Flowers, Fake Grass, and Acid City

I began the two paintings below last semester.  They were originally part of six panels that I planned to be a cohesive series but three became individual paintings of houses, one turned into a weird chair painting, and these two branched out on their own.  They kept inching closer and closer towards each other on the wall, gradually turning into the pair they are today.

Stage 1

 Holy Patriotism!  Muse ease up the red…

Stage 2

Whew.. The blue calmed things down a bit.  What's up with the smoke/clouds above the grass?  I don't know…just seemed like the thing to do.

Stage 3

The flowers got some work today.  It's coming along, not as quickly as I would like but I've got two museum gigs this summer so studio time is less than ideal (learning that efficiency is the key).  But just because I am at work does not mean the making comes to a halt, it means the Acid City series is growing.  Who says you can't make art with limited resources…office supplies rule.

Step into my time machine, fast forward a month and real flowers/fake grass is complete!

Someone Else's Homestead

Someone Else's Homestead

Someone Else's Homestead, the series I began during my South Carolina residency this summer, is finito and photographed!  I am not exactly sure of the order or orientation the paintings will be arranged in, above is a test shot. What a great sense of closure and now the door in open to fully jump in and begin new work.  Here are some general words that describe my experience at Rensing.  Next on the agenda is finding a venue to show the series…hmmmm….

To immerse yourself into another person's environment is to become consumed by another person's thoughts, beliefs, their life.  Those feelings take time to dissipate after you have left the space in order to  resume your own life again.  The transition period takes awhile to stumble through, it takes time to absorb the experience and then to leave it behind.  But you quickly learn that there is no way to fully resume your previous existence.  There is no picking up where you left off because the experience changed you, and maybe in just the most subtle of ways or maybe you see the world entirely different.

Chair, Flashe and acrylic, 31"x23", 2015

Baby Goat, Flashe and acrylic, 31"x23", 2015

Sewing Machine, Flashe and acrylic, 26"x20", 2015

Cabbage, Flashe and acrylic, 26"x20", 2015

Basket, Flashe and acrylic, 22"x16", 2015

Pinecone, Flashe and acrylic, 22"x16", 2015

Summer

It's pretty much the dead center of summer.  I've had about six weeks to recover from the first year of grad school and have about six weeks to prepare myself for the second (and final!) year.  A good portion of the summer was spent at the residency in South Carolina and I am super happy to report that I finally finished the series, Someone Else's Homestead, that I began while in Pickens.  It is a great feeling of closure and has led to a new and smaller series that I began and am really enjoying.  I love how one project can unfold into the next. The painting portion of the series is complete, now it is time to photograph and write a proper statement about the work.  Better photos to follow!

Singer sewing machine that lives in the Rensing library.

One of my beloved baby goat friends.

Vitrine:  a glass showcase or cabinet especially for displaying fine wares or specimens.

So I am into vitrines now.  Like the Penny portrait from the last post, my interest in vitrines came from a catalog I got at my museum gig.  The catalog is filled with urns, artifacts, and beautifully elaborate display cabinets.  The interesting thing is that these decorative vitrines are empty so their purpose of housing fine wares is taken away, leaving them to be art objects unto themselves.

Vitrine imprints.

empty vitrine in-progress 1

empty vitrine in-progress 2