I cleared out some work from the current, aka work-in-progress folder, which leaves me free to explore my larger mark-making direction. Yay!

Completing

At the heart of it, I like checking something off a list. This week, 8 new pieces got titles! That moves them off the WIP list, and boy, have they been there a while.

Based on the original file names, where I start with the current year, these have been brewing since 2021. All those tweaks! These pieces are in the process of getting their own presence on the site, as promised.

I also dabbled in a recent call for art from the Special Agent Collage Collective: Beetlejuice! It’s a request for 3 collages that have the same elements. Up for it? Anyone is welcome to join me, so I’ll hold off on showing you what I did and encourage you to make your own. The deadline is the end of this month, and new agents are welcome.

Viewing

This weekend, I had a peek at the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival. I wasn’t sure what to expect: my definition of an outsider in art is someone without a fine arts degree, with self-directed instruction. Nope — not this festival! They have a wide and welcoming definition, described in the Georgia Straight last year as “artists who live and work on the margins, which really means anyone facing social exclusion in order to challenge stereotypes about what counts as art. “

Now Scout Heckel fits that bill, and sounds from the profile like life, never mind art, is a struggle. But she came up with some kind of scanned texture, part of a triptych, that caught my eye, and I’d love to see where this work goes.

Michele D. Arthur has a fine arts degree, but as a filmmaker, she was debuting new photography-based art that told a story as a whole and stopped me in my tracks. Look at this single image, then imagine it’s got a wall full of friends each telling bits of the story. Wow, right?

Jacqueline Primeau also has a degree in fine arts, though it was gathered between years of travel and detours. Her use of what looked like collaged photos called me over. I’m always interested in how to incorporate photography without it taking over the piece, and she does that here.

Echo João Vieira is self-taught in fibre arts, and taking it in interesting directions. That texture! I remember both my mother and grandfather creating macrame pieces, but at the time, didn’t think beyond them following someone’s instructions.

Eva OK is not only self-taught, this was her first show! There were lots of media from her experiments, but this one, with its landscape, texture, and palette, jumped out for me. I congratulate her for pulling together work and getting it through the submission process, at a venue that seems like a perfect fit.

Meetings & Making

I continued to work on Jane Davies’ Flexagon idea. After scribbling on each page of the book, I opened it up for some large paint and brayer marks, then folded it back down to add collage elements.

Working on the whole vs the parts is intriguing. Is it a booklet, 16 small compositions — or 32, given both sides — or 2 large pieces? Each time I flip it over or fold it up, it’s a new take. I love the surprise — see what I mean?

And my spelling book collages got another turn, with three more for the pile.

I’m trying to have each side be different, but related, and to have some element that crosses the midpoint to join them. But palette choices are all over the map… If these are conversations, they are on many, wildly different topics!

Finally, this week, I started another 9×12 piece, with elements from my manila sketchpad.

I had been thinking about using that sage green on the flexagon, but I’m glad I scraped it on here instead.

It’s ready for another layer. Oooh, what should it be??

Learning

As I continue to work from the Art From Your Core chapters, I thought Chapter 12, with its 107 (!) questions, was the hardest part. Well, no, Chapter 13 tops it! Now, my assignment is to use ALL those answers, dive into my memories and subconscious associations, mining and try to connect the elements of my life with drawings and notes. Scary/fun! If I come up with anything I can share, that makes sense to me, I’ll tell you, but for now, I’m just enjoying the connected remembrances to see where they lead me.

As I glide into fall and its wetter, cooler weather, I’m aware that this year of documentation is winding down. I hope I can figure more pathways for my art before the year is up: there are certainly no shortages of options to explore. Where is the end of this year finding you?

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