I’ve begun applying oil and cold wax to my biggest boards ever, 36×48, and let me tell you, it is a vigorous workout covering so much territory.
This board’s theme is transformation and is for an upcoming show. And that’s all I’ll say for now.
Abstracted Play: Three Day Workshop
I’ve just spent the past three days guiding six beautiful women through the process of using plaster, oil, and cold wax. This was the first workshop held at The Art Studios at Mission Mill and it was a huge success. We went from this:
to this:
The women bonded instantly on Friday and by the end of Sunday, my sides were sore from laughing so much.
Friday afternoon we painted our boards and applied plaster.
Then on Saturday morning the ladies sanded and stained.
Before lunch on Saturday, I had the women applying initial layers of oil and cold wax.
And by the end of Saturday, the hall was filled with drying art.
Sunday morning, we were back at it.
We had snacks available all the time . . . .
. . . and on Sunday, Howard delivered a salad bar lunch to us.
Before we knew it, it was time to clean up and prepare for show and tell.
Here is a sampling of the incredible work the women created. A sampling, I tell you!
It was an energizing, exciting, creative three days.
Behind the Scenes . . . . of a new show!
My current show with Cynthia Herron, Ricochet, was hung last Tuesday and our opening reception was Saturday, but I’ve already been working on pieces for my next show so I thought I would give a peek inside my world of board prep.
I picked up my order of boards from Matt in Portland last October, then during November and into December I painted all of them, applied plaster, sanded, and sealed. I’ve already started to apply oil and cold wax to several, but for this post, I’ll leave it at the prep. And I’ll save the information about the show for a later post as well. It’s all very exciting.
Okay, a little hint: Guardino Gallery.
Ricochet: The Opening
The opening reception for Ricochet: A Year of Collaborative Painting was held yesterday in the afternoon at Roy John Designer Goldsmith. We had a steady stream of friends and art lovers stop by. We sold several copies of our book, chatted about our paintings, shared about our year long process. It was a great celebration of our friendship and art.
The show will be up until February 28, so if you are in downtown Salem, please stop by.
Ricochet: Hanging Day
Today we hung our show, Ricochet: A Year of Collaborative Painting, at Roy John Designer Goldsmith, where our show will hang until February 28th. I wrote all about the show itself last week, so today I’m sharing about the hanging of the show.
We both arrived at 10:30, our arms full.
We each chose a wall and lined our paintings up to figure out spacing and layout.
And then we hung.
And adjusted lights.
And added labels.
Added art to the window.
Then admired our work.
Views.
We celebrated our accomplishment over a nice lunch at Amadeus, just around the corner from Roy John’s in downtown Salem. We talked about our year of painting, and how much we would miss our time together. Each month when we got together, we started by sharing a latte and visiting for about an hour about what we had been working on, how our art was progressing, what we had coming up. We chatted about our current theme and chose our theme for the following month.
So we decided we wanted to do it again, but not until summer or fall of this year. I have a big show coming up at Guardino Gallery, so that is where all of my attention will be focused for the next several months . . . . but we do already have a theme.
The Anatomy of a Painting
One of the paintings I did for Ricochet (click HERE to learn about this upcoming collaborative show) was month #10, September, 2014, when our theme was WATER. I knew immediately what I wanted to paint: the waterline of a ship.
The back story. We have a boat, which we moor on the Columbia River in Portland. In August, we went out for a weekend of boat camping with our daughters and grandkids. The weather was perfect and in a rare burst of exuberance, I put on my suit and jumped in the river for a float on the inner tube. While I was in the water, I noticed the waterline of our boat. It was a beautiful array of colorful patinas. I had someone carefully hand me my camera and I snapped a shot, thinking what a great painting it would make.
Fast forward to September. I dug out the photos I had taken and also looked on the internet for rusty ship hull waterlines. Oh, so many possibilities. I scooped up all the images and chose one for this project.
Then it was paint day with Cynthia.
By the end of the afternoon, it was pretty much completed. I futzed with it a bit more the next day, did the final wax, and called it done.
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
I plan to continue exploring the theme of waterlines in upcoming paintings.
Ricochet: A Year of Collaborative Painting
Dayna Collins and Cynthia Herron
January 6-February 28, 2015
Opening Reception: January 10, 2015
Saturday, 1:00-3:00 pm
Roy John Designer Goldsmith
315 Court Street
Salem, OR
For the past year and a half, Cynthia and I have been painting together. It emerged out of casual painting dates in the summer of 2013 and in the fall of 2013, it morphed into the idea to have a show.
We met monthly to paint. We usually started around 10:00 am with a latte and a visit, going over what we had been up to, how our painting had been going, and what was going on in our art life. We often scribbled in our journals, and always determined what our theme or topic would be for the next month of painting, so we had time for ideas to formulate and percolate.
We would paint for a couple of hours, then break for lunch – a recharge for us and a time for our oil and cold wax to set up.
After lunch, we would head back upstairs to my painting studio and paint for a few more hours.
About midway through the afternoon, we would eat a gluten-free treat that Cynthia provided from a local bakery.
Our show, which opens with a reception on Saturday, January 10, 2015, reflects 12 months of painting together and covers 12 topics/themes.
#1 October 2013: The way I wish I could paint
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#2 December 2013: A poem
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#3 January 2014: Something borrowed
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#4 February 2014: Words
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#5 March 2014: Spring
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#6 April 2014: Precious
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#7 June 2014: Astoria
24×24, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#8 July 2014: Summer
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#9 August 2014: Window
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#10 September 2014: Water
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#11 October 2014: Fall
16×16, plaster, oil, and cold wax
#12 November 2014: Music
In addition to our two-month show, Cynthia and I have created a book, which includes photos of all 24 pieces of art created by the two of us, a narrative of how our show came about, 24 action or process photos, and a brief narrative from each of us for all 12 months. Here is a link for ordering a copy through Blurb.
Messy, Messy, Messy
I was asked by the Salem Art Association if I would like to participate in their high school mentorship program. It took me all of seven seconds to respond with a big fat YES. It is a rigorous program for the students who apply. They first have to complete an application, responding to a series of questions, provide two letters of recommendation from their art teachers or principal, then they go through interviews; there are only 15 available spots. Once they are accepted into the program, they attend two events per month during the school year. As part of the program, artists are invited to mentor students based upon what the student has indicated as art goals. I was invited to mentor three students: Olivia, Madeline, and Simon.
I met with each of the students for an initial consultation so I could get to know each of them and find out their art goals and how I could help them be accomplished. All three students were interested in mixed media, plaster, oil and cold wax, and experimenting. After meeting with all three students, I was excited as they were.
Since all three were interested in some of the same types of experimentation and exploration, I scheduled a couple of mini workshops during their holiday break. For the first workshop, we prepped boards with a variety of materials: gesso (white and colored), plaster, and venetian plaster. They all jumped right in.
On Friday, we’re getting together again to make decisions about the next step for the boards. Acrylic? Oil and cold wax? Paper? Pencil? So many choices.
Expressive Art Experience
Several months ago I was asked by the Salem Art Association if I would be interested in participating in a pilot program to offer therapeutic art classes at Salem Hospital’s Cancer Institute. I enthusiastically agreed and offered up some ideas for classes I could teach. Yesterday was the inaugural offering: Embellishing a Soft Cloth Doll, a class I have offered for several years through my studio and through Salem Art Association events.
The class was small, but the women who attended were enthusiastic and grateful for the opportunity to make art and play. We knew when we scheduled the class, that people might not feel up to attending when the day rolled around.
The dolls that were completed:
It was a wonderful experience to offer a respite in the lives of these brave women. One of the participants said she had not done any art since being diagnosed with cancer and beginning treatment. It was a joy to re-ignite that spark for her.
LCAC Artful Gift Sale a Success
I was invited to participate in the Left Coast Artists Collective Artful Gift Sale, which was held last Friday and Saturday at the Multnomah Arts Center in Portland. It was a fun day, I made lots of sales, I met some great new people, I bought some art, and did some art trades. (Bonus: I got to hang out with Stephanie Brockway, who had her booth right next to mine.) I say it was successful all the way around.
