New Work and Paper Covered Pillars/Columns/Whatever!

Western Skies 1
16" x 16" painted collage landscape

Pillars? Columns?

The above piece was completed earlier this week. Using yellow is sort of new for me with these collages but makes total sense to me. For much of the year, the land where I live is a yellowish-brown color. Pretty soon, things will dry out and when they do, the grasses will turn from green to yellow. I anticipate that my color choices will change as well.

The completed piece also marks the introduction of some resist techniques that I used on the paper. I have been trying to really let the brush strokes show in order to give the paper some texture. Using a matte varnish medium mixed in with the paint helps. The more you use, the more the brush strokes show and the greater the translucency of the paint.  It has taken me awhile to get used to that idea but it is growing on me. The resist idea is this: I started painting the blank paper with some gloss medium/varnish. Once it dries, I then paint the paper with the intended color, wiping off some of the paint before it has a chance to soak in to the paper and dry. The areas with the varnish tend to "resist" the paint and whatever pattern you make shows through. It isn't a new technique of course but it adds another dimension to things.

The second pic shows the idea I have been working on. They are wooden boards, primed/painted and then wrapped in  my hand painted papers. I mean for them to be a 3-D version of my collages. They will eventually get a wooden base painted white (I think). They are really fragile (the paper is) and need some support so they don't fall over. I posted the picture on FB and Instagram and people seemed to really like them. Why is that I wonder? My girlfriend, who never comments on my art, said that even she likes them and that her husband likes them too. He said that they were "dude art."  Dude art? I suspect that art that is understandable (it's a sculpture, it's a landscape, it's a portrait) appeals to people a little more. I show pictures of my finished work but I never show a shot of it matted and framed and hanging somewhere. Maybe that is an oversight on my part.

Anyway, the pillars were very fun to do and I have a second set already planned. If anyone has a suggestion for what to call them I am open. I wanted to call them colorforms but I understand that is a trademarked name for a toy. I do think of them as color forms though (And of course I am familiar too with the work of Anne Truitt.) Suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks for reading and commenting,

Libby