Out of Thin Air / January 21, 2024

 January 21, 2024

Out of Thin Air

I’ve moved my theater of operation out of my art journal to begin exploring the world of CutUps on small individual cards.

My first experiment focuses on background. I pull out my considerable stack of painted sheets of Dixie All Purpose Food Wrap—12 x 12″ sheets of tissue-like paper. I find several I painted four years ago using a limited palette to mix colors and create collage paper.

The colors aren’t particularly appealing to me and the paper has curled up tightly at the edges and resists lying flat but, What the heck, I think, let’s see what happens if I glue it to a card as background and superimpose a shape or two.

Magic is what happens!

When I place a contrasting dark bird shape on top of the mottled uneven paint application on the light background collage paper, I feel as though I am watching a Polaroid photo self-develop. Gradually—out of thin air—tree trunks, saplings, fallen logs, a leaf canopy, and a soft forest floor emerge. I am spellbound!

Keep the experimental adventures coming!

Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know
3.5 x 4.5″; acrylic, water-soluble pastel, and collage on card stock
CutUp
2024raw materials

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1. 

   imajenationgmailcom

   January 21, 2024 at 2:32 pm

   Edit

   Can I just tell you how excited I am that the Cutups are moving to a larger format? I mean, I can just imagine them as big as a Motherwell, shapes overwhelming our own shapes, inviting us to get lost in the magic. OOOOOOOOOOH!

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2. 

   Dotty Seiter

   January 21, 2024 at 3:01 pm

   Edit

   Lola, LOL and deeply grateful that my shift from 2 x 2″ to 3.5 x 4.5″ counts in your books as ‘moving to a larger format’ AND that you have vision for further expansion to larger than lifesize, ‘as big as Motherwell’! I’ve got my work cut out for me!

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3. 

   Joyful Puttering

   January 21, 2024 at 7:35 pm

   Edit

   Don’t you love it when magic happens from a pile of painted papers and some simple shapes! Yay!

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      January 21, 2024 at 8:12 pm

      Edit

      I do, I do!

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4. 

   Simone

   January 22, 2024 at 8:38 am

   Edit

   At first I thought it was on goldleaf. Looks spectacular!

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      January 22, 2024 at 1:40 pm

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      Simone, I’m tickled that you at first thought this piece was on gold leaf—gold leaf would be a dramatic elevation from the blotchy hand-painted tissue that this actually is! Thanks for your appreciation of this piece : )

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5. 

   Sheila Marie Delgado

   January 31, 2024 at 4:29 pm

   Edit

   You took it from yuck to YOWzers! 

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      January 31, 2024 at 6:55 pm

      Edit

      LOVE your exquisite use of analytical language, Sheila! The perfect précis!