Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Studio Notes in November

I've given myself a little assignment in the studio, which is to work on 10"x10" cruciform collage-paintings until I am sick of them, or bored, and then keep working on them to see what happens.  I so admire the work of artists who seem to go deep into an idea, really milk it over dozens and dozens of pieces.  I have a short attention span, and although I almost always work in series, my series tend to be short.  Unless they are defined simply by size and material - the 100 Drawings on 9"x12" paper, the 4"x4" ongoing series.

I've been working 22"x30" for a while, so I wanted to go back to a smaller size for a bit.  I'm working back and forth between the 22"x30" on the wall, and the 10"x10" on the work table. 

Here are just a couple of the pieces in process:

Grid-1, layer 1

Grid-1, layer 2 and 3

Grid-1, the next few layers


Grid-1, final

Grid-2, layer 1
Grid-2, with all the other layers, final

16 comments:

  1. The orb is gone (for the moment). I love the challenges you make for yourself. I'm working on making four quadrants different -- still. It's hard work, but makes the play a bit more focused. Thank you once again for all you share.

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  2. I also appreciate the peek you provide into the challenges you set for yourself, and the problem solving you do in order to come to a happy conclusion.

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  3. Self challenging yields amazing results. These are wonderful.

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    1. These are only two of the first batch of eight (or is it ten?). I typically have this "beginner's luck" when I start out, and then it gets more challenging. So I would say the jury's out on the results.

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  4. Your attention span is not that short.. I can hear your voice saying, "Now do 10 more of these," and the voice in my head saying, "Let's do something else now." You are right, of course. Practice makes perfect.

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    1. I have no idea what practice makes. I'm going to try to find out.

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  5. These are wonderful, Jane! I have been working on the cruciform design for awhile as well. I like the idea of working on something 'till one is sick of it! I think it's one way of pushing yourself.

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  6. Thanks Jane . . . I can see I need to push myself in one direction for a while . . . I'm dabbling in too many things without much forward momentum.

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  7. In April, I challenged myself to paint 100 birds and so far, I haven't tired of the subject matter. Initially I envisioned trying all sorts of media but I have used acrylic paint for all birds so far. Repetition has taught me a lot and with each bird, I am inspired to paint another. Thank you for sharing your process and your thoughts.

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  8. These are wonderful, Jane. I follow your blog via Bloglovin but don't always catch your posts. Today, the color got me right away. So then I needed to go to Google and find out what a Cruciform Collage was about. Ah, interesting, I say to myself. Then I find that somebody has a Pinterest Board for inspiration. Ah, even more interesting.

    So my question for you is this: what substrate do you use for these 10x10 and also for the 4x4 pieces you've shown before. This inquiring mind wants to know because she is just setting up a new work table in her new studio/art room at home, and this sounds delightful. Something for me to do between Thanksgiving and Christmas for sure.

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    1. Thank you. I don't think "cruciform collage" is a particular TYPE of art; the cruciform is just a common type of format, like (and subset of) grid. Go to my Favorite Materials page (link in the right margin of this blog) to see the paper I use. Have fun!

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  9. A great way of working....I always love your 'stuff'.

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  10. Thank you for sharing your fears and challenges, Jane. Is it possible that the very label "artist" connotates easy boredom? I may be doing encaustic portraiture one week, and watercolor or oil...or pastel the next. Right now I'm fascinated with printmaking and collage...

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  11. I am so proud and privileged to be among your groupies. (Much better than being a deadhead in the day)

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