Abstract Painting – Page 15

Scattered By the Wind: An Update

My prayer flag project, which I outlined in a previous post, is gaining momentum. It officially begins in July, but I’ve been doing posts on Facebook about my project and inviting friends and acquaintances (or strangers) to join in by making a flag. So far, I’ve sent out and distributed about 100 flags, which means lots of ripping, ironing, and sewing is going on so I can send out the flags.

All of the flags will eventually be curated and strung together, then hung for the Salem Art Association Project Space opening reception on September 3. My initial idea had been that after the reception, I would contact the library or a school and see about having them hang somewhere public for a while. Then a friend asked if the flags would be for sale, which got my brain to swirling and I’ve decided that I’m going to sell the flags with proceeds going to the Salem Art Association’s art program at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility in Salem. I’ve also been invited to offer a class to the boys teaching them to make a prayer flag.

I’m thinking out loud here, but my thought is to sell the flags for $10 each, making them affordable to purchase. As of today, I’m thinking the flags will be available for purchase on September 3. More on all that later, but I’m excited to think that the flags will serve a greater purpose.

In the meantime, I’ve been painting and creating flags myself. I have three series going. One is crosses and cruicforms.

Another focuses on black and white (with a spice of red).

And finally, a whole series where I’m using vivid color and lots of line work.

Want to make a flag? E-mail me your name and address and I’ll send you prayer flag kit. I’ll even include a stamped, self-addressed envelope to make it easy to send your flag back to me: dayna@alleyartstudio.com

RIP Dad

Last year, I had a show at Guardino Gallery in Portland. The title was Beneath the Surface: Searching For Memory and the show was inspired by my dad’s battle with Alzheimer’s. My dad lost that battle on Saturday night.

As I sat with my dad on Saturday, I reflected on what a great dad he had been. He was silly, generous, funny, out-going, and at times tender and sentimental. He was diagnosed with dementia in 2009, so he fought through the haze for five years. I thought in a tribute to him, I would post a few of the paintings I did for the show since their titles reflect what he was experiencing.

Creating Memories That Won't Be Remembered — Creating Memories That Won’t Be Remembered

And finally, because it was one of his favorite songs:

Warren “Lefty” Davidson

May 24, 1931-May 17, 2014

Beyond Words: RiverSea Gallery

I have long been a fan of RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. Every time I visited Astoria I made sure to stop into this beautiful gallery. When I started painting several years ago, I barely allowed myself to dream that I might one day have my art hanging in RiverSea. Well, my dream came true. My paintings are now in RiverSea Gallery.

At the end of April, my friend Cynthia and I took a road trip to Astoria to drop off my art. I got to meet the gallery director, Jeannine, and she got to see my art in person.

Gallery director Jeannine gets acquainted with my art.

Jeannine selected twelve pieces to display in the gallery. Here’s a sampling of the pieces now at RiverSea.

"A Dark and Dreamless Oblivion" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches — “A Dark and Dreamless Oblivion”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches

"Traveling Sideshow" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 20x20 inches — “Traveling Sideshow”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
20×20 inches

"Tantalizing Threads of Gossip" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel with niche 24x24 inches — “Tantalizing Threads of Gossip”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel with niche
24×24 inches

"A Smattering of Clues" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches — “A Smattering of Clues”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches

"It Sounded Exotic" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches — “It Sounded Exotic”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches

It was so nice to have my artist friend Cynthia along for the day, especially since we got to spend a beautiful, sunny day at the coast.

Studio Revamp

I have two studios. The upstairs one is my painting studio, the basement one is my assemblage studio (aka junk shop). We moved into our new house (it’s an old house, 1926 era, but new to us) about 16 months ago, which allowed me to close down my one-bedroom house studio and bring everything home. Even with two studios in our new house, it wasn’t easy to consolidate everything from an entire house and put it into two spaces.

In December of 2012 I packed, sorted, boxed, donated, and sold all sorts of studio items. The former studio was filled to the brim – every room was mine to fill as I pleased: kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, and a tacked on shed (and the back yard, too). It was a herculean task and I couldn’t have done it without the help of friends.

Then what was boxed, needed to be put away.

It was overwhelming, but two friends came to the rescue. Sam helped moved all the boxes and Tory helped put it away.

I’m a pretty organized person, so I put most of the assemblage bits in the basement, but I also put a lot of it upstairs in my painting studio. Over the past year I’ve worked on my Curious Elements and Funky Junkyard Birds in the basement, but I was constantly running upstairs to my painting studio to comb through the bits I had put up there. And then when I was painting in the upstairs studio, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic with all the junk surrounding me.Two weeks ago I realized it was time to reorganize and move the last of the little bits to the basement and clear out some of the clutter (but not the shelves that Tory lovingly filled with my fun treasures).

After a full day of moving stuff out of my painting studio, this is how it looked:

But, I had made a huge mess in the basement that had to wait until this week to remedy.

It took two days to get the basement space reorganized and tidied up. But it was worth it.

I love studio shots, so here are a few close-ups from the basement.

Now I need to go get to work.

It Takes Courage

It takes courage to cover up a completed painting, but it’s something I have learned to do. The question is why do I do it. In one instance, it was because of a technical problem: the black paint wasn’t drying and when I went to put on the final coat of cold wax, it began lifting the paint and the painting was ruined. That board was put into the pile of available boards for use in the future.

"Searching For His Lost Life," formerly a painting. — “Searching For His Lost Life,” formerly a painting.

Searching For His Lost Life became Where the Road Ends.

"Where the Road Ends, 24x24 plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel. — “Where the Road Ends, 24×24 plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel.

This piece made it into my Slightly Off Kilter show last year, but when the show came down, I realized I wasn’t in love with the painting, so once again, it went into the available boards pile. I recently completed yet another painting, Something More Was Required. Yes, something more was required and I think that painting has come full circle. With the initial layer of plaster and multiple layers of oil and cold wax, this 24×24 piece is getting pretty heavy. From Searching For His Lost Life, to Where the Road Ends, it is now Something More Was Required.

"Something More Was Required," 24x24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel. — “Something More Was Required,” 24×24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel.

Another recent transformation came when I took an 8×8-inch piece, To the Center of Silence, and transformed it into A Dark Curtain Against the Sky. I liked the original well enough, but it was a bit too yellow and wasn’t dynamic enough.

"To the Center of Silence," 8x8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel. — “To the Center of Silence,” 8×8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel.

"A Dark Curtain Against the Sky," 8x8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel. — “A Dark Curtain Against the Sky,” 8×8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel.

Then there was Beachcombing. I loved the little niche filled with treasures, but it read a bit too precious. And the colors were a bit jarring.

"Beachcombing," 24x24, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled board with niche. — “Beachcombing,” 24×24, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled board with niche.

So, I scrapped and dug out the found objects and sea shells, sanded the board, and transformed it into Things Still Remembered.I haven’t filled the niche yet as that takes a whole different level of creativity. What is tucked into a niche is very powerful.

"Things Still Remembered," 24x24, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel (with niche). — “Things Still Remembered,” 24×24, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel (with niche).

Finally, one more example. I did a couple of pages in my art journal, which I liked and thought would translate nicely into a painting.

So I loosely painted it onto a 30×30-inch cradled panel (after painting over another painting I had been working on for awhile – look at the big panel behind me in the first photo of this post – that’s what was on the board before I took the journal page and painted it onto the panel). It sat for a long time and I thought I liked it. In fact, it was ready to go to the gallery.

On the easel, thinking it was about complete.

But something was niggling at me, so I took it back into my studio and began revamping it. It became something entirely different.

And then I kept going.

And going.

Detail from a "Stoking a Small Steady Flame." — Detail from a “Stoking a Small Steady Flame.”

And going.

"Stoking a Small Steady Flame, 30x30 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel. — “Stoking a Small Steady Flame, 30×30 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel.

Stoking A Small Steady Flame was born and now hangs at Guardino Gallery in Portland.

Jane Davies Extravaganza

Last week I had the privilege of taking three consecutive classes at Art and Soul from Jane Davies (she did a blog post about the classes, which you can see by clicking here). I thought it would be fun to break the classes down, sharing a bit from each day. It was a great three days of art-making and although I didn’t finish any of the pieces, I have a lot of good beginnings and I learned so much.

Day 1 – Layering With Transparencies

Day 2 – Working in Series

My friend Katy and I took the class together.

Day 3 – Balancing Opposites: the Ying and Yang of Composition

Artist Serena Barton was in the class and it's always a treat to spend time with her. — Artist Serena Barton was in the class and it’s always a treat to spend time with her.

My new friend Karen. She lives in Portland very close to Guardino Gallery!

Art at the State Capitol

"Hideout" Oil and cold wax 16x20 — “Hideout”
Oil and cold wax
16×20

Just a nice leisurely walk from my house is the Oregon State Capitol. Today I leisurely walked to the capitol to see a piece of my art that is on display. I’m a member of Artists in Action, who put out a call for art to be on display the week of March 3rd – one week only. My art was accepted and is now hanging in the lobby of the capitol.

Mid Week Retreat at the Hop ‘n Bed

I’m a member of the Salem Art Group, a small closed group of six (soon to be seven) women. About twice a year we plan a mini retreat where we pack up food and art supplies (and a portable latte machine) and head out of town. Last week we landed outside of Independence, Oregon at the Rogue Brewery Hop ‘n Bed. The Hop ‘n Bed is a big old six bedroom farmhouse located along the Willamette River and smack dab in the middle of a working Rogue Brewery farm.

Come on in and I’ll show you my room: The Honey Bee.

Part of the check-in process included joining the Rogue Nation, which required a swearing in process of drinking a shot of beer and repeating a long oath of allegiance. Tory took the oath and drank her shot (and mine since I don’t drink anymore). PS Being a member gets you a hefty discount on the house.

As our group trickled in, we moved furniture and set up tables to accommodate our huge amount of art supplies. Joanna claimed the living room to set up her sewing machine, Kathy took over the laundry room for her encaustics (there was a back door for ventilation), and the rest of us jockeyed for space in the living room: Tory with her clay, Nancy and Katy with their oil and cold wax, and me, kind of in the kitchen prep area, with my oil and cold wax AND acrylics for my visual art journal.

After getting settled, I took a walk around the grounds.

It was time to spread some paint. Working in oil and cold wax does not bring immediate gratification the way working with acrylics does, so I brought both mediums. I started with the oil and cold wax, knowing I wouldn’t finish any pieces, but I would sure have the opportunity to add layers, scrape back, and add more layers over the three days. None of these pieces are finished, and some haven’t even been scraped back, but it gives you an idea of what I worked on.

Another day, another walk.

When I wasn’t working in oil and cold wax, I was playing in a brand spankin’ new visual art journal. But before I started laying down paint, I did a double take with the cover I had created several years ago. It was time to cover the cover!

Okay, that’s better. Now I can begin on the inside.

I worked on a lot of pages.

And before we knew it, it was time to head home.

Dynamic Composition – Week Six

Week six was the final week in my on-line course taught by Jane Davies. The theme for our last lesson was creating depth and atmosphere. Jane covered transparency and opacity, and then more specific information on building an interesting composition. All of this requires the use of color, adding paint and removing it, shapes, depth, pattern, veiling, and lines. Since I’ve been on vacation the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working from the table in a condo using the supplies I could easily pack and transport, which means, I was just a tad limited (i.e., in our last lesson, we were to practice building layers using transparent paints, well, I hadn’t brought any transparent paints).

So, instead of following Jane’s instructions, I veered a bit to the left and took a sharp twist to the right. I used what I had learned over the past six weeks and applied those techniques along with my own body of knowledge to create a series of 4×6 pieces (going over some of the pieces I had created in earlier lessons). I enjoyed playing with collage, pattern, color, line, and shape – all things I use regularly in my art. I’ve added some new tools to my repertoire, and strengthened some techniques that were weak.

I totally and completely recommend taking a class from Jane – online or in person. She has another composition class beginning in January, Extreme Composition: Breaking All the Rules. You can bet I’ve already signed up for that one!

Dynamic Composition – Week Five

I’ve done my homework for lesson five of the Jane Davies class I’m taking, Dynamic Composition. Our lesson for this past week dealt with lines and shapes, with the addition of working in grids with lines, and of course, with collage. I lined up my papers along the floor to choose from.

I’ve been on vacation for the past week, so I’ve worked on this lesson from a hotel and from a condo. Here is where I worked on the first phase of the lesson, on a little desk in a hotel room.