Today's work

More time (a couple of hours?) spent on the mosaic. I think I could endlessly do this.


I wanted to paint on magazine text and then cut out the shapes for a collage of a doll I bought at the Newark Museum yesterday. She is from Africa. I put her on black painted paper - like Mrs. Delany.

Today's work

I was able to work on the mosaic today. Just about an hour. But, enjoyable - I really like cutting and gluing these tiny pieces of magazine paper. ?

And here is the school uniform completed. She had her brown paper bag lunch with her initials - LBJ.

Subway Reading

I found a magazine on the laundry room bookshelf: Turps Banana Issue 6. The laundry room is my favorite library. I find the best stuff there. It makes doing the laundry not only bearable, but a bit of a treasure hunt.

I read this article by Tom Phillips - "Biography of a Painting 2". He is a British painter. Here is an excerpt:

"14th March '08

.....Just as the novelist reaches a certain point where his characters, empowered by a sudden and mysterious accession of free will, begin to act and speak for themselves and to contradict their creator's intentions, so the artist is surprised when the shapes in his painting start to clamour for a similar autonomy. They argue with the painter and amongst themselves. The artist who started as captain now doubles as umpire.

The last thing I do every night is to look in the studio, inspect the day's work, and think about the general state of play. Also, unbreakfasted and teeth as yet unbrushed, it is the first thing I do each morning. I like to see whether, say, yesterday's radical gesture has been absorbed by the image as a whole. It is a constant of infanthood to imagine one's toys and dolls having a communal life of talk and action when their owner sleeps. So with that same childlike optimism I look to see if any problems might have been resolved while my eyes were shut.

This can also prove to be the Frankenstein moment when a picture that, left in apparent calm, seems to have had a bad night groaning its dissatisfaction at recent changes.

.....Certain marks press for revision, for a second chance. While one of them begs for fusion with a neighbouring element another is suing for divorce from its present partner.

.....But at least I am still in charge though I know from experience that a moment comes when the work banishes its creator. In the end it is the painting that declares itself finished.

The artist will enter the studio one morning and find, almost with brush poised, that the picture is as out of bounds as a taped-off crime scene.

It must then be accepted WAF as the book dealers' catalogues say, with all faults. If I want to improve things my only option is to do so with another painting."

Here is a scan of the painting he was discussing. This is a pretty bad image of it. I tried to find an image of the work on-line. Couldn't. His paintings vary widely from abstractions to portraits. You could see those on his website.

A Great Day in New Haven

Yesterday, I went to New Haven to see the exhibition "Mrs. Delany and Her Circle" at the Yale Center for British Art. I had been told by a friend that it was a must see - Thanks Linda. And, it was in the back of my mind. Yesterday morning I checked the website only to find out that - that was the last day. So, off I went - to New Haven via Metro North. It was snowy and blustery in NH. The museum charged no admission - yeah!!!!! I rushed up to the show and I was really blown away. Mrs. (Mary) Delany's colors are so lush. She had to make them herself; there were no commercial paints at that time.

She called her work 'paper mosaicks.' Her paper was thinner than the paper I use. It was often hard to see that it was collaged. I really love the black backgrounds. The black makes the colors sing.

These two images - I scanned from the exhibition book - which I HAD to have.

getting ready

I am working to get ready for the demonstration. I am making things in different steps of pre-assembly. I had more at the studio. I made several faces. I made features: eyes, mouths, etc. These were glued to sketch paper so I could fine them. I made the flowered dress, just the white, with the pink trim, and with the flowers. I made a whole bunch of flowers - that could be glued on after I demonstrated how to make one.

The uniforms are not yet resolved. I have to figure out how to make the plaid and then break that down into steps. The arms and hands would have similar treatment. Then I think, the girls will have accessories: purse, lunch bag, back pack, etc. But, I am almost ready to give a demonstration that would flow. I think it would be like watching Martha Stewart bake a cake. She says to bake it for 20 minutes and then - viola - pulls out an already baked cake.

Facial features: eyes, noses, mouths.
School uniform pieces:





Flowered dress - in parts.

Demonstration

I have been asked to do a demonstration of my process, specifically in creating a paper doll card. This would be filmed (more details as they become firm.) After thinking about it, I decided I needed to make one and see how that could be done in the time frame given. I worked all day and here is what I was able to accomplish.


I am not happy with it. The hands need work, maybe the boots should be red? I think she looks angry. But, as I said - I worked all day.

I think I need to pre-assemble the card I demonstrate and have several versions in various stages available. I could demonstrate making one flower and then pull a paper dress out with all the flowers attached, and so forth.

I think the one I would like to make would be Little Betty Jane in her Catholic school uniform. It was green plaid with a green beanie.

I think I need to be ready by next week. I hope I can pull it off. Stay tuned...

Back at the studio

Since I finished grading last night, I was able to get to the studio today. I worked on some sketchages. I thought this would help me get back into the studio mindset.



I like using the negative space. I pasted the paper with the image cut out. I had pasted the image to another drawing. But, the shape of the cut out is interesting to me.