Back on the Wagon

It's been A WHILE since I've put paint or vinyl to aluminum.  There are a few reasons for this, but this post is about DOING not NOT DOING.

I took my least favorite small piece and decided to cannibalize it...it just never brought me joy.

Meh. I tried.
24 inch diameter

I put some paint on it.  Then more paint and dragged through the paint while wet to make a texture.

Yum.

Then I put more paint on!  And the magic happened when the sandpaper met the surface, revealing the ridges...

Magic.
I like that you can see some of the old piece in a ghosty shadow.  It is the foundation of this work, after all.

Time to add orzos.  It took some work to figure out exactly how it needed to terminate.  I added and subtracted several times.

Subtle changes, but it took some walk-aways to think it over.

I think it's finished.  Feels great to have a new piece I like.  In 2020 I'll have a show at the Johnson County (Kansas) library, so I'm going to polish some old pieces.  But, honestly, I don't actually NEED to make more work, because I OVERFLOWITH.

24 inch diameter, as yet unnamed 

I'm looking forward to choosing a title, going through my on-going notes of phrases and poetic bits I find here and there to make a perfect match.

More of the day to day on my Instagram!

Made It: Crooning Cottonwoods

This summer I had a piece in a show called Abstract Catalyst at the Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  

See that turquoise circle?  Read on to learn more about its birth.

For the background of this one, I applied paint both in a circular pattern (thanks to a lazy Susan) from the center out and then went over it with straight strokes.  All I knew is that I wanted something turquoise-y.

Beginning to lay down the orzos.

Finished product!
Crooning Cottonwoods
30 inch diameter
aluminum, paint, vinyl

detail

When I applied for this show, I titled it "Prairie Porthole," and that is what it showed under, but I regretted it.  I mean, the leafy-ness of the orzos did make me think of trees, obviously, and the color of the ocean, so I smushed them together.  But then I came across this stanza from the poem "Kansas" by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay:

  The wind would drive the glittering clouds,
  The cottonwoods would croon,
  And past the sheaves and through the leaves,
  Came whispers from the moon.

Pretty great, right?  A name change was required and I'm happy I did it.  It's a small thing but with abstract pieces titles can matter if you want to get a certain narrative started in the viewers' imagination.  I mentioned this in brief blurb in this post.

Also, the gallery used this piece on their promotional mailers, which I didn't find out about until it was returned to me (because it sadly was not purchased) and they included a postcard.

Made It: Bring Treasure

Another round one, this time with rainbow ombre!

I accidentally made a planet on the first go around.

 I almost never sketch, but this one was tricking me for some reason.  Digital sketch for your pleasure...

Pretty detailed.

Visualizing the ombre stop and shape

Blues + red-oranges make me happy.

detail

Bring Treasure
36 inch diameter
vinyl, aluminum, paint

Title from "The Hands That Cling" by Esther M. Clark

Made It: Hot Brazen Heavens

This is a story of redemption.  

I made a line of extra large clocks.  People liked the big impact of the graphic goodness, but some didn't want the actual clock part.  So I tried out just doing the background and not adding the mechanism.  

Original Orzo Rainbow Burst

 But after I started making larger, more complicated Orzo pieces, I thought the unpainted, one-layer-of-vinyl finished piece above was kind of boring.  Still great, but looked out of place among its younger siblings.  So I painted it!  I painted right over the vinyl and everything.   Fun fact, the dark purple orzos were de-laminating anyway because the adhesive was apparently not very strong, so I just yanked them off and decided to see what happened.  (This happens when you get leftovers.)

I love an ombre.

 I took some in-between process shots but they are terrible.  Sorry not to have any to share.

You can see the ghosts left behind by the pulled off purple orzos (some were sticky enough to grab and keep some paint even through sanding) and some nice aluminum peeking through.

Yum.

 Improved!  Redeemed!  Visual movement achieved!

Hot Brazen Heavens
30 inch diameter
aluminum, paint, vinyl

The title is much better, too.  From the poem "Good-bye to the Cottonwood" by Margaret Hill McCarter.

You can go back through my Instagram feed and see a video of the sanding process if you want.  It's kind of magical.  It's from June 27, 2017.

Made It: Flock

You know those big circular railroad crossing signs?  I get them without any signage on them and make them into art.  

You're familiar.

Working with a circular substrate is fun but sometimes a little hard to get started on.  I decided to use the curved edge in the design but kept the background paint marks straight.

 I kept fighting the look of a black and white cookie and tried to hug the edge without just tracing it.

Greys and silvers on yellows and greens.

 It took a long time to decide which direction is up on this one.  Certain positions made it look like an ocean wave or moon, which I didn't want.  

Flock, 2017
36 inch diameter
aluminum, paint, vinyl

 I titled it "Flock."  You can guess why.  Around this time I watched The Birds but I'm not sure if it was before or after...or if one had to do with the other.  Abstract/non-living birds are better for indoors than the other, more annoying/loud/pooping kind.

detail

Mini Collage Number Twenty-Six

Take a Walk
painted paper, vinyl, punched and hand-cut paper
4 x 5 inches