Uluru.. and Good News

The three paintings submitted to RED.

In my last post I wrote about my paintings being rejected from a January show. This is a happier story. 

I tried again with the next juried show in February at the same gallery, The Cannon Beach Gallery, in the town of the same name on the northern Oregon coast. I submitted three very different pieces to the show entitled RED. Two of the pieces were accepted. One sold. But what pleased me even more is that I was the only artist who had two pieces accepted and only two pieces sold from the show, mine and one other.

Never give up. never. give. up.

ULURU

The piece which was sold is called ULURU which is the Aboriginal's ancient name for Ayers Rock in central Australia. It's a monolith, a huge red rock out in the middle of a flat plain. I composed the collage on heavy paper and then glued it to a cradled canvas and extended the colors around the sides.

The other piece that was accepted into the show is called Red Leaf - Falling.  

RED LEAF - FALLING

It's a collage of hand painted papers and a single maple leaf from a tree in my front yard. The collage is 12 x 12, matted in a 16 x 20" frame.

EVERY ROOM NEEDS A SPOT OF RED

 My mother was know as a creative homemaker and craftswoman who was one of the first women to paint the walls of her home with vibrant colors. She firmly believed that "every room needs a spot of red" to bring cheer to its occupants. This 20 x 30" cold wax and plaster piece honors her conviction... one which I consciously follow.

 

The Sense of Touch

I delivered the following three paintings to the Cannon Beach Gallery to be juried for a January show with the theme of The Six Senses. None of them were accepted into the show but at least I stretched myself and increased my self confidence.  I was disappointed that the work was rejected but after seeing photos of the show I understood why the juror passed over these... they didn't play well with others. After all, when a juror makes selections from available works her job is to build the strongest, most cohesive show possible. My work simply didn't fit.

 Each piece is 12" x 12" on stretched canvas with a 1.5" cradle (side depth). They are mixed media, mostly acrylic with cheesecloth.  The titles are: "If I Could Touch the Night Sky", "Close Enough to Touch", and "Beyond Our Reach", and as you can see each name could go with either piece.

My work refers to the sense of touch.  One wants to touch the work because the visual texture is appealing, and also I considered the universe of stars and planets in our night sky that are absolutely too far away to touch... beyond man's reach.

It's an interesting theme. Doing work about the sense of touch was personally appealing because I am drawn to texture having worked with fabrics and threads over a lifetime. I can't keep my hands off appealing surfaces.



Jo Reimer: Torn Paper Collage... trying a new method

FERMENTING FRIENDS

 

 

 

 

 Fermenting Friends is 9 x 12" on panel.

I challenged myself to try a new-to-me collage method, this one perfected by my friend Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. Like me, Elizabeth paints her own collage papers with acrylics. See a short article about her in the current issue of The Artist's Magazine, April 2014. This article also features two other collage artists, Cathy M Woo and Laura Lein-Svencner

My paper stash contained all I need. What's different is that this method starts with a drawing on a strong substrate which is then painted before the collage process begins. Then various papers were torn into bits and pieces and glued in place, paying more attention to value than to color.

Elizabeth offers a DVD and a downloadable PDF of her process. See her website and gallery here.

I started with a photograph of a wine bottle from my friends private label, making the drawing part rather easy, even though I added a second bottle and glass to the original composition. This was a hostess gift for friends we visited recently in Arizona, a trip that enabled us to completely miss a major snow event in Portland.

Then yesterday I made a second torn paper collage, working from a quick stylized drawing. It's becoming a bit easier to work this way, but I suspect that this won't become much more comfortable to me and I'll revert to my old way of working.

RED FLOWER

Red Flower is 12 x 12 on cradled canvas.

Thanks, Elizabeth, for giving me the go ahead to try your methods.