Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Found Art Tues. Topic for 11-28-06




The Topic this week was Button. Tough topic, I thought, because my mind just wasn't that creative over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I found a red button that "spoke" to me. And here is the work, called "Redeye." It is in a bookmark format again. I used bits and pieces of papers that have been littering my workspace forever! Just cut them up and began to adhere them using Talbot's method. The bird was and drawn on a catalog page. Acrylic paints and media were also use to lend texture.

Since my 11 year old daughter has a dentist appt. tonight, I thought that would be a good place to leave the work. The reception area is large and it should be easy to leave it without getting caught!

k

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Found Art Topic for 11-21-06




This past weekend, and Monday night, I was on homework duty..particularly studying for tests. I don't understand why teachers cram 7 or 8 tests into a short week for the kids. I mean that they have a 1/2 day on Wed but on Monday and Tues we had a boat loads of tests. My oldest was just loaded down and she is only in 8th grade. My twins are in 6th and had a major examine today and hours, I mean hours of home work! Gosh it is so ridiculous! NO one can succeed under those circumstances! I can't wait for the week before Christmas break! OK...off my soap box. I did manage to finish a work for found art Tuesday.

The topic this week was Cloud. My work is a mixed media piece done on a strip of watercolor paper about 2 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. I used those artists tissue papers again to give shape and color to the sky. The cloud is Golden's tar gel and the image is something I found in a magazine ad. The piece is called "I can only Imagine." It is just about the right size for a bookmark. I am not sure where I will leave it yet...

K

UPDATE: I left this work at a local Borders in McHenry, IL last Tues. It did get found :)


Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Found Art Location for 11-14-06

I really loved Cancion por Espana and decided to keep the original. I do want to do another couple of 4 by4 squares on impressions from Spain... So what I decided to do was make a reprint of the work on a good quality photo paper. I affixed it to a piece of white cardstock and then left it at a Doctor's office in Lake Forest, Illinois. I had an annual exam and my Doctor is about an hour from my home so I thought I would expand the found art area a little :)

I will be very busy the next week or two with the holiday and quests (staying at our home). I don't know how much time I will have for art. But I do hope to at least turn out another Found Art piece for the Thanksgiving week.

k

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Fount Art Topic for 11-14-06



SONG. Rosa described an exercise she did in one of her art classes where she listened to different kinds of music while paining to see how it influenced her work. She suggested that we listen to a song of our choice, playing it over and over again to try to get the essence of it. In other words, how it feels, what emotions come out, what color is it, what images come to mind etc.. . Well, I often listen to music when I do my art but I never consciously listened to it for inspiration. I thought this would be a good experiment to try. I even had an idea in mind as I was reading Rosa's journal. Naturally the idea did not pan out but it did lead to the work you see here.

I am going to digress here and talk about a piece of music that is on the Mission Impossible 2 music CD and I do not know the name nor composer of the piece. I heard it at the ballet school where my children dance. My 13 year old daughter danced to this piece (along with other members of her ballet class) in Dance Chicago. I was so proud of her! Anyway the music is filled with urgency, passion and vibrancy. It is a modern piece with a very Spanish flamenco flavor. The images that come to mind were wild eyed gypsy women dancing in a very passionate and sexy way. And that is pretty much what their dance looked like. So I thought I would use this piece for my Found Art inspiration. You think I could get my hands on a copy of it? Naturally not when I was ready to sit down and create. So I left that music behind. But the images of Spain were still with me.

In 1992, my husband and I traveled through Spain. We began in Madrid and headed south through many memorable areas over a 15 day period. Those images returned in a flood as I was mentally shelving the piece I described above. So I decided to pick out a song that reflected some of the images I held close. Spain is not only a country filled with passion, energy , and color but also great happiness, joy, and sunshine. So the song I chose is absolutely one of my favorite works and reflects, not so much the passion typified in Spain, but rather the joy and happiness seen on the faces of the Spanish (be it in Madrid, Ubeda, Granada, Sevilla, Toledo...well, you get the idea). This work is by Antonio Ruiz Pipo'. It is called Cancion and Danza Numero Uno. I believe he wrote it in1933. It is a guitar work that absolutely embodies the joy I felt each day I spent in Spain.

My work is entitle Cancion por Espana (Song for Spain). I used a postcard, trimmed to 4 by 4 inches, and altered the surface using gesso. The initial background was artist tissue paper, bled and the dye was allowed to run in various directions on the substrate. The color palette I chose were those that I felt as I listened to this music; reds, yellows, some blue. Acrylic paint was used as well to enhance some of the tissue dye colors. Then I added some interesting clippings of colors from magazines. The work just seem to evolve as I was listening to the music. And I ended up with an abstract collage. Really a first for me.

I am thinking that I may do a series of my impressions from Spain in a 4 inch by 4 inch format. So I am not sure if I will put this work out for someone to find. Maybe 2 more works.... I have a variety of music from Spanish composers which reflect the moods, emotions, colors of the their world. So thanks to this little experiment...I may just have to interpret those :)

Thanks again Rosa for a great idea. It was a wonderful exercise and one I would recommend to anyone who feels in a rut. Let the music speak to you.

k

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Found Art Location for 11-7-06

After I picked up the children yesterday and dropped them at various activities and helped with home work (each child had 3 tests to study for,that would make a total of 9), I hit Panera Bread for a latte! I just wish it had something stronger in it! I left my flower work underneath (near the top) a stack of napkins in plain site (if you pick up a napkin). I could not stay because I had other things to do, like collapse on my sofa! Anyway. The kids have today and tomorrow off from school so we are working on some social study projects (creating Egyptian artifacts) and a family tree done in Spanish. Anything where we get to create is just great and these projects are right up my alley!
Looking forward to the next found art topic and getting some deco pages done!

k

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Found Art Tuesday Topic for 11-7-06: Flower



Well I am really late on this one. I had no time from Friday up until about 2 PM today to work on any kind of art. I literally put this together in 15 minutes and it looks like it! It had been a while since I played with artist tissue paper, the kind that bleeds, and so this work incorporated tissue paper both into the background colors and main image. I topped off the piece with a variety of rubber stamped images. The piece is about 3 by 5 inches and is on a heavy glossy cardstock. I forgot how much fun it is to work with this type of tissue. So I think I will use it for the next couple of things that I do just to re-familiarize myself with it. As far as where I will leave this? Not sure yet but I will get it out tomorrow in my runnings around.

k