dress

i've been working all day.  good news is the idea is keeping me thinking of nothing else.  bad news is that i am half-way done, and need to let the ink dry to overprint.  two days.  that's how long it's gonna take.  i think i will go nuts in the interim.  the paper is taped on the table, and i can't remove it or it will be out of registration when i go to  make the overprint.  i think i better go make a margarita.

junk

i have been on some junking trips lately.  and i have found some good fodder.  some of these things were real bargains, and some i had to pay the price for cool.  the good news is that i am honing in on some ideas for a new series of boxes.  i think (duh) they are going to involve drawers somehow.  i don't know if i will do a box within a box, or just let the drawer be the box on its own.

some great news today.  i went to the curtis arts and humanities center in greenwood village with teresa.  we met with the gallery director there about a show.  turns out that teresa and i will have a dual show in may.  the center was originally a one-room school house back in the day.  there are two rooms on the main floor of the building.  teresa will have one room, and i will have another.  i will be showing assemblage, teresa pottery.  how exciting!!

it's a bit overwhelming, really.  so much to think about.  i know the time will fly, and the next thing i know, it will be may.  so i better start getting the ideas rolling.  and assembled!

a preview and a good story

dress box preview

this is a very nice story.  it makes me smile every time i think about it!

at our last show, a customer named lucy came in and bought some of my art.  she was drawn to it, she said, because of the objects i had used.  so we spoke briefly (it was crowded), and she said she would be going out of town for a while, and would be back to pick up her artwork.  a few weeks later, no lucy!  so i emailed her to remind her i still had the items.  she emailed back, and told me when she came to get her stuff, she would like to let me look at some random "things" she had in her possession.  

 of course, i said "i would LOVE to see your stuff."  so lucy came in on a tuesday, and picked up her work, and bought yet another piece.  (she is an amazing customer).  she then carried in stuff by the armload for me to peruse.  my jaw dropped.  it was as if some fairy landed on her shoulder who knew my every desire and whispered in her ear what to bring me.  everything was wonderful--heavy patina, and in various stages of falling apart.  just how i like things.  turns out lucy owned an antique store in austin several years back. (did i ever mention that we lived in austin, too?  how coincidental!)  anyway, the treasures were amazing.  here is a short list:

doll/santo hands

old books with leather covers

fashion illustrations from france

a sketchbook from the 1930's from a graphic designer

old dress patterns

old pattern books

cracker jack charms

mirrors

old dog food bags (never used, with great graphics)

old photos and ephemera

i could go on, but you get the gist.  wonderful things.

now here is the best part.  she just gave it all to me.  she said she wanted to pass it on so that someone who understands this sort of thing will use it.  of course, i offered to pay her.  and she said "no".  so my trade will be that i will make her a box when the dust settles in october.  and that's that!

are you smiling, too?  sometimes the world is a very nice place to be.  people do the most amazing things.  thank you, lucy!!

ok...so here's a sneak peak at a new box in progress.  the background is an original monoprint that has been overprinted with a lino block.  the mirror is the part lucy gave me.  it's an old compact with a broken mirror.  the pieces will sit in the bottom of the box.  (obviously you can't see the actual box.  john is working on finishing it for me.)  i bought the dress off ebay.  it's an old barbie dress.  i love orange, and so i had to have it.  i'll take another shot when it gets closer to being finished!

wedding day, 1947

i had an idea to further expand on the concept of the mug shot prints i have been working on.  i thought it might be interesting to open the series up to other photos from other eras.  then i could hang them all together in a sort of "installation" that plays on the idea of the photo wall.  you know, the kind at your grandma's house.  all of the kids, grandkids, cousins, and relatives are up there. it's not hung in a particularly professional fashion.  it's a bit off kilter, and the frames don't exactly match.  sometimes there are even those collage frames included in the mix.

so here is the new print.  it's about 9x12 inches, and is actually based on a photo of my mom and dad on their wedding day.  so even if the wall never comes to fruition, at least i spent the last day thinking of them as i re-created their special day in ink on paper.

btw, you can click on the image for a closer look if you'd like!

mug shots

two new monoprints.  i am further playing with the concept of yearbook mug shots.  maybe my years as a high school yearbook staffer are coming full circle.  anyway, these are a bit larger and more detailed than the ones i previously created.  these are about 9x12 inches.  as you can see, they are similar, but still have some differences.  it's kind of like that game you played in the dentist's office, looking at the two almost identical pictures in highlights magazine.  (i was always so mad when some kid before me circled the answers!!).  can you see the background has come through in different place on each print?  which one do you think works better?

focus, focus

this is a print i made that is part of a series i am working on that is loosely based on yearbook pictures of 8th graders from 1953.  i am experimenting with merging non-objective backgrounds with snippets of the mug shots.  the idea is that it is recognizable, but still not completely representational.  i am also playing with color schemes and overlapping many layers.  

here's another.

the colors are not exactly as they are in person.  i can't seem to get the colors right on the scans.  these are pretty tiny, only about 3x4 inches.  i have been making very large prints, and needed a change in scale to get myself re-motivated.  all are oil-based printing ink on 90 lb. watercolor paper.

class of 1954

i have had a class photo of junior high students from 1954 in my collage material box for a couple of years.  recently i unearthed it and started playing with ideas for a new box.  i have a vintage orange barbie dress in my collection, and thought that a print involving class pictures from the same era might be a good match-up.  at the studio the other day, i started experimenting with the idea.  i didn't get a good print for the assemblage box, but i do like the print on its own.  now i am working on a whole series of prints based on the idea.  i like the play of foreground and background playing a semi equal role.  this one has 6 layers of color.  yellow, orange, khaki, brown, blue, and white.  i am making these small, as i think it would evoke a more "mug shot" look.  a group of them together in the same frame might be an interesting display idea.  by the way, the scan shows the paper as slightly blue for some reason.  it's actually off-white.  

parasols

new collage idea.  kinda evolved from the garden theme i was pondering.  i spent the morning painting various papers in purple/plum/orange/yellow-green.  i am excited!  i'll post the results when they come to fruition.  or should i say unfurl?  inspiration from lots of places...the drink umbrellas i glued in an old sketchbook, sea urchins, coral formation from a book john gave me on geology, and of course circles.  circles show up in my work over and over and over.