New Work

Grounded, 48 x 46 inches

I've finished three of the large paintings. One still alludes me.
Oh and I might still work on the green one. One area is still bothering
ing me, ugh. I should have listened to Drew and left it alone when he told me to. I wish there was a back button in painting.

In the Beginning, 48 x 46 inches

Somewhere Only We Know, 36 x 60 inches

New Work

I'm excited to have finally started new paintings in my new space.

New Studio

When I left my studio in June to start my summer job I never imagined I wouldn't be returning. An exciting opportunity arose, is the best way I can think of to describe this major change of venue. I've moved the contents of my studio to what is at the moment a raw space, kind of like a diamond in the rough. The space is at 2003 West 17th St, off Union St. in Wilmington, DE, home of the Silver Hammer Workshop. Rich Pierce will still be holding woodworking workshops there in the summer and in the near future we plan to be on the Art on the Town, Art Loop. Until then I actually have the whole place to myself until my studio mates Delainey Barclay and Kyle Ripp move in. I'm stretching and priming large canvases for my upcoming show at Trust Venue in Philadelphia for the month of November.

Change is inevitable, everyone knows that. I felt really sad when I found out that during one of this summer's storms the wall to the old swimming hole in Arden gave way.

I used to sit on it to experience Naaman's Creek flowing under me. It was my favorite place, close to home to go and be one with nature. I always felt a little nervous walking across it, wondering if it would hold. The forces of nature can be very powerful as seen by the huge trees that fell in this area during hurricane Irene. I used to paint tree roots to symbolize permanence and stability. Everything is impermanent, apparently.

Silk Organza Soft Sculpture

Linda Hutchins is an artist that makes beautiful hand sewn organza sculptures.

Memory of the Dance

Cord

Egg, Cup, Hammer

Jade Plant

Here's an excerpt from her website: Over time, I have distilled my materials and methods to a spare, minimal aesthetic. I use hand-sewn organza to explore the effects of cumulative process in three dimensions. I use hand-drawn line as a basic element to reveal the nature of repetition itself. Dualities between full and empty, convex and concave, right and left, and sensual and cerebral have surfaced as a result. Line is the device that recurs throughout. It is a connector, a separator, a marker of boundaries, a spiraling circularity, and a thread that prevails.

Although her thought process is different from mine I admire the patience that goes into her work. This is a piece I made over a year ago that I'm in the process of trying to duplicate. Every step in the making of it has to be approached slowly and methodically. The process is very meditative, which is nice.

Rain Drop

There's one week left to catch my show Waterways at the DCCA in Wilmington.

New Painting

I'm motivated by deadlines. While teaching the kids in Arden 3 hours a day with another hour of prep, I usually just collapse in the afternoons. This year with one of my kids away at camp and the other one spending most of her free time at the pool I was able to get to my studio once or twice a week. I was working on a new large diptych. I didn't know if I could finish it before the Delaware Division of the Arts grant application deadline but that was my goal. I photographed it on Sunday and the deadline was Mon. Here it is.

Running Forth, 48 x 92 inches

It's quite different from my last large diptych done 5 months ago but I think I like it. I'm suspending judgement until I return to the studio full time in a month. It's much more complex than Crash, Hush.. but it feels more expansive. You can really see the aerial photography influence. Here's a close up.

Silk Sculpture Progress

I've been working on a silk sculpture for my June show in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE. It's coming along. I'm planning to show this with a new large diptych oil painting.

I thought I'd show you what goes into making this piece. I start with silk organza and nuno felt it with off white wool. Here I'm laying out the wool.

Here I'm drizzling warm soaping water over it until it's soaked.

It's a little hard to see white on white so I also photographed the same process with turquoise wool.

Next I cover it with another layer of bubble wrap and roll it up.

I wrap it in a towel and roll it back and forth.

Then I unroll it and rub my hands over the back of the silk further working the wool fibers through the silk. In this part of the process I can actually see the wool fibers coming through to the back of the silk.

After that comes the fun part, I rinse the soap out and throw it on the table with force at least 200 times. It's called felling and it shrinks and compacts the wool which in turn makes the silk crinkle.

It's time to dye it in a puddle of dye and let it dry untouched for a few days. Here it is dry.

I have to steam it before I cut out the pieces.

Here's a stack of the pieces ready to be sewn together.

I've sewn them together, put wire in the seams and hung them up in my studio.

I'm working on color and composition issues but in 3 dimensions, instead of 2 which is a whole different ballgame. I'm trying to find the balance between too much, and too little. Then, there's the whole logistical issue of how to hang it.

Here I played around with adding the bubble silk to it. I'm going to make some pieces with smaller bubbles in a lighter color. I have a lot of work left to do! If you're in the Wilmington area I'll have my studio open this Friday from 5-9 pm at the DCCA.

New Fiber Work

I've been playing in the studio. Well sort of, play means to take part in an enjoyable activity simply for the sake of amusement. Since usually I'm working towards some goal, an exhibition or juried show submission there seems very little time for play. Intellectually I know play and experimentation are important ingredients to innovative work, it's just hard to make the time and space for what sometimes feels frivolous. I mean no one wants to look like a fool or waste time or supplies. Even though I'm working to have some finished pieces to enter in a juried show I'm trying to remain open to new ideas and to play. I feel like I'm on the verge of something wonderful but I continue to fall a little short and sometimes I really hate what I have at the end of the day. This is something I have on the wall right now but it's still a work in progress. My friends come in every day and encourage me with kind comments. I tell myself "Keep going, it's too late to turn back now."

This is a painting on broadcloth stretched on stretcher bars, covered with dyed silk that I ironed and then a crinkly piece of dyed silk pinned on top of that. It's interesting and getting closer to something I might call finished.

I listed 5 hand painted wristlets on my Etsy site.

If you're new to Etsy you can check out my favorites to see some really cool things.

Picking Up Where I Left Off

September was a crazy month of painting fabric and nuno felting for my window display. When it was done I was exhausted and so anxious to get back to painting. Last week I cleaned and tried to return my studio to some kind of working state. I had these two canvases 26 x 36 inches that I decided to make a diptych and primed them a midnight blue. Boy, they looked dark. Today I took the plunge and did my first pour of oil paint on canvas since last May. There's some glare because the paint is wet.

It's a start and feels more successful than the messes I made in encaustic. I haven't worked in encaustic in a long while and I'm still struggling to get what I want. I feel like a foreigner or a child, or both. I feel like a child in a foreign land. When I first started working with it, that is what I liked about it. It was exciting, like traveling to a new place where you don't know the language and you don't know what you'll encounter. Now I'm finding I can work for hours without bringing a piece to completion. I layer, melt, scrape, and still no satisfaction. Frustrating. I guess it's like learning a foreign language. So I was thinking about how a child communicates. They have limited vocabulary but usually find a way to communicate their needs. Sometimes it's with a cry that communicates loud and clear. So I tell myself I need to simplify, resort to a limited vocabulary. I guess that can be scary sometimes, to drop the pretenses and just say what you mean. Another advantage children have, they don't mince words they just say what they mean without the superfluous adjectives. I'm trying too hard, I guess. I keep hoping the results will be worth all the struggle. Here's a few pieces I'm still working on.

Then I grabbed a small panel that had some colors smeared on it from when I needed to clean my brushes from time to time. I painted some dark brown circles, when in doubt paint circles, right? Then I layered and carved, drew with oil pastel, ran out of time and called it a day. I kind of like it, I mean I really think I like it. It's simple and to the point. What do you think?

Large Oil Paintings

Art on the Town Openings are next Friday, April 3rd. http://www.thedcca.org/eventsartonthetown.html

That means I have one week to clean up this mess. I'm working on 3 large canvases in poured oil paint. I thin the paint down with turpenoid and then pour it either from a cup or a squirt bottle. Sometimes I pour the turpenoid first and then pour the paint into it like wet on wet watercolor. After I pour the paint then I direct it by lifting the canvas and, or using rags. I put a fan on it and might redirect it again after some of the thinner evaporates. I let each pour dry before I pour over it. This is a time consuming process with only 2 to 3 pours on a canvas per week. After I finish my pours, I fire up my encaustic paints. This fills the room with more noxious fumes. Yes, I use fans and open the window, only one window opens. I'm lucky when my neighbors aren't in the building to be bothered by all the smells coming out of my studio. So, your thinking I might die early because of my working habits, but I'll die happy because I'll be making art!