8.30.2016

Of Decay by Andrea Zimon

I have been writing intensely for the past couple of weeks.  The subject I am working on is uninspiring but I must do it none-the-less. As a result, I have writer's block.

Sometimes drawing helps me to hear more clearly what my brain wants to say. 
I don't necessarily want to go my studio. Then the 'help' becomes procrastination. 

So I draw usually on the back of an envelope. 
Occasionally 'art stuff' will end up on the office desk, 
like these remnant sequins from another project.

I decided to make a temporary collage with the sequins and the drawing. 

'Of Decay' are the only full words on the paper together hence the title which is the best I can do under the circumstances. 






8.23.2016

Craft Paint by Andrea Zimon


I think I really re-found my artistic joie de vivre as a result of an emotional response.

My grandmother had passed and I was allowed to take from her house whatever was important to me. Among many things I took was a collection of craft paint.

Prior to my grandmother’s passing, I was not using craft paint or much else as I had been stagnating artistically. But in going through my grandmother’s art supplies I realized she had been stuck, too – fearful of not making something beautiful or correct. She had bought a bunch of things in preparation to create that perfect piece of art which sadly didn’t happen.

I realized that to best honor her and myself was to start creating and stop worrying about the final product. In doing so, I was also able to process her loss. 

The craft paint stumped me at first as with what to do with it as a paper artist. At that time I probably would have been inept with finger paint, too. Then upon advice given to me by a book by L.K. Ludwig, I started painting with it using a credit card to spread it on a paper surface.

Using a so-so watercolor as a base and I started dragging the color around with the card. Most of the craft paint on this work was not applied using a paint brush.  At the time, I still didn’t like it even with the craft paint but now I find the piece interesting. It serves a reminder to just to produce and follows the theme of Karin’s recent post.

My grandmother’s passing was sad but it had a silver lining because it made me realize that I needed to create art and to not be stuck to in my own rigid rules and play

 or per Sol Lewitt :

“Do!”



8.10.2016

coach by karin sanborn

I'm struggling in my artwork. It's well past performing technical exercises and image rendering.
Now is when it has to become elevated to art or it stays stuck. This sounds abstract because it is.

If Sol Lewitt and Eva Hesse had this problem it should be no surprise that I do too.
In the letter below, Sol eloquently describes the requirements at this stage of development.
The gist is get over yourself and get on with it.

I do have to get back to making my uncool. There isn't much choice.

Click here for the electronic transcription





8.09.2016

Gone Fishing by Andrea Zimon

Fishing seems like an appropriate theme for summer.
 I don't fish but here are some watercolors in keeping with the theme. 


 









8.02.2016

Never To Old For Play , Sarah K. Feragen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atn22-bmTPU

Hello Everyone,

I recently enjoyed this youtube TED Talk by Paula Scher ( click on the link at the top of the page). The title, " Great Design is Serious (not Solemn)."
It's a little long (22 minutes) but the issue of challenging yourself to learn new materials or techniques as a way of funding your imagination is thoughly explored. She also discusses the downside of developing a style by which you are known, only to become stuck by its repetition and the excitement disappears. Ms. Scher points out that when an artist moves into unchartered visual territory, an "on the fly" learning takes place.
This is fun. I think this playfulness is comunnicated to an audience then creating additional excitement. This is why I have a studio filled with "experiments".
Here are couple of those images from my lab, more fabric covered wire baskets.



The poem on this art work is the following:

Flotsam
Churning forgotten bits,
transform into lovely islands.
Archaic refuse revealed,
inviting us to remember
childhood's muses.
Time holds no compassion
 for the real or the faux.
Our reverent footsteps
returned to the mecurial winds.
The mind's silence bid the ocean
peace.



Here is an update on my forest in a box. Maybe it needs a poem.
The last bit is a link to a favorite visual magazine which I hope  will have lots of inspirational ideas.

www.thisiscolossal.com

Sincerely,

Sarah K. Feragen