Organic Randomness

Way back in January I poke around with color and stenciling on paper one afternoon, experimenting lightly with this and that, soon moving on to countless other undertakings both in and out of my studio.

I bump into that page of play off and on. I move it absentmindedly from one place to another in my studio to clear the way for other projects. In a recent studio clean-up, I accord it a more intentional space in a drawer where it can hang out companionably with other starts. 

Then, no sooner do I give it a designated space than do I pull it out again, lifting it today from the drawer up to my paper trimmer where I turn it face-side down to allow for organic randomness as I cut the start into several smaller pieces.

One of which becomes a birthday card!

Deep in Inner Space, Extraordinary Knowing

3 x 3.5"; acrylic and collage on paper,

mounted on card stock

abstract

2022

Living True

Back to creating my series of Lake Champlain found-composition postcards again today.

Rock that Arrived on the Tide of a Glacier
4x6" postcard; acrylic, ink, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract landscape
2019

Grateful to be Tugged

The canvas I worked on last Wednesday, a free canvas already painted previously by someone else and set out for grabs in their yard about a year ago, tugged at me off and on over the past few days. I let myself be tugged.

'tug in progress'
detail

Wandering Down a Trail

Off on a new path today.

Same bookmark arboretum as previously, perhaps, but a different trail, with blazes of a different color.

So content to be following my muse and my paint brush.

started by journaling on a piece of watercolor paper

used a brayer and titan buff

added print collage;
mixed monochromatic colors with liquitex turquoise deep as a base;
used stencils and palette knife

resting place for today

Stu-Art

Today's piece is the child of a parent piece painted last August as I prepared some starts in happy anticipation of attending Takodah family camp where I would spend a bit of time painting each morning.

Parent:


Parent dressed in finery:


First child:


Second child:


Third child:


Fourth child:


Speaking of anticipation, as I did above, twenty-four years ago I had the great honor to be one of the people supporting my sister Lauren while she was in labor before delivering her second son. Those were hours of great anticipation followed by the great excitement of welcoming Stuart to the world.

And, speaking of welcoming new life, as I just did, let me announce the birth of the fifth child of the parent piece I created last August—a bookmark I painted for Stuart for his birthday this year!

Happy birthday, Stuart!

Squinting Into the Darkened Pine-Scented Interior
5x1.75"; acrylic, ink, collage, and pastels on card stock
abstract
2018
[gift]

What?

I stop here, resting in I-don't-know.

newest patch

detail from patch

newest patch, in the bigger picture
working title: Core Values

Overflowing

A plethora on my mind today.

A plethora on my plate.

Decided not to paint.

But danged if I didn't find myself in my studio, brush in hand, all details and tasks related to bathroom renovation, tutorial correspondence, bill paying, osteoporosis, and estate planning abandoned.

Started another patch. Used iPhoto to look at it in grayscale.

A Little Bit of a Hard Place

Once I'd set up what felt like a basic working structural composition for my Nova Scotia rocks, my sense of operating from a space between a rock and a little bit of a hard place dissipated and I just leapt from rock to rock intuitively to complete this piece.

newest patch in grid-format work-in-progress

newest patch, in the bigger picture;
working title: Core Values

newest patch, rotated;
undecided about my preference for orientation

Further Investigation

If my cursory online research is correct, one bit of the lexicon of Nova Scotia coastal poetry may read somewhat along these lines, like a science geek's jump rope song:

Arsenopyrite,
chalcopyrite,
dolomite,
ferberite,
galena, and
gold.

Greigite,
pyrite,
pyrrhotite, and
quartz.

Scheelite,
siderite,
sphalerite!

I follow a link to chalcopyrite (CuFeS₂) to see what more I can learn. Chalcopyrite is typically found as equant to wedge-shaped pseudo-tetrahedral dispenoidal crystals, often modified by tetragonal scalenohedral faces.

No wonder I was bowled over!

How to capture such wonder in paint?, I wonder.

And so I continue to investigate, hoping to find a balance between dollops of representational detail and passages of intuitive expression, hoping to share the feeling of being part of this poem one afternoon.

patch in progress on Core Values grid-format work-in-progress

Another Day of Bigger

As I head to my studio, I notice what impels me today—a day when my focus is scattered and my studio time will be short; what calls to me is another day of bigger, another day of impulsive rather than measured.

So I respond.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress

detail

detail

Scratching a Living Out of the Earth

The way I've been painting of late feels like scratching a living out of the earth.

I stake a claim and then give myself over to the pure concentrated wholehearted all-in satisfying rhythms of making shelter, working the ground to yield nourishment, pausing every now and then to take long deep drinks of cold water, and sleeping like the earth itself at night.

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Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

A Simplicity of Sun and Earth and Lake and Pine
4x5"; acrylic, ink, china marker, collage, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017
[gift]

Foundation Garments

I am loving the starting-gate phase of my anticipated while-at-camp project, getting the foundations in place. I've savored such delicious relaxation and absorption as I've speed painted four 8x10" sheets of canvas paper.

Mind you, when I say speed painting, I'm not talking about the lightning-speed speed painting required in a lesson from my Jane Davies online class late last summer. These current sheets did not see completion in 20 seconds.

More like 20 minutes.

But still, quick and fuss-free.

painting start #4
for camp

Plans for a Cover-Up Operation

So I'm thinking about what I want to do for my painting exploration when I go to camp. I'm going to think aloud here and see what emerges.

What I want to investigate/practice is painting negative space—covering paint already on paper, leaving bits and pieces of the underlayer visible. I LOVE paintings in which other artists do just that, but I have such a hard time doing it myself!

Before camp:

• speed paint four sheets of 8x10" canvas paper in a (very) loose-grid or random-blobs format
• maybe do some mark making as a next layer
• oh, and maybe add collage
• and maybe do some textural stuff with medium
• spray a fixative on the layers to date
• cut the sheets into sixteen 4x5" pieces

At camp:

• make marks with ink, pencils, china markers, paint pens, and oil pastels
• paint negative space with a limited palette, maybe using just black and white
• add more marks/collage

painting start #3 
for camp

Anticipation

The anticipation of going to camp each August is exquisite.

2017 marks the 37th summer I will have participated in a summer program at Takodah. I was a camper as a child, became a leader and division head during my college years, went to family camp 25 times with Dave, Meg, Scott, and Jay (and eventually on my own as the kids left home and Dave couldn't get away from work in late August), and now I'm heading off to family camp for the third time with Meg, Michael, Caroline, and Emmy.

I painted while at camp the past two summers. This year I want to bring as few supplies as possible, and I want to go in with a loose plan, an inquiry to explore.

I'm painting starts at home first.

Each one I paint heightens that exquisite anticipation while simultaneously anchoring me to the present moment of paper, brush, paint, and summer air on my skin.

painting start #2
for camp

Getting Out my Duffel

Camp in a few weeks.

CAN'T WAIT.

While at camp I hope to explore a creative inquiry with simple controls and variables, and then see what I come home with. So today I painted a start that'll go in my duffel with my bathing suit and 30-year jacket.

Did I tell you I CAN'T WAIT?

painting start #1
for camp

Moo, Schmoo!

DIY business cards—way fun!

I ask you, does moo.com start with a hay-scented heaven? I think not.

I began with some free-form scribbles and a bunch of torn-paper collage. From there I painted and stenciled and added pastel until I was ready to head to the paper trimmer. 

Ta da!

Finding My Brave Spot

If my nephews got fearful when they were little guys, my sister encouraged them to find their brave spot.

When I stopped painting Friday, I thought, Done, and I was pleased to have stopped before getting past a point of no return.

But …

But …

But I knew this piece needed just a little more wind. A little more fresh air. A little more something to blow through it with a sweet pop!

Instant freeze. What if I wreck it? What if my ideas don't work?

Had to find my brave spot.

Fresh Air
9x12"; acrylic, graphite crayon, charcoal pencil, pastel pencil, and oil pastel on watercolor paper
abstract
2017

detail

detail

detail

Fresh Air

The wind that whipped up yesterday keeps offering up fresh air today.

I paint spontaneously and intuitively.

Windy 3317, work in progress

I'd Rather Learn

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, from one painting how to paint that one painting.

I'd Rather Learn from One Bird How to Sing
11x14"; acrylic, collage, ink, and oil pastel on canvas board
abstract
2017

detail

detail

detail

What to Do?

where I left off

What to do, what to do?

What happens if I add pattern/texture with stencil and spray paint?

Just Kidding 22717a [working title]

Pretty cool.

What happens if I use a sponge roller to veil the stenciling, and then scribble in it with a tooling stylus?

Just Kidding 22717b [working title]

How 'bout some complementary color? Some drips?

Just Kidding 22717c [working title]

How 'bout I let this percolate overnight?

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detail

detail

detail of scratches that reveal other iterations on this canvas