evolution of mystery

I've been working on a big piece that pretty much demanded to be done NOW. Artwork is funny like that - so I went along for the ride and now I'll share this piece in three simple steps. Okay, so maybe I only remembered to take two photos along the way & then the final documentation...

These three black & white images, also known as a triptych, were taken a few years ago at Gibson Ranch before I started working in collage. I knew I wanted to do something different with them at the time, but didn't know what exactly, so I waited. Recently I realized what needed to be done so I printed them a couple weeks ago in the darkroom.

I was so jazzed with the darkroom prints that I ran to the art supply store the very next day and bought a 24" x 48" canvas. I immediately taped the photos on the canvas & put it on my home studio wall to begin to feel out the basic composition.

I think it was the next week before I decided to dig into the first collage step, which I put together at my midtown studio between students one day - the burlap happened to be in a box of supplies I had brought for students but it begged to be in the piece & I relented. I spent a serious amount of time just unraveling the burlap to get it just right...

Later I added a couple bird sketches, then some texture with modeling paste & could barely wait for that to dry before I started the pencil work on the photos. A deep violet blue pencil popped out at me, a little more blue than I have been using before, but I went with it...

That was last Friday and I brought it with me to finish the pencilwork at a patron party at the Kennedy Gallery (where I have my midtown studio.) I left it there to return to it for the weekend. Saturday I started adding the acrylic glazes, painting with some of my art compatriots on the patio adjoining our space, Sunday was busier with the Rainbow Festival and I continued the painting in my studio space inside.


(click on this to see more detail)

I brought it home to finish it up, so this is where it was at sometime on Monday, sitting on my mantle in our family room, where I like to assess works in progress.


(click for more detail)

I carefully proceeded to fine tune little details in paint and finally added text in the upper right hand corner, let it dry, varnished it yesterday & photographed it again today, completed. It gets it's title, "Mystery of Faith" from the text of Hebrews 11:1 that I transcribed onto it, "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

I'll go more into how that relates to the imagery on my Visions of Heaven blog later...

student work

Today I got a chance to see some of my students' work at Mira Loma High School. It's currently hanging in the office & looks pretty cool...

I'm pretty impressed with alot of these pieces; the students really took the assignment seriously and put themselves into them. I had such a great time doing this and I couldn't be more pleased.

artists at work

I've been working with high school students of art teacher Allison Stiles at Mira Loma in Sacramento this week, creating mixed media collages that relate to the artist's notion of family or home. Today I finally remembered to bring out my camera & catch creativity in action...

It's always exciting to watch students' ideas come to life! As I finish my pieces that I'm using to demonstrate the process, I'll post them, too.

faith

(Click on the image to see it larger.)

Finished the new piece, titled "Faith." That's what alot of this is all about - having the faith to do what I've been called to do & do it regardless of what it looks like in winter. Looking very close at what I've got growing so that I can see the tiny tight buds of promise, and having the faith that they'll grow into flourishing vines...

strength

I think I finished this piece today - sometimes it's not really apparent and it needs some study and waiting to see -

From the time I took this image it just said "strength" to me. Not strength in the big muscular way, but in the standing the test of time, persevering way. This tree is just strong and solid, a port in the storms of time, just slowly but steadily growing larger and stronger every day.

It's an inspiration to me - I want my faith to be this kind of strong and steady thing - I already know that God is rock-steady, even more than the tree, but it's hard for me to stand firm in my belief sometimes.

I took this image after a big series of storms had gone through the area and I was eager to see if the trees had survived intact - life has certainly dealt us enough storms of our own, so I felt a little like the tree at the time - battered but still standing -

new hope

There's been a half-finished piece sitting on my home studio wall, just waiting for me to finish it. I had started on it really quite some time ago - it was a new experiment, taking a hand-colored black & white to a mixed media collage on canvas - and it just hadn't been the right time to finish it, until this past Saturday.

Artwork in progress can be like that, sort of stuck, or waiting, or something, but not quite ready for more until all of the sudden. I guess you could argue that it's all in my head, but it's really the same thing - waiting for the right time to finish a certain piece. I suppose it could be called a creative block, but I like to think of it as just waiting for all the pieces to fall in place.

Anyway, Saturday was the day - I took the canvas & paint to my SAC studio, went out with my ArtQ group to Kanika's open studio, then had lunch, then came back to the SAC studio, then visited other artists a bit, all the time knowing it was coming down to the moment, sort of like a pregnant mother knowing the time is coming.

Finally I sat down and just started painting - not really knowing what was going to happen, but just feeling it and letting it happen - and then it seemed done - I did fine tune the edges just a bit later that night, and I've waited and watched to be sure, but it was really done right that afternoon and like a new mother, I'm so proud of my new baby, I just have to show you pictures.

I've titled it "Hope." You can see the hope breaking through like sunlight, which is how hope is sometimes, not all bright and flooding you with it's light, but just shining through around things, so you have to stop and look at it to realize it's there. Just peeking through a little at first, then it grows to something that lights your way and you know you'll make it all right...

To learn a little more about it, you can see my Tree Stories blog.

collage work

I've been working on some more collage pieces on canvas these past few days, in between other stuff. Seems like I've always got multiple projects going, but I guess it just keeps me from getting bored.

This was Sunday afternoon on my drawing table: I'd had this blank canvas on my wall for awhile, with a little pressed plant taped to it, waiting for me to do more. A couple weeks ago I printed some black and whites that I thought I might use, then finally dove into it on Sunday. This is a personal exploration project, so sometimes it gets pushed back by other projects with deadlines. You can see I've started not just coloring the photo but extending the image onto the canvas. (The white tape is holding the photo down while the gel medium dries - I couldn't wait to start coloring!)

Yesterday on my worktable: personal exploration alongside a little production work. I put together nine new "Flower Garden" collages in anticipation of the different art fairs I'll be doing soon. The new untitled piece got more color & extended imagery, which shifted colors when I used the matt medium on it & collaged on the pressed plant. Not quite what I was envisioning, but next step will be acrylics, so I'm sure I can get the pallette back to where I want it, it will just take time and work.

Today back over to the drawing table: I put the final varnish on the "Flower Garden" group and the untitled personal exploration artwork goes back on the wall. I started to apply some acrylic to it, but it will take more time and concentration than I can give right now. These things take time...