and last, but not least…

Good Morning…..

Now that life is settling down around here I can introduce my latest works.  They are a combination of my two favorite series and took a fair amount of time to make.  Each piece contains the tiles made from fabric scraps, paper, and house paint as well as the three-two-one inch squares. Although you are seeing what appear to be square collages, these pieces actually measure two feet across and four feet long.  They are mounted on a sturdy mounting board and wired so that they hang securely from any wall and rest approximately one and a half inches off the wall.  They have a unique, organic, highly textured feel and look but are very lightweight.

I also want to thank EVERYONE who came through my booth at the American Craft Council show in San Francisco on the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th of this month.  You made the show fun and successful for me.  I appreciate your comments, business, and the opportunity to laugh with you.

I have been working in yellow lately and find it to be a refreshing and invigorating color.  Both of these pieces involve painting on fabric.  Most of the cloths are completely saturated with the paint and some are simply embellished with paint.  The polyester scraps add a thickness and texture that the cottons do not. This piece measures 21 x 27 inches and stands 2 inches from the wall. 

More squares.  The yellow in these makes this piece advance and recede more than some of the earlier collages.  The yellow seems to pick up more light in the evening and makes the squares jump out.  The darker colors move further back. This collage is particularly nice against wood walls.

I am currently creating four large wall collages for a display in a local restaurant.  It is my intention to have all colors represented in three different sizes and to literally bejewel the walls with cheerful and enervating work.  We will see.

I hope you enjoyed these.  Please check back later for more.

Fiber Collage

I had a wonderful trip and show in Santa Monica and I want to extend a warm thank you to all who visited my booth and to all who purchased my work.  You inspired me to get back into the studio as soon as possible and create more.  What I am posting today are four pieces that I did not have time to complete before the show…here they are.

Thanks for checking in…..

     Last week I came to a stopping point on a wall piece that I had truly been excited about making.  I had painted a sheet of Styrofoam in some glorious yellows and oranges, coated it with old mesh bags and painted some more.  When it had dried I cut it into squares and painted the sides.  And then, somehow, the creative process hit an invisible ambush and I simply couldn’t figure out what to do with them.  I had made forty five Styrofoam tiles that had no purpose.  I picked them up, arranged them in different configurations.  I stared at them.  I love them so much but still nothing called as to what to really do with them.  I know, I thought, I will stamp and paint spirals on some of the plainer tiles.  Okay – but not great.  Next I glued them down to their final resting place (always risky when I am not sure of the outcome I want), and put the whole picture on the wall.  Hhhmmmmm…….

     When a collage is balanced, it will feel right.  This one did not.  The composition was seriously out of balance. There was an unequal distribution of visual weight, with most of the weight pulling to the lower left hand corner – so much so that I felt like the piece was being pulled right off the wall.  And the opposite corner? The upper right hand corner didn’t seem to exist.  Even staring at the collage, I failed to see the design in that corner.

     I had one rule:  don’t paint on the tiles with mesh.  So to fix my balance problem and stick to my rule I had to pull off two tiles in the weighty corner.  I did.  And it is better.  At least I can see the upper right hand corner now.  But this piece is far from finished in my estimation. I think I will be studying this one for a long time to come….

I am kindred with my artist ancestors and others who have come before me whose work makes me tingle and weep. From an outsider’s perspective, I am a good wife,  I take care of my family, raised two wonderful kids, am reasonably up to date on important affairs of the day, keep a relatively clean house, and participate in the world as much as my introversion will allow.

 But underneath it all, I am here to make art.  Some times it is tedious, boring, and pretty mundane in its appearance.  But I persevere.  Some works are ordinary, some less so and some are really great.  Every once in a while during my daily work, I create something extraordinary.  And I don’t stop. 

 I keep going for more because that is what I am here to do.

Happy Monday to all…

 Next I visited some garage sales.  They blossom in the sunny weather here so I went in search of whatever I could find with which to make assemblages.  I now have wooden stick mats, musty burlap bags (in serious need of cleaning), one sheet of Plexiglas, and an ancient potpourri with no scent whatsoever.  Not pictured is a bucket of old paints and paintbrushes of which I am sorely in need. My challenge this week and next is to make these metamorphosize into something really artful. 

I also want to thank everybody who has posted comments to me.  Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend !

 The red Meshed Up was more difficult to love at first.  The tiles are made of fabric and mesh and painted with several reds and oranges.  I mounted the tiles quite a long time ago and really didn’t feel finished with them but couldn’t come up with anything to make them more interesting.  Finally a small piece of dyed and torn muslin that was accidentally tossed onto the top of the tiles made sense.  It toned down and unified the reds.  The radiator pieces complemented the cloth simply by contrasting with it and became the finishing element for this piece. 

This last example is from my No Even Edges series.  A work in green – appropriate for the fact that everything in it is reclaimed and repurposed and perfect for spring that is (hopefully) before us. 

Thanks for visiting.

This piece measures 22.5 x 28 inches and sits 2 inches off the wall.  This is priced at $700.00.

This piece fits into my 20 x 24 inch frame and is priced at $450.00.

And this is me at the opening of  Art Mélange held at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts on March 19, 2010.  What a fun evening that was! The show is up until the 12^th of April so if you are in the Healdsburg area please stop in.