Attachments II

I just looked at Lisa Dahl's work on Dear Ada (and left a comment) and that got me thinking about the whole idea of house and home which is a theme I am very interested in. There are so many images that bring me back to my roots and the environment in which I spent my formative years. Objects have the ability to transport us to another time. When I'm not exploring the many themes inherent in gardens and flowers, I seem to explore the same themes through objects and place.

This work explores family attachments and place. This is what's left of a structure on my family's land that has special meaning for me. While bolts served to attach the posts of this house, as objects they cause me to think about other attachments I've had in my life.

The bolts are wax castings of the actual objects painted with oils. The image is a photo transfer into encaustic over fiberous paper.



Wallpaper and textiles have power as memory prompts. If you respond to this work with familiarity you are definitely a certain age. While I consider this colour scheme very garish now, it was the one that was in the first home we purchased and began our family. How I lived with it then I can't understand. My leanings now are toward more serene environments.

This wallpaper sampler was created as part of my Remnants series in 2008. The technique is photo transfer collage, built up wholly of photo transfers into gel skins and torn to create a composition that is then enhanced with acrylic paint. The shots were taken in a house in a community where I spent many of my summer holidays. We now have a summer home there. Connections abound in our lives.

Favorite Acrylic Medium

I've tried many acrylic mediums and they all work. I have developed a fondness for Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. It is top notch if you want to made image transfers into gel skins which is my preferred image transfer method for my work. From my research and practice I've discovered you can also use it :

• to thin acrylic colours and boost their transparency and sheen
• to improve paint adhesion (when mixed with paint)
  
• as a non-removable varnish to protect painting surfaces - as a varnish it is clear drying and works well on flexible surfaces
• with Liquitex Matt Medium to make a semi - gloss medium
• as a fluid glue with collage techniques
• to create acrylic glazes
• to mix with any other Liquitex medium
• as a fixative over pastel, graphite, chalk etc. to increase shine . Mix 1 part Gloss Medium and Varnish with 1 part distilled water. Spray with an atomizer or airbrush.
• as a transparent ground for acrylic paint instead of gesso when you want the substrate to be seen

One stop shopping at its best!

Tips for using:

Collage
If you are applying absorbent papers to collage work, it is a good idea to coat the papers first with gloss medium and let dry. Then re-apply a second coat to adhere the paper. If the medium is drying too quickly, keep environmental conditions cool and humid. Before applying a second layer using gloss medium ensure that the first layer is dry. This can take anywhere from 1-4 hours. A small heater with a fan can speed up drying time.

As a varnish:
Dilute up to 20% with water for ease of brushing and better leveling. Acrylic paintings must be dried for at least 48 hours before varnishing. Apply 1-3 thin coats rather than one thick one. Thick applications can also cause cloudiness.

Exile over

Today is the first day I've felt like painting in over two months. I took time away from the studio to consider where I'm going with my garden series. I have 6 completed works and two in process. I've set June as a completion date because I have other ideas I want to work on.

I am actually going to my studio for the afternoon. Who knows what will happen? I hope all the mulling over of ideas and images have had some effect on my output and that I will be happy with what I produce. I'm finishing off a painting based on the fallen tree I talked about several posts ago. It's gone through three lives so far . I want to finish it or sand it off! We'll see.......

Attachments

Mounted #1, #2, #3 , Butter Point, Jerseyside (2008) 10 x 10, wax casting, oil paint, encaustic on paper

Not everything you find in a meadow is a flower. These three works were created from objects I picked up from the detritus of what was once a family shed that sat in the middle of a lovely meadow overlooking the ocean. I wanted to honour these everyday objects that had all filled important roles before the wood they were attached to had fallen into disarray.

This work is part of a solo exhibition called Remnants held at The Leyton Gallery of Fine Art in May 2008.


Here are photos of the site.

Pivotal point

A painting by Susan Abbott on A Painter's Year this morning brought me back to the beginning of my art career, that difficult time when I wondered if I wanted to take a leap at middle age and really shake things up. Questions were running rampant in my mind the summer of 2001 while I was on a "painting" holiday in France. Interestingly enough, because I had done very little painting up to that point, it was really an "exploration of painting" holiday. Two friends and I stayed at a farmhouse owned by Newfoundland artist, Ilse Hughes, who provided room and board and instruction for a two week block.



Two other Newfoundland artists, sculptor, Luben Boykov and painter, Elena Popova were also on site and provided instruction. Elena works in monotype and I loved the vibrancy and spontanity of this printmaking process which allowed me to create art that was quite different from any I had created before. On my fourth monotype, standing in a sunflower field near the farmhouse, painting oil on plexiglass, I decided to be an artist. Why don't I look happier?

Progression

Over the years I've painted poppies many times and in many different formats. Alas! I did not see any poppies while I stayed in the gardens at Birr Castle; it was the wrong time of year so there won't be any in this new body of work.

I've taken time away from painting in the last two weeks to review many of my photographs and paintings. I'm looking for something, but I don't know what. I'm hoping this process will help me come to terms with whatever it is I'm supposed to discover about my work. Following is a sequence of work from 2007 back to when I first started painting seriously. If anyone has any words of wisdom in what they see, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Progression #2 (2007) 10 x 34 , paper, photo transfer, acrylic paint, mediums on canvas

Poppies are one of my favourite flowers. I love their tallness, fragility of petals and boldness of colour. I love them at every stage, before bursting into bloom and spent. The seed pods have sculptural qualities that always make me want to paint them in a very stark style. The seeds themselves are prolific which account for the tenacity and spreading quality of poppies. Wild poppies, fragile and supple, create such delicate dots in the vastness of country fields.

Connections (2006) 16 x 16in. photo transfer, paper, acrylic paint, acrylic mediums on canvas

Connections is my favourite painting of this subject matter. Unfortunately it graces someone else's wall now, not mine. There are times I'm sorry I've put a work for sale. This is one of my biggest regrets.

Emerging (2005) 18 x 24, paper, acrylic paint and mediums on canvas

Big, bold and beautiful. What's left to say?

Cycle (2004) 12 x 12 in. acrylic on canvas

This was one of my first paintings executed long before my current interest in creating complex surfaces using many layers and different materials. Some of the same ideas are expressed in Connections, but in a totally different way. What a difference two years can make.

Displaced (2003) 7 X 12 in., acrylic paint and gel on canvas

I always feel a little sad to see a flower removed from its natural environment, but I selfishly continue to let my desire for their beauty overcome this reluctance. This following text is written vertically on the right.

Plucked from nurturing soil and forced to rethink the notion of home.

Lost in memory

Part 3, Lost in Memory, (2006) paper, paint, acrylic mediums on canvas

My garden explorations began in the meadow of my childhood where my grandparents' temporary dwelling was located while they built the one I remember. In 2005 I took a trip back, walked the paths and visited haunts from my childhood, recording my journey in hundreds of photographs. I continue to review them and find inspiration to add to other works. It was the photo of the candy bar wrapper in a previous post that made me think of this work that now is part of a triptych gracing my friend's wall.

Here's the whole piece.

What do artists do?

What do artists do? It's interesting how you come up with ideas for posts. I find it's the "one thing leads to another" pattern for prompts. Today's post is the result of cleaning out a stroage closet and not an art one either! I recently found materials from my time as a primary grade teacher. Many activities revolved around brainstorming using the alphabet as a framework. Rather than "What do farmers do?", I thought I would challenge myself with an adult version . I'm sure there's lot more to add, so I'll pass the challenge along to my readers. I think we will be amazed by the actions of artists. Creating art is definitely higher order thinking (good old Bloom's Taxonomy).

• Aa -analyze, arrange, adapt, anticipate, appraise, assume
  
• Bb - believe
  
• Cc - create, collaborate, conceptualize, challenge, classify, convert, change, construct, communicate, compile, contrast, choose, compare, critize, crituique
  
• Dd- distort, describe, develop, design, defend, decide, disect, deduce
  
• Ee- experiment, extrapolate, extend, examine, express
  
• Ff- feel, focus, formulate
  
• Gg- grow
  
• Hh - hybridize,
• Ii- investigate, imagine, invent, illustrate, infer, incorporate, infividualize, initiate, integrate, interpret,
  
• Jj-juxtapose, judge, justify
  
• Kk - know
• Ll- label, list
  
• Mm-manipulate, modify, minimize
  
• Nn- negotiate,
  
• Oo- observe, organize
  
• Pp-play, predict, produce, plan, propose,prioritize
  
• Qq- question,
  
• Rr- repeat, research, rebel, reproduce, restate, relate, rearrange, , revise,
  
• Ss- synthesize, select, substitute, simplify
  
• Tt- transfer, transform, theorize
• Uu-use,
  
• Vv- view, validate,
  
• Ww- write,
  
• Xx-
  
• Yy-
• Zz-

OK. I set myself a time limit and it's up. The usuals are left blank, any thoughts to add?

Looking down

When I'm walking I spend quite a bit of time looking down; I find both happiness and dismay in this practice. I came across this photo today while looking for something else and it started me thinking about all the other finds I've made during my travels. Someday I'll develop a body of work that focuses on what's beneath your feet. In the meantime, I'm still accumulating information.

This wrapper was the only thing I saw in my two week stay in the gardens at Birr Castle that was not part of the natural landscape. It was hidden away behind one of the statues. I couldn't help wondering who had the audacity to spoil nature's perfection.















Two kinds of perfection. Finding this leaf on miles of cobblestone street was a reminder that time is not always linear. In the world of nature it is usually cyclical.




















This shot was taken in Rome. My head was filled with the history I had absorbed from signs, tours and guide books and I was lost in time. I wasn't prepared for this little bit of information tucked away between the stones of an ancient Roman road near the Colosseum. Past and present in a nutshell! The head of a daisy was the final touch.





















Red sneakers and an abandoned cigarette butt outside St. Paul's Square, Rome. Somehow this scene didn't support the awe inspiring surroundings.

Magnificant Magnolia delavayi

Untitled (2008) 10 x 24 inches, photo transfers, acrylic paint and gels, paper on board

The fifth Earl of Rosse built garden terraces and planted fine trees and shrubs along the banks of the Camcor River below Birr Castle. One of the most magnificent trees from this period, in my opinion, is the Magnolia delavayi . It is tree 21 on the Red Tree Trail which is an interesting walk that highlights many of the impressive trees on the estate.









When I saw the magnolia in early July many of the blossoms were just beginning to emerge while some were in full bloom. I was attracted to the continuing life that was evident at one glance. The waxy cream surface of the blossoms was enhanced by the glossy leaves and rough texture of the bark.

Facts for the gardner:

Common name: Chinese Evergreen Magnolia, Delavay's Magnolia.
Soil: well drained soil. Full sun.
Hardiness: hardiness rating 2/3.
Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Soil Type: Clay, Loam or Sand
Height: 35 feet
Growth Rate: 24 Inches per Season
Longevity: 50 to 150 years

Magnolia delavayi a rare evergreen magnolia with leathery dark green leaves and yellowish to brown bark. It bears large creamy white to yellow scented flowers which develop over a very long period of time.

Family Tree

I've been struggling for over a month with a painting that was inspired by a walnut tree that fell near out cottage during our stay on Birr Castle Demense. We came out one morning to see the tree uprooted and lying across the main driveway near the gates. It rested on a fresh flower bed planted in memory of the father of the current owner, Lord Rosse.




The bench we had so innocently enjoyed several days before is dwarfed by the massive root structure.


It was sad to see such a majestic tree in a horizontal position squatting a memorial to the person who was probably responsible for putting it there. In the end the tree was sold to a local woodworker who will dry the wood for use in his work. I liked that idea- that the tree keeps living on in another form.

Testimony to the passage of time. The centre section is the most precious.

The work in my Reading a Garden series is vertical on 10 x 24 inch board. I am trying to give the sense of the fallen tree using a vertical format. Added to that is my desire to use the branches of the tree as a metaphor for the family tree of the Parsons family. How do you do all that and not create a trite painting? Quite a challenge but last night I think I had a breakthrough. Time will tell.

Capturing time

This image from my 2008 Remnants series was created almost completely using gel transfers. I began the process by taking hundreds of photographs of the walls of old houses that were undergoing renovations. I then sorted the photographs into groups and created the transfers. The layering of the transfers was very effective in creating a similar texture to that found on the original walls. Once the composition was created, acrylic paint was used to enhance it. This series was a departure for me because it was created almost exclusively by layering transfers.


My new Reading a Garden series that I am currently working on is utilizing some photo transfers that are then being changed by painting to mimic the erosion that occurs in our memory. As time passes we forget many details and revamp the original image based on what is memorable or important to us. We remember interpretations not facts.


So I have revealed one full painting from my new series.

Gardens and Culture

The best present of the season came my way on January 2 via Home and Garden TV Canada. I stumbled across a new program originally aired on BBC called Around the World in 80 Gardens. BBC garden guru, Monty Don, was given the task of getting under the skin of a culture through its gardens. This show extends the definition of "garden" and provides an interesting and often unexpected mix of celebrated and private gardens around the world.

The first show focused on gardens in Mexico including: The Floating Gardens, Xochimilco, Mexico City; The Ethnobotanical Gardens, Oaxaca and Las Pozas, Xilitla. Excerpts from the show are available on You Tube. Most intriguing of all for me were the gardens integrated with the living spaces designed by Luis Barragan, famous Mexican modernist architect. Noticeable aspects of these garden spaces were the forced views of nature using walls etc. and the lack of vegetation. It gave new meaning to the usual concept of garden. Barragan's work is presented on the Barragan Foundation website noted in my list of gardens.