Jo Reimer: Excellence in Craftsmanship

IMBALANCE

Perhaps I should change the name of this blog since my posting schedule has certainly not been One A Day.  But really, I never intended to post daily, just to be creative daily, and most days I am, even if it's creating an interesting meal or flower arrangement instead of a work of art. And that daily commitment to creativity through this blog has made a difference in my approach to being creative. I'll continue writing about my days, if only for a personal record.

Imbalance is a small piece, 6 x 6" on cradled panel, composed mainly with pages from old National Geographic magazines treated with CitraSolve. The solvent dissolves the printing inks giving unusual and unexpected, unplanned results. I've used these papers for several collages and like them quite a bit because the paper doesn't wrinkle like some of the thinner papers I sometimes use. 

In my work I aim for excellence in craftsmanship. That comes from my background with fabric and thread and tying up any loose ends so the result doesn't have that "loving hands at home" look. Is that the difference between art and fine art? Excellence in the creating?  I want the work to be well made, the labor to look effortless, for the buyer to know that they've purchased something of value.

Little Jo - Birthday Girl

Little Jo - Birthday Girl

I happened upon part of a September calendar page that's printed in two of my favorite colors. Little Jo is a happy camper. It sure didn't take long to do this little collage.. just what the on-going project is all about, to do a collage a day in 15 minutes or less.  I don't get one made every day nor do I limit myself to 15 minutes some days but there've been days when I worked on five at once. I get caught up with the papers, compositional challenges, and the process of doing them and time simply flies.

I love that about art, how time flies by on the good days.

Stamp Carving

I'm not much of a football fan but I do enjoy the Super Bowl commercials. So when we were invited to a potluck Sunday afternoon I made up a little stamp carving kit: rubber carving blocks cut to size (the white ones like erasers), my carving tools, and a list of words. I transfered some of the words ahead of time using acetone on the toner copy and used a pencil to transfer others. I did watch much of the game, and found myself carving through some of the commercials.  Some of the stamps have a word on each side. I have a project in mind for the stamps which is why the words have a similar theme.

Trust

Trust

5x7

I'm pleased with this one. The top layer is spray stencil. The bottom layer is part of a nude painting I did in a class that's really ugly except in the details... the painting is the upper band and the lower right area of gray and yellow... so 3 pieces of paper glued to the background = a pretty nice collage.

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 :) 

Circles and Valentine

Three Circles

5x7

I'm still working on my daily collage project, using whatever is in my red basket of scraps. The little guy peeking from behind the blue paper is from an old Hallmark calendar and the strip of circles is waste from punching out some circles.

Be My Valentine

5x7"

This is a picture of me and my friend Cliff at a fraternity party taken on February 14, 1958. Yes, I used the actual picture; none of my offspring will want it when I have a picture of my DH and myself in the same pose. I went to the party with Gerald who is now my husband, but Cliff wanted a picture of us together. Don't we look young! We were both 19.

Make art with what you have. It need not cost much money; just make use of what you have. Mother was fond of saying "waste not; want not" and I try to remember that, especially in these difficult times.

Flowers and Fountains

Flowers

Watching the fireworks Sunday night ,with one eye on my camera's viewfinder and the other on the awesome display, I was quickly propelled into my right brain, mesmerized by the colors and forms that appeared, slowly faded, and disappeared, to be quickly replaced by another bit of amazement.

Not knowing a thing about fireworks I found myself referring to the images as Flowers and Fountains. Then on my morning walk I found a cache of spent fireworks clearly labeled Fountains and Blossoms. Now I know.

I shot 156 images, thanks to the minor miracle of digital photography, and while none are worthy of publishing or even printing they are giving me some ideas for paintings which I'll start on as soon as I bring order to my studio.

Fountains and Flowers

Daily Collage

5x7

Veil

Veil

Daily Collage

5x7"

Another bit of my wedding gown along with some painted papers from my stash.

...standing out from the crowd

Standing Out From The Crowd

Daily Collage

5x7"

Quickly making little collages is sometimes a pleasure, sometimes a chore, just like any other sort of creative endeavor. This is a little bit of both. I do love using yellow and my hand grabbed some of these yellow bits almost without my brain being in attendance. The cloth is from a wallpaper book. I added a bit of stenciled paper, a map of Africa, the AX which is part of one of my journal pages, and the picture of my daughter taken in 1995 when she was a young first-time mother. You've seen the faces paper before; it's from a 25 year old Benneton ad... and I'm sure I'll use it again whenever I need a crowd scene.

TriMet Travel

Bits Basket

Layout

Above is a shot of my Bits Basket and a collage as I first laid it out... and below is the finished piece.

TriMet Travel

5x7"

Bits and pieces find purpose in my little daily collages. The subject has to do with the people who are served by TriMet which provides public transportation in Portland on the local bus system, the light rail and the streetcars. The ticket is an old one and the Travel bit served to mark the contents of a drawer in my studio. Other bits include wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, faces from a magazine image, a paint sample, stenciled paper, and a scrap of hand painted fabric.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time

Daily Collage

5x7"

I used 6 pieces from my Bit Basket today plus some lace from my wedding gown.

Yes, I cut up my beautiful wedding gown and the sky didn't fall nor did our marraige dissolve on the spot. Several years ago we were invited to an anniversary party for those in my church who were married in August. I dug out my wedding gown to see if it still fit. The lace sleeve ripped as I pushed my arm into it.. so I didn't wear the dress to the party but have now cut into it to salvage some of the lace to use in my artwork and I'll save some for my grandchildren in case they get nostalgic.

I used YES glue and it's holding the lace to the paper but I think the best way to add glue may be to iron the lace onto some fusible interfacing. Then I can cut the lace at will and iron it onto collages or journal pages.

Barn

Barn

5x7

Daily Collage

My collages aren't so daily while we travel. I don't have an easy setup for collage like I do at home where everything I need is all in one spot and I am making do with whatever papers I gather. (This photo bit is of a barn in Oregon.) At the end of a long day the last thing I want to do is make a collage. However, an afternoon looking at art in the galleries along Canyon Road in Santa Fe got the creative juices flowing. I saw lots of good art and even more of the other kind. 

Sometimes that's really good, looking at the work of other artists, but I worry that seeing what other people do so well might undermine my own individual approach to working. I kept saying to myself, "that's a good idea; I could do something like that, too." But when it comes down to working in an honest way I know I'll have to let it all perk and somehow find my own way to make my unique statement with the art I make. This looking is just another form of study that will be added to what I already know and feel and hopefully what I make in the future won't look like anyone's work but my own.

We've seen so many beautiful places under wide open sunny skies; I know that future work will be heavily inspired by the colors and forms of the southwestern landscape.

Water - Using photos in collage

Daily Collage

5x7"

As I moved things around in the studio this morning, preparing to leave it for a few weeks, and thinking about all the photography I'll be doing while we're away, I had another AHA moment. I have hundreds of photos that I'll never put into an album, photos of moments that now mean nothing to me. Why not use a slice of that time in my collages, not in a scrapbookie way like pages that feature our loved ones, but simply as an element of a collage, either a focal point or simply a design feature. This is the first, using a slice of a photo of water at sunset and another of wave action. Let's see what I can develop from the idea. It probably won't happen while we're on our road trip, but at least the idea is percolating, waiting to develop or be discarded.

And of course this took a bit more than 5 minutes, but not much. What's interesting about these little daily collages is my thought process. I'm noticing that as I work quickly... hurry, hurry, get it done and scanned... I'm feeling an urge to move on, to get to the next creative thing. Isn't that the idea of a warm-up, to prepare me for the next thing, to scoot my dominate hemisphere over to the right where just working takes over and linear thinking gets quiet?

Do you read the comments on the blogs you follow? Sometimes that's the best part as iHanna commented on my last post regarding a mini conversation between Delwyn and me about postcard collages, and it's also a good way to find new blogs that will be of interest.

I'll try to blog from the road but don't be surprised if days pass without hearing from me. I'll be back.

Changing the Rules

Pear

Daily Collage

5x7"

I'm changing my own rules. I'm allowed to do that, you know. 5 minutes doesn't give me enough time to think about what I'm doing and to gather the papers for the day. This one took 7 minutes and, while I'm happy with it, most days I find myself wanting more time. So I'm changing back to my old old rules and allowing 15 minutes for these little warmups that some days are the only art I produce. The pear is a copy of an old painting, (I printed contact sheets to use this way) and the strip at the top is a slice of another painting. I added a strip of fabric and the rest are from studio ephemera.

Varenna

Varenna

 5 minute daily collage

5x7"

One problem with working so quickly is that I don't take time to measure, to make sure that all the edges are square where it's appropriate, as here. I used a variety of papers, some handmade paper from years back, a paint chip, a stamp, a sliver from a copy of a painting, and a bit from a catalog. It took little time but I had to weight it in order to get the thicker handmade paper to stick to the card.

Learning to See

Learning to See

Daily 5x7 Collage

I'm trying my best to grab the first bits of paper that come to hand and make a collage out of them, teaching myself to work intuitively with what's available and create something in about 5 minutes. These bits have meaning for me; there's a story there about learning new things.