Thursday, July 16, 2009

Buried Treasure







Another Seth treasure from Altered Page. Post a Buried Treasure from your blog.


So, after reading most of my blog starting in 2005 I was struck with how often my posts have been way too personal, but of late that's changed which is a good thing. I nearly deleted most of the older posts that have nothing to do with art work, but my life is what it is and not every event is creative; I won't apologize for the ramblings.

The original post is below. A full-frame photo was posted in 2007, Sept. 9th, Sunday musings. I've lost track of the photo, sadly.

Why did I choose this particular post? I ran across this piece earlier in the week while searching for rubber stamps to use in the travel journal and realized that this tiny 5x7 inch mixed media (isn't there a better term to use?) was the turning point in my work. It was the first abstract that pleased me and nearly two years later I can still remember the feeling I had when I finished it. Whatever that myterious thing is be it following my muse, being in the zone, or perhaps it's allowing the "what if" mode to flow I realized that if I just show up ready for the ride something exciting will happen.

-------------------Original post: I've been working on this 5x7 inch piece off-and-on for months. I'm finally happy with the textures and color palette. The starting point for most of my current pieces is text torn from books that I glue vertically onto a surface; I have a lutradur, lace, and cheesecloth piece in the works that also has the addition of text. During a recent culling of magazine clippings I noticed my fascination with vertical lines - what's with that? Why not explore it? The difficulty with this piece was figuring how to apply paint in vertical lines without hard edges. I wanted the result to look like paint had been dripped on without actually dripping the paint; why do answers appear at 3am? The second goal for this piece was incorporating the cast clay face into the piece rather than "on" the piece.

Thanks Seth! Browsing through my blog was an eye-opener! More art!

9 comments:

Susan J Barker said...

Hello Gail, after a long stretch, I am finally back on line and came for a visit! Missed you and the yahoo group to read and gather ideas...

Kim Palmer said...

I really like this piece, all that torn text and grunge effect from the colours is fab. So glad I popped in from Seth's blog!

3rdEyeMuse said...

I can totally see why the piece pleased you so ... I love the textures, colors and can see you definitely incorporated the face into it ... thanks for sharing this.

Ginny Gaskill said...

I like the colors and textures you created in this piece.

notmassproduced said...

came via Seth's. love ur blog and art. You unearthed a real treasure.

A tired retired recluse @ Swallowcliffs.blogspot.com/ said...

I know how you feel about the personal stuff. I try to keep my blog for art only. Maybe I need to be a bit more open about my life... ???

Seth said...

Wonderfully textured and layered piece. How amazing to carry the feeling of such an important turning point for you! So glad you could share this again.

deb said...

while I try to blog about my work, it IS my life, so I try now to be more open and honest about the ups and downs, that honesty is essential I think to deflating the myths of genius that surround the creative work. But that's just this crazy lady's opinion, but I like your openness.

Kelly Jeanette Swift said...

Doing the BT tour. Such a delightful piece. Thanks for sharing it. You have a lovely blog. Love your banner.