Paste Paper Creation.

                              

I spent the weekend in the wonderful world of decorating my own paper. Paste paper to be specific. My transformed pages became the basis of a book, filled  with my own poetry. I was inspired by both where I was, and what I was doing. My verse was all done in calligraphy.  
I  started out  with  lovely blank sheets of good quality paper, Arches text wove was the choice. Next comes the fun of choosing colors. Liquid acrylic paint works the  best. Three or four colors are enough to make a finished book. I chose a blue, green, and magenta red.  Plus a  purple evolves when the red and blue overlap. I found a glitter white I added to the mix. Always good to soften the colors,and what joy to have a hint of sparkle.
Using  good quality paint is worth it for blending and consistency. You do get what you pay for. The liquid form is easiest to mix. Next comes the mixing of the paint and the paste. Formerly I have used a home made paste of  flour blended with the paint in a certain ratio. Nowadays, there is a prepared mixture to blend. It saves on  the fuss and mess, but I kind of miss the purity of starting from scratch.
Then the fun begins. The paper gets moistened, and  the paint applied. Paint brushes are good tools, so are cut up sponges. There are those that liken it to finger painting.It is good to loosen up. I found it fun to use like watercolor. As I manipulated  the paper, paint would run and give a dripped quality that appealed to me at that moment. It is also intriguing  to use stencils, or draw designs in the wet paint.
 I did four sheets. Keeping them all in the same hues created  an automatic harmony and cohesiveness from page to page.Very important for the next step. Stay tuned....

A-mer-i-ka

This is a ceramic wall piece that I have currently hanging  in a show  at the Sedona Arts Center. The show theme is "Freedom", and my abstract rendering of the red, white and blue,  interpretation seemed to fit that theme nicely. 

 It is a large platter,@ 14" across, hand built rather than wheel thrown.While it hangs nicely on the wall, it has a foot, so it could sit on a surface as well. I like creating  those options.  When it gets that big across, there can be a possibility of cracking, so it is a victory not only in style, but survival.The freedom to push the clay to its outer limits and see how far I can take it. 

We just finished celebrating the 4th of July.I watched great fireworks! I thought of the  immigrants coming into the United States. In all those accents , arriving at Ellis Island,a new life in a new land of freedom, which they might call "A-mer-i-ka."

 I travel a lot. I like to see first hand what I read or hear  or have a fantasy about.What is that place is really like, compared to where I live?  Reality turns out to  be more interesting to me than all  my speculations. I am grateful that I can do this. I know there are countries where woman cannot. I have visited there. 

The Power of Words

This is a close up of an 8 foot long wall hanging I created for a show. The title is Words. Since that is the art media I am using  at this very moment while writing my blog, I naturally think  about their impact.
  Words have a lot of power , don't they? They can influence us to have certain feelings. If they are good words, or words of praise , than we feel very happy. If they are words of criticism or anger then we might feel upset or angry also .
When I look at this watercolor, I notice I am using lots of colors to bring in my desired impact to the audience. Certainly colors evoke reactions, or subtle mood alterations, don't they? Isn't red a color  that jumps out, like the oranges and yellows? The greens, purples,  and the blues are more subtle aren't they?   Consider  the contrast of which colors go next to each other. These are certain artistic choices we make when we we are looking at a blank page, a  clean slate, the  tabula rasa.With our color choices,we artists can have an effect on our  audience.  With our words, we can all have a lasting influence on each other.Whether verbal or written, our  words can stay out there in time and space, or on a page, for a very long time.
 Any thoughts on times your words had more impact than you expected?

The Color Green

Well today it's all about the color green. The color of trees; emeralds; the leaf on your flower ;mint; jade; asparagus and avocados. It is the color of the bottle of Perrier that sits in front of me here at my desk while writing this blog. And , of course, it is also the color you get when you mix your blue and yellow watercolors in your palette.

But this blog contains a photo of a recent book I made that is in my current show entitled Rock, Paper, Fire, in Jerome , AZ . It is part of my series of hand made books and the boxes that hold them. This is called book arts. Not only is there a green book,with my handmade porcelain beads, but it lives in the cigar box covered in gossamer green tissue paper and other decorations. I wanted it to return to a nice home .