lulu

this is the second one. her name is "lulu". i know that because the old photo she was inspired by tells me so. it's inked in on the border of the picture. she is collaged on canvas and then spray painted on top using stencils. i think there were about 5 or 6 stencils in total. the background is collaged with paint chips from the home depot. (don't tell them). i had fun with her. my favorite part is her skirt, which is made from a piece of hand-made paper from india. 12x30"

i have still been a bit down lately. i don't know if i'm having trouble adjusting to not teaching, or what. when i left school i was afraid i would miss the interaction with people, and i think i do. i am a introvert at heart, but i like being in the presence of people when i am working. i have spent lots of days alone, which is nice because i get a lot done, but some days i miss the camaraderie. i also think that i am having a hard time adjusting to not having ben around as much. he is a lucky guy, having lots of friends and a full social calendar. but he is not home as much. i am really glad for him, and swell with happiness that he is having fun. but i still miss him. i know i need to get used to it. in 3 short years he will be away at college, working on completing the transition to the wonderful mature person he will be.

ok...time to work. i cut a series of stencils yesterday for another spray paint/collage piece. it's a house, and i plan to make a large piece using the house stencils with the stencils from the two women i have already finished. i think i will do a piece with only the house, too. we'll see how it goes.

spray paint!!

ok, so i had a really fun day. and i made this. with spray paint, and stencils. it was so incredibly fun. i spent over 4 hours playing with techniques, literally painting myself into a corner and back out...over and over again. it was a true day of artistic problem solving, and exactly what i needed.

i have 2 more to try...unfortunately i left the canvasses in the studio, so i will have to go down first thing and get them while i'm on a roll. i was so into it that i almost forgot to feed the dog and make dinner.

if you look really close (you can click the image to make it look bigger in a new window) you can see that her dress is collaged underneath with an old calculus book. and the texture in the background is paint chips. they are now painted over, but i like the texture the create. i also wanted to keep it a little out of control, hence the orange. i sprayed it on at random before i put down the stencils.

the piece is 12x30".

triptych (first in the series)

this is the first triptych in the series. i felt like playing with color and edges and letting the underpainting come through. now i am working on a larger scale triptych, but i think it will go in a completely different direction. at the studio yesterday i was looking at some vintage photos and found some funny shots of some frumpy ladies. so i collaged a background on a 12x30" canvas, and am working on a juxtaposition of vintage ladies with a modern twist. so far, so good. i'll let you know if they work out or go in the trash!! it does feel good to play.

sometimes i worry i am going in too many directions. i look at artists who pick something and stick to it, but i guess that's just not me. i can't imagine doing the same thing over and over. i know i look a bit scattered with my work sometimes, but i can't help it. i get excited by doing something new!

triptych

this is what i did today. this is the second in a series of triptychs. each panel is 4x12", so it makes an approximate 12" square. tomorrow i'm gonna try 12x36" panels. scary!!

thrift shopping

i have been shopping for vintage stuff for the past week. i have been in a bit of a lull on the vintage stuff. i just haven't been able to find any cool stuff lately. john and i went to an auction about a week ago thinking that was the answer, but after about 5 hours of waiting for the "good stuff" i ran out of steam. i lost it when the auctioneer moved from the front of the room and started auctioning off things one at a time on the tables. it was too much for me to handle. i would not be able to do the auction thing very often if i had to.

so i decided to look around this week for stuff in other places. i went to lots of thrift stores, and was pretty lucky. i also asked john to go through some of the old tools he has, and we came up with a box of cool things. i also went to the outdoor paris flea market down on santa fe. and i came out with a bag of fun items.

ben had a race in winter park this weekend, and i went up on saturday after the paris market. it was nice and cool up there, which was way nicer than denver where it is HOT. john and i drove to granby this morning to check out a little antique store there, but alas, it had the "closed" sign on the door even though they said they were open on sunday. drag.

i drove back after lunch (did i ever mention how much i hate driving in the mountains? well, i do hate it, and was very happy to be done with berthod pass, thank you very much). anyway, i decided to go to the thrift stores on broadway on the way home. i found the letters pictured above!! now i know what the ceramic letters i have been using are for! they were made as title letters for home movies! you could spell out whatever you wanted on a background and then film them. or you could glue them to glass and shoot through them. so awesome. the neat thing was you could light them, and since they are 3-D they cast a shadow, making a cool effect. did i mention that they were only $1.49? deal of the day!! i am thrilled beyond belief.

the race...ben did okay, and was feeling good about it. he raced dual slalom, and tomorrow he races downhill, which is more of his passion. i hope he does well, but really it is about being out there more than anything else. he really looks like a man this year. i guess he is no longer my little boy. sigh.

no strings

so i didn't get my stuff into the show. that's ok. i have to build up some thick skin. i was kinda down yesterday and so i painted this (very ugly hideous painting that i had to delete before it made me crazy). it's a bit different from my usual. i'm calling it "no strings". i'm not quite done. feel like the hands and feet need some work. and maybe the yellow is too bright? (or maybe i could just rip it up and try again?)

anyway, it just came out of my brain yesterday. frustration with being a new artist in an old world. that's why she's naked under that dress (and she looks like a freak). feeling really vulnerable. the whole thing is a little (a lot) high school, really. but it made me feel better. maybe i have worked through actually cutting some strings. isn't that what art is about? sometimes it's not the product (thank god), but the process. this one will always remind me of the feelings i had on that day. and it will probably never go in a a frame or be sold (more like the trash can). it's more like a diary entry, only bigger! ha!