sometimes there's a better way

While gathering completed works for the Hillsboro library show I put my hand on a collage that needed help. I liked the concept and most of the details but the design of the flower and the title weren't right.

Red Flower

So I fixed it. And changed it's name. Now I like it.

Red Hot Mama

Jo Reimer's collages will be shown at the Hillsboro Main Library, 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy, Hillsboro, OR 97124 throughout the months of May and June during library hours. You're invited to an artists reception in the Board Room on the second floor, Saturday May 16 between 2 and 4.

Blog Hop for Artists

Paintings in process in my studio

So what's a Blog Hop? It's a way to introduce new artists and their blogs to my readers.

My friend Ruth Armitage invited me to participate and directed me to answer some questions about my work. I'm happy to oblige. Thanks, Ruth.

Ruth is an energetic and creative woman who specializes in painting in watermedia. Many who live in the Northwest will recognize Ruth's early watercolor work with its focus on family photographs. She's currently working on colorful watermedia paintings that are abstractions of her memories of the family farm. When I study her large paintings I recognize fields, streams, roads, clusters of farm buildings, crop circles and so much more. She's added acrylic paint to her tool kit along with stencils and stamps and the results are amazing and are garnering her national awards and recognition. See her work here: Ruth Armitage.

Here are my answers to some rather tough questions:

How does my creating process work?

            I start work by writing. I enter my studio and go either to my computer or to my easy chair, pick up a journal and start writing, thinking about what I intend to do that day. I state my intention for the day’s work and even if I don’t stick to my first intention it still gives me a starting point. I find it’s easiest to work in series and I have several going at once… maps, family history, faith are a few series ideas on a list I made several years ago. I enjoy designing interesting composition and sometimes work on a series of non-representational pieces using papers I’ve created.

            Once in a while I need to build up my stash of collage papers so I clear off my big design table, get out different types of white paper and watermedia paint and have fun painting the papers using many different methods of surface design I learned or developed over the years of working as a textile artist. I also generate papers using stencils and stamps and simple printing techniques. The resulting papers feature unique colors, combinations, visual textures, and patterns that are unavailable elsewhere. That’s why I call myself a “collage painter”. I paint with papers I’ve created.

Painted paper file

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

            Unlike most collage artists I rarely use appropriated images in my work. It’s easy to get into trouble when using images torn from books and magazines and the resulting work tends to seem rather impersonal. I’ve lived a long time, (I’m in my mid-70s), and my life has been interesting enough that I have lots of memories of travel and experiences that produce all the stories I need to create a body of personal work. Memories are the stuff I build on, making my work unique to me. I have a strong background in design and color and am a stickler for producing pieces which are structured on good design. After decades of working with paper, paint, and textiles I find that composition seems to happen naturally, almost without thought.

What am I working on?

            This summer I’m concentrating on drawing. I believe that good drawing skills empower an artist to make better work no matter what her/his preferred genre. I enrolled in the first session of Sketchbook Skool which started in April, and am now working on the second session. I’ve become obsessed with daily drawing and my skills are improving.

Drawing - Watercolor Table

            At the same time I’m working on a series of collages which feature my big collection of old road maps, mostly of the sort that were free at gas stations all across the country. I also use AAA maps and maps collected on foreign travels. I cut the maps into strips, tear them into sections (often along the original folds line where they naturally tear), combine them with painted papers, or use the pattern of lines within a map as the inspiration for a painting.

Shredded maps and spray inks

 And now to introduce you to the three artists who've agreed to join me on this blog hop:

1.  Judy Wise: Though I haven't actually met Judy I've followed her blog for years, having seen her incredible art journals on line. Judy is an amazing woman who works primarily in encaustic and is known for her book, Plaster Studio which was published by North Light, as well as several ebooks available on her blog and website. Judy teaches both locally and internationally in Australia, Bali, and Mexico. 

2.  Barbara Loyd: I met Barbara in Athens, Greece when an art tour group met for three weeks of painting in the Greek Isles. I knew nothing about watercolor or painting and Barb knew everything. I was in awe of the skillful way she mixed color, and I'm continually amazed about her deep knowledge of color and paint. Her blog, Color in our World, is all about color, its history and its use. She taught art for many years in the Texas school system where she now lives surrounded by fields of blue bonnets. 

3.  Annie Salness: Annie is my neighbor although we hadn't met until last year when we were introduced by a mutual friend, Carol Marine. Annie has painted for years but had a major setback when a stroke left her partially paralyzed on her right side. But nothing slows Annie down for long; she taught herself to paint with her left hand and kept right on painting.  People who know her work can see no difference in her skills. She loves to paint people's pets and also enjoys commissions.

I could tell you more about these three remarkable women but the ball is now in their court and I'll leave it to them to tell you more about their own work.

A Collage a Day as warmup for working

BROOMS QUILT

35" X 30"

In 1994 I took a Mixed Media Quilt workshop from Joan Schulze at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, TN. In an intensive 2 weeks I learned to be a collage artist although I thought I was just taking another quilt workshop. At the time I didn’t know that I was learning how to see and how to approach a subject but over the years since then I’ve used what she taught me in just about everything art project I tackle.

BROOMS QUILT - DETAIL

Joan taught me to go on a photo safari, to find one thing that’s interesting and explore that one thing from every angle and then to apply what I learned to design a piece of art. We learned some great techniques including acrylic transfers and monotype which I’ve used over and over.

The brooms quilt started with a series of photos of a rack of handmade straw brooms and the detail a transfer of the key photograph. Other images and designs in the quilt are based on the linear pattern of the straws, the bindings, the marks the end of the broom would make in dust. Once I made a big collection of images on fabric I cut and tore the fabric to form the quilt.

Some of Joan's good advice I’ve followed, some, not so much. I’m just now re-reading old notes… Joan said “Every evening write what my day was about, goals for tomorrow, ideas generated. Write poems.”

Well, let me tell you that poetry and I don’t mix, and as for being disciplined enough to write about each day at the end of the day, forgetaboutit. She said “don’t resist change”. I’m resisting discipline, but I can change. I know I can.

All that came into my conscious because I wanted to tell you about a habit I developed because she told us about her own daily collage practice. At the time Joan kept a small area of her studio set aside and set up for making small collages as a way to start the day, to encourage creativity. I do that for awhile and then lose interest for awhile but I always come back to the practice, and today I started again.

 I found a bunch of heavy paper torn to 5x7” and a box to put them in. I’ve set up a place on my studio counter with the box, a glue stick, an old phone book that I’ll glue on top of, and a box of my collage compost, mostly scraps. In the first 5 minutes I made a little collage and then I grabbed a small book I recently made from a failed watercolor and made another 5 minute collage in that. I’ll switch back and forth between the book and the single sheets for awhile until I figure out my favorite.

Maybe you would like to start your own daily warm-up, and then download a summary of your day and plans for tomorrow, either to paper or computer, or maybe on the back of the morning’s collage. Now that’s an idea!
You can read an article I wrote about collage here or link from my sidebar on the right under Articles.