An alcohol-induced accident...

Reflecting.  12" x 12"  Pastel

This pastel had been hanging around the studio for months. It was started as a snowy landscape. I disliked it very much. Often with such problem pieces done on Wallis paper like one I just rub out the image and start painting again. The ghosting left from the first image is often inspiring and leads to something exciting. On this one I decided to drench it with alcohol spray...what possessed me I don't know.

I've long used alcohol to set a first layer of pastel. It does a nice job and dries quickly and takes a new thick layer of color beautifully. Sometimes I will put lots of alcohol to turn the pastel the consistency of paint and then paint into it with a brush. But this time I turned the piece upside down and just kept spraying and spraying until the colors ran together, dripped and splattered. The paper was buckled and warped. It was soaked and took nearly an hour to dry.

Hmmm. In addition to the dripping and running of colors, the texture of the Wallis kind of lifted in places. It looks and feels very sandy, not buttery like a normal pastel. I went into it gently with soft pastel in just a few places to accent a line or a shape, but mostly this is as I found it when dry, with just a tad of cropping.

I love abstractions but keep flip-flopping about whether this is anything beyond just interesting. Comments are welcome.

September 15, 2009 - Seeing the same landscapes in a new way

At a recent art talk by Connie Imboden, she talked about her creative process over the decades. She's a photographer but her process and thoughts on creativity cross all disciplines and media. I felt she was speaking to me and my endeavors, and I'm sure every artist in the room felt the same way. She said that in our process we don't need to find new landscapes (for example), but find new ways to see the same landscapes. That is exactly what I strive for in developing my new work. I had just completed these little pieces before attending the talk, so I felt really great! These are small pastels of familiar places reduced to large shapes of bold vibrant color.

May 17, 2009 - Abstracts/Mixed Media

Here are a few of my recent experimentations with abstract work which seem "post-worthy." All of these are done on Arches watercolor paper treated for printmaking. I wanted to draw on an intuitive process that I use when making my gelatin monotypes (see these on my website), just responding to the color and shape in front of me, staying in the moment and trying to keep clear of any particular intention. Texture too is a big part of what I enjoy in monotype printing, and any printmaking process, so here I used a combinations of acrylic paint, gouache, some oil pastel sticks, some soft pastel, too. Building up layers and contrasting the properties of the different media:  acrylic dries kind of plastic and smooth, gouache has a matte finish, and then adding the pastel marks on top really creates a rich textural quality. Would love to hear comments about this, my new direction.

Top:  Joy, 13" X 13" on paper

Bottom:  Glimmers of Hope, 11" X 11" on paper