J is for Jumble and Junk

My studio is often a jumble of ideas, materials and the leftovers from completed or in process works. In other words, there is a jumble of junk that waits to be incorporated into something new. I have created fun paintings with leftover paints, collages with bits and pieces of colored paper, and  drawings with scraps of pastel.

Today's works was a way to use up a puddle of gel medium, some rice paper and some leftover paints. The combination of paper and paint, line and dots line create texture and depth. Very abstract in concept and execution - and just a lot of fun to make - no plan, no worries, and fun to look at.

This is 8x10 on canvas.

W is for Woman in White

It feels like winter today - clear and cold. But, this is a special day. We are celebrating the third birthday of my favorite boy.

Today's image is Woman in White. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have been playing with torn paper collage. This wide-eyed woman is built on a drawing I sketched onto canvas (18"x24"). I especially enjoyed creating the swirls in her eyes and her curls. I added warm colors to the background. Looking at it now, I wonder why.


This is the birthday boy. He tells me he will be very tall when his birthday comes. Today's the day.

P is for Postal

This summer I took a MOOC Massive Open Online Course - through Coursera.

According to Wikipedia a MOOC is a massive open online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for the students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs). MOOCs are a recent development in distance education.

The course I took this summer was called Introduction to Art, and as I mentioned earlier, though I am not a beginner, I found a great deal to learn in the unique lessons and projects. One of my favorites focused on the history and development of Mail Art.

Our assignment was titled Correspondence with Memory, and asked us to create the inner and outer art to convey a message sent by mail.

We were actually supposed to design an envelope and interior message, but somehow I came up with a two sided postcard, that really invoked a memory and all the emotions that accompanied it. 

Thinking of a letter or postcard also brought words (and puns) into the mix. These are the results - they are collaged from numerous publications and places, truly a gathering of ideas to send.

O is for Once in a While - Collage

Every once in a while, often in a class, I am introduced to a totally new technique. Last spring, in a class on creativity, the assignment was to work with torn paper to create a collaged image - color optional.

I actually did this assignment three times. I addition to these sunflowers, I did a face and an abstract.

For inspiration, I found a large and very old sheet of thick cottony paper in my stash. This had had been lightly drawn on long ago, and was not nice enough to use for any other project.

Though I knew any paper might be used to interesting effect, this thick and heavy stuff promised a good result because it tore into rough soft edges which allowed me to fit them, like a mosaic into a drawing on canvas.

This was the ultimate in sticky finger projects, but by using gel medium, applied with a paint brush in thin layers, I soon discovered that I could both fit and layer the tiny paper pieces to create both shape and texture. I also chose to add some color into the background that would show through.

This was painstaking and tedious work, but I just loved listening to music and playing around to build each work. It is unlike my other work, and therefore a fun thing to do, once in a while.

18"x24" on canvas

C is for Collage and Coursera and Continuing Education

This summer, on the suggestion of an artist friend, I participated in a MOOC - Massive Open Online Course. The free college level class, Introduction to Art: Concepts and Techniques was by Coursea, through Penn State. (TIP: Check out all the class listings - all FREE!!!)

The idea of taking an introduction to art course seemed a little silly to me - I think I am at least an intermediate by now :-), but I am also fascinated by online learning, and free is a very good price, so I gave it a try.

The class was fantastic. The lectures were well done and very interesting, the projects unique and challenging. The process of interacting with thousands of students, of all ages and nations, literally from around the world was both amazing and overwhelming. Several arty friends and I addressed this issue by creating our own Facebook page to post and comment on our lessons.

Two of the assignments focused on collage, something I have rarely attempted. One, Create a Black and White Newsprint Collage based on a black and white photo, instructed us to analyze the photo's value patterns and focus on the subtleties of grey scale and values within the image. As soon as I read the assignment, I knew that I wanted to use a wonderful photo of my mother taken on a snowy New York City rooftop sometime in the 1940's.

What followed was hours of searching for scraps of paper to give me all the shades and values that I needed to create the textures of snow, a fur coat, a silk scarf, brick and sky in this collage. I soon found myself amid a chaos of newspaper and magazine pages, madly tearing, pasting and swearing. I discovered that it is easier for me to use gel medium than glue or even rubber cement to keep the pieces in place. It took hours, but eventually my image came together. Very interesting, and though only done in shades of black and white - I find it very colorful.