Winter Pottery and Art Sale

A big thanks to everyone who dropped by my booth a the Nepean Sportsplex Winter Art and Pottery Sale this past weekend! This was my first time running a booth and it was lots of fun! 

If anything caught your eye or you missed the sale I am posting photos of my work here. I still don't have my web site up and running but it will happen- soon I hope.

These textile pieces are done in a traditional quilt format as I am trying to get way from framing my textile pieces. The glass tends to dull the colours of the fabric and these wall hangings have dramatic impact!  The batik fabrics are an African pattern with gold that really glows under the lights. Very bold and dramatic! There are square gold beads sewn into the black  border around the central pattern. Two loops are sewn at the top of the quilt for easy hanging on regular picture hooks. The hooks will be hidden behind the quilt when it hangs flat against the wall.

African Batik 3.1, 30x39in.

 

African Batik 3.2, 30x39in.

Gone Fishing, 11x16in.,  SOLD

African Batik 3.3, 30x39in.

African Batik 3.4, 30x39in.

Hello Mr. Fish, 14x16in.,  SOLD

Green/Gold Illusion, 34x34in., In this pattern the circles 'move' and the colours 'vibrate'.

 Pink Asymmetry, 34x34in., This pattern plays with light and dark squares moving forwards and back.

Mexican Holiday, 34x34in., This is just a sunny reminder of warmer climates!

"Sea, sand", pastel, 16x20in. framed, This is from New Brunswick.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these pieces just contact me through this site or at my e-mail address: jr_saunders@msn.com

Quilting is Cool!

Quilting is big! Whether it is for a practical purpose or a part of the explosion in art quilts, women and men all over the world are into quilting. They are throwing out the rules and letting their imaginations go wild. Pretty much anything goes in the world of quilting today from raw edge applique to paint to far too many options for embellishment to list.  And, its a lot of fun!

Just in case you are not yet aware of how big quilting really is, watch this video-the number is huge!

Watch CBS Videos Online

Thread doodling and Steam fixing

September is here it's time to get back in the studio. I had a wonderful summer with my husband and kids spending three weeks travelling in Europe.  We saw ALOT, I think we put somewhere between 5000 and 6000 km on the rental van!  Months of careful planning and now it's only a memory and of course lots of photos.  I hope to use some of these for inspiration over the next year.

September allows for a fresh start and this has meant a clean up  of my studio space to remove a lot of unnecessary junk that was just cluttering up the place.  Creativity needs room to breathe!  Now I have one table for pastel work and one table for textile work.  No more fighting!

These are two pieces I am working on at the moment, one in pastel and the other in fabric.

I lay down the fabrics and then sewed them onto the backing in a random sort of "doodling" manner. I am going to continue my "doodling" and see where it leads.

This pastel piece is done on Wallis sanded paper. It started out as a garden scene, but I was unhappy with it so I decided to try washing the pastel off in the sink, toning the paper with an acrylic wash and starting over.  Wallis paper will not only accept up to 25 layers of pastel,  but you can wash it off and paint over it with a variety of wet media.  This was a good time to try it as I had nothing to lose! The pastel does wash off but some staining of the paper remains which is why I decided to tone the paper with an acrylic wash.

Unhappy with my garden scene I decided to just let my imagination run free and this abstract image was the result. I think it has an altered landscape appearance. Of course, while I was in the experimental  mood I decided to also try a new technique for fixing pastel paintings by steaming them. Steam fixing is method I found in The Pastel Journal, Issue No.53 December2007, used by an artist named Dennis Rhoades.  He uses a steam iron with distilled water, holds the iron about 2 inches above the painting and moves it back and forth until the painting is very wet. Then he lets it dry. I still have a bit of flaking of the pastels but it is an interesting method and it does not seem to darken the colours the way fixatives do.

Apparently Degas used a variety of techniques- underpainting, various fixatives and steaming methods, he applied liqiufied and powdered pastels and applied pastels  with a brush-  to create his paintings. There are many more  new tricks to try out this year!

And that's all for now. Happy painting!

What I'm Reading

Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee I just finished this book after having purchased it in June as a holiday read. Dense, but very readable, it provides wonderful insight into the life of this famous American author of “Age of Innocence” and her many other novels about American society in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Growing up in Old New York society, followed by extensive travels through France, Italy, Germany, and Britain, fluent in French and then living for many years in France as an expatriate during and after WW1 provided her with a wealth of inspiration for her novels. A very prolific writer, she also wrote many short stories that were serialized in magazines. She was a great friend of Henry James and many other writers of the time as well as an avid gardener creating lavish landscape designs at her different homes in New England and France. She challenged conservative social norms by writing about social issues like divorce, adultery and sex. If you are at all interested in the ‘writer behind the book’, you will find this a fascinating read!

Finished!

Wow! It has taken more time than I wanted to finish these three pieces. Life just kept getting in the way. They are part of a group show at a community sports complex so I decided to frame them behind glass to protect them from 'little fingers'. I prefer them without glass as the colours become muted and not as bright but caution prevailed.

Each piece incorporates fabric, wool, beads, Shiva oil sticks and pastel into the mix to create a range of different textures.  Though inspired by photos the style is abstract. I have developed a new method to finish  the edges that I think looks tidy but is not too obtrusive. Each piece measures 14"x18" and is framed with a matt border and final sizing of 20"x24".

'Silver Moon' has an analogous colour scheme of blues, pinks and reddish tones that are meant to suggest a nighttime scene of sand, water, landforms and sky.

'Summer Day' has a more complementary colour scheme of greens and pinks with a dash of blue and yellow in the sky.  I wanted to convey the feeling of a bright sun shining over green fields.

'Leafy Canopy' depicts the heavy green canopy of leaves over a green carpet.

All three pieces have a flatter profile than  'Red Sky", a previous textile piece. This is in part  because of my desire to avoid so much needle breakage by reducing the number of fabric layers.  I have also used grey wool as a base fabric. This has created a softer feel to the work. Summer holidays are fast approaching so my time to work will pretty spotty, but I plan on continuing to experiment with various fabrics and techniques. The goal is to find an approach that integrates the different materials in a harmonious and practical way without an excess of needle breakage. I will also work with different images and styles.

Fresh start

I am back at it and starting fresh. Though I am attempting to maintain a similar feel and style to the "Sea" piece, the subject matter has changed to trees and and palette to  green and gold.  I began by layering strips of fabrics in various  green hues, slashing through them to create texture, felting them down and then adding wools and the wool roving or "dog fur" as I fondly refer to it! The natural coloured wool roving softens the greens and creates a woven appearance. 

I am constantly breaking  needles with this felting process even though this time I am taking care to felt only a thin layer of fabrics and wools.  I might rethink the process again when I have finished these pieces to reduce the amount of felting required. The needles cost $14 for 6, a bit pricey to break on a regular basis.

This time I will work hard  to not as they say "over work this piece!"  Deciding when to stop is always a challenge when creating any kind of art. It is very easy to go too far and lose the freshness and charm.

Anyway, I am posting photos of two pieces along with the previous "Sea" piece for comparison.  The first photo also includes a selection of fabric paints, Shiva oilsticks , threads and beads I am considering for addition later. At this point each piece measures 14" x18" without a border.

 

Dead ends, Detours and Play

Sometimes you just get  detoured off the main road, possibly to a dead end.  These photos illustrate my detour into a folksy, cutesy direction with two of the pieces. I rescued the last piece before I completely lost my bearings!  Perhaps I just needed to get that out of my system before moving forward.  This really is the value of play, to be able to explore different possibilities  and just see where your imagination takes you. Funny how an image will appear seemingly out of nowhere. 

Anyone old enough to remember the stories by Thornton W. Burgess such as The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat or Reddy Fox will recognize Old Mother West Wind and Mr. Sun as characters from his children's stories.  I have a special fondness for Folk Art and these pieces demonstrate this love. 

Both pieces are heavily felted giving them lots of body but making it more difficult to add decorative stitching. I have discovered that it is best to limit the felting to the base layers only and then use the regular sewing machine to apply other wools and fabrics later. The felting process destroys the fabric  and a new base layer must be added so the sewing threads have something to catch onto.  At this point I am going to put them aside and return to a simpler more abstract vision. I have one of the original three pieces to work with and am planning on creating three more in a similar style.

Perhaps in retrospect I should have resisted my urge to play but I think I needed to give in to a bit of silliness and  explore different avenues of expression. As my children will attest to, I am a little crazy about mazes, particularly corn mazes in the fall, and enjoy  following a new route even if it leads to a dead end!

Progression

Initial broad strokes of colour have been replaced by a more refined layering of fabrics and wools to show a gradation of sand and water.  The wool roving I have used for the sand almost looks like dog fur when it has been felted with other materials.  This creates  interesting possibilities for future work. Woof! Woof!

The land in the background has been depicted in a simple abstract style as a contrast to the more textured foreground.

Having cannibalized one piece for materials to use with the  others, I am only working on three pieces now.  I suppose it is a bit like eating your young!  Quite acceptable in the world of collage. 

I have been working indiscriminately back and forth  between the different pieces- sometimes one becomes a favourite but then loses out to  new  excitement about possibilities in an other.  Again, a silly correlation  to parenting, but somehow working in a series like this enables me to switch my focus between the different pieces and still create a cohesive grouping.  When I am stuck on one piece it helps to direct my energies elsewhere for awhile.

The photos have become a starting point for some compositional elements such as broad areas of light vs dark and colour choices but I am  not bound to striving for any particular degree of realism.  They are merely to inspire! What more can I ask of nature.

Realistic, Abstract, Non-Objective

Between domestic duties, I have spent some time deciding on the materials I will use to create the 'ocean' images. This is a fun, relaxing part of the design process where I shift fabrics, yarns and beads around until I am satisfied with the result. Because I am doing a set of four 'ocean' pieces, I am working on them all at the same time to keep some continuity of colours and design. My large art table is littered with pastels so I have moved to the dining table.  Collage of any sort is a messy, ever expanding process that once started takes over all available surfaces until completion.  I am prepared and don't intend to serve any dinners in the dining room until my muse abandons me.

Fabric collage can be realistic in style but is most often abstract or non-objective. An interesting article in " Arts and Activities, Jan.08 issue"  states that all art falls into three  categories: realistic, abstract and non-objective. 

To quote:

"realistic  is defined as the depiction of an object as it appears to the eye. Abstract is defined as the distorting of an object's natural appearance without losing all it's recognizable features. And non-objective is defined as the depiction of no recognizable or identifiable objects; however, the final product may be derived from a real object."

The article goes on to list examples of realistic art- da Vinci, Michelangelo;  abstract art-  Picasso, Braque;  and non-objective art- Kandinsky, Pollack and Mondrian.  It is worthwhile to refer back to these terms and the various artists associated with them, many more than I have  listed, because it helps further define my objectives  for my work.  Am I aiming towards an attempt at realism or  just a broad sense of the shapes and colours of the scene. Or, is the image just a jumping off point to explore colour, pattern and line.  I will develop my direction as I continue working on the 'ocean' set. 

I am posting the original photo images along with images of the  fabric design process as it is unfolding.  No pun intended!

Blank white paper

I am starting on a new series with the fabric collage. So far I have researched ideas for subject matter and settled on two different themes: oceans and trees. I am planning on doing four pieces for each theme so I suppose it could be labelled two series though both sets deal with nature themes. Each set will have it's own colour palette and compositional style.

'Oceans' will have a linear composition much like the previous fabric collages.  This will help illustrate  a scene of calm, sparkling water  and a sandy beach at low tide. I will concentrate on establishing values to depict a sense of space and create rhythm. The colour palette will include shades of turquoise, cool blues and beige-pink sand shades.

'Trees' will focus on proportional placement of shapes, large/medium/small,  to define the composition. I am looking to create a lush, deep green/gold scene. The colour palette will include mossy greens,warm orange, gold, and a bit of cool blue sky.

Rather than just dive in I have taken a more measured approach to getting started by first defining the compositions, then creating a set of value studies for each and finally doing quick colour studies in pastel for each image.  This helps me to define my ideas and visualize where I want to go with them.  And strangely, it also helps me to get engaged and really excited about my next project!  It gets me past the "blank white paper" stage. Now I can focus and start making my ideas come to life.

I have included pictures of both  'oceans' and 'trees'  done as value studies and colour studies. You might call them "my stretching exercises" before the marathon. I guess we all need a way to jumpstart our engines now and then.

Hallelujah

I love new... new foods, new versions of a song, new artwork, new ways of thinking, hearing, and seeing.  My favourite floor at the Seattle Art Museum was the floor exhibiting Modern Art. It was always exciting to see what new approaches an artist had taken to express an idea.

'New'  reminds me of two things. One, that nothing is set in stone, and that we all have our own way of interpreting and expressing what is around us. And two, that a good subject is always a good subject however different the new 'spin' on it.

"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen has been covered by many, many different artists but this is neat one, four guys, one of whom, Norwegian Kurt Nilsen,  is a World Idol winner. It's neat because of the casual, intimacy of the setting and because it it comes from four guys in a country that I don't think much about when it comes to music and art. It is easy to live in a creative cocoon unaware of the heroes writing, singing and creating in the rest of the world. It's also neat because it illustrates how  a good song has a life and energy of it's own outside of the original creator. Like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps going and going.

Good art is the same. A landscape, a still life, a portrait, an abstract painting... all subjects painted by artists throughout the world. Hallelujah for the ability of modern technology  to transport me across the globe  to see a familiar song with a fresh approach. It doesn't really matter how we travel as long as we do.

Check out the video.

"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

Vernissage

I don't score many points with my worldly husband over linguistic issues, after all his father is a retired English drama teacher, so it is particularly sweet when he, my husband, is ignorant of a term used in the art world....vernissage.

What! You are unaware of the meaning behind this significant event in the lives of artists?  Well, I say, wikipedia it! In common English it means 'opening' as in the opening of an art show, but the historical definition is far more romantic. Vernissage translates as 'varnishing' in French, referring to the final varnish put on an oil painting before exhibition.

So, what does it all mean?  A vernissage is a time to mingle and chat with fellow artists and other attendees. I suppose it is the modern day version of the French 'salons' when the artists emerged from their studios and stood beside their work and acknowledged that " I did that ".

It is the final critique. Will anyone like it? Will the viewer be moved by my work? Did I make a connection? The question then begs, am I creating for economic purposes, or for my need to express myself?

Choices

No photos today, just a few musings on the constant choices artists make in the journey to express themselves. When I occasionally pick up a copy of  The Pastel Journal, I am always appreciative of the wonderful articles inside. In Issue No. 53, December 2007, there is an article featuring Serguei Ossik, a Russian landscape painter. At one point he speaks about the  idea of using artistic license and emotional intuition when making colour choices.

To quote:

Ossuik's realization that it was impossible for him to transfer emotion, colour and the power of light by blindly following nature, helped him to develop his thinking about painting.  "I realized the inevitability of adornment," he says. "remember that Matisse said 'accuracy is not truth.'  It's impossible to convey the sparkling of snow, the burning yellowness of fall, the light spots on leaves or the birch trees whiteness without adornment."

A strong endorsement to "go with the feeling" when making colour choices or any choices for that matter during the creative process. I love Matisse' s comment about accuracy not being truth- it speaks to the idea of truly "seeing" and can be applied to many things other than art.

Further into the magazine another article featuring  abstract pastel artist, Ingrid Wilkins also touches on the ideas surrounding artistic choice.

To quote:

"I would advise, have no assumptions," Wilkins says. "Scribble. Paint with the body. Don't engage with the brain because the brain often stops people from doing things intuitively. Don't be afraid of the mess, because you can always clean that up. But you have to spit it all out first- that's the emotional barrier. It's about finding what really excites you."

Colour, texture, form, line- all have the power to excite and inspire. I can relate to the messiness of creating art. All creation is messy process. Particularly when working in mixed media I seem to cover every available surface in the house from my studio to the kitchen to the dining room before I am finished! I am "desperately seeking a surface " to give birth to my artistic expression. And, it is amazing that when done,  the finished piece has taken such a  transformational journey to completion when I have let go of my assumptions and let my intuition be the guide.

Gray day

Well, today is very gray day and this new piece reflects this with its somber mood. I did warm up the sky abit with the addition of a warm neutral gray. The image is from a series of photos taken while vacationing in New Brunswick, Canada this past summer.

What did I use? Right now I am working on Sennelier, La Carte pastel board. I like the tooth as I put my pastels on quite heavy. I use a combination of Nupastels, Rembrandt, Sennelier and Schmincke pastels. I also use fixative at various stages when I want to add a new layer on top of a previous thick layer. I try to avoid fixing too much at the end as it really does darken the colours and reduce the sparkle.

This piece has a more abstracted style than the previous two, and I am using a colour scheme that I usually don't use - grays! Generally I am drawn to brighter, happier colours but the grays definitely have their charm as well. It is amazing how the brightness of the sun or lack of it affect colour choices and mood.

New name, new medium

Ok...so  I have already changed my name. The first title was a bit boring. And now, after a minor domestic detour and a major computer disaster I am finally back at the creative game. It really is a love/hate relationship with these computers.

I am doing a few pastels at this moment.  I got on to pastels as a way to do some quick studies for oil painting. Now, I am hooked! Except for being messy and expensive, they offer instant gratification in terms of colour and completion. Opening a box of pastels is really like opening a box of delicious, brightly coloured candy treats. Buying more can also be very addictive!

These two sketches of an ocean beach have a  semi-realistic style.  My next attempts will try for a more abstract style focusing on colour and shape.

Feedback

One painting, "Red Sky", was accepted into the juried show. It was suggested that my frame choice might be changed to a simpler black frame to complement the contemporary style of my piece. Ok. I guess I will investigate some new sources, not the usual places, for frames. I need to get a sales tax number to be eligible for wholesale framing, but I will also try two independant framers that have been suggested.

I am happy with the frame size and will do more in this image size for awhile. Settling on a consistant sizing will free me from framing issues for awhile. Afterall, presentation is an important part of the finished product.

I am also going to try the Pebeo fabric paints and some wool rovings with the next pieces. I think I will again work with two pieces at a time. This allows me to work back and forth between the two pieces and not get too focused on only one piece. It allows me to step back from each piece for awhile. Often the solution for one piece helps me with the issues in the other. I am thinking of trees for the next images, working with greens.

Juried show

Phew! I just finished two new mixed media pieces for submission to a juried show. Still have to put the frames together yet but the creative part is done. These shows are both a nuisance and a major motivator. I can't in any way keep up with all the possible opportunities out there. But, they do flesh out the resume and get my work out for, gasp, public viewing!

These two pieces are a continuation of my exploration of fabric collage/art quilts. I will post some photos soon, but they both include: cotton fabrics, sheer fabrics, chiffon, wools, beads, Shiva paint sticks (oil) and fabric paints and inks. I have paid careful attention to creating different textures. The design consists of lines set horozontally. The pieces are a pair of sorts, a series. One piece suggests a rock face, "Stria". The other depicts a sky and water landscape, "Red Sky". At this point I am trying a variety of different products to add colour and texture.

I had alot of trouble trying to decide how to frame them. The last fabric collage I did was a bit flatter and I framed it in an ordinary metal frame with glass, but these two pieces really needed the texture and warmth of a wood frame. Also, glass mutes the colours of the fabrics and I wanted the colours to really shine. I could: stretch them over a canvas and frame that, use a frame with a liner, or try a matt without glass which is what I have decided to do this time. Maybe not the ideal solution but what am going to go with anyways. Framing costs cut into any profit I will make if I sell them so I try keep it cheap and easy. I must get a PST number and then check out wholesale framing.

Time for a break now. I have some more ideas to try with this method but it will have to wait until later.

Hey! I have a blog!

Now that I have finally jumped on the Facebook bandwagon I guess I need a blog to to effectively slam the door on whatever is left of my private life. I thought that having kids did a good job of that!

When I was a teenager I had a diary with a lock and key. It was most definitely off limits to everyone, especially my brother. It recorded the ups and downs of my life, and of course boys!

This diary will have a different more mature focus, an artistic focus. It is an attempt to record my development as an artist. I have titled it as my painting diary, but that is a loose term for any artistic endeavour I undertake. It is a work in progress that will involve alot of experimentation with various media.
So... here I go!