Lunch Test Strips No. 4, 2008

Lunch is served.
Ketchup anyone?

It might be cut up pictures of food
arranged on a new plate on
a white tablecloth, or it might not be.

You be the judge.

Green "Lotus Blossom" collage design

I'm getting behind on my art postings. My goal was 2 per month. I am still working with this same arc cut out shape. Cutting out a series of these same basic shapes from various patterns, colors and objects is like creating your own set of paints to work with. Lots of possibilities. This is just one more.

By the way, the faint pinkish "rays" emanating from the design are a total accident. They are essentially lines created from slightly buckled/warped areas around the design from - I presume - the glue drying.

More leaves, in bright finger paint colors

I'm drawn to leaves...what can I say. All the leaves used in this painting were from my yard. This was another one of a series of leaf-related paintings I painted several months ago (about the same time I did the green painting of leaves below...(See June 5, 08 entry.)

Fork and Leaves - Magazine Picture Cut-Outs

I cut out two distinct images -- a hand and a fork -- and put them in various positions on the scanner bed (and added some real leaves in two of these). So simple, yet somehow gratifying. All these collage practice squares need are silly titles.

In counter-clockwise order, starting with bottom right:

1.) Hand and Fork in the Country (using reverse side of magazine pages)
2.) Tussling over the Green
3.) All Points Bulletin
4.) Finger & Fork Weave, w/ some Leaves

Collage experiment #2: Hair Beyond Words

Collage Experiments, cont.
I'm experimenting with layering and materials here. The base coat is acrylic colors on a cut sheet of canvas paper. As the paint was drying, I laid cut magazine pieces on the semi-wet paint, so they stuck. Then I tried painting over this with another (watered down) layer of acrylic paint. So, I may want to go out and buy some gel or top finishing laquer layer of some sort to give this an overall sheen and glue the cut papers down more permanently.

Re: Composition itself
I need to incorporate some actual art skills here to make whatever the focal point is of greater visual interest in these collages. A pencil sketch ahead of time wouldn't hurt. I'm continuing to use the cut-out crescent shape motif. I could be arranging these pieces in a more visually compelling way.

Re: subject...As I looked at this the next morning, I realized that seeing hair like this on a reddish background invokes a bloody scalp - yechh. This was certainly not my intention. Maybe I should paint a gold halo around the hair? Better or worse....hmmmm. Time to move on to something else I think.

More Green Stuff...I like leaves

I picked up some leaves outside, and painted over them. This was the result. I did a series of these. They look like fabric patterns. I'm debating whether to leave this painting as is, or to add some kind of gold or silver metallic highlights.

What do you do when you hit the point in a painting when you're not sure whether you're finished or not? I tend to ask myself, Do I keep working on a painting and risk "guilding the lily," or going overboard? Or, do I stop, and leave something bare simple? Will it be better or worse? Digital manipulation is great for developing alternative scenarios; maybe I'll find time one day to use my Adobe software to try this.

Photo Collages: "All My Beautiful Regrets"

This is part of a series of photo-collages, using cut up pictures, magazine ads and illustrations and other materials. I'm using these crescent-shaped cut-out pieces as a motif, which are a bit more dynamic (than squares or other more static shapes). They create an interesting, if chaotic, abstract composition, even if a bunch of them are just dumped on a sheet of paper or canvas.

The title of this is collage is "All My Beautiful Regrets"

And speaking of cats...

I did start writing a story back in 2006 on the nine lives of selected imaginary cats...Here is one. He died of terminal grooviness.

Blame it on the cat chaos...

It is easy to find blame. There are so many reasons why creative projects don't get done. Today, I'm blaming my tardiness in contributing to my body of work on our two cats. They are chaos makers. A few times a day, it's like someone turns on a blender button inside my house, and the two cats run around, bouncing off various objects; and papers go flying. So, in honor of these feline frenzies, I'm posting this nearly random, five-minute collage piece. Enjoy. - Corinne

OK, maybe I'll paint one more pillow

Well, I still haven't come up with any brilliant, original compositions. I guess I need to paint... another pillow! I'm at least painting something, and I like the colors.

I think I'm a secondary color triad person (that would be green, purple and orange - vs. red, yellow, and blue primary colors). Is that similar to liking the minor keys in music? I have no idea. Maybe.

I painted this painting freehand as well - that is pencil sketch on canvas while looking at pillow which was propped up nearby.

My respect for a painter (like Miro in this case - who I believe inspired these designs) always increases when I try to do something in their style. What looks like a simple work initially....turns out to made by someone who is, in fact, a highly skilled artist - who is making something look easy.

Does it have to be original?

OK, I admit it. I really would like to paint some really amazing, never-been-seen before images. Surely, it couldn't be that hard to do, right? Several months later....

Proving the point that it's better to get started and paint something, anything really, than it is to not paint at all...I've painted some pillows and rugs.

To the right is the first pillow I painted. These pillows were made by a company in India called Home Front I believe - which may or may not still be in business. Their faux Miro (painter) look is pretty great.

I sat down and sketched this out freehand with a pencil on canvas, and painted it "coloring book style" with acrylic paints - though I may have experimented with a black Sharpie for the black lines before going over the pen lines with black paint via a fine brush. (Making straight black lines on a bumpy canvas is not the best idea, but it sort of works.) My green paint was a little too transparent, so it sort of blends in a little too much with the purple in one area....But, hey, I got started painting something. Hurray.

I promise myself I will do at least a few paintings and drawings. And, I'm putting up stuff on this blog to give myself some accountability - right Andrew?