Welcome to MissouriBendStudio!

This is an online journal of my artistic investigations and a way to communicate about my work, ideas, quandries and queries! I welcome comments and conversation and do hope you enjoy these musings. My artwork is available in my shop MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.com or on my website.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012

So Much Going On In The Studio

Hello dear readers! I'm busy these days in the studio, but really, you'll have to take my word for it, because for all the time I spend down there....well, it's two steps forward and one step backward.  As you may remember from a recent blogpost I have lately found myself enamored all over again with the notion of letters....that is, correspondence....of the handwritten variety....the kind rarely engaged in any longer. All sorts of layers of quasi-handwriting appear in the new work, in a variety of inks, many of which become a smeary mess when I scumble over them with a layer of paint.  The idea is to build the work in layers, with the drawing/writing appearing through the layers, but even if an ink describes itself (or its manufacturer does) as permanent, that, it turns out, is not the same thing as waterproof. I was working with Higgins Indigo ink, which I loved and which I swore was permanent and waterproof when I bought it, but alas it is dye-based and it's the blue ink that is waterproof. The blue is just a bit too bright for what I want, so I continue to build the layers, even in the ones that have become a smeary mess, because it still retains the writing and with enough light, drybrush layers of paint, well the surfaces eventually becomes interesting.  All this work, just to get the piece to the point where I can begin layering shapes or image or whatever else will come.  And that became the next problem.....there are at least six of these pieces going now....and I get them to a point where the top layers of drawing or sewing will be and I'm terrified of messing something up and I'm confounded as to what it is I wanted to say after all!

Does all this sound familiar to anyone....I bet it does....you have your own version of the dance of the creative process.  The other conversation going on in my head while I'm working is expectation and the desire to make something that I have an elusive glimpse of in my mind....probably based on other works out there that I love and the desire to make "that".....but "that" is not mine to make....I must make "this" and it's the work itself that must unfold in its own time.....the conversation, then, is not about that, but about this.....listening to the moment, allowing for the unexpected and for surprise. Humbling, isn't it?

So, what I can share with you now is nearly a week of the daily teabag drawings, which have taken a few twists and turns of late since I began using the water soluble crayons to loosen myself up a bit! Fun!

March 13, 2012

March 14, 2012

March 15, 2012

March 16, 2012

March 17, 2012

March 18, 2012

All these are available in my shop MissouriBendMusings and a new one appears each day....so far, I'm still on track, whew!  Have a great week....see you in a few days with some shots of those other works in progress.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Patti- you have my sympathies with the trickiness of ink and the many layers and then working things back so much to get the right effect, you are almost struck dumb when asking yourself what to do now - the 'real' work seems so far away after the lengthy journey to that point! I am intrigued by the layering and the rubbing away and the re-writing and re-covering - the palimpsest is such a beautiful thing, mystery, history...I wish you well as you continue to layer.

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    1. Hi Fiona...Funny that you use that word, because I did a long series of pieces years ago that I referred to as palimpsests. I love the notion of glimpsing the history through the layers. With these pieces, I'm coming back to that process of working...they were always intuitive and I suppose now, the real stumbling block is having some kind of outcome in mind....never works for me. Will keep you posted!!

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  2. My mind is usually full of these fleeting visions. Yet, when I approach a blank surface in my studio, the visions have all fled. What goes down on my surfaces resembles nothing in those fleeting visions. I must use the memory of those visions and my own limited talents. Often I do love result.

    As for inks, my studio is filled with jars and bottles of paints and inks and pens that DID NOT perform as promised. As soon as I scrounge up more money for more supplies, I am going to test out Pitt pens. I seem to adore tossing money away.

    As usual, wonderful drawings. I cannot pick a favorite -- they are all lovely and joyful.

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    1. Hi Kim...fleeting visions are just what they are....and just as well, because they just confuse me! I too seem to adore tossing money hither and yon for art supplies....I think I once had those Pitt pens and liked them, but the ink supply in them didn't last long, as I recall. So glad you like the drawings and describe them as joyful....what a wonderful compliment! Hoping you've got yourself lined up with a workshop....fun! And spring is here....is it for you?!

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  3. It's so obvious you've been having fun with these latest pieces. I have a crush on March l5's.
    As for permanence, it seems to be one of those new loose terms that are bandied about so that they've lost their meaning. I have to smile,remembering reading about someone leaving a fund to maintain their cat's grave "in Perpetuity" only to read that perpetuity translates to something like 27 years. So it seems with our valiant efforts to create something worthy of the ages or, as you write, a morning's session painting. Oh the ironies we must endure.

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    1. Lorraine....yes, interesting, the notions of permanence. I finally figured out that permanence has to do with light-fastness in these art materials....waterproof is the key for me.....I don't suppose I need to work to last in perpetuity, although who knows I wouldn't be around anyway. Shocking to think the world doesn't revolve around us! Glad you are smitten with March 15th....I like the neutrals it, even if the plant for constantly makes me think of a pineapple somehow!

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I'm happy to hear from you...comments and questions are welcome!