Making progress

My pattern and wallpaper obsession continues. Yesterday I completed stage one of upcoming image transfers in gel skin my new work. I have almost one hundred photocopies of wallpaper shots ready for their first coat of gloss medium when I get to my summer house tomorrow.

My fingertips are numb just thinking about rubbing off all that paper to reveal the image in the gel skin. To save my fingers, I've been experimenting with other "objects" to remove the paper. I'll write a post on what is working best when I return. Lately I've also been using direct transfer right on the surface as a beginning layer. This technique does not leave the built up edges you get from gel skin transfers. Sometimes I want that smoothness but the build up of edges makes the layers more prominent and reminiscent of the passage of time reflected in peeling wallpaper.

I have two weeks to paint to my heart's delight. I have one new work complete, one almost and one begun. I hope to come back to the city with four completed works. This series is on 16 x 16 canvas. My last two series have been on cradled panel. The texture of the canvas in the background seems right for this new work. Fabric like and pliable. All the reasons why I rejected it before. Here's a sampling of my inspirations...

Text will play a part in several of the paintings. At least that's what I think today. Who knows? All of these shots came from an old house in my summer community, Duntara which a friend of mine has since purchased and has dreams of having a small museum/ gallery there. This is a very interesting concept in a community of approximately 50 people.

It's the one in the middle next to the small red shed. I love the off center door and the blue green trim , a staple colour in the past for this community.

No contact with the internet for two week. Good bye for now.

Pattern and decoration

My love of pattern and other surface decorations has been a constant in my life probably because of my introduction to sewing and craft at an early age. Part of my fascination with old wallpapers comes from my early immersion in pattern or perhaps it is the other way around! Living in rooms of trellises and fantasy flowers as a child might have exposed me to some insidious invasion of my senses that remains today.

There are many artists like me who cannot seem to escape their attraction to pattern and decoration and use it in their art. A recent find is Julie Phillips, an artist living in Omaha , Nebraska, who uses mixed media and feels "that there is a "whole truth" in our human need for beauty and calm, for hope and comfort". Her love of rich, exotic textiles is very evident in her work. Her description of "landscapes of pattern" struck a cord with me because of my new series (yet unveiled to the general public). While I am creating landscapes with transfers of vintage wallpapers they do not look like Julie's work. It is her stacking and layering of imagery that makes her reference to landscape work for me.

Julie Phillips , 2010
Painted Tapestry XIII, Handmade acrylic, spray enamel and metallic thread on Belgian linen 72 x 78 inches

Her work can be found at Anderson O' Brien Fine Art.

Now that's interesting

I'm still lost in the many worlds of wallpaper and working through the wrinkles in my latest series which isn't ready for public viewing yet. Many artists have used wallpaper in different ways in their work. When I start new work one of the first things I do is explore work is similar to what I'm producing. I always explore after my own idea is firmly entrenched to ensure I am keeping as true to my own vision as possible. I'm always awed by the versatility among the works created by artists that use similar motifs. Here are some of my new finds.

Michail Kalashnikov, 2009, 140 cm. x 100 cm.
Carlo Galfione

The human body is also the subject of artist oil painter Carlo Galfione's work, he uses wallpaper and fabrics as motifs to overlay on his subject's faces. He is fascinated by the stereotypes of the fashion system, the rituals, expectations and desires that surround this world. My take on his work is an exploration of the the outer face we all put on to fit in to our immediate world. Galfione calls it the "the habitat aesthetic" which best represents us. Adherence to fashion dictates moves an individual into a group membership . "His work represents a sampling of possible aesthetic approvals..."


Australian artist Emma Hack shies away from conventional painting supports and uses the human body as her canvas. The bodies she so intricately paints become part of the pattern she is using. See more of her work here .



And then there's Laura Splan who paints in blood in her Wallpaper/Samples. The blood follows the pattern in real wallpaper samples. Her work explores the "fluctuating experiences that an image can evoke". We are jarred by the opposition between a homey, familiar wallpaper pattern and the viseral material used to create the design.

Of course there are many more artists using wallpaper as an impetus for their work and future posts will examine their work. Can you add to my list?

Questions

I've begun a new body of work that combines wallpaper and landscape. I was going to post
two of these works but I've decided to wait awhile. I've made this decision because I don't want the work to be influenced by comments before I have decided if I am where I want to be with the series. I want to muddle my way through my doubts and questions for awhile yet. I like to keep my process and content true to my own voice. How about you?

Do you like to hold your new work close or do you show it to family and friends for reaction?

Do you think it is a good idea to put your new work (that might not be fully evolved) on your blog?

How influenced are you by the comments of others?

Here's a sneak peek at some of the images that influenced my new landscapes. It will get you thinking.

Another find

I have a new find. My wallpaper detective instincts led me to the Monk's House in King's Cove, which is the community next to Duntara where I have my summer house. Those of you who follow my blog already know this is important news for my documentation of the wallpaper designs of old homes in Newfoundland.

I have always admired this old house since my trips to the area as a teenager. It was built in the mid- nineteenth century and was occupied much of the intervening time by the Monks family. It is best know for the large clock that is on the exterior built by Kenneth Monks who was a well known crafts person and watchmaker. The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador declared it a Registered Heritage Structure in April 1990.

Here are some of my favourite shots so far. I'll be going back as more work is done because I know the new owners. Lucky me.

Delicate and very purple with lovely circular motifs. I only have a few images with purple so this adds to my collection nicely.

The under workings that support the top layers of delicacy.

These designs are quite old. You can tell by the tight colour ranges and block printing effect.

My favourite green appears again. I need to research the time frame where this colour was popular. It is so much a part of my growing up.

Bold and more sophisticated than some of the other designs. Classic references abound.

Perfect in every way!

An interesting wiring approach that works well with the border.
...supported by a Geography lesson

My favourite one because it has everything.

...and help for the serious mother.

Moving along

I've finally begun a new series of work after several weeks of drawing and fun painting- the kind that I don't have any high aspirations for, the kind that I created before I wanted to really say something through my work. Fun painting usually brings me to the next stage because it clears my mind and allows room for new ideas to creep in. It worked for me again.

I recently photographed the layers of wallpaper on another old home that is being renovated near our summer place. This got me thinking again about wallpapers as holders of family memory as well as their historical and social significance which I explored in a previous series of work called Remnants. I've extended my explorations from that series to consider wallpaper as interior landscapes and combined remnants of them (in photo transfer) with exterior landscapes that have connections to my family history. I'm excited about the explorations and I'm still figuring out how to meld the two but I know I'm on to something that makes my bells chime!