Art Work Shipped to New York View Gallery

I am getting ready to send two of my recent large abstract pieces to a gallery in  New York state. (www.viewarts.org) This juried exhibit is titled “Unprecedented-

Art-Responds-to-2020”. Like many artists I responded to lock down, isolation, and anxiety by expressing my feelings in my artwork. The two pieces heading off to New York were created during this unprecedented time in our history.

”14 Floors Up” is reflecting how I felt isolated in a downtown condo when the city was dark and closed around me.

“Dance or Go Crazy” was an attempted to use happy colors and movement in an abstracted self portrait to show the only solution was to find happiness when and where you can.

4 am

I bet you have read about people that keep a notebook on their bedside table so they can record their dreams, or whatever earth-shattering thoughts awaken them. Maybe you are one of them. Me, not so much.  My dreams seem to fleet off in the distance no matter how hard I have tried to remember them.  But this last Saturday night I actually  got out of bed to find my little sketch pad a recorded my thoughts.

I had gone on a hike to Castlewood Canyon on Saturday morning and although I definitely  realized I have not hiked for months I was so thrilled to be outdoors with friends enjoying a beautiful place. I did take a few pictures but decided to just feel the spot and not necessarily record it.

But I woke up at 4 am with a distinct image of the green, shimmering creek, the large deep green pine trees reaching for the sky.  The image of exceptionally large grey granite rocks were piled up and the canyon walls were clearly layering of geological eras. I had to record the image. I had not worked on a landscape for a while but I believe a piece showing this Colorado beauty is going to happen.

Here are the quick sketches I made at 4 am. One sketch is a quick color perception sketch and the other is black marker drawing of angles and shapes I made  in my sleepy state. But they hopefully  can serve as a memory tool.  I have also included two photos of the canyon, the waterfalls and rocks with trees and blue Colorado sky.

 

What I Learned from a 2-day Art workshop

Surprising things you learn when you take a 2-day art workshop

I signed up for the workshop Pat Pauly offered through Front Range Contemporary Quilters, (FRCQ)

I had concerns that I would not learn what I wanted to learn which is how to move my work into a more abstract feeling. I believe my gut was right, I am not sure I learned any new techniques to be more abstract BUT what I did learn has a lot of value……

  • I learned that I could do ¼ inch seams after practicing a bit.
  • I also learned I do not like it any more than I liked it 13 years ago when I started my art quilting adventure
  • I did learn I have no large, printed fabrics suitable for Pat’s technique. But I realized I have quite a few scarfs that do have big patterns. Now I just need to figure out how to stabilize them as the fabric is light weight.

  • The question about this piece, that I have named. ”Hit by a number 2 Ugly Stick” is whether  I should  waste more time trying to redeem it or call it a failure and move on. I am still working on learning when the ugly stage is redeemable and when it if hopeless. I will discuss with my art critique group tonight

Hit by a Number 2 Ugly stick

  • I also learned maybe technique has potential, BUT I will probably use my own collage technique.  I can see possibilities. I was thinking of adding some subtle figures drawn on a sheer fabric.

Everything coming up roses

Added a subtle figure….maybe

  • I learned that I need to add photos of my larger works to my website hanging in a home, business or gallery setting.  I took  a lot of pictures . Now I made need to  talk with my web designer about best way to incorporate them into the website, Social Media I can figure out myself.

Katherine A La Picasso hanging in my living room

  • I learned that I need to hit up my studio to improve it. I moved work I had leaning on the wall downstairs. I will see what else I can donate to Recreate, such as mall canvases, and some frames. Then I need to shop at Home Depot for materials to build out my design wall.

Finally Finished “Happiness”

“Happiness” is finally finished . I began this piece several months ago. I had decided I was happiest when working on one of my large cubist pieces. I looked at pictures from my cubist focused art books, and of course, I zeroed in a Picasso piece.  There were two Picasso pieces that spoke to me. Here they are:

I wanted to make the piece flow more than the first Picasso piece so I posed myself in front of a mirror and drew myself on a pad of paper. I used the technique that I learned from a teacher at The Art Students League of Denver. I drew with a black pen and never looked at the sheet of paper, only at the figure I was drawing.

I will follow up on my next blog post with more of my process for creating my art work.

Added a new piece to my dreaming series

I called this piece,  “Wallpaper”, since a tired worker was sitting in front of a finished project.  You can check out the other pieces in my dreaming series in small works catagory.

Copyright © 2021 Jean Herman