big sky

Yesterday I painted under the big sky all day, from 8am to about 7pm.

Woke up with my head full of plans for the day - I had intended only to do some prep work outdoors and then work indoors while the prep layers dried.  Instead, the prep work - and the lovely weather - carried me away and I made several large abstract paintings!

Drying between layers:

Photographed this morning in my studio:

Some were old paintings worked over and some were begun from scratch yesterday.  I really like 2 of them, another 2 are maybe-finished, and 2 definitely need more work.

Wow, that was a terrifically productive day!

It's interesting how the energy of these paintings is quite different from the careful-thoughtful-stitch energy... but the results do have something in common, I think.

inside and out

Morning: continuing with a new series underway:

These small pieces are not quick in coming; for some reason it seems I have to wait and think between each one, even though they are all related.  Hmmm.  Could I be losing my momentum?  Or could it be, as my dear friend suggests, merely that the work is more complex than it appears, and so requires this extra gestation time?  It's true my head has been very busy lately with thoughts of how things go.

Afternoon: plein-air painting along the river near my home.

Haven't painted outdoors in some weeks, so this excursion was particularly therapeutic.  A lovely purple-grey storm brewing overhead - inspiring skies!  Small spatters of rain just beginning as I finished up.  Perfect timing.  :)

:o:o:o:o:o:

This:

plus this:

equals this:

Not yet finished, I think.

afloat

It's keeping the soul afloat, that's what it is.

I'm really liking these surfaces, like stone or copper, a kind of weathered look.

a few things

Last two weeks there've been a few things happening in the studio.

I've built a lot of very small canvas stretchers, and a few larger ones too.

Started a new series of square Multiples, then realized I misjudged the amount of canvas needed around the edges and so now I am brewing alternate possibilities in the back of my mind while working on other things...

... other things, like this large purple-and-blue painting.  It's a diptych and it's near to being finished.  Pinned to the wall next to it are 5 long pieces which I began in February.

The painting of the 5 long pieces started well, and now begins the push-and-pull process of bringing them to fruition.  They will go onto their stretchers after they have been painted.

It's starting to become quite cluttered in here!  Soon, I think, there will be a cleaning.

switch

I have been enjoying the switch away from "multiples" to finishing these older works.

Delving into unknown territory makes for a wonderful but sort of exhausting journey.  It feels good to refuel with a more familiar aesthetic for awhile.

The yellow one has got to here:

And I've just collaged in a few more bits that need to be weighted down while they set:

Jars of preserves can be just the handiest things to have around!

distance

I need to clear some space, get some distance.

About a year ago I began a series titled "plane" and then, halfway into it, put most of them away to wait.  Today I pulled a few out and felt excited about them again.  Here's one:

before

after

Here are a couple more that need some work:

And here are a couple of finished pieces from the series:

Aerial
56w x 49h inches 

Shades
34w x 31h inches

When a series of work goes "pfoof" halfway through, and I cannot work up the energy or excitement to continue with it, then I lay the pieces aside for a few weeks, months, sometimes a year or two.  When some time has passed I will bring them out and find my energy to continue is renewed.  

Not a very efficient way of working is it, but that's OK - efficiency isn't everything and in the end I always manage to finish what I start, even if it takes a couple of years.

Maybe I pulled the "Plane" pieces out because I need a break now from the multiples.  

Here's the most recent multiple piece finished:

The texts

are insistent:

it takes two points

to make a distance.

The cubit,

for instance,

is nothing

till you use it.

Then it is rigid

and bracelike;

it has actual strength.

Something metal

runs through

every length -

the very armature

of love, perhaps.

Only distance

lets distance collapse.

- Kay Ryan

It seems I need a bit of distance now.  Finishing some of the "plane" works will accomplish two immediate things: emotional distance from the multiples, and a feeling of accomplishment that I'm finishing some older works.  

Also one longer-term effect I hope to gain is seeing the multiples more in context with my other work and not so much separate, which is how I have been perceiving them.

black and white

White multiple series recently finished, working title: A Memory Of Flight.  

Here they are in my studio:

Those stretchers in the photo above are meant for a black multiple series begun this week.  There will be 9 blacks in total.  Here are the first two in progress:

It's proving to be an interesting process to me, working on these multiple series.  I'm going very intuitively, not thinking much beyond simple aesthetics as they come together.  After they are made, stepping back to look and think, I find they invariably remind me of something...  a kind of hazy memory feeling.  I like this aspect of the work.

My parents are immigrants and from earliest childhood we moved from place to place, and what with one thing and another the continuity of memory was not much developed in me.  Now, working in this intuitive way - which is a bit unnerving (not being able to explain in a world that demands explanations, art gallery world included) - working in this really intuitive way seems to be opening up some kind of connective channels.  I am becoming a follower of threads!  haha

House Of Leaves

House Of Leaves

acrylic on 12 stitched canvases

10x10 inches each piece

The title of this piece originates in John Steinbeck's book "East of Eden"  In the latter part of the book, Caleb and Abra meet to talk under a weeping willow tree, and their hideaway is referred to as a "house of leaves".  This phrase gave me a wonderful image of a place apart from the pressures of the world, a restful place where nature soothes the soul.

When I made this work I was feeling very restless and anxious.  I believe that a lot of my artwork comes about through an attempt to balance myself, to "fill in" the bits that are missing, so to speak.  So this work is very calm and inviting, with softly scintillating colour in subtle hues.  When it was finished, I realized I had built my own house of leaves.

Alberta Landscape #69

March 22nd, 2:30 - 3:30pm

Weather: -5C and a bit windy

Artist: grumpy and uncomfortable

Landscape: out of reach

Alberta Landscape #69
oil on cradled panel
10x10 inches

Wind in face, clumsy gloved hands, vision obscured by slipping hat, high level of human-nature disconnection... stubbornly I painted anyway.  

It was just so beautiful out there, flat and rather bleak, basically a perfect landscape which I did not manage to depict very well.  Chalk this one up as a record of a moment, nothing more and nothing less.

A Week In The Life

No part-time "other job" for a few months now.  I am feeling so very grateful to be able to work as a full-time artist.  Sure, there are continuing struggles both external and internal, but underlying all is the feeling that here is the proper rhythm.

This is what my working week has been like:

Monday:
Mailed a package of the Paperworks to the Front Gallery.  Cut the last birch plywood strips into short lengths for small stretchers.  Picked up newly ripped spruce plywood strips from the lumber store.

Tuesday:

Tried an interesting experiment with Chris Wikman, an artist located in Saskatchewan.  We connected via skype while working in our respective studios, hundreds of kilometres apart.  We each worked on our own projects while talking (or not talking) listening to music (or not listening), and generally being companionable.  It was a fun and productive day!

Chris' daughter was intrigued with what we were doing.
What interesting times are these!

While skyping with Chris I worked on a painting which my parents-in-law have commissioned.  This is the third commission of my career.  It's pretty close to being finished:

Alberta Landscape #52
oil on birch panel
original: 10 x 10 inches
enlarged: 30 x 30 inches

Also while skyping with Chris I coated the first two sets of multiples with self-levelling clear gel, which is one of my favourite acrylic mediums:

Spin, Drift, Pool, Settle - blue pieces
House Of Leaves - gold toned pieces

Wednesday:

Skype-ing again, this time to make portraits of Russell Mang, another Saskatchewan artist.  First one was very fast:

portrait of RM
sharpie marker and acrylic ink on gesso'd 60lb paper
9 x 12 inches

Second one took a bit more time:

portrait of RM
oil on gesso'd 15oz canvas
10 x 13.5 inches

There are some technical deficiencies in anatomy and lighting, but overall I like it, mainly because of the style of brushwork.  Total time spent was about an hour and a half.

Thursday:

Preparing the new spruce plywood strips into strongbacks:

The neat pile on the floor to the left are prepared strongbacks.

Here's a blog post I made a few years ago, detailing how I build my canvas stretchers.

Building stretchers is a process that I love.  There is something very relaxing and uplifting about building really good painting supports and thinking about the paintings to come.

Friday:

Office-variety paperwork.  (If all goes according to plan.)

Besides the studio work there are household errands and helping a friend fallen on hard times and phoning my far-away parents and some volunteer work at the seniors' centre.

It's a simple life in many ways, and it took a long time to find, and I am so very grateful for it.

The Night Garden

The Night Garden
mixed media and stitching on canvas
55x55 inches includes spacing
(12x12 inches each)

Patience

Patience is

wider than one

first envisioned,

with ribbons

of rivers

and distant

ranges and

tasks undertaken

and finished

with modest

relish by

natives in their

native dress.

Who would

have guessed

it possible

that waiting

is sustainable -

a place with

its own harvests.

Or that in

time's fullness

the diamonds

of patience

couldn't be

distinguished

from the genuine

in brilliance

or hardness.

Kay Ryan

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Happy Day of Women Everywhere !!! 

   

Steven Zevitas article

This is an excellent article which gives a broader perspective to some of my own struggles as a working artist.

I find it difficult to remember, sometimes, that I am not alone in this big and mostly mystifying world.  Reading stuff like this helps.  
Getting out of my own studio and talking to other artists also helps; I need to do more of that.

:)

evolution or stasis?

I'm currently into an idea of using a simple and repetitive format - in this case 10x10 multiples - and playing with colour.  This is an attempt to further my experiential knowledge of acrylics.

New work begun a few weeks ago started here:

Stretched them a few days ago, and yesterday began adding colour layers.  

Transparent greens and blues and pinks and yellow-ish whites:

Then, more green - oh, too much green!  Tried to balance with red/orange/pink edge colour:

Hmmm, not quite.  making decisions too fast perhaps.

Just stop and think, let it seep, let it settle...

But we are preparing to go out of town for a few days and for some reason, instead of using the trip as a time for letting things settle in the studio, I got into this "finish the thing before we leave" mentality.  

Hmmm.  I mean, it's one thing to make sure the dishes are done so as not to return home to chaos, but in the studio?  Really?

So in the end they look like this:

Or if one prefers, like this:

I am enjoying these, enjoying the colour play and simple format, but somewhere in myself is an idea that I could be pushing them a lot more.  If I gave myself more time to look and consider, perhaps... hmmm.

Or perhaps this is it; perhaps deep in my heart I know that I have entered an era of Verna's Little Shop of Home Decor Horrors: quickly made and quickly forgotten, and I will just have to wait out the decade.

:)