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| 1. Like Two Detectives 15" x 18" collage |
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| 2. Time's Intersection 15" x 18" collage |
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| 3. Abbey's Desert collage 15" x 18" |
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| 4. Back To Basics 15" x 18" collage |
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| 5. Forest Future 15" x 18" collage |
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| 6. What's it All About? 15" x 18" collage |
1. Like Two Detectives: My husband is notorious for getting the lyrics to many songs wrong. During the 80's there was a song by the band Devo called Whip It!. Rich misheard one of the lines and repeated it to me (..."like two detectives...") and of course that isn't what they are singing. It stuck with me though and when I added the yellow piece in the lower left hand corner, those lyrics came to mind. What can I say?
2. Time's Intersection: This piece was somewhat inspired by the four corners area of the country where 4 western states come together: Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. I have been doing a lot of reading lately centered on the western US desert areas. Some of my ideas came through with this piece.
3. Abbey's Desert: Similar to the above piece, this one was also inspired by my reading. Edward Abbey was a writer and activist. For part of his life he worked as a park ranger in the Arches National Monument Park in Utah. His book, Desert Solitaire, is a very good read and I recommend it. Be forewarned, Abbey was a bit of a pill. His ideas may not have pleased many, but his love of the desert is evident in his writing. If you can get past his faults, you will enjoy the book.
4. Back To Basics: About midway through this month, I decided to change my approach to making these pieces. As I was working and when I finished, I noticed that the collage took on a "quilty" aspect. Relating the work to a quilt helped me to see where to go next with my work.
5. Forest Future: For this particular piece, I selected colors I saw on a recent road trip through the sierras. In our area of the country we have had a lot of trees die off due to pest infestation. The infestation are due in part to the drought. As I worked the piece I considered the future of our forests.
6. What's it All About? Recently, my hairdresser was nice enough to ask me about my art. While explaining to her what I do, I realized how important it is to be able to talk coherently about your creativity, even if your ideas about what you do are in flux. Moving forward with your art involves consistently thinking about and evaluating your creative efforts.
Upcoming Show:
I will be participating again this year in the Madera Arts Council's Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts show. It's a juried exhibition and I was happy to be accepted in for a second time. The dates are 9/21-11/2 and the exhibit is to be held at the Circle Gallery in Madera.
Upcoming Post:
During the month I took a fair amount of notes about what I was learning while I was working. I think I will be doing a separate post for these ideas so if you are interested check back in a day or two for that information.
I have two distinct types of work shown above. If you have a comment let me know! Thanks again for reading!
Libby
It takes me a while to digest a wrap-up post. So many intriguing things to ponder on.
ReplyDeleteI guess I will start with my fav of all of them - Times Intersection. I love the layering. So much depth especially in the lower front. I have read and enjoyed Desert Solitaire. I do not expect park rangers to necessarily think like I do because of their constant involvement with nature, but, yes, you described him well.
I will really look forward to reading about your what you gleaned from your notes this month, Libby.
Julie,
DeleteIt was kind of a long post I guess-lots of pieces this time. I am glad that you take the time to read through it all!
The piece that you liked was really difficult for me to finish. It was very much like doing a puzzle that had no cover art to follow. Each piece had to go somewhere, if that makes sense. I was happier doing those last three pieces-I felt things were more flexible.
So, hopefully I have some insight to share in the next post. August was a really long month:)
Hope all is well. Thanks for the visit and comments.
Libby
Good for you for creating all this work! I can see the distinct differences between the first 3 and the last, although I can't say one type is more appealing than the other. They affect me differently. Like Julie, I really engage with Time's Intersection, and that group of the first three are, in my opinion, distinctly more "narrative" than the latter three. But I don't know if I am subconsciously swayed by your "quilty" word, but the last three have a comforting air about them. They have far less white space, for one thing. Or maybe I should say the white space is more regular than the top 3, so it appears as though there is less of it. I keep going back to "Back to Basics" and wondering if I actually like this one the best! HA! Your work continues to appeal is so many ways.
ReplyDeleteCarol,
DeleteThose are very helpful observations. That white space is so critical for me and can be seen lots of different ways so it was good to read about what you were seeing.
I don't know either if I like one style over the other-more narrative versus more straight geometric. "Back to Basics" is my favorite mostly because of the results but also because of how I approached it and worked the piece. That always seems to matter a lot to me. Funny huh?
I'll just keep at it to see what happens next. I have one in process now that I hope will provide more insight. we'll see.
Thank you for your comments and visit. I appreciate them.
Libby
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ReplyDelete