in the studio

In the studio this week (last week, actually: this is a Mother's Day delayed post.) One finished piece and one work in progress. Still need to title these.

acrylic, 8" x 8"

wip, acrylic, 11" x 14"

Out of the studio, Friday at HAC, Corey Hagelberg's In the Garden woodcuts opened. Saturday was the ATC trade at Nido Bianco. (There will be a separate post about that.) I ventured up to Michigan with fellow artist Leslie Lambert, and was back in time for BJAM's Armonia at White Ripple.


Up next: getting ready for heartland to go to Dyer at the end of the month for the Dyer Arts Visionaries. Reception 5.29, save the date now!

in the studio

New this week: I actually finished something. More than once. woo-hoo! Three new paintings completed: yet, forgotten, and univision (which was previously devil's slide, but no longer felt like that. A new devil's slide is in the works.)

yet, acrylic, 8" x 8"

forgotten, acrylic, 8" x 8"

univision, acrylic, 11" x 14"

And for the works in progress: a new devil's slide, an as-yet untitled wip, and hollow, which is very nearly done.

the new devil's slide wip. may need to be a square and/or vertical

untitled wip, acrylic 8" x 8"

hollow, wip, acrylic 11" x 14"

Out of the studio: I had three openings this week. Tuesday, there was an opening at Taltree Arboretum as an offsite location for White Ripple Gallery. I've got one #art365 gouache there. Friday was the Artistic License opening at Studio 659. This is an annual juried show, and my piece crashing through took first place! Saturday was an opening at White Ripple for the Small Works exhibit. 

Next week: I've got a newspaper interview Monday and a studio visit on Wednesday. Saturday there are two openings. First up the South Lake Artists Co-op 5th Anniversary Show. I have 3 paintings in this show at Paul Henry's Art Gallery. Afterwards, I'll be heading over to SideCar to check out the group show Earthwerks. In between all of this, I have to finalize details and last minute prep work for my residency the following week at Hook Pottery Paper.

in the studio

This week in the studio: more canvas work. A  failed start, which has been put aside (for now. I will get back to that eventually.) New stretchers for new canvases with one done and one in progress. And three more to stretch. Another reclaimed canvas in progress. Some accidental happenings which had positive results. I've really been thinking about some conversations with other artists which happened earlier this month. (See their work: Cathal and Lecia) Two different people, unknown to each other, making nearly identical comments to me which I really needed pointed out. They seemed to know the course I was on, even though I didn't. I feel like this has been a big month of growth for me artistically. 

waiting on a change, acrylic, 16" x 16"

I also worked on some charity pieces, which will benefit a local breast cancer charity organization. Details about that can be found here. The second piece is the same place, as the above  painting. The hatching marks I used were meant to mimic the brushstrokes in painting.

untitled , watercolor pencil, 4" x 6"

untitled , watercolor pencil, 4" x 6"

Next week: more painting...

in the studio

I've spent the week working just on canvas. I know it is hard to tell in photos what the scale of paintings are...these are all bigger than what I've painting so far this year. There's a lot of waiting-for-paint-to-dry time in these, much more than in the little gouaches.

anew, acrylic, 15" x 30"

division, acrylic, 30" x 30"

what gets left behind, acrylic, 30" x 40"

Up next week: making more art. A meeting with a gallery about this summer's showing. An open studio night at Paul Henry's. End of the week support for another artist and Sunday is the Engaging Arts Party in Porter.

in the studio

This has been a slow week for art making. I even got lazy about photographing and posting. oops. I finished up where is it? (I think. I'm letting it sit for a bit.)

And I started I am my own worst enemy. This title may get shortened, by the time it is done. I don't know what that UR in the corner was part of, but I always think BUTTER. I know butter doesn't end in -ur but that's what it makes me think of. Maybe it's just the color. I'm hoping at this point to leave a lot of the UR in the finished piece.

Also this week, the postcard swap was relaunched! Already there are artists signed up in 11 states! You can join, too! This was lots of fun to see unfold and a great chance to "meet" lots of artists. Join here  or follow along with the #postcardswap hashtag.

in the studio

I'm still working on the graffiti pieces, and while I'm still referring to them as graffiti pieces, I think the series is taking on the name Post No Bills. This feels more in line with the look I am after than the idea of graffiti. I'm thinking about hand painted billboards on the sides of old brick buildings and the paint is peeling and weathering and wearing away. I'm thinking about the signs for shows and concerts that get put up on construction walls, covering one another. 

Most of this week was spent on help. I think this one may be done.

I also got back to work on where is it? which had been on hold while I was waiting impatiently for the ink to dry. This still has at least a couple of days to go.

Post No Bills may actually find its way into one of the pieces. Next up: I am my own worst enemy.

It's just about time for the next postcard swap! The call to join will be out next week!

in the studio

This week  has been all about experimenting. Did I say that last week, too? Probably. I've got more ideas than time right now. I could really use an art vacation.

Finished? Maybe? Nah, just on hold. It needs some printing on top, but I haven't carved the plate(s?) yet. the inevitable graffiti piece, 24" x 28". Ideas for 2-3 more of these. I'm using paint only because the ink I currently have is water soluble, which means additional brush work could disrupt the image, and would have to be framed under glass. 

I also wanted to tackle prairie pieces, and complete them entirely in printmaking. On canvas. With paint. Part way through I thought, you know, you could just print with ink on paper... But seriously, where's the challenge in that? (Look for that at a later date. It's on my to do list.) I started rolling out a couple of colors of paint, as a sort of underpainting, and printed a bit over it. The more I looked at the image, the more I thought it was done, and several other artists agreed. These are 14" x 18"

So naturally, I had to try it again.

and again.

I have one more canvas rolled out, but not yet printed. This was not at all what I had imagined for this, so I still need to try that out, too.

Saturday, I went to Hook Pottery Paper and got a paper making lesson, which has opened up a whole Pandora's box of ideas. Gah! It was amazing. I have to go back. Paper making was on my art bucket list.

This image is a sheet of cotton paper, 8" x 10" and the text on the paper is written in thinned paper pulp. I didn't know you could do that! So many places to take this! The paper we made is drying and I'll have it back after the holiday. Look for a blog post about it next month.

in the studio

This week in the studio has been all about experimenting. I had the idea to print on my paintings and had an old canvas that was never really completed. I'm still not done with this. I think I actually will finish this piece and I could see a series develop out of what I'm learning this week.

I'm printing with existing plates on this canvas and I'm using acrylic paint, not ink. The block ink I have right now is water soluble so it would get incorporated into the next layer if I were to paint over it. I will need to get some permanent block ink before I really finish working through this idea. For now, acrylic paint is fine.

Here are some work in progress pics. I began with the acrylic paint of the original painting and added in ink linework, followed by:

relief printing (styrofoam)

acrylic paint, relief printing (styrofoam)

I'm not crazy about the brick pattern that forms with the styrofoam plate printing. They print much better when burnished from the backside of the canvas. This is going back to these prints and I need to get some positive space text and not just negative space text. I'm also thinking about carving blocks for each word of text, and even creating an entire alphabet, so I could have a sort of movable text. I think both of these ideas allow for a lot more flexibility and a somewhat cleaner looking end result.

acrylic (text)

relief printing (collagraph)

relief printing (collagraph)

While my original printing-on-paintings idea wasn't to have this end result, it does remind me of the peeling paint/graffiti/old painted billboards look of the styrofoam prints which I liked and that is where I can see this particular piece heading. There will be several more collagraph layers added. The two on there right now are just cardboard plates. It's also sparked a bunch of other old ideas that never quite resolved themselves. The experimenting will continue...

in the studio

I started this week finishing up before. After loading in 5 paintings at Angel Hair the previous week, I realized I needed one more piece there. So before is now complete and installed and ready for their opening tomorrow!

before, acrylic and ink on canvas, 40" x 60"

The rest of the week was spent working on monotypes for #printoctober. I switched at the beginning of the week from gouache to acrylic and have just about gotten to the right level of how much paint is enough, without being too much. It's a sort of fine line. The last image is a ghost print, which is printing what's left on the plate after a print is pulled. You can see there's residual paint to print, but the image isn't really there to be a worthwhile piece. It can be reworked with drawing or painting, and that is probably what I will do.

Other printmaking ideas to tackle: collagraphs, watercolor pencil monotypes, paper litho, inocut, styrofoam plate relief prints. And, a small etching press is on its way to my house so apparently more printmaking will be in the future after this month's #printoctober is done. If you are interested in seeing other printmaking, I recommend you check out the #printoctober hashtag on twitter.

in the studio

This week has been another long week. Began by starting a new piece! yay! This has to be done in the next couple of days because it's getting installed on Wednesday...no pressure. Here's a bit of the evolution of the piece. buh-bye roots and growth, say hello to before.

how do I get back to where I was before?

Someone on twitter decided that #drawingaugust (which I missed doing but enjoyed checking out) and #paintseptember really ought to flow right into #printoctober. I signed up. I've been thinking maybe to get back to it. The chances of me doing this without some sort of challenge are pretty slim. I have no press. I can't find my brayer. Or my woodcut tools. (which I never liked anyway) And the idea of doing one print a day for a whole month is really unlikely unless I go the monotype route, so I trialed one of those. The top image below is the plate on the left and the print on the right. The lower image is the following day's work. I repainted the plate and pulled the print from the floor so I could apply more pressure on it. More coming about this next week.

Also this week, History Repeats came down from Intrigue Spa in Dyer and all the newer paintings went up at Angel Hair in Griffith. before will be heading there next week. Once I finish it. Before Wednesday.

in the studio

I still haven't managed to get back to drawing. Still working through #art365 landscapes to finish out twitter's #paintseptember.  All these new pieces will be able to refresh the Intimate Persuasions show at Paul Henry's Art Gallery, for the closing in November. And I still need to pick one to send off to the twitter art exhibit. These are all 4" x 6" so that I can choose from one of them for that. And while I'm not displeased with all of this, I feel like things are on hold. 

fall is coming

early oaks

autumn fields

fall prairie, afternoon

variations on a theme: fall prairie

equinox

This coming week I also have some art swapping to do at local venues. history repeats will likely be coming down from Intrigue Spa and something will be going up in a new business in Griffith. Still working on what exactly that will be. Either pastels from the Gary show or maybe new paintings.

in the studio

This week was full of #art365 landscapes. It began with a continuation of the field outside Crown Point but got sidetracked by some high contrast. Then further sidetracked while I worked through a couple of ideas on a sliver of light at sunset and the glow of sunrise on fog, and finally back to the field.

field I, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

quiet, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

roadside glow, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset I,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset II,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset III, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

morning fog I, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

morning fog II,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset IV, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

field II, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

In other news: I've joined #paintseptember on twitter and will be making a small landscape every day. This easily ties in with my #art365 project of making art every day, I just have to have something completed every day for this month. 

seneca will be part of Studio 659's TEXT: Louder Than Words exhibit which opens this Friday. The following week, there will be an opening featuring a large selection of these #art365 landscapes at Paul Henry's Art Gallery. Details to follow.