Weekend Art Project: My Love of Vessels

Happy Saturday dear readers!  I know it is a crime to be at the computer on such a glorious day!  I just ate a yummy green salad and am about to take a long, leisurely stroll.  I've been working so hard.  You know how it is:  being an extreme freelancer is a 24/7 job.  Maintaining balance is a challenge, but is crucial.  Before I head out, I wanted to share my latest art project with you.

Do you remember the cut paper project I did that was inspired by a Barbie home?  (See previous post here).  I gave that piece to my girl Haley.  I was pleasantly surprised that she loved it.  Since I have had allergic reactions to my first two loves - acrylic and spray paint - I've had to find other "cleaner" ways to make art.  As you know, I am also limited by lack of funds, supplies and space.  But those are not sufficient excuses.  When you are an artist, you create because you must.  You have no choice.  So you find a way.

When I am creating, my soul comes to life!  I experience joy and freedom in a way that mere words are inadequate to describe.  Time stands still.

The downside (and often my reason for procrastination) is that I make a helluva mess when I am creating.   Even when I try not to.  And I friggin' hate the clean up.  Can't wait until I win the lottery....making a studio for myself is one of my priorities.  I'd love to have a little prefab shack with tons of windows - that I can go into my time warp, trance creative state.  Then when I am done creating, I can just close the door!  And I don't have to worry about damage.  I love my apartment to be free and sparse.  That's where I find inspiration, from simplicity.  Here's a dirty, little secret.  Here's how my apartment looks when I am creating:

Yuck!  See?  I need a studio.  Cut paper is a lot easier to clean up than paint, though.  And it doesn't smell up the place and I don't have to clean the brushes.  The maintenance man swore at me the last time I clogged the drain (for like the millionth time).  So cut paper and digital photography it is for a while.  A quick glance through my sketch journals shows that I am always drawing vases.  As you know, I also constantly rearrange my vases.  Yep, I'm obsessed.  That's gotta be a clue from the cosmos. Might as well put the obsession to work.

I didn't have any of my favorite water color paper, nor a canvas.  So I just used a paper bag.  Fortunately, I do have a lot of scraps of paper that I've saved neatly in a folder (I'm anal).  I don't have a proper desk, nor proper tools.  I desperately need an exacter knife.  On the other hand, I am also trying to give up my perfectionist tendencies, and I create to please myself, not really to sell.  If my pieces sell, great.  If they don't it doesn't matter, that's not what they are for.

Okay, I know.  That's too many words.  Here's what I created last night.  Imperfections aside, I think I am pleased with it.

Untitled, 2013.  11" x 14", cut paper and markers.

It worries me that the piece is a little crafty, rather than fine art.  Using scissors for the small, precision work was tedious and difficult.  As you know, I am vision impaired, so that presented a huge challenge as well.  Though imperfect, there is a geometry and balance going on here. I intended it to be tactile, the pieces are taped, so can be moved around.  That's part of the fun with vases is arranging them.  Like sculpture.  Each cut out is based on a vase I own; have owned at one time; or have coveted.  I tend to prefer asymmetry to symmetry, but do want balance.  When I arrange vases, I like arrangements done in odd numbers, so will attempt to do odd numbers in subsequent pieces as well.  None of these words really matter - what matters is I create because I must.

As you know, whenever I work on a piece of art, I rearrange my vases.  Sometimes before - and the vase arrangement influences the work.  Sometimes after as was the case today.  This arrangement was influenced, in part, by the work.  Stay tuned, dear readers, for more of these works.  Also stay tuned because I think my little bookcase is going to get a new outfit of paint soon.  Hope you are having a great weekend!  Now for a walk!  xo