Wednesday, July 17, 2013

in the studio - experimenting with transfers


Contours
5" x 7"

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The heat has made it almost unbearable to be in the garden so, in ernest, I finally got back to the studio to work on pieces that I had begun before the move. My organized self created a list of "TO DO's" - and I dutifully fell into line.
A few hours into it and I finished one map collage that had languished in a closet for at least 4 years. It was finally done .... and it was less than inspiring.  I really don't like it - so it is back in the closet where it belonged.

At that point I told my organized self to take a nap...... 
Then I put the To Do list away and allowed my time in the studio to flow organically.

I pulled out my notebook, looked through old sketches and the many ideas of things I had noted to try that had accumulated there and pulled out different kinds of maps I had been fascinated with. I began with experimenting with ink jet print transfers. Trial and error**,  impatience and not quite having the correct mediums not withstanding, I did successfully transfer a colorful contour map print on to a smooth clay board surface using Mod Podge as my transfer medium. The Mod Podge held on to a very thin layer of the printer paper making the colors look milky white so I had to carefully wet my finger and rub off the excess paper. I then added a thin layer of gloss acrylic gel medium to help enhance the color. Once dry I added a contour map of a female figure.
I am very satisfied with the look of the transfer and the possibilities that the technique holds.  I will be experimenting more with this.

**One of my trial/errors resulted in the non-transfer of an antique map print that tore apart - leaving me with absolutely beautiful, delicate and shiny ripped pieces of a skin pale map. I have saved all the pieces.

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work in progress
20" x 20"

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Also began a new piece using a navigational map of the Dry Tortugas. I have been looking at the face in this map for a long time! And, while perusing my notes I found the perfect "eye" in my sketch book that I had drawn from a Raphael painting while visiting the National Gallery in DC a few years ago. 
I want this piece to be about light and shadow - althou I am finding that it is very difficult for me to add black; I keep erasing it back to gray, should the whole left side of the piece be in shadow?; incompleteness - I want to be true to the map itself, so how much color or line is too much?; connections - does the baby distract? should the baby be closer to the adult?

Lots to work through - but, as long as I don't make a list I think I will get there!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

within the familiar - another trip to Småland


Parking Area
Ikea, Stoughton, MA

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There is a 285 square foot display home in Ikea that I love. 
Every time I go there I visit it and wander thru my little "house" imagining my life within those "walls". Quite liveable, so contained, peaceful even. I get impatient when other people are wandering in there too, looking thru my cupboards, exploring my bathroom..... none of them really wanting to make the commitment to the space, they're just browsing. 
 I have needed to re-think what possessions would make the cut in order to live there - whittled it all down to the most important, the most practical, and the ones that contain the most memories. No need for 3 sets of dishes or the case of wine glasses. No need for clothes that I haven't worn in over a year. 
It can be done.  
I would want to make a few modifications. Maybe I could sacrifice one row of storage for wall space to hang a favorite art piece.  A fold out desk/work space would be nice and I would definitely want a little porch - out my imagined front door - and some space for a tiny garden. One needs to be honest about what is really important in their life.
Getting one's life to fit in 285 square feet is a good exercise. It forces you to think small, forces you to decide what you really need to live, forces you to think about the future. It frees you.


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