Weekend Art Projects

I was very creative this weekend.  Lately ideas are flooding me.  The art I am making has inspired me to change my living room again, which I hope to show you tomorrow.  Here are some of the projects I worked on this weekend.

This is a cut paper work I made.  It's definitely influenced by Marnie Gilder, who I wrote about below.  I love working with organic shapes.  I may be doing more of these because I might be developing an allergy to my first love - acrylic.  One thing is for sure, I must create - with or without acrylic.  Turns out the craft store has a ton of these beautiful papers, and there is always plenty of junk mail and wrappers that just go to waste.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but the dark pink has a wonderful texture to it.

The piece is approximately 16" x 20".  Here it is in my little reading corner in the kitchen.

I'm always experimenting with ways to display my toy collection.  Here is my Vinylmation collection hanging above my desk.  I didn't really like this display, so I dismantled it.  I worry that my home gets a little too witty.  I love my toy collection, but I haven't figured out a way to display them without the place looking cluttered.  I like things very simple.  I dream of having an office one day and having them displayed there.

I always have this urge to change things.  I am especially drawn to deconstruction.  I decided to turn a couple of cheap lamps I had into vases.

Of course, I played around with placement of the new vases, and my new garage sale vase.  I don't have an adequate bookcase for my vase collection right now, so my Parsons table is standing in.  That's okay, I think the Parsons table is one of the most beautiful designs of all time.  Notice the mirror tiles, I decided to take down the curtains I had hung to hide the mirrors (to see curtains, click here).  They weren't long enough and the sloppy execution bothered me.  I don't really like the mirror tiles, but I am kinda digging the silver vase and its reflection.

On another table, I put a bunch of light bulbs in one of my art glass pieces.  I don't know why.  They seemed to fit.  I love the look of ordinary objects displayed as art, and I want more of an industrial chic vibe.

Happy Christmas!

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read my blog and all the wonderful support! I can't tell you how much it means to me! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and the best year of your life!

Collage by Peggy.  Images: Bibendum, the Michelin Man; Airstream 2007 designed by Chris Deam for Design Within Reach; Bibendum holding Heller dinnerware designed by Massimo Vignelli for DWR; spaceship - drain plug designed by Olof Hansson for DWR; globe, trees and astronauts from CB2 catalog; Hotei sitting on Airstream.

Old Art

I'm about to embark on a painting-a-day project for 30 days. Before I start in this new direction, I wanted to share some old art.

Sluts and Goddesses, 1996-1998. Multimedia.

Each piece is 11" x 14". Faces were found from various sources, including junk mail and a few of my drawings are included.

At the time I was working on these, I vaguely remember a debate going on in the art world about whether collage was an art form. I happily set about making collages ignoring the debate. The answer was obvious to me. I actually began collaging because I was frustrated that I can't draw. I had notebooks full of thumbnails for paintings I wanted to do, I could see the image in my head so clearly, but I just couldn't make my hand cooperate. So I made collages.

I had folders full of faces. The faces I selected were either non-traditional beauties or iconographic. I was trying to create a circular pattern that was feminist, erotic and spiritual. My favorite is probably the one with a picture of Jackie-O that I cut out of the newspaper. The collage was intended to be a tribute to her, as she had just passed. It amused me that the most photographed woman in the world - was now eternally turning the camera on us - in one of my collages.

This is the first piece of art I exhibited. Cleveland State used to have an unjuried show (meaning anyone who brought a piece could exhibit) every year, called The People's Art Show. These exhibits were the most fascinating I have ever been to. Unfortunately, the show became controversial. Instead of defending free speech (like a good university should), CSU cowardly ended these shows. I heard they were going to resume, but don't know if they did.

I showed this work in 1998. At the time another debate was raging in the art world about the validity of so called "outsider art" or folk art, and whether it was actually valid since it was not scholarly. I happily ignored this debate too. How ridiculous. I have found "outsider art" often to be more visionary than scholarly work. And it doesn't matter to me whether art is "good" or not. What interests me is what people feel compelled to create. The journey is more important than the destination.

As my readers know, I have been very shy about showing my work. The day I submitted the work, I carried it in a big beach bag. There was such a long line, I was too afraid to take it out of the bag. I gave the bag to the curator and said hang it however you'd like. He could see my shyness. He asked me the title of the piece. "Sluts and Goddesses," I said sheepishly. "Far out," his reply.

Opening night was one of the best nights of my life, and took me by surprise. My sister-in-law went with me, and said she didn't realize I was an artist. She has been my greatest supporter ever since. Walking in the door was incredible. My work was on the wall facing the entrance. It was literally in your face as you walked in! The curator chose to hang the work vertically. It was so very powerful seeing my work among the other artists' work. I couldn't believe the strength of the piece.

As an exhibiting artist, I was entitled to a free t-shirt. The woman who gave me my shirt, checked off my name and gushed about how my work spoke to her. Every time I looked over at the piece, there was a crowd around it. One of the best experiences of my life. A true miracle.

How to Unblock Creativity

Images from Allposters.

I love Picasso. Deeply. The local museum had a retrospective exhibit of 40 years of his work. Attending this exhibit was one of the best experiences of my life. I could see his evolution. Being with those paintings in person was almost a sexual experience, I had only seen them in books. There are just no words to describe the strength and power of his work live and cumulated.

I love Matisse as well. Anyone who loves art will tell you they love Matisse and Picasso. How could they not? They have influenced everything. I dare you to look at a piece of art and not see their influence.

I went through a period of time where I was looking at a lot of Picasso and reading Matisse's words. I was fascinated with Matisse's line drawings. He said he attempted to do a drawing quickly, with one uninterrupted line, without taking the pencil from the paper. I remember reading somewhere that to unblock the creative spirit to draw quickly and without thought. Try not to impose your will on the paper, try to feel an image that you are simply freeing. I filled notebooks with this type of drawing. And it must have worked in unblocking my creativity. In fact, today I am so flooded by creativity that I cannot keep up with it. Whenever you are feeling blocked, sit with an empty notebook and a pencil, and just keep that pencil moving. You will be surprised.

Here are the drawings I created during this period. I tried to do what Matisse said, not think, draw quickly. And they are clearly influenced (even stolen perhaps) from Picasso.

Since I really can't draw, I do a lot of multimedia and collage as well. Here are a couple examples:

Reawakening, 1994

8" x 10"

water color, marker and lace on paper