Monday, September 9, 2019

Following My Nose

Eighteen months ago, in March 2018, I started playing with a huge sheet of foam core given to me by a friend when she moved to a new home previously owned by an artist who'd left some materials behind. I covered the foam core with a thin slapdash coat of gesso, penciled off a grid of 40 six-inch squares and various rectangles, adhered tissue and magazine collage randomly, and started playing. I considered the 'canvas' to be an erasable space, so to speak, where I could follow my nose to try out this and that.

activated canvas

After a few months, I ended up with a 'patchwork quilt' painting roughly 3 x 4 feet in size. 

close to completion

Fast forward to May of this year when I took a photo of one patch and used it to make an email birthday card for a friend. She asked if I still had the original painting and if it was available for sale.

Yes, I still had the original. 

Was it available for sale? Uh … sort of.

Well, you know me: I'm all about cutting up my paintings. Even, it turns out, my paintings on foam core! I pressed my husband and his skill saw into service and proceeded to keep on following my nose. 

The Song of the World So Often Rises
in Places We Had Not Thought to Look
5.75 x 6.5" in 9 x 9" frame
acrylic, ink, and collage
abstract floral
2019
detail
left to right: birch frame, green mat, cream mat,
whitewashed 1927-dictionary-page collage,
painted edge of half-inch-thick foam core, and
The Song of the World on surface of foam core



6 comments:

Lola (Jen Jovan) said...

How brilliant! Foam core as canvas as a hoard of small paintings to be expertly dissected and framed! I remember this project - it delights my eyes to see it again. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jen! Totally fun to go excavating! Took a bit of courage, but so worth it. The painting now has a new home where it is highly appreciated and, serendipitously, has a perfect-sized space, with perfect color wall paint, in a perfect location for regular viewing. The best!

Lola (Jen Jovan) said...

It was surely meant to be!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

I hope you laughed that my reply up above was written/sent by 'Unknown'—a student had been using my computer and hadn't signed out from gmail!

carol edan said...

I also remember the project! Way to go!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Carol, good morning (well, morning where I am!). Thanks—fun that you remember the project.

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