Final Coat

Products for sealing an  outdoor mural

Milky quality

From a distance

 

Having excessively researched the proper way to seal an outdoor mural painted with acrylic paint on a primed concrete surface, I'm a little disappointed that the surface milked up a bit (see above photo).  I applied a protective barrier made of two parts Golden Soft Gel (Gloss) to one part water.  I started at the top and worked my way down.  The top is fine, but the bottom, I think was warmer and caused the gloss to dry too quickly or in a way that made it dry opaque rather than clear.   After two days, I sprayed on a coat  of Liquitex Soluvar Gloss Varnish, and one day later, I applied a coat of Liquitex Soluvar Matte Varnish.  The varnishes are indetectable by my sight, but I can feel their presence when I touch the wall.  I certainly inhaled a bit of it.  This was the last step in preserving my mural.  I will continue to track the progress.  Hopefully it will continue to look good.  I'll miss that little patch of concrete and the well-wishers that surrounded me there.  

Day One of Mural Making: Goldilock's Chair

Blank white page

 At last, it was time to begin the mural!  I underestimated the size of this project both dimensionally and laboriously.  The rough surface eats up my paint and slows me down.  That said, I'm happy with my first days work, and looking forward to completion over the next weeks depending on sunshine and childcare.  If you happen to be on South Blvd. between Humphrey and Taylor, check it out and the other murals standing by.

PS I enjoyed the variety of passerby with their questions and comments of encouragement; however, my favorite came from a little four-year-old-ish boy who identified the mural as the very chair from the Goldilocks story.  Mission accomplished!

I might prefer this simplicity

in context with other murals and Uniion Pacific West tracks

The Push and Pull or ( The Warp and Weft of the Creative Process)

fresh rug ends to tie

 So, I've been missing blogging.  I think my posts seem fewer and farther apart yet I'm feeling busier than ever.  I'm finding myself going in lots of directions but not making much head way in any one of those.  In attempt to save you from enduring a laundry list of projects and a much longer one of worries, concerns, and anxieties surrounding those projects, I'll cut to the chase.  Above is a stack of rugs that I finally finished weaving today and are waiting their ends tied up.  They'll be a colorful addition to the Pop-Up Studio happening at the end of the month.

I received rejection earlier this month to a show at South Bend Museum of Art.  Again there were about 8 artists out of 200 something that were accepted.  Still, it doesn't feel so great.  I want to keep working at my craft and continue to look for more projects and exhibition opportunities particularly those that are free and close to home. 

I have been accepted to paint a mini mural on the wall that supports the train tracks that bisect Oak Park.  I submitted my painting "The Red Chair with Cushion"!  It will be fun to paint a really big chair.  I'll be taking lots of pictures to document the process, and it looks like I'll be getting started soon (this weekend hopefully) because they would like it completed by June 1st.  Also coming up: completion of the Kindergarten Sing Collaborative Art Project and Pop-up Studio set-up and opening reception.

I've been devouring lots of radio discourse surrounding the creative process.  One of the questions asked is whether creating art is a selfish act.  I know that I constantly struggle to balance my work and everything else.  Sometimes I am very good at focusing on creating and very good at shutting the world out of my studio.  Other times, I'm feeling pulled out of my tunnel and into the wide open.  This is one of those times.  I don't know if it is the beautiful weather or the business of ending a school year or Pen's insatiable desire to be pushed in a swing higher and higher, but at a time when I should be finding my nose very close to the grindstone, I am catching myself smelling the lilacs instead.  In addition I have a mile long list of movies to see, books to read, and museums to peruse.  There is so much to digest, mull over, to question, and a garden to plant!

And now a complete non-sequitur:  You know that those mysterious cicadas who emerge only every 17 years with fluttering wings to sing and mate only to go subterranean again?  Some of them fail to count the years correctly and emerge too soon or too late and sing their lonely songs absent of their roaring friends.  I may need medication to recover from this utter sadness. 

Oak Park Arts Commission Mini Mural Project (I stole this photo from the web and am ignorant of artist)

Block Printed House Pillows

This could have been a quilt.  I will make a quilt from this fabric some day.

I tried a different approach to this batch of  house pillows.  I wanted to use my printed fabric and infuse color with pieced scraps.  I made some sketches and ended up figuring out a design simply by beginning the process.  I often find this is the case.  I can't arrive at a satisfactory solution until I just start.  Then, circumstances will reveal a certain path to take.  Usually this plan will be better than anything I could have thought of through pure meditation.  My sewing projects are often like this and I wish I could incorporate that kind of spontaneity and receptivity in my paintings. 

Timelines

 This is the last series of adjustments in the process of this painting.  I'm pretty sure I'm done, but I might feel differently later this afternoon or tomorrow.  I wrote lots about this painting in the previous post.  So, I won't say much now.  I would like to hear your impressions, though!

PS  I probably need to take better photos of this painting because it is 3' x 4'-- a challenge to capture in my shallow studio. 

Documenting The Process

Embroidery

It's my habit to share projects and paintings when they are finished; however, it's been almost ten days since I've last posted.  I'm concerned that you are imagining me sleeping through all this rainy weather.  As much as a cozy nap sounds perfect, I've been chipping away at two different projects one stitch and tiny brush stroke at a time.  Above is an embroidered flower that I'm enjoying.  Long term plans consist of constructing a quilt with about a dozen of these embroidered flowers.  This is a really long term plan, but I like having a tiny project to tuck into my purse and take with me everywhere.  Again, I have to remind myself that it is worthwhile to take on time consuming endeavors, and I'm finding it comforting to really settle into something.  I just hope I can maintain momentum and complete desired projects.

My daytime job has been this painting of my Grandma and Mom floating on our family lake in Minnesota.  Our weeks spent at Hay Lake Lodge were my favorites.  They were opportunities for experiencing childhood at its best, bond with family, and finding adventures.  I think if I had my way, life would be nothing but walking in the woods wondering if you smell bear, threading leaches onto hooks in a Sysyphean attempt to catch fish, and endless pinball games at the lodge.

The photo from which  I'm painting captures a quality of my Grandma which I adore but have trouble naming.  As a woman in constant motion, she rarely sat still, and here she is very regally perched in an innertube floating with my Mom behind her on a raft.  I wonder what thoughts drifted into their heads as my Dad cheekily snapped an ever-controversial bathing suit photo.

I'm thinking about their relaxed, content dispositions and the unease of knowing your body is forever captured on film (and now adorning a canvas.)  I'm thinking about them floating in dark water that is both enticing and fun but a little scary or icky because the weeds and fish tickle your toes and grab your ankles as I paint giant leaves inspired by ferns and other plants at the Garfield Conservatory.  Instead of patterns in fabric, I'm choosing to use patterns in nature to describe the mood of this painting.

I'm constantly inspired by the symmetry in nature and its ability to produce drama in its simplicity.  In the veins of a leaf or the branching of a fern I see timelines of history, interconnectedness of nature, and predictability of certain outcomes coming from certain circumstances.  These leaves and membranes are beautiful and elegant.  The large oval leaves floating in the lake make me wondering if they are cells or eggs or that perhaps the Pequot lakes are really bowls of primordial soup which we float in and out of.

Well, I did it again, I ended up writing about something entirely different that I had planned.  I wanted to emphasize my desire of capturing various stages of my painting to reference, study, and examine so that I can analyze various decisions and resolutions.  I was inspired by Matisse who sent over months many photos of his painting Large Reclining Nude to his collector detailing the journey of a single painting.  It takes my breath away when I look at a grid of his process of stretching her limbs and shrinking her head.  It is like a little window into his brain.  I wonder how he felt inside when he knew it was in fact completed.   Take a look here.

Home Is Where The Art Is

 And now I will tell you of the vast benefits of reading instructions before you begin.  (Make sure your children are listening)  My artist friend and my Art in the Classroom PTO committee co-chair, Faith, put me in touch with this excellent on-line resouce for artists, actors, and writers.  On previously mentioned resource, I found a couple of shows to which I wanted to apply.  The first being an art show/fundraiser for HOPE Fair Housing Center in Wheaton.  They called for work relating the values of fair housing etc.  I decided to make a piece appropriate for the show and submit it before the March 1st deadline.  I should say that I am also preparing to travel to Miami on March 1st.  So, I'm scrambling to finish this laborious painting in order to prepare for my trip and my kids' going to grandparents etc. etc.  I'm stressing out about the painting feeling the pressure to finish is cramping my style, and in the end, I'm not one hundred percent content.  Oh well, just get it submitted and we'll see what happens.  Upon READING the directions which I had only previously skimmed, I notice there is no need to submit an image of my painting.  Strange, sure, but they also request that I send in a snail mail application instead of a convenient on-line one.  Anyhow, all of that stress was wasted.

I also applied to be in the Body and Mind show at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago.  I submitted my "Grandma Dying" painting.  We'll see what comes from that.  I don't want to sell her, but it would be great to present her to the public and develop my exhibition history.  Yay exhibitions!

Acceptance Speach

"Paint Palette" watercolor by my niece Iris given to me at my show

 My Prairie Title show went well last Thursday!  Thanks to all who helped to prepare, motivate, guide, and support me in any and every way.  I'm in much debt to you and will be forever grateful.  It was fun to see the paintings all together and discuss them.  It was particularly enjoyable to hear the stories, memories, and thoughts that they triggered in others.  One woman after seeing "The Pressing" mentioned that all of the  pictures of her mother were of her ironing or washing dishes.  She never wanted her picture taken.  The show will remain on display through the beginning of April, and I am looking forward to more opportunities to exhibit and write about them. 

I threaded my loom with warp for three rag rugs.  It's time to start cutting t-shirts again!

Looking for Next Adventure

 The above is a photo of my travel easel which will be super great on vacations, painting in my back yard and front porch, and other parts of my house or even your house.  It's framed by messy studio.

Below are my full palettes and waning tubes of paint.  After the rush of preparing for the Prairie Title show, I am having a sort of postpartum depression missing the focus and determination that accompanied the birth of that project.  Aside from wanting to paint more/exhibit more (OPAL and Dot to Dot)/add to and refine Etsy Shop, I've had some other ideas bouncing in my brain:
1.) Make a podcast featuring interviews with artists and creative types that would seek knowledge of the creative process and attempt to also understand creative motivations, obstructions, and fears.  Photos of the artists creative spaces would also play a part.
2.) Interview those of advanced age giving them a chance to tell their stories and paint portraits probably based on photos of my subjects.
3.) Make art derived from media stories which resonated with me.  Then, write about and link to the original piece. 
4.)  Gather histories and information about my Grandma and write about her life which spanned 1913 through 2012 as a means to gain a broader understanding of our cultural and my personal history.
5.) Grad-school in Art History
What's your vote?  Any other ideas out there?

Grandma Dying

 So, the days I spent with my Grandma dying were life changing to say the least.  I was thankful to have art making as a means to capture/digest/participate in her death.  I sketched and took photos of her which felt a little strange yet somehow necessary.  We were witnessing such beauty and pain.  At some point by her side (probably in the middle of the night and bleary-eyed) I decided I was going to paint her dying.  Since that promise to myself and the realization that Grandma has and always will be my muse, I've been sort of waiting to exhale- green lighting other projects ahead of her.  Now having completed the painting I feel relieved, sad, and a little disappointed in my efforts.  I feel confident that I've done all that I can do with her right now but know that I can return to her in the future.  It was obviously an emotional painting to make, but nonetheless, this experience has enlightened me to the deficit our culture's handling of mortality and the need to make plain the possibility of an active and supportive death. 

The Best

I'm working on a top secret painting of my Grandma dying.  It is inspired by her beauty and grace which she so generously shared with us as she actively died.  What courage it took to die!  I am able to transport myself to that time as I paint her on a rather large canvas (for me).  I'm finding myself getting lost in her.

Ha!  I did not set out to write about this but to share a memory that has resurfaced in the sweetness of Penelope.  Pen has been tossing around compliments with ease telling us we are the best!  "You are the best Mommy!"  You are the best Daddy!"  "You are the best brother except you don't play with me!"

My Grandma shared this habit especially in her last years.  "This is the best watermelon ever!" she would declare on a weekly basis.  The same went for pizza, flowers, and tomatoes.

I love this critical claim that someone or something is the best.  Why not?  It might be your last bite of watermelon or your only mom.  Why not have the best?

A Couple

This is the last of my 8 new pieces which I added to my cache of 6 ( of which one is a diptych).  Tonight is installation.  I'm so excited to see everything hung and very grateful to have my sister's help!  Here are some lessons I've learned during these last couple of weeks:

1.  Just keep painting
2.  Sometimes its favorable to allow a painting to take the lead pulling me in a direction I hadn't intended.
3.  Allow for surprises
4.  Art making really is transformative
5.  No matter how much you intend to capture the other in a portrait, you can't help but ultimately paint yourself
6.  It takes courage to create

Here is more information regarding my show at Prarie Title Show.
I'll be sending a formal email invite later in the week.

I feel like good things are on the horizon, and although I'm uncertain what challenge is next for me, I'm excited for it!

Paper Dolls Painting

 I finished my fifth painting over the weekend.  It's based on a photo of my Grandma and her younger sister in their First Communion dresses.  I just love their expressions and the contrast between the neatness of their pristine dresses and shiny shoes and the shabbiness and roughness of the porch they are standing on.  I saw the dresses as blank canvases themselves and so painted them flatly with patterns.  The last photo is of my next painting also based on a photo of my Grandma ironing, one of her favorite chores.

And then there was this one . . .

Penelope showing me her sun drawing in her sketchbook

 I may be obsessed with rearranging my studio.  Truth be told, I'm no happier than when I can shift furniture around and reorganize, and my experience has proven that it is hard to get it right the first time.  My latest set-up makes great space for painting standing at my easel and room for a guest to work at the table.  (I like sharing my studio, too.  You want to come and read or work?)  Now where can I squeeze a couch in here?

 This is painting number four of my painting blitz.  I'm halfway to my goal of eight new paintings in two and half weeks.  I'm having a hard time explaining this painting, but I can list for you the concepts that were swirling in my brain while painting it. 

1. We the people:  Monday's Inauguration ceremony was a moment of pride for me.  It's rare for me to feel patriotic or have a nationalistic identity, but listening to our President made me realize that I am tired of the criticism and tearing down or our leaders as the source of our nations' problems.  It's like blaming teachers for a broken educational system.  We the people, are as responsible for our fates and how we operate in this world.  Ask what I can do?  I made this crazy painting. 

2.  Pee-Wee's Playhouse:  I was listening to an interview with Wayne White discussing his varied career as an artist, set-designer, cartoonist, puppeteer, and more.  He got his big break on the set of Pee-Wee's playhouse as a designer and puppeteer.  He mentioned how Paul Reubens hired outsider artists particularly from the cartoon world to assist in his TV production.  These were artists who associated with another of my inspirations: Keith Haring.  Long story made short, they created something entirely fresh and new.  The fact that as kids we were exposed to such satire and Dada like silliness was a miracle, and I am entirely thankful.  It's artists like these that make me think anything is possible and can be delightful---bliss, in fact.  

3.  Massacre:  The mass shooting in Connecticut was horrific and incomprehensible.  However, I still don't understand why it receives more attention that the massacre happening only miles away from me in Chicago.  Our youth are being slaughtered and they barely get mentioned.  As you may have noticed in a previous post, I'm going to be posting the names of those killed in gun violence through-out the year.  I want to turn this into a bigger project, but haven't decided how to develop it yet.  My first thought was to embroider all of the names--to really take time stitch by stitch to honor each life, but the murder rate is so high that I don't know if this feasible.  Got any ideas?  Bottom line: our youth have to be safe from us.