Urban Sunset

Jo Reimer.  Urban Sunset.  24x30".  Collage

It's not at all obvious but this piece started out with an under-painting of orange, magenta and yellow and somewhere along the way all the yellow was covered up except for that tiny bit in the lower right corner. That yellow presented quite a struggle to me because the papers I covered up were quite beautiful. Precious, even. The last of the lot.  Gone.

When a paper or a painting or even a passage is considered to be too precious to cover over it can become a stumbling block to creativity. It certainly was for me, and for the longest time I couldn't move on. The original direction of the colors in this piece was simply too close, too boring, too analagous.  What did the work need, I asked myself.  Gray maybe. A city is mostly concrete, after all.  So out came the collection of gray paper to cover those four corners. And there it lay for a few days while I gathered the courage to cover up all that lovely yellow. 

The lines of magenta on top of the brightest orange were done with a stencil which I took with me the day I painted at the Glencoe HS Art Week  last month.  I wanted to repeat the shapes in the stencil so I held it in place on top of some of the gray area and dabbed on some white paint and then added shadow, working with pencil and thinned down paint until I had it just right. 

The figures in the cityscape are all me. Shadow photographs printed onto painted papers and added as collage elements.

Urban Sunset is on view in the current show at Oregon Society of Artists.

Zoo Days and Shadows

I took part of my brood to the Zoo earlier in the week, on a sunny but cool morning that seemed well suited for animals, and humans, too.
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From L to R: daughter, g'son in stroller, me, granddaughters

My favorite three-year-old

Sister's Shadow Heart

I'm always on the lookout for pattern and repetition and no where did I find it so interesting as on the zebras and the giraffes. Early morning means lots of interesting shadows in the habitat.

 

I am working in my studio, painting with oils and having great fun, but I have nothing to show you yet.  My techniques need lots of work. Thanks to all the rain and cloudy days of spring and early summer my garden is at its prime, at a time when its usually burning up. I'm thankful for the conditions that makes gardening in the Pacific Northwest such a rewardingh lifestyle, even though the grayness sometimes sits heavy on my emotions. Still, I would not trade for long spells of 100+ degrees of heat. It's looking like we may not need our AC this summer. Suits me.

If you want to look at some interesting art have a peek at these blogs and websites from a few Oregon artists...

Randall Tipton's Painters Process
Marla Baggetta: Pastels
Jean Gale: Watercolor
Judy Wise: Wax

I Was There - Self Portrait Shadows

Amy and Grandma Jo in Hawaii

It used to be that after a trip I'd take our photos to be developed and be so disappointed that once again there were no pictures of me, as if I didn't exist except behind the camera. Then I started insisting that someone take a picture of me, but those, being less than candid, were never very interesting. 

Small town in Idaho

Fast forward to a few years ago when I was walking down a street early one morning when the shadows were long; there at my feet was my shadow self... so I took my picture. Now I look for opportunities to take shadow self portraits  wherever I go. 

Phoenix, AZ

There are no rules about taking shadow self portraits except that you need some sun and you need to make the picture quite early in the morning or late in the day when the sun is low to the horizon so that shadows are cast. The only time when I can't get a shadow picture is when the sun is directly overhead. The higher the sun the shorter the shadow.

At the beach

Most of the time I don't use the viewfinder on the camera but rather I use the LCD monitor in order to camouflage the camera itself in the resulting photo. The newest point and shoot cameras don't even have a viewfinder.

Cannon Beach

Move around until your shadow is where you want it. It's interesting if you can arrange to have something in the background that gives a hint about where you were.  And be prepared for a distorted body. You'll look like you've put on several unwanted pounds because of the angle and the clothing you're wearing. This is not the time for vanity to rear its ugly head.

I'm sure you can figure out time of day by the length of the shadow.

La Conner, WA Tulip Fields

Self Portrait With Bobbin

Self Portrait drawing, c. 1990-95

While going through some of my old journals and sketchbooks I ran across this drawing. I didn't date the piece so I'm not absolutely certain of the date... late 90's... and it was a lone piece, stuck into the back of a sketchbook. The expresssion is sorta scary, but I think that's because of the angle of the mirror I was using. The drawing was glued to the larger paper (8.5 x 11") with a bit of pattern tissue added as well as lines indicating quilting stitches and a sewing machine bobbin with thread... a true self portrait indicating what interested me at the time. The tissue has turned brown with age because of0 the acid content of papers used for pattern tissue, then and now, and even the acrylic medium in which it was encased didn't prevent color change... a lesson for those of us who use ephemera in our work.

I now date each piece as I complete it, on the back when I can, or if it's in a book I put the date in one of the corners. So many times I've made something and later wished I knew when I made it and what was going on in my life when it came into being. So I'm guessing on this one, but hopefully my life history from here on will be more accurate... if anyone cares!

Self Portrait - Birthday

Self Portrait

September 2010

Today is my birthday. Some creative people have birthday rituals; they paint a self portrait or make a self portrait doll or a scroll of the last 12 months or write in a birthday book, but I won't do any of these things. My ritual is to gather family around me and have a little love fest. I'll go to church, then to my favorite cafe for brunch with my husband, maybe spend a few hours in my studio and garden, and then meet my family for a burger. It'll be fun, low key and so good to be with family and friends that I love. What could be better?

Perhaps shooting a self portrait will be part of my future birthday ritual. Or maybe I'll make a birthday card that I can copy to send to friends on their birthdays. Hmmm, that's a good idea.

Do you have birthday rituals?