Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., painting, printmaking | Tags: abstract, art, artist, drypoint, painting, printmaking
So, this week’s portrait class was fun…we did drypoint prints of the model. A drypoint print is made by taking a plate (copper, plexi, etc.), and using a sharp steel tool to “draw”, or gouge, the lines into the plate. Then, the plate is wiped with ink so that the ink stays in the gouges…and then we print it! We were using plexiglass. The most difficult part of this is that you can’t really see your drawing very well. You have to keep tilting the plexi under the light to see where the lines are, as they are so faint and hard to see. Again, we have the model who looks like Alanis Morrisette:
She was reading her book. I was pretty happy with how this turned out. Here is the second one:
I’m not happy with that one. Sigh! We only have one more class, after Thanksgiving. I may take another stab at doing a drypoint (just a little printmaking humor…).
I’ve done more work on my vise drawing series. I haven’t photographed the drawings, so I’ll have to show you them later. As one of my infinite diversions, I was playing around with a few small, gouache paintings. Here is the first one:
I like doing these messy, crazy things. It started out somewhat realistic, with the blue sky…but then it took a turn for the weird at some point. The next one:
Garish, right? I like garish. Last one:
I don’t know where I’m going with these. I just like doing them.
Any comments? Helpful suggestions?
Does it matter that no one may like these, as long as I like to do them?
Does it matter that I clearly am not interested in “editing”?
Does it matter that I often like to use practically every color that is out there?
Metallics…I don’t have any metallic paint yet…
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, artist, drawing, Lego, scribble, sketching, vintage
My son is out of school this week. This means a lot of legos, playdoh, diggers and general craziness for me. Having an only child means that you are ON…a lot. I suppose if you have more than one, you’re still on…but I somehow imagine that the kids can play together. That is, until someone starts crying. This was the typical pattern for me and my brother. My mother assures me that we did play nicely most of the time, but I don’t remember it that way.
Anyway, as I’ve been doing lots of lego stuff, I just started to play around with them as fun, abstract things. So now, my son and I sometimes just make lego collages. Like this one:
That’s a tiny one, but it was fun to do! I’m sure that I am not the only person to have realized that it’s fun to make random stuff from lego…no need to try to create the millenium falcon. There are so many crazy shapes now too…I don’t think that we had that “back in the day”, aka prehistoric legos… like this one:
Do you remember those????? If not, don’t tell me. I already feel ancient. What about this one?:
Remember how ridiculous and complicated the people were? WHYYYY? The lego people that they have now seem good. Also, having those humongous people require so much more lego to create anything remotely at the right scale for the person. Remember these axle blocks?:
The wheels make me think of a Model T Ford, or something. Okay, that was before my time…believe it or not. Another:
Do they still make those? I have no idea. We don’t seem to have one of the evergreen ones. Lastly:
A cup! A filthy one, at that. Sorry, but I couldn’t be bothered to remove the crud. I think that on Antiques Roadshow, you aren’t supposed to remove the crud…it increases the value of the artifact.
So, my ever frustrating font of artistic expression is dry this week. I’m having to use Legos as my medium of choice. Perhaps this is for the best…I’m sort of “cleansing the palate”, perhaps. Truth be told, I’m just sort of frustrated with where I am. It’s always a struggle to come to terms with…grapple with…and hopefully EMBRACE one’s limitations. I think that I’m still at “come to terms with”.
Yes, I’m definitely not “embracing” my limitations here…I’m sort of peering at them from between my fingers as I cover my face in horror.
sigh…
I’m excited to be meeting with two friends this morning. Both are artists. One is a very successful, established artist. The other is someone who is also talented and accomplished. I met them both in my art classes. We’re meeting this morning to discuss what we’re working on. I’m so excited to see what they are doing, and to get some thoughts and feedback on what I’ve been up to.
This week, I was experimenting with lots of different things, as per usual. I made this sketch, which I had intended to be the start of something, but ended up feeling complete as is:
How minimal, right? I like the look and feel of the marks, though. In complete contrast, I was also playing with acrylic paints this week. I did a small mixed media painting:
Could these two images be any different? I really enjoyed doing both of them. So, which do I prefer? The first one (a little) or the second one (a lot)? I don’t know. I have to keep pondering this more.
As you may be aware, MOMA in NY is having a de Kooning retrospective, opening in September. I’d love to go. I love his work. I generally like his genre of abstract expressionism. I prefer his work and that of Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell over Jackson Pollock. I like to see the brushstrokes, and Pollock (as we all know) didn’t use brushstrokes.
I also really love Cy Twombly. I guess he’s not considered to be “abstract expressionist”, but someone who reacted to that kind of art. I love that his paintings are a mix of painting and drawing. I also love that you can see his gestures so clearly in his work. I know that lots of people don’t like this kind of art. I understand that. Twombly’s work will just be scribbles to some people. I LIKE scribbles, though. This is a quote from Kirk Varnedoe (art historian) about Twombly:
One could say that any child could make a drawing like Twombly only in the sense that any fool with a hammer could fragment sculptures as Rodin did, or any house painter could spatter paint as well as Pollock. In none of these cases would it be true. In each case the art lies not so much in the finesse of the individual mark, but in the orchestration of a previously “uncodified” set of personal rules about where to act and where not, how far to go and when to stop, in such a way as the cumulative courtship of seeming chaos defines and original, hybrid kind of order, which in turn illuminates a complex sense of human experience not voiced or left marginal in previous art.
Why do I bring this all up? I guess that it takes strength to step away from what lots of people like (paintings that look like something), and do move in a direction that is harder to grasp. As I keep working, I’m trying to figure this out for myself. I know that most people would say, “paint what you love”! It takes a certain amount of gumption to do that when people see your work and say, “what’s THAT?” Not that there is anything wrong or lesser about a painting of a vase of flowers, etc. It’s just that representation art like that is more accessible. It’s easier to judge on a very basic criterion: “does it look real?”. If yes, then it’s good art. If not, then the artist is unskilled.
None of this is meant as a kind of judgmental criticism of the general populace. I think that it’s generally a human need to feel that one’s work is appreciated. It’s hard to venture down a path where you may receive nothing but disdain…
Also, with practice…one can become more facile at representation. If I practiced more, I know that my recent portrait of my son could get much better. But becoming more facile at abstraction is harder, in some ways. There is a world of difference between my little painting above and the work of de Kooning. I know that. But how does one traverse that distance? THAT is the question…
Not surprisingly…I’ve been doing some pondering on my work, as of late. My classes have almost come to an end. I know that this sounds odd…but that’s kind of a relief for me. Classes are intense, as you work all week to prepare for them, then you have the class…then you’re back into prep. mode. Just like any class, really…there’s homework. I’m looking forward to a break from homework. The good think about classes is what you learn and the regular schedule of doing work. The bad thing is that it sets of a certain rhythm to what you do. I need out of that rhythm for a while.
In this break between classes…I think that I’m going to really try to focus on the process behind my work, and relinquish all of my goals of product. I know. Why do that? I think that my concern for making a good product is inhibiting, or taking some of the joy out of, the process. Embrace failure. This is not easy for me to do. I’m kind of failure-phobic. Not that I haven’t failed much…of course I have. Lots of times. I just don’t like it. Well…now I’m going to try to get more comfortable with it. Any suggestions on how best to do this…LET ME KNOW!
This week’s print class in Cambridge was a bit deflating. I was running late, which already sets one up for stress. Then, my prints just weren’t coming together. It’s one of those cases where I probably should have just skipped class in order to provide some sanity, but I didn’t. I went anyway. I only managed to print three things before I ran out of steam. I need to refill the energy stores.
That print above was not what I wanted. I was also adjusting the pressure on the press, which didn’t help.
These colors are better…but the pressure the press was seriously off. Final one:
Much better. The pressure on the press was finally working for me. See the fine lines in this one? They were lost on the last one. It’s a bit dark, but I was happy enough with it.
I recently went to the Danforth Museum to see their current exhibit. This is a juried show, and there are lots of local artists in it. I think that I knew at least 5 of the artists who’s work was on exhibit. I loved it. I think that the Danforth is my new, favorite museum. If you live in Massachusetts…I highly recommend going now. Such great stuff. I think that I wrote down the names of around 20 artists who’s work I loved. Here is a short list:
Philip Gerstein (loved it)
Gene Mackles
C B Forsythe
Mary Tinker Hatch
Rachel Hellmann
Suzanne Hodes
Ilana Manolson
Beverly Rippel
Kathy Soles
Zsuzanna Szegedi
Gerri Rachins
I intentionally didn’t include any names of the people that I know! I thought that might be too biased…right? Well, forget that, actually… Catherine Kernan, Christiane Corcelle-Lippevald, Prilla Smith Brackett, Jill Hoy, Louise Kohrman, Adria Arch, Nancy Diessner, Elizabeth Flemings, Anita Hunt, Debra Olin, Iris Osterman, Julia Talcott. Some of those people I actually know…some of them I am just familiar with their work. Go see the show!
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., painting, printmaking | Tags: art, Chihuly, gouache, painting, print, printmaking, still life, woodblock printing
Before I start rambling on about woodblock printing…I bought my son some big containers of tempera paint, and a long roll of paper this past week. This is one of those purchases that is mostly for my son, but partly for me too. I love the idea of splotching big blobs of paint on a huge paper. Here is part of our creation:
I think that he had a good time with it. He seems to like to just mix colors together to make “outer space”. He’s not so concerned about making marks. He also found large stones and a brick, which he brought over to paint. So, even when you think you can imagine how a play activity is going to go…kids always surprise you. It just might be that my son is not as into making art as I am. Or maybe he is…but in less obvious ways. Either way, it was messy and fun.
So, last night I had my last woodblock printing class! It was such a fun class. I love the bold, graphic quality of woodblocks. Yes, some people can do subtle things with woodblock…but not me! Here is my last block in process:
I realized, while carving this block, that I’m not such a fan of carving. My teacher mentioned that she often listens to books on tape while she carves. Good idea!!! That might help. Also, I think that the pressure of having to design and carve a block on a schedule makes it a little stressful and less fun for me. I mean, I like to have a new block for each class. But if I wasn’t constrained by my weekly class, perhaps carving would be more meditative, and less like a chore. I’m wondering if I’m not destined to be a relief printer, because I don’t LOVE to carve. Hmmm. BUT…I do like how woodblock prints turn out…so this is a bit of a conundrum for me.
Here are the prints from yesterday:
I was somewhat happy with this print. It may need something dark in it. I’m not sure. Once again, I decided to just leave it and think about it more before doing anything else. Here is a detail:
I love those colors together, and I’m happy with my new block. The new block is the red part of the image. Here is the second print:
A bit simple, but nice. The orange looks more yellowish in reality. Detail:
It’s always an exercise in restraint for me to not add MORE. Here is just a print of the block that I made last week:
This took A LOT of restraint for me not to add more “stuff”. Sorry about the odd lighting in the photos. It’s the morning, and I don’t have great light to take pictures with. Here is the detail:
Brace yourself…there’s more!
I couldn’t leave that one alone, obviously…
I like this next one a lot:
It’s hard to tell, but the dark ink is a sort of plum color. Very cool. Detail:
The last one:
detail:
What do you think? I’m happy with how this latest block came out. It seems that no matter how many blocks one has…you need more! That puts me back in the condundrum of carving…
So, I had a free hour yesterday, so I did a little gouache still life. Now, bear with me…I don’t paint often. BUT, I really enjoyed it. So here is my bigger dilemma: I love the way woodblock prints look…but I am not keen on carving. I am not fond of my painting (see below)…but I enjoyed doing it! So odd. I’m not sure what to make of that. I think that typially, people like to do what they are good at. But in this case, I enjoyed doing what I wasn’t good at. Very strange. Here is the still life:
Yes, I know. It needs help. I am happy with how the silver rattle turned out…the other parts are so-so. I think that if I had a nicer brush (one that didn’t have a fat, multipointed/ragged end), then I might have been able to do a bit more. I know…excuses, excuses!
Woodblock printing = process:not fun / product:interesting
Gouache painting = process:fun / product:not interesting
What a dilemma! Does anyone out there have thoughts on this???
I’ve been reminded by a friend that I never followed up with comments on the Chihuly show at the MFA. WELL…his work is pretty over the top and remarkable. He’s definitely not of the “less is more” school of thought. The pieces were really stunning. I didn’t really like when they are all put together in a big, jumbled mass…like in his piece, Mille fiori. It gets too chaotic for me, and the beauty in each piece gets lost to me. It’s like a symphony where every musician is playing a difference piece. Cacophony. The individual pieces, however, are stunning. The chandeliers that everyone knows well are really stunning. He tends to use a single color for these, so while they are a bit chaotic looking, they have a unity that does not turn into cacophony, in my opinion. My favorite part of the exhibit was the room with beautiful woven baskets, bright handmade blankets, and an enormous slab of wood. The pieces in this room were subtle, delicate, and amazing. I preferred these pieces over all of the others. He had large, hollow glass blobs, almost like bubbles bursting, on that huge slab of wood. They looked gorgeous. So, I did like the Chihuly exhibit, and I think that his work is extraordinary. I do feel that it can be a chaotic mess at times, and I prefer when it’s more subtle or unified in presentation. Has anyone else seen it? Thoughts?
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: art, artist, collagraph, intaglio, Mixed media, print, printmaking, visual art
I made a new collagraph plate this week. What is a collagraph, you may ask? I’ll give you the description provided by the book that I’m also going to review.
“Collagraph is essentially an experimental form of printmaking which involves adding layers of adhesive or solid material to the surface of a printing plate, making it possible to incorporate both relief and intaglio printmaking methods on a single plate.” – Brenda Harthill & Richard Clarke
While some types of printmaking, like engraving, require pricey copper plates…collagraph is about using whatever you’ve got to make a plate. It is like making a collage. In fact, the word “collagraph” is based on the Greek word “kollo”, which means “to glue”.
For my birthday, I asked for a couple of books, one of them being, Collagraphs and Mixed Media Printmaking by Brenda Harthill and Richard Clarke. It is such a fascinating book. It is not an in-depth, how-to guide. There are only a few places where any steps to making and inking a collagraph plate are shown. There are, however, many images of collagraph prints by various artists. One thing that is particularly interesting about collagraphs is that it is often unclear how a print was made. For example, a drypoint print is somewhat self-explanatory. A hard plate (copper or plexi typically) is scratched with a sharp tool, and this is how the image is created. But for a collagraph…who knows how the artist got the shapes and textures that they did on their print! It’s suprising how very mundane things can be wonderful printing surfaces. This is a great book if you already like collagraphs, but should not be your introductory book, as it mostly shows final products, not process. Has anyone else out there read it? Comments to add?
Here is my collagraph print this week:
and a detail:
I like this print. It has a sort of surreal, Miro-esque quality to it. What do you think? This is a 9″x12″ plate. Maybe I’ll make an even larger one! I thinking about doing a large, full bleed print in this “series”. Why not, right? It’s just time, energy, sweat and tears, right? Okay, that’s a little dramatic. Maybe.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: art, artist, chine colle, drypoint, printmaking, Visual Arts
There are lots of goals that one can have in life. One of mine is to pursue art. Lucky me…I’m getting to do that a bit! But, then what? Art is a field where there is no clear path. In some ways, being an architect is simpler…as once you get hired, someone is coming to you with their problems to solve: “We’re designing new student housing for this college”…or…”Find out what the zoning restrictions are for this site”…or…”Draw up some wall sections for this facade”…etc. Even when you own your own firm, and you’re “the decider” (silly word), the client comes to you with their problem to solve. In art, you’re coming up with the problems, and the answers.
Back to goals: there are so many different goals that one can have as an artist. Someone might dream of getting their work shown at the Whitney. Someone else might dream of just making a living off of one’s art. Another person might just want to feel happy with the work itself, regardless of any outside recognition. These are all reasonable, of course, but they require different strategies for working. In the first one…the cutting edge fine art world is your “client”. Are you innovative enough to be at the Whitney? In the second example, the art buying population is your client. Is your art buying population people who love landscapes…so, you’ll do landscapes? Or, is it people who love photographs of people? old buildings? puppies? In the third example, you are the client. Are you happy with your work? Do you feel satisfied/stimulated/excited by the work?
Ideally, I suppose, one would be able to satisfy all three of these goals at once: to be recognized by the fine art world as worthy…to be able to live off of that worthy art…and to feel a sense of satisfaction with the work. Not an easy thing to do! I have yet to decide where I’m putting my energies. For the moment, I seem to be focusing primarily on goal three: just being satisfied with the work.
If you are an artist, what have your experiences been in regards to these types of goals? What are your goals?
Food for thought that I have been gnawing on for some time now…
Here’s is what I printed last night in class:
On the day that I was making sketchy scribble doodles, I also made a drypoint plate. This is the print from the plate. I like it. I like the feel of it and the look of the lines. I may do more of these. I also added some chine colle to another printing of it:
Sort of interesting…the paper looks very dark in this photo. It’s actually a sort of dark, orangeish, sand color. I’m not sure about these pieces, as they are a bit of a distraction. I may try this again with a more neutral/lighter color of paper…but I didn’t have any at the time to try out. Here’s a close up:
I also made another print of a child, similar to the previous one. This one was printed with different ink and different paper, however. I think that I might prefer the other ink that I was using. Here it is:
This is based on an image of my friend’s daughter. I’ve also got a closeup, so you can see that the black area actually has some texture:
I think that on my next print in this series, I’m going to do more with that texture…play with it a bit more. Any comments?
It is very cool and mild today…we had lots of rain and thunderstorms yesterday. I love this kind of post-storm weather. I also like pre-storm weather as well.
OH…for those of you in the Boston area…you MUST go to Berryline for frozen yogurt. There is one near Harvard Square on Mass Ave. SO AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. I despise TCBY, which tastes like frozen plastic. Berryline, however, is so delicious. The yogurt actually has that tangy, yogurt taste…and it’s FABULOUS. You know it’s good when instead of getting M&Ms on my yogurt, I decided that fresh mango was better. It was. Go now and get some. I’m suffering from some serious Berryline withdrawl, I think…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: art, Art education, Art school, James Elkins, printmaking, Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A Handbook for Art Students
I just finished reading, Why Art Cannot Be Taught, by James Elkins. SO fascinating. It’s the most “academic” book that I’ve read in a while, so I think that reading it again would be beneficial. Not to be a spoiler, but his primary conclusions are:
1. The idea of teaching art is irreparably irrational. We do not teach because we do not know when or how we teach.
2. The project of teaching art is confused because we behave as if we were doing something more than teaching technique.
3. It does not make sense to propose programmatic changes in the ways art is taught.
He begins with the history of art instruction, from ancient art schools onward. He then discusses how different studio art study is from studying other liberal arts subjects, such as English/literature. He also describes the type of art that cannot be attemped in schools, such as “Art that takes time”, or “Art that isn’t serious”. In addition, he takes on an analysis of the almighty critique, or crit. It was so fascinating to read his methodical study of this odd teaching method…it really struck home as I recalled the years of crits that we had in architecture school. I got the impression that art crits are somewhat more kind than architecture crits, but perhaps that’s not really the case. Because art is often about personal feeling, I think that perhaps reviewers may tread more gently…whereas in architecture, they really don’t want to hear anyone’s personal feelings about anything. Even when a critic provides some judgment…it is presented as “fact” not anyone’s “feeling” about something.
I know. How can someone take apart the entire art education system that we have, and then not propose a solution? This is how I felt when I began the book. Now, I see how messy and unclear the whole business is…part of what separates art from more concrete things, like many areas of math, is that there is not one right answer. Some solutions are just agreed on as being more “right” than others…but anything more definite than that tends to get murky. How can there be a clear answer to something that is so unclear?
I highly recommend this book. If anyone out there has read it, please comment and let me know your thoughts on it. It is very dense with rational analysis of something that the author concludes is inherently irrational. FASCINATING!
I have not much to show for myself…many things “in progress”.
So, does anyone out there have any thoughts either on the book, Why Art Cannot Be Taught, or on art education in general? Enquiring minds want to know…
Yes, welcome to New England! As my husband just commented…we had weeks of cold, wet, 45 degree weather…yesterday was a lovely, sunny 70 degree day…and today it’s full sun and 90 degrees in the shade. It feels scorching, as we’ve been living in terrarium conditions for so long. I have to unexcavate my summer clothes from the attic…when the attic cools down to about 100 degrees sometime tonight.
I had a fun class last night. My teacher/classmates were pushing the “restraint” theme in my work. Here is the print that they love…and wouldn’t let me touch further:
See how subdued? Quite a bit different than the clarty collages I posted recently. He’s one that sort of struck a middle ground:
It’s still subtle, but has some carborundum craziness to it. Christiane (teacher) showed me a great technique for blending the edges of colors on the plate, which helped tremendously.
Today, I printed a new carborundum/drypoint:
I am continuing to work on my drypoints, as was suggested by the reviewer from the DeCordova. This one was a result of hearing details about the capture of Mladic and the Serbian genocide. I was horrified to hear not only how many adults were murdered, but how many children too. It’s hard to even talk about such an atrocity, but I felt such pain thinking about all of the children who were caught up in the war. This print was my thinking of the burdens that children are forced to bear, in spite of their innocence.
I know. Dark stuff for a sunny Friday. Here are some shots from our garden to lighten the mood. I am seriously shocked that the bulbs that were planted last fall have actually grown. I understand that this is what is SUPPOSED to happen, but I’m no gardener…and have little faith in it.
Isn’t that great? Here’s another:
Have a lovely, Memorial Day weekend everyone! We’re planning on eating lots of hot dogs. Okay, let’s be honest here…I’M planning on eating lots of hot dogs.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: art, artist, artwork, flowers, Garden, printmaking, tulip, Visual Arts
Believe it or not, some of the bulbs that I plated last fall have actually come up! Seriously. I have so little faith in gardening, that I thought that planting bulbs was a sheer waste of time for me. Not so! See!:
Don’t they look great? Granted, there are only three of them…and I actually planted eight bulbs. The other FIVE tulips were mysteriously decapitated. I’ve been told that this is squirrels. I have hard time believing that. I think that it must be the little person who lives in my house and calls me, “Mommy”. Hmmm…
Don’t they look great???? Trust me, I’m shocked. Here are a few other things growing, that I did not plant:
And also:
Of course, I’m just showing you the highlights. I’ve edited out the crabgrass.
I did another print:
I’m still on this long theme, with a lot of black. I think that the photo makes this one look uniformly black, but in reality, there is more going on. The black in the upper right area isn’t really black at all, but a dark green…somewhat translucent. This doesn’t seem to be coming through in the photo. Here is a detail:
I think that you can kind of see the layers in the black area. I like this one. I like the shadowy things barely visible in the dark areas…with just a few pops of color and lightness.
I’ve ordered a special brush to do the Moku Hanga printing (as shown in the last post). As soon as I get it…I’m using it! In the meantime, I’ll have to get some wood blocks carved. I’ll keep you posted…
slightly wonky 