I finished my Seattle visit with First Thursday, then headed to Vancouver for First Saturday, and tried to remember how to restart the projects I left simmering up there.
Meetings & Making
For my usual start to the week of collected work, I managed a half-assed version of a spelling book page spread. This is number 34, and I’ve gotten a good start on a slideshow of the whole book. Just need 35 through whatever — I’m on it!
While I was in Seattle, I did get another chance to address this abundance of pink I mentioned before. Since I won’t be seeing this piece again for a while, why not be bold?
SO much better with the insistent pink knocked back a bit, but also so much less like its original composition. Well, I guess that’s the point?
I also added a few more sketchbook scribbles to my pile. Apparent themes: asemic writing, scratching into the surface, and maybe letting some pieces fly unattached, all while still loving a basic landscape composition. These will play well as layers — except for the flyaway bits, I guess.
Then, on the digital side, I had both some tweaks and some what-the-hell kind of days.
I’m realizing I’m happier with some open-ended exploring, not just by-the-book work.
Viewing & Connecting
To close out my Seattle visit, art buddy Andrea and I headed down to First Thursday. So many good spots, lots of serendipity! Here’s what I managed to snap.
At Shift Gallery, I liked Peggy Murphy‘s show, “Instructions for Looking at a Flower” where the addition of text elements to the very abstracted floral shapes really finished the work off perfectly. Down the street at Foster/White, we found a little collection of Sarah Winkler‘s work gathered around a corner. Apparently, a few new pieces had come in, and joined up with their stored friends to make a mini-party. Then, the work by Phillip Hua at Slipstitch just glowed: how did he DO that? By printing onto acrylic, then gilding behind — stunning. And finally, but actually our first stop, lovely photographic abstractions from Tara McDermott at CORE.
Then, back to Vancouver for the First Saturday in August, which is also a long weekend up here. Attendance was sparse, but I did manage some lovely visits with Valerie Arntzen, Marney-Rose Edge, Mia Weinberg, and Shary Bartlett, whose work is shown here.
Shary has a beautiful, big studio, where she holds classes, and I might just have to sign up to find out how she gets her encaustic finishes so smooth…
Experimenting
When I left for Seattle a few weeks ago, I had just started a couple of experiments with working larger. One was large scribbles on 18×24 manilla paper; the other was a larger collage on 9×12 watercolour paper, which I usually chop in half or quarters for smaller work. When I got back, it was time to get brave and try a few more rounds.
Those big scribbles on manilla paper are put to good use here as collage elements, but the piece got too dark. When I scraped white gesso over the whole thing, I really liked the texture it left behind, but of course it’s now too light. Round 4: back to dark values?
Then, over the past couple of weeks, someone from SLMM mentioned rolling marbles in paint, and I was temporarily frustrated by not having accumulated a junk drawer in my new place yet. Just a few rubber bands, no marbles. Finally, I happened on some ball bearings during my Seattle visit, to give it a go.
I used some badly-printed encyclopedia pages, inside an enamel palette tray. I was frustrated by the blobbiness of the initial placement, but once the ball bearings were whizzing around in my tray, I got a few good marks. Collage fodder it is!
It feels good to be trying a few things with less direction and planning. What have you been experimenting with, and, pertinent to a recent discussion on Instagram, is it before or after the plans you’ve made to create? There are good arguments for both — let me know what works for you.