Waterlilies

 

This one is a present which is nearly finished. It's in a frame now, and is merely waiting on me to choose a background color scheme (if any?!), but in the meantime here are some progress shots. 

I always think its amazing what gets left out of a visual work. There are infinite possible paths to take in a given piece, even when you start from a simple concept. I had a set of design parameters- the size, the material, the motif for the center, the overall tastes of the person I was making this for. The choice that I got held up on for this one was the border. I spent a lot of time tracing a quarter inside a square and making tiny little 1.5" sketches.  The challenge with a cut paper circle is how to attach it to the outer edges, while retaining the intrinsic circleness. 

In the two concept sketches I thought I'd narrowed in on, I was feeling a  Frank Lloyd Wright, William Morris thing and ended up with a faux-Asian hand cuts look and something that was pretty, but distracting and also not at all like the (male) person I was giving this to.  Since the design was botanical, with flowers it felt better to go more geometric and simple with the edges. But I got stuck for a while, just turning over ideas and not getting very far. 

Finally inspiration struck when i walked past a favorite hanging lamp in my neighborhood, and I was able to get to work. Here are process shots:

 My solution:

hexagons. 

In progress

Detail shot

 

Final piece. 

Now all that's left is the question of background. Colors or no? 

March Studio Visit 2

Here are a few more shots from my recent works:

This is the completed painting from the paint splatters. I enjoy the cheery colors it adds to the studio hanging next to my plant, and there's something strange and optical about the diamonds. Turned out better than I expected for sure.

And this is a landscape made of circles I'm working on bit by bit. I'm proudest of my rabbit, but I'm excited to see what happens with the whole thing- I'm doing this as I go with the master sketch on the back, and experimenting a lot, so how it ends up will be a surprise even to me.

Cloud detail

Detail of the pond

Detail of the rabbit

Studio Visit

Sidewalk cracks is finished and installed at my house. Here's a shot of it. 

Meanwhile, back at the studio, theres's plenty going on. There are probably 5 or 6 ongoing projects in this panorama, but here are a few I'm willing to talk about.

This is a finished piece- The blots of paint from the sidewalk crack painting are now living as their own painting. I have this guy hanging up in the corner for now.  

I bought some neat landscapes at a flea market last summer and they had frames in need of some serious love. One frame I tossed altogether, the other I re-glued used some wood putty on. They've been gessoed a trillion times and now I'm waiting on imitation gold leaf. This will be my first gold leafing project- I'm hoping to learn from this so it can be applied to some papercuts down the line.

There are two pieces inside this photo- on top the painting- it has a faux gold edge (Going through a phase clearly) and will be sort of linked with all my rainbows in the side walk crack, and the diamond piece. Under the cardboard is a paper cut in progress. I have a few other papercuts going on right now, and one piece that will be a gift so I can't show any photos of that, until it's done. 

I've been managing to get inside the studio for a good chunk each weekend- at least one day per weekend, so I'm doing well and it feels grand. And on that note, I am off to my studio now. Just wanted to let the blog know I'm still alive. 

Finished, day 2.

 Done.

Signed. 

Frame sanded and waxed. 

Here's all my paint. I stuck it together.

Done? Done. Done!

I finished (and signed) this painting today! But I didn't bring my camera with me, so the final shots will need to happen later. Now I'm off to have post-painting depression.