Here is the first of the 'Windows Series'
December was a month full of family activity. My eldest daughter joined us from Australia, for the holidays and there were many social getherings. I still managed time in the studio but have not photographed the work produced as yet. In time, I will.
This month brought quite a number of new people in to my world. I have met a couple of local artists with whom I look forward to getting to know better. It is always refreshing to visit another artists studio and to have someone to speak the language of art with. Sharing passion always adds fuel to the creative fire!
This year, my goal is to get back into a regular routine of painting daily and writing my blog to document the journey as it happens. I have been out to see some wonderful Exhibitions in the past months and will continue to do so but I would like to make time to write up on these as well. It is interesting to reflect on how different shows impact on one's own creative urges and how the influences are intergrated into one's own art practice.
I have recently been feeling the urge to play with collage in my work. This interest began when studying deKooning during my Abstract Expressionist course at MoMA last year. DeKooning often used cut outs of mouths from magazines as his starting point for his 'Woman' series. Also, my involvement with the 3rd grade Art project at my youngest daughter's school (seen here in an earlier post) inspired me to start thinking about the use of paper inserted into my paintings in the early stages of their development.
My recent impasto oil paintings have used 'windows' of old paintings showing through into the 'new' and I like the result. At present I am experimenting with this idea, combining 'windows' and collage for my next series. The canvas and supports have arrived for 25 new works to be assembled. They are uniform in size (30" X40") which is new for me. It will take some time to stretch and prime these supports for painting on but in this time, I am also reworking some unfinished canvas' with this thick, textured surface and testing out different techniques I hope to use on the new series.
So, although it may seem that things are quiet in the studio, there is progress being made in preparation a new direction. I am excited to see what will happen next. I will take some photo's soon to post and share the progress of this experimentation.
Happy New Year to everyone and may this year be full of creative energy!