Residency Drawings

Wall Drawing

Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

 Detail 4

 During my time at the VSC I gave myself a daily drawing exercise to get the creative juices flowing. I put up a roll of drawing paper that was about 4' tall x 20' long. Every day I would start my studio time with the drawing, using whatever medium was handy.  Also whenever I had a "block" or was waiting for another work to dry or my hot box to heat up I would work on the drawing until I was ready to get back to my "real" work.  A funny thing happened during this process. My drawing project ended up being one of my favorite things I did during the residency! I guess there is something to just letting go!

VSC Residency

Studio View

Triptych, Untitled

Today was my second day the the Vermont Studio Center. So far it has been a productive residency. I am amazed at how much I am able to accomplish here. Without distractions and demands I am quite prolific! I am working a few pieces that have been floating around in my head for the last month. As well as trying out some new ones.  When I set up my space I hung a roll of drawing paper around the perimeter of the room. I am going to use this for my daily expressive drawings and for a way to work through any creative blocks. The studio here is spacious and I have a wonderful view!

"39"

"39"

"39" detail

 

 

This piece is titled "39".  It centers on my maternal Grandmother who when she was 39 was already a grandmother.  I turned 39 this year which has made me look closer at my life and how easy it would of been for me to have had a similar life if I had taken a different path. This work is about the choices we make in life and where they lead. My Grandmother was a single mother of 6 working the night shift in a ball bearing factory to make ends meet. No child support or state aid she did it all by herself. Everything she did was for her family. With only a high school education she worked herself to death literally so her children and grandchildren would not go without. I was just 18 when she died at the age of 56. A massive heart attack due to poor health, too much stress and too little money.  She helped to raise me when my parents divorced when I was only 6. "39" honors her memory and creates a personal family archive though imagery, correspondence and documentation.

...........and there was much rejoicing!

After a few weeks of renovation I have finally finished converting my ceramic studio into a multi-medium workspace!  The top image is my worktable and storage for encaustic and printmaking. Notice how neat and organized it is, I don't expect it to ever be this tidy again! The bottom image is of my new "hot box" for encaustic monotype. A large sheet of anodized aluminum sits on a wooden base with 8 lightbulbs on dimmer switches that raise or lower the heat. A pretty fantastic design inspired by Paula Roland and built by my husband.  Also I now have a large expanse of white wall for working on as well as an area for hanging installation pieces from the rafters.  The most challenging aspect of this studio redesign was taking a fully equipped ceramic studio and condensing it into half the previous space while keeping it operational.  I am very pleased with the new layout.  It is open, filled with good light and allows me work across multiple mediums in the same space. Excuse me I am going to do a happy dance now!

Obsession

Encaustic Monotype

Encaustic Monotype, Detail, Backlit

 I have been experimenting with encaustic monotype this last month and it has now become an obsession. I have even gone so far as to make my own pigments so that I have the color saturation I desire. I am using these wax pigment sticks to draw on the heated surface. Essentially drawing with wax. The only limitation I have run into is size.  I am in the process of making a larger surface to work on. Right now the largest print I can pull is 9x12, to over come this size issue I have been working with multiples that hang together. The top image is of 16 individual print that are layered on top of each other. Because I print on rice paper the bottom layer can be seen through the top. The result is even more amazing when you shine light through them. These prints along with daily drawing exercises has been the main focus of my work recently.

I hate the delete button

This was going to be a much longer and eloquent post but I forgot to save the first version as I was typing and lost it all so here is short and sweet. Top is a detail of an installation I'm working on using family photos and documents that have been torn and dipped into wax then assembled on long wax dipped strips of paper. Each one is 4-6ft long and may get longer.
Second and third images are a new process I'm working with similar to encaustic monotype. These are drawing based work and free form no real message just doing them as a daily exercise to explore the medium. That's all folks, now back to work.

Let there be COLOR!

Mount Lebanon Cemetary

Lebanon Common

I have been experimenting with a way to put color in my work and still maintain all the qualities of a drawing. I tried watered down acrylic but it looked to "painterly".  I am not against painting and do plan on going in that direction at some point. As well as finding a way to translate these ideas in clay. It's just for this series I want to stay with drawing materials. So I have found that pastels work well but the tend to smudge away to easily. I have ordered colored charcoal, I have never tried this product so who knows what will happen. Also I've ordered  a roll of 42" wide paper to work on, this will let me make large gestural drawings using my whole body to create marks that I can respond to. Very exciting!

I am looking at crossroads in life, past and present. Exploring how the decisions I've made(or that have been made for me in some cases) determine the paths I've taken. I have never ended up where I expected.  This is becoming a very personal journey one I was not ready to face until recently. Delving into my past has drastically changed my work and as I dig deeper more is revealed. I am in an amazing place right now and each day is a new discovery.