest textural collage. Thanks to Eric, Erin and Maggie for their supportive comments this weekend.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Collage Crazy









So finally some new pictures to post of what has been keeping me busy and driving me crazy. Love the idea of collage but struggle with the mixing of the pieces..... and there are so many possibilities......

So these are some of the paper mixed with various mediums. I've been experimenting with the drippy glue form a glue gun to create forms and words. The figure in the collage above is from the glue gun. I used an old canvas board to draw on with the glue gun. After it was completely dry I was able to peel her off and can now place her anywhere on another painting or collage.

I've been saving tin cans and the lids for a while to use in some sort of collage. Not really happy with how the round tin can lid shape can overpower the rest of the assemblage. The round shapes of the can lids may have to be one complete collage on their own ..maybe with small paper circles for various areas of interest.......One thing leads to another.

The mask in the one collage is made of plastic shopping bags ...(always trying to think of ways to recycle and reuse them) I uses a plaster cast of my husband and crammed the plastic bags into it while spraying them with spray glue. It worked pretty well but still has some give to it...not at all like plaster casting or papermache.

I started this adventure with big pieces of cardboard that I ripped into the corrugated and smooth parts. That's what started me down this collage path....but what I found was that the corrugations needed balance with smoother textures and a little corrugation goes a long way. So as usual ...finding the balance and being willing to let go of what I thought a moment ago was where it would end up a moment from now.......