in the studio - tulip fields

"Tulip Fields"

7"x7"

shredded magazine pages on paper and ink collage

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I wanted to challenge myself and use shredded paper for a more abstract piece. Sticking with the overall topographic map idea I decided to create a bird's eye view of the land. My intent was that from a distance, the viewer would see farmland - spreading out in front of them. However, on close inspection they would see texture and pieces of images that they could recognize. 

Finding these textures and colors that would translate when shredded proved more difficult than I had anticipated but overall I learned a lot on the way to finally completing this piece - which took a lot longer than I had thought it would. 

I first laid out the grid of farmland and had an initial sense of the balance of colors needed. I originally planned to use only "natural" images; trees, grass, flowers etc. But that soon proved itself to be very one dimensional and ..... boring. 

Some things just become uninteresting blobs after shredding. Who knew?!

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in the studio - looking forward

"No Noise"

7" x 5"

digital photo prints on vellum, pencil, mixed media collage on paper

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I find that I keep returning to my photos for inspiration and use within collages. This last piece began with a series of photos from Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland possesses a quiet stillness and is quite haunting - in a Hitchcock-ian kind of way. Like all collages this went through many permutations - having first laid it out one way I then found myself trapped and unable to resolve the focus of the piece and had to rethink the piece, adding new elements and changing placements. 
I am learning that the art of collage, for me, is best when I let creativity happen - not will it or force it - but sense the groove and, trance like, just let it flow. I do believe that it is very important to have that initial "picture" in your head - how you think the piece should be and how you think you may get there. But, I need not be stubborn and try to hold on to that first vision too long. The art itself will tell me what it needs as long as I listen to it.
Ahhh... something new and different for a control freak like me!

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When I was in NYC I finally met a wonderful artist, Ruth Gorton, whom I had previously only known through her work - by way of mutual friends. Tim and I had been given a pastel of hers, "Morning Bakers", last year. 
I have to thank her for being the creative impetus last February for me to get back to my art work. I had been told that she does a painting a day! 
That commitment, to complete something... whether in the "mood" or not, whether it ends up good, bad, whatever.... that blew me away. 
For myself I vowed to begin this journey and to work at my art everyday.

I also have to thank Ruth for the time spent with her as she looked at my artwork. She asked me questions - some which I still do not know the answer to but I am searching for - and overall her words were most encouraging to me.

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I did finish the shredded paper female figure.

"Woman Wearing a Slip"

13" x 9"

shredded magazine pages on presentation board

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on the street - fog and conversation

mid town street, NYC

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New York was cold - a mix of fog, snow, and rain. However, our 3 days there were spent surrounded by friends and lots of warm and interesting conversations.

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Specifically we went to see the Apple family cycle of plays at the Public Theatre. 

“Hopey Changey”, “Sweet and Sad”, “Sorry”, and “Regular Singing” were run in rep and over the course of 2 days we were fortunate to be a part of this family’s/our country’s dialogue on politics and our human purpose. The plays are small windows into the life of one family, how they deal with each other, death, change.… every day issues, surrounded, as we are, by the noise of our political machines and shaped by history. The plays aim to provoke conversation - they actually beg us to talk to each other, to work out ideas, to say things that surprise even ourselves, to be truthful and honest. It is the dialogue within a community that ultimately fosters and allows change.

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