Early December Studio Notes

Here are a few more in the series of cruciform studies I'm doing.  Once artist whose work I am using for inspiration (and there are many!) is Charlotte Foust.  As you can see from this Pinterest Page, Foust's work falls into a few different categories:  the energetic, expressive, painterly mark-making pieces; the grids; and the collages which often include bird imagery.  I saw some of her work at Hunter-Kirkland Gallery in Santa Fe last summer.

This series is all on 10"x10" paper, which will be mounted to wood panel:

This piece and the next I started on a dark ground.

Thanks for visiting.

Studio Notes in November

I've given myself a little assignment in the studio, which is to work on 10"x10" cruciform collage-paintings until I am sick of them, or bored, and then keep working on them to see what happens.  I so admire the work of artists who seem to go deep into an idea, really milk it over dozens and dozens of pieces.  I have a short attention span, and although I almost always work in series, my series tend to be short.  Unless they are defined simply by size and material - the 100 Drawings on 9"x12" paper, the 4"x4" ongoing series.

I've been working 22"x30" for a while, so I wanted to go back to a smaller size for a bit.  I'm working back and forth between the 22"x30" on the wall, and the 10"x10" on the work table. 

Here are just a couple of the pieces in process:

Grid-1, layer 1

Grid-1, layer 2 and 3

Grid-1, the next few layers

Grid-1, final

Grid-2, layer 1

Grid-2, with all the other layers, final

Demonstrating a Cruciform Format

In Santa Fe at Valdes Art Workshops one student asked me to demonstrate, start to finish, how I would approach a cruciform format.  We were working on creating busy/active areas - areas that catch and move your eye - and contrasting quiet spaces.  Here is the piece I did; it is 8"x8".

I began with collage, using lots of contrasting papers.

I added some pattern, scribbling, more papers, and bright paint, just to give myself a lot to work with.

Painting Over, adding more, subduing more...

Here is the piece, provisionally finished. 

In this format, the active areas form a cross shape, each arm reaching to the edge of the page.  A cruciform format can be used in anything from a simple cross-on-background, to a figure, still-life, or landscape.  As an abstract format it poses interesting challenges, and I use it in my Keys To Dynamic Composition online class.

The contrast, or balance, of busy areas with quiet (but not boring) space is an interesting lens through which to view abstract pieces.  We tackle this in my class "Balancing Opposites: The Yin and Yang of Abstract Composition".  My next offering of this is at AVA Gallery in Lebanon, New Hampshire. I also address this issue in Big Fat Art, which I am offering at Art and Soul in Virginia Beach on October 3.  I have a Pinterest board where I collect examples of art that I find interesting in this respect.  Take a look.  When you look at art this way, it's interesting to see how relative the terms "busy" and "quiet" are.  An area that looks quiet in one context may be the most active area in another.  

Often a workshop participant will come to me and say "I know, my piece is too busy. I overworked it."  To which my response is often: you haven't worked it enough.  Most of my pieces are "too busy" before they even begin to take shape.  I tend to throw a lot at a piece, let it get a bit chaotic, and then paint over sections selectively and gradually until a direction emerges. 

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.

Fresh Paint Friday #2

Here is another episode of Fresh Paint Friday.  This piece is 9"x9", acrylic on printmaking paper.  See my Links Page for information on materials I use. 

Fresh Paint #2

                      

The music is called "Envisioning Spring in December", by Jared C. Balogh.  It sure feels like December here, in March!

Here is the piece in progress:

The first layer of collage

Almost, but not quite done

Fresh Paint #2 is available for purchase here.  You can buy the original or choose from many different print sizes, materials, and framing options.

Encaustics Workshop with Daniella Woolf

I am just back from a five-day encaustics workshop.  What an experience!  If you do not know what encaustics is, go here or here.  The workshop was given by Daniella Woolf through North Country Studio Workshops at Bennington College.  Unbelievable group - the students AND the teacher were all accomplished artists with a lot of inspiration to offer.

One very cool thing with encaustic is doing collage on paper.  We did a group collage in which every student made one horizontal collage piece, and then we assembled them as a hanging scroll. Here is Daniella Woolf and Wen Redmond (do check her out!!) assembling the scroll:

 And the finished scroll hanging in the window overlooking the back field.


Here is the first stage of a self-portrait I did, as I am in the midst of my online class "Exploring the Self-Portrait".  I drew directly onto the wax (encaustic medium over paper laminated to a plywood panel) with china marker:

 I was not too thrilled with the mouth, so after scraping it off, I applied a coat of white encaustic paint mixed with a lot of medium over the whole thing.  then I cut out another mouth from one of my sketchbook drawings, and applied it with medium.  I added a few more details in graphite, and built up color and a bit of collage on either side of the face.

Here are a couple other photos from the workshop:

Another 8"x8" panel, "Ink and O's"

This untitled piece is on a panel coated with plaster.




This piece has many layers of wax as well as encaustic collage:

"Shino"
Shino is a kind of traditional Japanese ceramic glaze, some beautiful examples of which I found here.  The Alizarin Orange coming through the white wax reminded me of this glaze:





"Cruciform with Rust"


"Red Square 2"




"Red Square 1"



My work space

R&F Paints provided a vast array of encaustic paints and medium.

  I am so grateful to North Country Studio Workshops for granting me a scholarship to take this fabulous, life-changing workshop!!  I know it will enrich my work, and I hope it will enrich my teaching.  I am also grateful to Daniella Woolf for being so generous with her knowledge and resources.  She has two fabulous instructional DVD's available, which you can purchase here.

Compositional Studies - Cruciform Series

For this Friday Tutorial I'm going to show you my process in exploring a common compositional format, the "cruciform". Which merely means a cross shape. The areas that form the arms of the cross are generally busy, whereas the four quadrants are relatively quiet.

In my upcoming online workshop, "Keys to Dynamic Composition", we begin by looking at the bare bones of what makes a good composition: Unity and Variety. Then we look at the elements and principles of composition and how you can use them to create both unity and variety, through the lens of various compositional formats, including the cruciform, the abstract landscape, repeating shapes, and more.

Working in series is a way to explore an idea and try out different expressions of that idea. It also helps you to get in a groove and loosen up. For this series, the idea is Cruciform. I vary the collage materials, the colors, and the arrangements, but the all tell me something about this compositional format.

One way of approaching collage painting is to start with a painting, then add collage elements. In this series I began with collage, and then tried to unify each collage arrangement using acrylic paint, obscuring much of the collage beneath.

Below are the Before and After versions of each collage.