Thursday, May 28, 2009

Watercolor grids



In the past week or so, my studio has turned over--from a space centered on production to a space centered on inquiry. An utter disdain or, more aptly, revulsion toward perpetuating what I make by simply making more (just to make more) in tandem with a move out of my typical studio to a new space necessitates a different approach.

The inclinations toward expanded notions/definitions of painting remains.

Some fixations and their manifestations:

1. materiality--how is materiality exploited/used to it's fullness and how does the nature of any given material dictate my movements/my use? Manifestation: grid paintings which seem the beginning exploration of engagement with the expanse (wall, paper, surface)
2. engagement with the expanse--how do I engage the actual expanse of the wall as well as the surface of paper, canvas, cardboard boxes, cloth, etc. Does covering change if the substrate changes? Can any given substrate have a myriad of approaches and might differences enunciate equally? Manifestation: Grids constructed in a piecemeal manner over the wall--parts painted, parts collaged, parts extending into the space
3. methods of making/creating rules out of inclinations and following them through to see what happens Manifestation: made up rules, new ones arriving each day out of working
4. painting practice as being comprised of numerous activities--not one being THE manner Manifestation: rule making, alternate substrates, fluctuation between collage and painting/the two mediums conditioning the other, writing, blogging, writing words

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Set of rules for making a flat image/flat picture (Two)


To review rules look here.

Set of rules for making a line






1. with leftover paint, cover an unwanted scrap of paper almost entirely with a grid, (use a grid as it reiterates the expanse, affirming inherent materiality)
2. cut apart the grid bit by bit and piece together in as straight a line as grid lines warrant

Lines


This bush is the first thing one sees upon leaving the library. As I'd been thinking about line all day, I couldn't help but be a bit struck by the lines of yellow--snaking up toward the sky--as though in the midst of being pulled taut by some invisible filament.

Order

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Set of rules for making a flat image/flat picture


1. take scraps (given and available) as subject
2. begin by gluing piece on top of pile to the let and top of substrate paper
3. add/glue each subsequent piece/shape (in the order it surfaces) directly to the one prior--lining the new shape up w/exact edge of the one prior--
4. continue on in above manner and tilt subsequent pieces as necessary to fit into the edge of the substrate
5. allow actuality of substrate (in terms of size) direct placement--and therefore overall image

Piecing/Building a painting, on the wall--painted and pressed against





Images of the day in the studio







Friday, May 22, 2009

Red




We live a few minutes away from a strawberry farm. On Friday, I stopped by and purchased four flats of strawberries.

Over the weekend, I froze 10 half-pints of strawberry puree, canned 8 half-pints of strawberry jam, made a strawberry cake, strawberry bread and froze 20 bags of strawberries.

I am not sure what encourages my pioneer woman tendencies--I am a new kind of feminist I suppose, and there are many of us all over the world of blogging (and in a recent NY Times article.) We possess a delight in the waning domestic arts--perhaps because we can afford to engage in them if we wish. There is more to it than that though--much, much more.

For me as an artist, there is also the sensual, visual pleasure of taking on mountains of red, red, sweet, ripe strawberries--insuring we'll all be able to partake of them in some form or another well into the dark days of winter.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Notes

"Letters"

think about letters you do not know, you have not learned
(Alex learning to write)

making letters

my old vs t-shirt--a favorite-now-decrepit, how could it be a painting

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Barbara/EUC Installation/Beginning




By the end of the day some things began to come together--

Still in parts--but in dialogue

I think about what a painting would look like if it sank in and out of a wall--if parts of the painting were periodically buried IN the wall--only to reappear just a few feet over.

painting constructed
painting in proximity
painting on the wall

I listened to Krista Tippett's interview with John Kabat-Zinn two times through. He said, "The key to creativity is cultivating more spaciousness in the mind."

And then he read Derek Walcott's Love After Love--

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Bryan/EUC Installation/Beginning




Three images of parts of Bryan's work--made within the first two days of our time in the gallery together.

Monday was Bryan's day of endless frustration/Tuesday was mine.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Notes

Raising a tent--
all the lines derived from the space like a hidden matrix, subtext, sub-drawing/under-drawing

lines sinking in and out of the wall, could be added or erased, could come out of wall or go in

how to move across a space?
how to get from one side to another?

Portable Studio


My studio all packed up and portable--today Bryan and I begin our collaborative venture.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Dirt



Just this afternoon we witnessed a scaled-down, much less theorized version of Robert Smithson's Asphalt Rundown--a big, blue dump truck let loose a massive amount of dark, dark, beautiful dirt--the key ingredient for our in-progress vegetable garden. As far as aesthetic experiences go, this one was thrillingly engaging.

And now we have a mountain of dirt.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A start--


Summer oh summer--grades are posted, we've been eating dinner on the porch for awhile now, and all the lawn chairs are OUT!

I wrap up the last few strands of my semester and look forward to working collaboratively with a friend and colleague come Wednesday--in a little space on campus. Lots, lots, lots more soon; I am finally catching my breath.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Potential

list of related words:
conceivable
imaginable
plausible
thinkable
likely
probable
conjectural
hypothetical
suppositional
theoretical
alleged
assumed
purported
reputed
supposed
achievable
attainable
doable
feasible
viable
workable