Saturday, March 26, 2011

Hmmmmm....

I came across this thought this morning over breakfast in the recent journal from Surface Design. The fiber artist in the journal's article referenced Vera John-Steiner who wrote the following in Notebooks of the Mind:

"...of the greatest importance in the thought activity of artists and scientists is their pulling together of ideas, images, disarranged facts and fragments... into an integrated work."

I love how clearly this resounds in me!

Seed heads

My co-worker, Melissa, at Gale Woods Farm had me take some photographs yesterday in her greenhouse. Eighty degrees and lovely with the aroma of black soil and compost I took a few for her.

Onion seedlings with heads of seed were still attached to their slender green bodies. I love the balance of daintiness and strength that was displayed throughout the flats. I desire to live with such balance!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Breaking in a New Brush with Green

There is nothing like a new paintbrush! and so yesterday morning I started work in detail with with my favorite, Winsor Newton, Size 1, Series 7 Miniature.

The precise line that can be obtained from a virgin brush is unlike anything else. I find the experience to be absolutely delicious!

My "green" palette was what I worked from and you can see the result above on my latest work in progress.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

"Artist" redefined

Over breakfast the other morning I was reading the most recent Surface Design Association Journal. I was drawn to an article titled Affinities ~ Fiber and Wax by Joanne Mattera. Having myself explored the two mediums individually, I have been curious about the idea of combining them together within one piece and so it was a natural fit to start reading..... I didn't get very far into the article (only to the 4th paragraph)  before I had to stop and let what I just read, sink in:

....."Neither Johns or Bourgeois is identified by materials but by ideas---a good reason for all of us to eliminate the adjectives we use to define ourselves as artists.".....

The whole idea that it is the idea behind it all that could define myself as an artist, verses the materials I use to create my work, is a breath of fresh air! Not that I needed anyone's permission to do what I may, I still find her perspective quite freeing.   :)

Regardless of the mediums, the underlying thread (my desire to accurately portray the passion I feel for my sources of inspiration through texture, layer, form and color) has always been there. So onward and upward I shall continue not as an oil painter dabbling in textiles or as a textile artist who paints, but as an artist giving credit to the natural world around me through the use of different mediums....

What fun!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Yummi-ness!

My current work-in-progress is on a companion door to the door that my most recent completed story, My Inner Reptile, is painted on. This canvas has the knob which I think adds such an unique 3D feature to the piece. This 3D element also seems to follow/mimic the circular orbs located on the lower right and left areas within the painting....

Today I continued laying out the colors and blocking out the forms with a not-so-often used larger brush (the result is shown above). Now I'm eager to start laying in the details with my favorite tool, a water-color brush by Winsor & Newton.