When Push Comes to Shove....

...... I can do whatever it takes…. 

….and does it ever feel good to finish the hard thing, which this time was making the artwork for a show at The Village Gallery in March. 

I did the serious planning and a bit of work in December and as soon as the holidays were behind me I geared up, and yesterday I was able to take the finished work to be photographed. Whew!  Twelve rather complex collages in 6 weeks is a personal record.

I’m proud of the work I’ve done and am excited to see it all hanging.  I hope you who live in the area will come see the show between March 3 and 30, 2019. Maybe you’ll find something that’s just right for a wall in your own home.

 

"ORANGE WITH BLUE AND GREEN"   $375

You know I love color and have had extensive training in using color. Having taught the standard color wheel I know that many people find it difficult to actually use the color wheel when making their art. So… I decided to make twelve 12” x 12” collage paintings with each one based on one of the colors in the color wheel to show you how it might be done. I made the primary-color pieces first, complemented with black and white. Then I made the secondary and tertiary versions, some accented with its complement (opposite color on the color wheel) or with its split complement. The results are an interesting grouping.

Here's a peek at my process for "Purple":

Let me tell you.... It took lots of head-scratching to decide what I think of as purple. Does it lean toward blue or toward red? Is it violet, periwinkle, blueberry.  Oh my. I pulled out my drawer of purple painted papers and chose a variety of papers to audition for this piece.  

More head-scratching let me to narrowing down the selection to these pieces to use as the first layers. This is what it looked like laid out and photographed as a 12" square-ish shape.

"PURPLE"   $375

More decisions, more auditioning, more papers, some marks and stenciling led me to this this finished work. 

You're welcome to copy the following list of my processes if it will help you in your own art making.

COLLAGE PROCESS

• Build the background with paper and paint
• Add images, photographs, marks, stencils and stamps
• Seal with gloss medium
• Add photo transfers, if desired.
• Make more marks. Add glazes.
• Seal again with gloss medium, or with matte medium if you prefer a matte surface.
• Photograph.
• Finish the edges of the cradle, if using.
• Frame the work.
• Sign on the front and on the back
• Add to your inventory, with pricing.

Autumn Colors

 

 

At the tag end of autumn there's a whole different set of colors than those I noticed a month ago. The 'Bloodgood' Japanese Maple in the front bed with its bright red leaves suggests Christmas is just around the corner and the lichen on the vine maple at the front steps is a light but muted sage green. It's all about contrast, just waiting for me to notice. I see so much color here and while I'd love to have the painting skills to render a likeness, I can't, and why would I want to when a photograph captures the moment so well. Perhaps by using these colors from nature and the lines of the trees I could form an abstract collage. If I manage something I'll show you. 

Collage Made From Compost



In the Garden
Collage on paper
8x8"
 

My boxes of compost are my most cherished art supply. I've talked before about how I build compost out of colored papers of all kinds and that I call it compost because as I dig through the piles of papers and stir up the mix new and exciting color combinations and compositions happen naturally.  That's what happened here.


The bright orange is the substrate which I painted by smooshing acrylic paint around on the surface. There's a bit of paper napkin, a photograph of maple leaves, a magazine image, and a color copied strip from an old painting. Simple items and a combination of stripes result in a happy piece.

Then there's this one.



Chaos
Collage on Paper
8 x 8"

It's a similar layout and color combination but to my eyes it isn't as successful as the first one, but who am I to criticize it? I'm always critical of my own work; there's always something that could be improved, especially that strip of orange up the middle.

Let's analye it according to the elements and principles of design:

• Line: vertical and diagonal suggest movement.
• Texture: visual texture of printed vs plain vs translucent invites touch.
• Color: Complementary violet and yellow with an accent of blue green.
• Composition: Cruciform
• Balance: yes, in all directions
• Value: ah, there's my problem with the orange strip. It tipped the scale of value toward equal balance of value. Without the orange strip the dark areas dominate and composition is better. But I just couldn't leave well enough alone.
• Repetition: There's plenty of repetition within each color family as well as repetition of line.
• Contrast: yep, lots of that.
• Dominance, unity, harmony: check.

The list is longer but these will do for today.

Do you ever pull out your list of elements and principles and use them to check your work? I find it's helpful when I'm puzzled about why a piece leaves me with a negative feeling.



Random.. a painting

by Jo Reimer

Random

acrylic on paper

22x30"

This is what happened recently when I set out to paint with absolutely no intention other than to use complementary colors, in this case orange and blue. I chose lines and circles with grid lines and just kept painting until the composition came together. At first I called it ugly but after looking at it for a few days I find I quite like it. But for sure I prefer to paint with some realistic thing in mind... landscape, flowers, still life... although with my surface design and quilting background the geometry of pure design continues to pop out of me now and then.

Subtle or Colorful

In her current post Donna Watson discusses how many artists have an affinity for creating subtle work, beautiful work that has a quietness to it that appeals to me, though I don't often create subtle work. Here are two more of my daily collages, one a bit subtle and the other one in-your-face bright.  Both were made in the same session, working out of my red box of bits and pieces.

I left a much loved unattributed quotation in her comments section:

"Work and work and work until what comes

out is pure and not influenced by

anything but what is in my heart."

I believe that only through doing a lot of work does ones' true voice emerge. If you are an artist, make lots of art using whatever tools and supplies you own. If you have a voice, sing. If you play an instrument, practice, practice, practice.  That's what it means to be an artist.  One has to BE.  That implicates daily practice. When one wants to improve as an artist, one must work at it... over and over and over.

Pardon me if I seem like I'm preaching to the choir. I've taught all my life and that's my teacher voice :)