Last Work in Progress

Jessica made me think that I needed to try to add another piece to my submissions for this quarter. She did not like the Simple Glitz piece at all. I figured she wouldn't, but I didn't think she'd dislike it quite as much as she did.

I'd been tossing around the idea of doing an interpretation of my memoir poem (from Fall quarter) by taking the three separate dining out experiences and putting them onto canvas which would create a little series to go with my memoir. Jessica really liked that idea, so I started to work on the first one, but I didn't get far.

This was from the section of my po-emoir that reads:

"Wylie's Chinese American Cafe –

Even in daylight, it is dark

when the door closes behind.
Brushing crumbs off of cracked

vinyl seats,we slide into smoke filled

red booths and wrangle

quarters for the jukebox

out of mom’s sweater pockets.

In back, harsh words and brawls

spill from the bar between slats of

saloon-style doors that barely contain

stale alcohol and obnoxious men yelling

or comingto blows over loose women.

D-16:the jukebox blares,

and egg foo young sizzles

under brown gravy

while Steve Miller sings for our supper.

The record is rockin’and we sip Shirley Temples,

waiting for the chorus so we could chime in

with the only lyrics we know.

“Da da da dee-dah da-da-da-dona

blah blah blah to Tacoma!

Buh-buh-buh-ee-ya

buh-buh-buh buh-ay.”

A woman, high on cheap

tequila, staggers from

the bar. Her patterned polyester

shirt misbuttoned,

exposing her overflowing bra

and ample stomach.

Mom shields our eyes

with palms of her hands

and my brother returns to

constructing thick French
fry stacks. They line his plate:

a retaining wall around the burger

sweating beneath cheese.

Feeling cultured, I order “Chinese.”

My cup-sized bowl,

scrolled with blue dragons, holds a tasty

flat-sided ball formed by small
grains of sticky white rice; a side

dish to the thin slices of pink-edged pork

flowered around a hot mustard and

ketchup blossom. Small sesame

seeds sit and wait to be stuck

to the meat like pollen

transferred to my tongue."

The bbq pork was one of my favorite images so I thought that I'd use that on the canvas. I took Sculpey clay and shaped it into a pork tenderloin of sorts, then sliced it thin, laying it out on a small plate. I will combine gel medium and paint to create the ketchup and mustard, and then put sesame seeds on, coating everything with a coat of polyurethane spray.

That plate will be attached to the canvas which has a partial take-out carton adhered to it, as well as a mini-collage of paper/fortune/menu. The plate will go right above that, and then there will be some chopsticks and then a coating of "distressing" that will give it an aged look and add a darker feel to the whole piece.

Artist Date (part deux)

We to the Tacoma Art Museum for a brief visit this morning. Tim was really a trooper to have back to back weekend museum experiences, but I wanted to see the photo exhibit by Chuck Close with poems by Bob Holman.

It is sort of surprising that the TAM is so small. One of the galleries held a handful of recipients from the 2008 Neddy Artist Fellowship. There were some odd pieces on view -- the strangest being a statue of a naked man. To me it was strange because he had a creepy look on his face and the artist used real hair on the head of the statue. He also had really small hands that looked out of proportion to the rest of the body.

There was also an exhibit of Renoir (as printmaker). There were two of his paintings, which was really a neat experience to see them up close and personal. The rest of the exhibit was a collection of prints. He used several different methods of printmaking, so it was really interesting to see the differences between the prints and the methods.

The Close/Holman exhibit was interesting, but not as interesting as I thought it was going to be. I expected different pictures, but they were portraits of faces. He uses a special form of photography which focuses differently. There was an interesting technique he used with his digital images. He had a software created that would take the digital image and translate it to a loom -- weaving his photos into a tapestry. They were huge, and when you were up close, you could see the individual spots of color that made up the woven black and white image. It was pretty amazing. I was not impressed with Holman's poetry, although I was intrigued with the format he used for some of them.

All in all, we were able to get through the entire museum in less than an hour. I'm glad we got in free because I would have been disappointed to pay full price and not feel like I really had much of an experience.

Wings and a Kickstand

So Tim had to help me finish the last details of my totem. I had to make her stand up and thought that we'd just put her (lack of) feet in a wood block, but he thought that it would be better to give her a kickstand to help her out. He attached a narrow post with a hinge.

I had to finally attach her wings. I thought that I would end up adding some other collage-type items to her, but I can't think of what to add. :( I thought about putting words surrounding the theme of family (on her arms and legs), but I have run out of time.

Simple glitz

I've been working to finish my last "art" piece for school. It surprised me how long each item took, and I wish that I would have had more time to work on things.

This is sort of a random/weird piece, but it is what I felt like doing at the time. I started out thinking that I was going to do a collage in a Traci Bautista frame of mind (or maybe Angela Cartwright). I have such a hard time following Traci Bautista's theory of just putting things together and playing with it. I always worry how it is going to look or turn out. I can't quite let myself just be complete freestylin'.

I started with a pale robin egg blue canvas, but then really didn't get a good feeling from that. I put some darker (turquoise) blue over that, but then it looked too dark and not really what I was hoping for. I threw on some gel medium and spread the second coat out a little and tried to give it some texture. Then I toyed around with about 150 different ideas. I ended up deciding to put a little design of sequins in the corner, and then decided that I'd throw on some glitter. Then I had a moment of panic because the collage idea was pretty much out then. I didn't know what to do, so I tried to take some of the collage pieces and lay them out. I also used a transparency to make some doodles that I was going to put over and attach. But then I couldn't find just the right layout, so I scrapped that idea. I had this piece of silk fabric stitched onto paper and then a piece of paper stitched onto it (with some doodles), so I decided that I'd use that as the focal point. I started to move it around the canvas, and some of the strands of silk came off and fell onto the paint. They were shiny, so then I thought that they would work and kind of add additional texture and hints of color. This cemented my thinking about the final product.

I added some glitter glue to the sequin corner and added a few other sequins. Then it looked sort of weird, so I tossed in some red/pink shiny seed beads to coordinate with the pink of the silk and draw the invisible diagonal between the two.




I stitched the fabric swatch onto the canvas and then attached a button that came from a collection that I had when I was young. It was one of those strange costume jewelry type of things, but I loved the color and remember cherishing the button when I was a child. The color worked, so I used it to tie in another layer of texture and then left the thread (another texture/color choice) hanging to try to keep the Bautista idea in mind.

This is sort of an abstract piece of work; something I'm not used to doing. But I really thought that it combined the glitter, glitz and sparkle that I love, but maintained the simplicity that is truly me.

This is the full glance at it, but I can't quite get the lighting right, so the fabric looks washed out.

This is different lighting and the blue looks washed out too. LOL.

Pastels anyone?

So now that school is winding down, and I've figured out that it will be at least a good six months before I can get to grad school, I decided that it might be interesting to take another class. LOL. Jessica, my sister and I are going to take a pastel class at Pierce College. It is a six-week course that should be interesting. My sister isn't going to college at this point, but she is very artsy, so I thought that it would be a good opportunity for her. I'm giving her the class as a birthday gift and Jessica is buying her the supplies. It should be a hoot! I registered us on Monday and then ordered the supplies from Dick Blick... what a deal I got there. I also found some cheap 12 x 12 canvases, so that was exciting (as well as free shipping - whoohoo!).

More Totem Pics

Artist Date

For several weeks, I've been rather intrigued with a movie (documentary) we watched about the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. That was the home of one of the largest art heists in history. To date, it hasn't been solved, and the art is still missing (open to a $5 million reward). I'm totally in the mood to write a fictionalized novel that would solve the crime. :)

Over the past few years, Tim has mentioned the Maryhill Museum a couple of times. Since I've been on such an art jag for the past couple of months, he asked if I wanted to take a day trip to go and see it. I hesitated because I have so much homework, but I figured that it would inspire me and/or I could use the experience for a blog entry.

On the way down, Tim and I talked a lot about the art (or lack thereof) in Puyallup, and what I would like to do about it. I really would like to get a co-op gallery started. After graduation, I want to get more involved with Valley Arts United. To me, it seems that they don't have a whole lot of activities/functions for the majority of people in the community. I think that it could be due to a lack of organization or new blood. They have their standard activities, but nothing for newer artists in the community (that I've seen anyway). Anyway, it was an interesting discussion, and I was very inspired to want to go forward and see what I can do to help out or to start something new.

All in all, it was a really long drive and a very long day, but it was great to get to see the art, the museum, and just have a nice day out of the house and out of the typical stuff we usually do. The painting Solitude, was my favorite, but I also really liked seeing the Rodin sculptures, the royal artifacts and Robert Douglas Hunter's realism.

I have just been looking at Allposters.com (to see Solitude) and found some gorgeous work by Kandinsky and Glimt. I'm going to have to start reading more and discovering more about art.

Totem

I have been mulling over this idea to create a totem. I've been thinking about it for a few months now, and I had Tim pick up a piece of plywood to use as the base.

I found a silhouette of a woman that I printed out to enlarge and trace onto the wood. After cutting it out, I will sand it and apply a base coat of primer to allow the paint and gel medium to work easier.

Works in progress

I've been working on a couple of projects for school. I need to get cracking and finish them.

painting

This is a picture I just finished for school. I took a picture of Lakewold Gardens. Then I enlarged it, blew it out a little, desaturated it to B&W, and then had it printed at Costco. I then hand-painted it with oil. I had never used oil paints before, so it was a little tenuous, but I got through it. I learned a lot and now know that I can blend it with a little walnut oil to make it a little easier to work with, and I can use the walnut alkyd to make it dry a little quicker. As it was, I had it laying around for a week before I realized that it was getting dusty and smudged. I went to Aaron Bros and had a mat cut and then framed it even though it was still wet. I just couldn't have it laying around anymore. This isn't the best picture of it, but it is dark and there is glare from the glass, so it will have to do for now.

Garden Walk

For this week's artist date, I cheated a little. I didn't go and spend the day alone, but I did have some solitary moments. Tim and I went with the photography Meetup group to Lakewold Gardens. I'd heard about the gardens several years ago (while wedding planning) and had never been. This was a prime opportunity. We didn't have much going on (other than household errands) and the weather seemed to be holding up (no rain).

We packed up the cameras and headed out. I took my new Canon Digi Rebel XTI, but since I had yet to master it, I took along my point and shoot digital camera as a backup. It was a good thing I did. I forgot the instruction manual for the new camera, and it was set in a large format mode, so I didn't get as many photos as I thought I would, so I did end up switching cameras and ended up taking 200 pictures in all. Poor Tim only snapped off 50-ish with his film camera. All in all, it was a very nice morning, and the gardens were gorgeous. I would love to go back when the weather is sunny and the gardens even more lush.

One of these days, I'd love to do something with all of the photos. I mulled over ideas even as I snapped the photos.

It felt good to do something a little different and stretch that artistic side, even though it was just the photography portion of my brain.

Chalk it up

Last week, there was an email that went out to the Tacoma Arts list serv. RR Anderson (a local artist and rebel) started a new event... a sidewalk chalk art challenge. I really wanted to go down and be one of the cool kids to hang out and participate, but I don't know how to draw and I had to leave early for a doctor's appointment so I couldn't take off at lunch. BUT... this week was a different story. I still don't know how to draw, but I thought that I could scoot down there and hang out to see what was going on.

I jumped on the link and rode down to 9th. When I walked up to the group, there were really only two women working on one square of sidewalk. I felt all self-conscious and weird, but I finally decided to grab a piece of chalk and start drawing. I didn't know what to draw, so I opted for doodles. It was a lot of fun.

I didn't win, but I did have a good time. Here's a link to my drawing...

My doodle pic

This really got me out of my comfort zone and it caused me to do something that I'd never done before. I stepped out into the "artist zone" and tried something new.

Decisions, decisions

Lately, with all of the eye candy I've been looking at, I'm suffering from over exposure and it is making me almost *too* inspired. I want to do it all. I have so many ideas for projects and supplies stashed so I can get started, I'm having a hard time to figure out which one I should start with.

Artists' Cafe has some great ideas. I read an article about an artist that oil paints on her photos. I may do that. I can pick up a small oil paint kit and work on that. Costco has the 12 x 12 prints, so I could find a photo that I really like and then paint one up. There is also a lot of interesting stuff about different artists and their collage methods. Somehow, I feel so intimidated in starting a collage project. I don't know why, but it feels like I'm not sure how to start.