R is for Ready and Results

I am ready. Finished the ten pieces I am submitting to the Big 500, Peoples Art of Portland show. Finally.

This project which I thought would be easy was a challenge for me on a number of levels. Now that I'm done I am pleased with the results.

When I first started to work with them, I found it very difficult to make acrylic paint look good on the 10 8x8 boards provided by Chris Haberman who runs the show.

Though I had some ideas for images, nothing I tried out was remotely working for me. So, I tried to search online for examples of other works created for previous Big 500 shows, I did not find much.

To add to my angst and fear of failure, my very dear dog, Rosco, had passed away leaving me sad and not creative. I needed inspiration.

Then, as so often in my life, two times in a day, from two different people, the same advice - paint all the boards as one piece. I could begin - though I had no theme or plan beyond the most basic and easiest - take a line for a walk across the surface of the 3x3 square of nine blocks. I gessoed as recommended. Then brought out the colors.

I thought about what thousands of art covered squares in a gallery would look like - and how I could get anyone to see, let alone buy, my paintings. COLOR! Its what I do best. Limited palette, paths of color flowing over the surface. Hot and cool. The paint looked horrible. I felt absolutely discouraged.

I experimented with adding water color crayon on top of the paint layer, rubbing with pastel, over painting with a single color, nothing worked. Until I thought about drawing lines and patterns with acrylic paint pens on the surface of the paint. Finally !  Once I got started it was easy, and I really enjoyed the freedom to just play with the shapes and patterns.

So, here are four of the ten pieces. The moon picture I showed yesterday is also in the collection. The pieces will be displayed randomly throughout the show - which is too bad because I think they look awesome in a group.

O is for Over the Moon

I notice that moon images have been appearing in lots of my work lately.

I am not exactly sure why, but it is a change from the suns and sunny compositions I was doing.

Then again, things feel dark these days and the moon is an excellent source of illumination.

And, of course this is also the time of the Super Moon, so maybe that is the explanation for this little piece which is part of the ten boards I have painted for the Big 500 show.

Like the others, I gessoed the board, layered with acrylic and topped with acrylic paint pens. It was a lot of fun to do - just letting myself add lines and dots and color as I pleased.

C is for Challenge

Last month I was invited to participate in  The Big 500, Portland's annual sale of art on 8 inch by 8 inch plywood panels. I was honored to be asked, and eager to begin creating the ten pieces I was asked to provide. It seemed easy-peasy - small squares. I thought about flowers, or faces , or ...

The show, a fundraising event benefiting the Oregon Food Bank, started 7 years ago with 100 artists. Now more than 500 artists make 10 works each, for more than 5000 works of art. All art is sold for $40 a panel. The food collected at the food drive at the opening and a portion of proceeds of art sales from this show provide several shelters with food for a few months over the year. Sales are cash (or credit, debit card) and carry - take the pieces you like as you go then bring them to the checkout.

Admission: free entry with canned food donation
              

Sounds great, right? And the show is. But for me, working on the  small, square plywood panels has presented a tremendous challenge. After asking for suggestions, I gessoed the boards and the edges, and began experimenting with acrylics. The paint looked terrible, chalky and flat. The images (my images) didn't seem to fit the space, and my fear of failure began to rise. I tried different media, collaging paper images onto the boards, combining paper with paint, painting directly - nothing was working. The one thing that seemed clear was that whatever I did needed to be bright and bold enough to stand out among the 5000 other pieces that will line the gallery walls.

Finally, last week, I decided to lay 9 boards out in a 3 by 3 square and paint a background pattern across all of them at once. I also promised myself that no matter what - I would follow through with this approach. The paint still looks awful, so I began to play with one of my new favorite tools, acrylic paint pens, working over the underpainting and simply playing with the lines and shapes. I have decided that each piece will  be a variation on the same theme and use the same colors.

This is one of the (almost finished) pieces. I have completed 5 so far. They are bright and bold, and I am no longer sick to my stomach whenever I think about them ... so, I guess this is progress.

The Details: The show is December 10th- Saturday. 2pm-9pm. The show reception will be at Ford Building (2505 SE 11th) this year, as part of Ford Gallery (hosted by building curator Ross Blanchard). The show runs through December 23.