Blog Archives

Collage

9/19/2021

I've always found collage challenging.

My friend Janice McDonald is a master at this form of art. I went to her studio eons ago just to admire her paper stash. She had thousands of papers ranging from magazines, books, handmade and purchased papers — all organized so she could find just the right scrap/color or texture to create her art.

I am far from that organized.

I have been working small (the ones pictured above are on playing cards). I'm happy with how they turned out. I think mixing solids with patterns, limited color palette, transparent tissue paper and adding that all important pop of black were the keys to success on these pieces.

The other thing about collage that has always stopped me is the idea you to plan the composition. I didn't plan these at all. I just used my intuition to place the papers. I worked on all 13 cards at the same time so I couldn't overthink it. This is the way I like to work so creating these tiny collages was fun.

Art Drop Day

9/11/2021

Art Drop Day is the first Tuesday in September and I've participated in it for many years. It always interested me in having people discover free art — a gift from a stranger.

This year, I dropped 7 handmade notebooks in a park near my home.

I put my business card inside the notebooks, hoping that someone who discovered them, would email me and let me know they have a piece of my art. No one emailed me but I did receive a phone call from a man who called me a "robot who ate batteries for breakfast and lunch" and that he "hated my art".

Wow. Sad. Now I regret including my business card that had the phone number and my studio address on it. Obviously, this person has some mental issues but now, I'm locking my studio door just in case.

We often talk about making art for ourselves and not listening to critics so I'm taking this phone call in stride and will continue to give more away next year (without my business card!).

Brusho

9/5/2021

This week I've been fooling around with Brusho, an ink and dye-based crystal pigment.

I love this product. There are so many ways to use it to create wonderful backgrounds as well as watercolor-like paintings.

It comes in small "pots" that contain the powder. But the fun thing is that while each pot is labeled with a specific color (like ultramarine blue), the contents of the pot contain a myriad of colors that, when applied with a wet brush, create the ultramarine color but when sprinkled on paper and sprayed with water, separate into lovely bursts of different colors. Something you just can do any other way.

I created this piece sprinkling powder onto a dry surface, spritzing with water, and then drawing lines over the dried surface.

You can see the powder goes everywhere so be careful! It can get on your clothes and your working surface and be there a long time. You won't be able to see it and the dye can transfer to other pieces where you might not want it.

But it IS fun to play with!