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| When We Were Kids collage/acrylic painted papers on wc paper image size approx 15 x 18 |
I grew up in the East Bay here in CA in a town called San Leandro. Many of my clearest memories center around the town, my childhood, and my parents. These days I can't remember sometimes what I had for lunch but I can remember what the inside of my grammar school looked like. One of my more distinct memories is of picking up pieces of green glass while on the playground at school. I can still see the thick shards of glass in my hand as they sparkled in the sunlight. Those glass pieces got me started on the idea of making a piece that generally referenced that playground. In my mind and in my sketchbook I drew images of the playground and the school: tire swings, monkey bars, the rubber mats on the ground meant to break your fall, the hallways of the school which were green, and the black and white floors. I realized as I was writing that I have a fair amount of memories of physical objects if not many memories of specific events. Funny how that stuff works.
As I put the piece together, I began to see that a specific idea wasn't going to work. Having a narrow focus of the subject seemed to kill the possibilities. I eventually expanded my thoughts to encompass more memories. At one point, towards the end, I abandoned all pretense of there being a subject and simply started to add a few shapes. That broke through the block and I got to a little story that I started to tell myself. It involved sparklers, the Bay, tires swings, and those shards of glass. Not a cohesive narrative but just sort of a stroll down memory lane. The title is meant to be general enough so that anyone might see something and be able to relate. Oh, and I should add that the green figure in the middle is based on a statue in a neighborhood park near my home. The statue is a monument to the Portuguese immigrant. San Leandro is noted for it's Portuguese population.
OK, enough of all that. Hope everyone has had a good and creative week. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Libby
This has a playful quality and great color! Before reading your text, I knew this was about children`s activities.
ReplyDeleteRandall,
DeleteChildren's activities sums it up nicely. I hadn't thought of it that way because I was so keyed in to my own memories. And thank you for the compliment on the color. I struggle to develop my own ideas about color usage so it's good to know that something positive is coming through.
Thank you as always for your observations and support. It's helpful!
Libby
I really relate to this work and in my mind I am subtitling it leap of faith. As children I think we take those leaps unaware of what impact they have for us in our futures.
ReplyDeleteAnother factor I really liked about this work was the color gray. For me that color is a mixture of all the colors or at the very least a mixture of complimentary colors, and therefore replete with innuendo and possible stories.
The action in this piece is key. I feel the movement, that sense of "whatever comes next" and it speaks to the child in me, beautifully reminiscent of who I used to be.
Carol,
DeleteI like that you gave the piece your own title! That's good and just what I want. I like when people ascribe their own meaning to whatever is in front of them. That meaning is just as valid as whatever it was that I meant the piece to say.
And your observations on the gray is quite interesting. Gray is a mixture of the primaries as you wrote and could certainly describe a multi experience viewpoint.
Great insight that you provided for me Carol. I appreciate that very much. Thank you!
Libby
I agree about the playful quality that Randall saw, but didn't relate it to a playground...and Carol, above, likes the gray and MY fav is the pink strip....perfectly placed to pop the Mr Green statue forward.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great you can create work that gets us all involved with different interpretations. That is pretty powerful stuff!
Julie,
DeleteI love the name that you gave the statue. Mr. Green!! I was laughing when I added that element early on. It's such a goofball thing to do.
That playful quality seems to be coming out in most of these pieces and I have no idea how that is happening. If I tried to do it on purpose I know I wouldn't hit the right notes. It makes me wonder about the parts of ourselves that we are unaware of and how those parts might come out when we are engaged in our hobbies or creative efforts.
And I love that everyone added their own interpretation of what they thought was going on. That is so much better for me personally to have people making up their own minds about the subject of these pieces. It works much better for me than trying to force a particular way of seeing things onto people. Much better!
Thank you as always for your comments. I apprecaiae it very much!
Libby
And I mean "appreciate!" Happy fingers!
DeleteLibby
Dear Libby the feeling I receive from this piece is a special joy. A great tribute to the child in each of us. Love the blues and deep green- makes the eye keep moving in a lovely circular motion. Also loved how you shared your memories of some of your younger years. Hope you have a delightful weekend. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThanks Debbie! I am finding that inspiration from these pieces is coming from all sorts of unexpected places. Kind of nice to have some childhood memories to draw on. Glad that the painting seems joyous to you. I think that is a really nice compliment:)
DeleteHope that you had a good week and that things are going well. Thank you for your visit!
Libby
This IS a happy piece indeed Libby. It is playful, just like a child on a playground. I often see a presence of water in these abstracts you are doing.
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend!
Thanks Lisa! I do tend to include water elements for some reason. I am not a great swimmer but it must be something that interests me since it keeps cropping up. You just never know right? And I love the idea of making happy work don't you? Seems like a great idea:)
DeleteThanks for your visit. I hope you are doing well.
Libby