Row "C"...

...For Crowabout and Saturday Surprise

 

Creative Vitamins...

Kelly Kilmer was in Phoenix over the weekend, and being with Kelly is like taking vitamins!  She refreshes and energizes my creative spirit like nobody else.  Yesterday was extra special, because my daughter, Amy, worked right along side of us and I hope she'll share on her blog what she did in the workshop.

Process...

"Row C" is an approx. 6"X9" layered acrylic underpainting collaged with transparencies, images and decorative tape.  I never rush to finish a piece.  This one needed something more, so it came home with me unfinished.  Picture it without the dress, "row c", and "face the facts!".  Things don't often resolve themselves so easily or so quickly, but when I set this down on my worktable next to the sheet of Crowabout images for this week, "face the facts!" and the dress found an immediate home.  "Row C", which is undeniably the most important, did not reveal itself until I found it hiding in the words "crow" and 'bar".  

Books...

We make books with Kelly.  All different, and all wonderful.   We aim for beautiful, meaningful, and unexpected.  At least I do.  

I've spent years layering acrylics on two-page spreads of art journal after art journal.  Occasionally, and lately often, I've had people inquiring to buy a print, or an original page.  Prints work.  Original pages are two pieces of art, since there's another piece on the back.  These don't work as anything but prints. 

This has been a dilemma.  Especially when I've wanted to put one on my own wall.  But as much as I work in studio, I thrive on being able to work everywhere, and I love working in books, and I love art journaling.  Something of the inspiration of the place where I'm working goes onto the pages.  More places per page often equals more depth to a piece.  

I take books with me everywhere so I can work anywhere.  I wouldn't take a canvas, or a watercolor, or a sketch outside of a sketchbook with me in my bag.  I feel comfortable getting a book out of my bag to work on in public.  I would not feel so comfortable pulling out a canvas of the same shape and size.  People tend to leave you alone when you're working in a book.  Few people exercise the same respect for your privacy when you're working on a single piece out in the open, and I hate the exposure of having people who are not artists themselves peering over my shoulder while I work.

Solutions...

Last night the dilemma solved itself.  I had actually solved it by accident yesterday afternoon, but I didn't realize it until late last night.  Without thinking, I had done two things differently yesterday.  First, I didn't paint two-page spreads.  I have no idea why, except that I wanted less paint on my brush than usual so I could make thinner layers, and this worked better doing one page at a time rather than on two.  Also, I think that I didn't want to be distracted by the color on one side when painting the next page, so without consciously thinking about it, I flipped each page when finished and worked on right sides only.  

In the car on the way home, I took a look at the book.  The few pages I had begun to collage were all upside down.  I might have gotten around this problem, but the book cover was done and bound, and it had a definite right side up.  I toyed with the idea of deconstructing it, but I love the binding and the stitching on the spine.  Then I got home and set the open book on the table next to the Crowabout sheet, and I really wanted to work on the face-up page, flat.  I didn't allow myself to think or cringe.  I just picked up an xacto and sliced out the page.  Suddenly, a whole new world opened up.  Surgically removing a page made this book a very flexible idea, and potentially, a far more interesting work of art! 

Ideas...

Now there are so many ideas flooding into my head that I can't turn off the light bulbs:  Continue painting one side of the pages.  Continue taking the book(s) with me wherever I go.  It's still an art journal and a sketch book, but whenever something wants to be a stand alone piece, I can slice it out.  I gave myself permission simply by doing it.  And I can add more pages...duh!  I've been adding pages and stuff to books for years.  The difference is that before, I planned it that way.  Now it's going to happen when it's natural to do so!  I used to rip pages out of sketchbooks all the time in college, tape in new pages or parts of pages, and never gave it a second thought.  But I hadn't bound those sketchbooks myself.  The books themselves weren't works of art, I bought them at the college book store.  Something inside me had always treated my handbound books as if that made a difference.  Guess what?  It doesn't!  Is this liberating, or what!  I love art!  It's the only spot in my life where making mistakes so often make things better.

Now I'm off to:

Work in the wonderful book that shifted my vision

Make everyone a (very) late lunch

Do some long-overdue blog maintenance

Enjoy the much cooler, almost springtime weather, and

Continue reading a really great book--a library discard that I was going to use in artwork until I started reading it and discovered a great old author!  (...which brings me to a pet peeve about the indiscriminate way some libraries toss out their books, but I won't go into that now...)

Have a great day, Everyone!

Comments

[Rosie]

Whoa! So much to read! You are such an intersting blogger and every time I come to visit I learn something new about you... what a revelation! The books sound fab - but then this cut out page is extraordinary. I like everything about it - Row C rocks, my friend!
I am knackered (english slang for extremely tired!) - been finishing Zombie cutlery for the gallery and soldered pendants too! I have never been so busy, but I wouldn't change my current state of mind for anything! xoxoxo

[kelly]

HIGH FIVE From L.A.!!!!

[kelly]

I love how you solve your art problems and work things out...sooo cool. So good to see you and Amy! LOVE seeing your pages!!! I hope Amy posts hers too!

[[email protected]]

I've been catching up on your last three posts and enjoyed readig them so much. I saw Row C on Flickr and was fascinated by it, so reading about its origin answered a lot of questions for me. I'm so envious of your wonderful weekend with Kelly Kilmer. About art journals: I often use my pages for cards or framed for gifts, so I only paint one side of a page, like you decided to do. Lately I've been using spiral top bound watercolor pads for my journals because the pages are so sturdy and stand up to lots of layers of paint.

Your blog is a visual feast, but your writing also allows me to vicariously share your adventures and satisfies my nosy nature! Thank you for sharing both your amazing talents!

[Nancy Maxwell James]

this is a fantastic collage...I especially love what you did with the face...striking! :)

[Heather Robinson]

My mouth is "agape", Barbara. Talk about creatively charged. This piece is strong and powerfully and masterfully assembled. It's a pleasure to have an opportunity to see it.

[Lisa]

Barbara, I love how art transforms you and how you transform art. Your dynamic discoveries are empowering and inspiring.