Reed Calligraphy II, Finished at Last

I've kind of lost track of how long I've been working on this painting. It's done (I think). All artists have their own personal creative process. Someone asked my a while back how I came up with the idea for this painting. Good question!

I took quite a few snapshots of reeds and reflections during a camping trip way last February. I did a painting using one of the shots I found interesting (Reed Calligraphy I, see previous blog). I had a whole series of additional photographs and set them aside, unsure of what to do with them and moved on to another project.

Then, I really really felt like painting and realized I'd let myself run out of canvas, stretchers and panels. I panicked. I rooted around in my storage closet. There were 4 long skinny masonite boards, scraps left over from other projects. You know, those things you keep just in case they might come in handy some day.

I pondered how I could use them. I cut apart a bunch of the reed photos into strips. Hmmm. The beginning of an idea was forming.

I scrounged around again, and found an old abandoned stretcher without canvas. It was the perfect size for the 4 boards, leaving a little space between each. I nailed them onto the stretcher. I applied coats of gesso to prepare the surfaces.

Making 4 long skinny paintings didn't seem like it would work. So I decided to divide each panel in half, making a total of 8 images. In order to separate the images on each board, I made a border around each one. I added texture to the borders to separate them even further from each other. That gave me the idea of contrasting the smooth, shiny water with the rough texture of the borders and the matte of the reeds.

I played around with organizing the photos until I felt like the sequence made sense visually. Voila. I started the painting as soon as the boards were nailed onto the frame and gessoed.

The ideas developed as I worked. It would have saved time if I have planned the whole thing out from the beginning of the process, but apparently that just isn't the way I work.

Does the painting work? I don't know. Sure would love to have someone click on the comment button and tell me what they think.

Back to work!

It feels great to be back to work. While the space looks like a disaster, I know exactly where everything is. I'm starting two new paintings (on the easels), while completing a third (on the work bench, facing backward). The table is covered with stuff for my box making operation. If you go back into the archives, there are photos here and there of the boxes I paint. Not showing in this photo is my press (you can see just a bit of the wheel in the lower left corner of the studio picture. I have room to be working on prints while doing all of the other stuff you see. This is just the way I like it, with lots going on all at one time.

Moved In–More or Less

I ran into Jimmy (one of the guys who moved my heavy stuff into my new studio on Monday evening). He said he's grateful for BenGay. Apparently, I was right that carrying awkward things up what seemed to me to be a very steep flight of stairs was indeed a major ordeal! (See last blog to admire staircase).

I spent the better part of the day yesterday getting art supplies organized and put into place. Hopefully I'll remember my organizational thinking when I go to find various items.

Now it's time to get back to work. I plan on starting a whole variety of new projects, luxuriating in my more expansive space!

The Steepest Stairs

This evil set of stairs slowed down the progress of moving into my studio! The top photo is from the 2nd floor looking down. The other view is looking up. Neither do justice to just how steep and long this staircase is. After many, untold numbers of trips up and down with boxes of art supplies, I got stuck. My bigger items (desk, etching press, tables, etc.) are way too heavy for any normal 2 people to manage.

I used all my ingenuity to round up two extra strong people willing to do the dirty deed. Just as I was about to give up in despair, I was rescued by Jimmy and his nephew. Stay posted for how it all turned out.

My New Studio

My studio space in Phoenix was a former dining room. It was about 130 square feet. Small, but adequate for my use, considering my studio time was pretty much limited to summer, when I was on break from teaching. When we moved to Ajo, my space was upgraded to about 170 square feet, in what was supposed to be the master bedroom. I was happy to be in a more spacious studio. However, I've discovered over the past year that the more time you have to work, the more space you could use.

I recently had the opportunity to rent a 350 square foot studio on the second floor on the Plaza. The blue awnings on the top floor, right side of the building are where the studio is located. You can see from the second photo that the windows are large. The third picture is of me with Barney (our vacuum cleaner), preparing to do some cleaning before moving in.

Tomorrow, I hope to start moving my stuff. I have a lot. Much of it heavy or awkward. It's a very long and steep staircase. This is going to be very good exercise. I can't wait to get settled and get back to work!

Reed Calligraphy II in progress

Have you ever had an exercise schedule that you have been committed to, and then had a longish, unavoidable interruption to your routine? I think it's pretty common that when this happens, it's difficult to get started again. Even though you know it's good for you and that you feel 100% better when you exercise consistently, there are a million reasons why not to start again.

This is how it works when doing art, too (at least for me). For one thing, you forget what the heck you were up to, if you have an unfinished piece to start in on again. This problem is a piece of cake compared to having to start fresh on a new project after a long hiatus. That can be just plain terrifying. Whenever I can, if I know I won't be able to work for awhile, I try to have at least one painting in the works to jump back into.

What you see above is a painting I started last April. In fact, you can see a photo of me with it in my studio, on a blog entry way back on April 18. Since then, there have been all kinds of perfectly legitimate reasons not to work on it. I worked on another piece off and on, which was completed in June and is currently on display at the Curley School. Since then, I haven't worked in my studio at all. Period. Now I've run out of excuses.

But I can't remember quite where I was going with this piece. So today is the day that I'm going to prepare my palette and jump back into work again. Feels a bit like jumping off a 10 story building. Stay posted to see what happens.

2nd Juried Art Exhibition for Sponsorship at Pagosa Mountain Hospital

If you've been following my blog, you might remember seeing this painting before. I'm showing it again because it was accepted in the 2nd Juried Art Exhibition for Sponsorship at Pagosa Mountain Hospital, in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The juror was Ann Daley, Associate Curator at the Denver Art Museum. The show opens on September 18 and will continue for two months.

What is a bit unusual about the way the show is being run is the sponsorship part. Over and over again, artists are asked to donate their work for various good causes. What people don't seem to realize is that artwork takes time to make, it takes training, it takes costly materials to produce, it is only tax deductible for the cost of materials, and it may be the only source of income for the artist. In this exhibit people are being asked to purchase a painting and then donate it back to the hospital to become a part of its' art collection. Pagosa Mountain Hospital builds a collection that many people can enjoy and the artist is paid for the work.

It seems like a win/win situation to me! Oh, by the way, the sponsor of the work gets a tax write off for the purchase price of the painting.