I start out painting. Then something happens and I’m going down other trails. It’s all loosely related, but it sometimes feels like I am just wandering around. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of art stuff going on: I worked several days in the Pacific Artists’ Co-Op Gallery; I had a little get-together where we all marbled; I have (another) idea about twigs; the acrylic paint is out and everywhere. None of these things had anything to do with each other, except they were all interconnected.
Gallery
As I mentioned in my last post, I made my first sale at the gallery, followed relatively quickly by three more. This gave me a much-needed confidence boost, which I channeled into making some more small pieces along the same theme (see below).
This means the acrylics and gesso have stayed out and available.
Marbling
A couple months ago, I was talked to a friend about art stuff and the subject of marbling came up. I invited her to come over and try it this summer when I had my gear set up. We made a date, then another friend overheard us, and the duo turned into a threesome. Figuring the more then merrier, I also invited neighbor and fellow PAA member Jody Andersen to the party. She does a lot of collage work and might find the created papers to her liking.
After setting everyone up and doing some paper of my own, I mostly supervised and helped my three guests. However, someone was wrong. The carrageenan seemed to be okay. The alum mordant was allowing (some) paint to stick. However, the paint itself was not cooperating. It didn’t want to stay on the surface of the carrageenan. It wanted to separate. It had an odd, grainy texture. It didn’t want to stick to the various surfaces.
My working theory is that the paint has gone bad. I took a workshop from Liz Walker in March 2015. I believe I purchased the beginner set of marbling supplies soon after that. I know I have “set up” marbling stuff at least twice since then, but the last time I can find a blog post about it was 2019. As I am pretty sure I didn’t marble during Covid, and I know I haven’t marbled since moving down here, that means it has been five years since those paint saw the light of day. My suspicion is that a combination of the paint separating and the chemical agents controlling surface tension becoming less effective doomed the paint before we ever got started. In spite of this, everyone said they had a good time, and some great papers were created. And some not-so-great. I think I was the most disappointed of the group.
While I have a lot of marbled papers, I was wanting to do over- marbling on some of my more recent creations. Due to the paint issues, I had limited success with this effort.
I have some more work to resolve these paintings before I declare the finished.
Twigs
I am going to be forbidden from collecting wood at the rate I am going. The other day I was playing with a little canvas and got an idea about “framing” it with some twigs from some yard pruning I am doing. I’m not ready to show the idea off yet. I’m not sure it even qualifies as a full-fledged idea. But more to come (I hope).
More Acrylic
In addition to some of the paintings above, I have done a few additional acrylic paintings. The largest is “PUFF. puff.” at 12″ x 12″, with the others being even smaller. I’m thinking this will go in the gallery next quarter.
Summary
With all these events–separate but connected–going on, my goal for today was to tackle my art desk, write a blog post, and get groceries.
I even trimmed the kitties’ nails.