Creative Influences » studio

The Reflection in the Mirror

Kim — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:37:08 +0000

I have just started reading Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible by G.H. Friedman which was published in the early 1990’s. I honestly have not gotten very far in this almost 300 page book about a man who cut his own life short. Friedman interestingly interjects his own thoughts into the writing which is wonderful. In the few pages I have read, Friedman brings up the issue of how the artist goes into the studio and absolutely must face themselves in there. I have always found this challenge to be a joy as working through those issues I face brings more clarity to my life. When I can work through them in the studio, they seem to be less painful in some way or maybe it is just the right way for me. The opposite seems true for these mid-20th-century Abstract Expressionists (or in Pollock’s case – Action Painters), because they seemed to struggle with meeting themselves in the studio without drowning their struggles with the bottle. I find it difficult to understand how so many of them struggled with the same affliction at the same time working through this amazing emergence of this incredible genre. Maybe they all just fed off of each other’s weaknesses and then that mirror in the studio (the canvas) became only bearable when they would drink. I suppose the true answer to that is one for the mind scientists (individual and collective).

A Work in Progress

I think about this art mirror a lot and wonder about the struggles people have not only when they create art, but also when they view art. It has occurred to me how abstract work is possibly sometimes difficult for people because they struggle with what they see there. It is easier to say things like, “my dog could have painted that” or “what a mess” or “what the hell is that?” when they don’t wish to take the time to figure out what it means to them. Sometimes that is too painful and sometimes it may be down right impossible. I spent many years creating drawings which were technically correct (literally drafted to the mm) for the dreams of other people. Once I gave myself permission to do this for myself, I gained a greater respect for the part of themselves artists put into each of their works. Maybe it is because of these artists who truly put themselves out there for all to see, I have the courage and the strength it takes to continue meeting myself in the studio. I am not sure of the reasons I can do this without needing something else to boost me up. It seems the greatest challenge comes when we have to hear the opinions (and face it everyone is a critic – especially those who do not practice art) of others and bolster our inner strength when their own fear makes it difficult to view something new. I have always been someone who is who I am and cannot be who someone else wants me to be, so maybe that is it. Then again, maybe it is my lifelong experiences of living inside my head which helps me along with this. No matter what the reason, I can say without a doubt I am very grateful for these artists who have put themselves out there in front of the public eye and continued painting no matter what was said about them. Every single day the knowledge of what they went through gives me the power to smile when someone just doesn’t get it! I hope you can smile through it, too.

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Rice Paper, Watercolor Paper or Plastic for Frottage?

Kim — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:49:48 +0000

Recently I have been talking about how certain things in my studio practice have an influence on my paintings. I find just spending time doing brings about so many ideas and possibilities for newer projects. I have talked about doing frottage work before, but it seems to be one of those things which lends itself to the type of work I do. When I am not using the plastic sheeting, I find myself using rice paper and sometimes watercolor paper. Recently, this particular image revealed itself to me on rice paper:

I keep these pieces because I know they will prove useful later. Sometimes I am not sure how they will be useful, but I find this craggly tree shape appealing. Using rice paper allows me to have a nice base when I do these as does watercolor paper. The choice is intuitive between these two, however. The use of the plastic is often a more conscious choice.

Let me know your thoughts! I am always eager to hear from you.

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New Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook for Studio Testing

Kim — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:15:24 +0000

I find it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to realize a painting (even then, sometimes they do not work). Testing ideas is one important part of what has to happen as I work through my personal, creative process. I hope you will find it interesting and helpful as I talk about the various aspects of my process and their evolution.

Many of you know I have been encouraged by Andrea to “make a mark every day” even when I can’t get into my studio. I have really been trying to keep up that practice and find it helps me more and more to think through my studio work. One of the things I have learned is I really enjoy making marks with more of me than my hands – I like to at least use my full arm when I make a mark! I also love my Moleskine sketchbooks and find they hold up the best, because I put my sketchbooks through their paces. I think Moleskine heard my plea, because they now have A3 and A4 size journals and sketchbooks. This larger collection from Moleskine is known as the Folio Collection and the products used to make the products in this collection are all of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified which appeals to my sense of environmental responsibility. I quickly purchased and A3 watercolor sketchbook, because I love the way the watercolor paper works with both acrylic ink and acrylic paint.

A3 Moleskine Sketchbook and 8.5 x 11 inch paper

For those of you not used to the standard A paper sizes, I have placed an 8.5 x 11 inch printer paper in this photo for reference. This larger, sturdy sketchbook is really helpful as I think through the work I am doing. For example, recently I have been working through several processes and one is about not using brushes as I work. I use other items to apply paint, but not brushes. I am also using both acrylic paint and acrylic ink in combination with each other or sometimes the ink alone.

acrylic ink used in sketchbook

This is one of the tests I have been working with in the sketchbook. Here you see a shape (just the one my hand typically wants to make) made with an eye dropper. I then placed plastic sheeting over the entire image. The sheeting helped me fill in the space I had created with a large border and add some color around it and yellow along side the orange. Just watching these colors merge is so meditative.

The dark bits along the upper part of the orange are bits of acrylic ink which had dried on plastic sheeting from another piece. They were applied when the ink was wet. The orange and yellow are regular acrylic inks while the blue and the green are pearlized acrylic inks.

This larger Moleskine format has made a huge difference in the way I am doing preliminary work for my larger canvases. If you like to work large or are wanting to work on composition, I highly recommend this wonderful sketchbook. It feels so good to carry around, see in your studio and to work with wherever you might be.

What have you found recently which has made a difference in your practice? I would love to hear from you. Also, please take a look at the pages I have posted here. I have ideas for a lot more, but you might like to read through what is there so far.

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A Bit of Pouring

Kim — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:34:00 +0000

As I have mentioned things here are rather busy at the moment and time in the studio is limited. But I was able to get this pieces started. This canvas is 4″ x 12″ and the base is painted with Paynes Grey. The pink acrylic was blended into the glazing medium I often use clear and a bit of pearl added. The white is only pearl mixed with the glazing medium. Both of these were allowed to sit for 24 hours after mixing. Then I poured some of this onto the canvas. While the poured paint was wet, I shook the canvas hard and also hit the edge against the heel of my hand to make the paint spread in this way.

Now I am thinking this needs a bit of detail added, but so far I have achieved this much. It seems when I get into a crunch for time here, I end up doing some poured work since I can pour for a bit, then stop and come back to much later.

I hope to be able to get a bit more done this weekend, too. How about you? Do you have some beautiful plans?

Have a Great Weekend!

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Make Shift Studio…

Kim — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:29:00 +0000

Oh it has been busy here in Vermont. We shopped for books…students need those…this weekend. It was fun. But today I am trying to do a bit of painting after a morning of errands. Errands? Yup! I came here with the idea I might paint a little bit, but wouldn’t you know it I came without Titanium White! ARGH! So off I went this morning to procure a tube. I found a brand I have never used before – “A>2″. Do you know it?
The other thing I have needed to do is set up a kind of “safe” studio here in the hotel room. Clearly, I can’t be as “free” or “wild” with my paint brush as I am in my home studio. So this is what I have done.

I sit on the bed, cross-legged, where you see the apron. I also tuck the apron bottom under the butcher trays. Literally, the large butcher tray is the work table and the smaller one is the pallet. As you can tell, I am working on very small canvases. The larger one you see there is 10″ x 10″.
Have you ever done this kind of thing? We will see, in the end, how it has worked out. It is great to be able to at least have some paint time here. Clearly, with all of the airline rules, I can’t do this unless we drive somewhere.

I am collecting some photos, so maybe later in the week I can share some of those with you.

Have a Beautiful Day!

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What is in your ear when you are in the studio?

Kim — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:58:00 +0000

As most of you know I am currently working on two series (a loose description for what I do, actually), The Contemplation Series and The Music Series. No, I am not going to show you photos of paintings again, today…promise! But I normally paint with music playing in my studio even if I am not working on the Music Series. It is very relaxing and it also gives the rest of the house the message I am working in there!

The little iPod was a birthday gift to me this year. I love it…and normally things like that do not hold a ton of interest for me (for example, I don’t have a Blackberry nor do I wish for one). But this little rectangle is great. In the studio I unplug the earphones and plug it into little speakers. When that music is going I relax and sometimes I even dance…and I get lost in there creating my own little world…you know what? The brush and paint really love the music, too. I can tell because they begin to dance together sometimes.

Do you listen to music when you work? If so, what plays in your ear? Who do you listen to?

Me? What you want to know who I listen to? Oh, I have lots of musicians I like…Josh Groban, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Five for Fighting, Savage Garden, Supertramp, The Moody Blues, Neil Finn and even the likes of Rod Stewart. There are many more, but this gives you a general idea. If it isn’t old, I usually hear about “music you will like, Mom”, from my children…those precious ones!

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Testing…and Opinion

Kim — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:25:00 +0000

This weekend was one of painting and one of testing. If you remember last week I did a post showing a small painting on the Ampersand Aquabord. This particular product works very well. I also mentioned in the comments that Golden has a product known as Absorbent Ground which I had not tried, but owned a pot that I wanted to try. And try it, I did…

To use this product, you have to thin it with twenty percent (20%) water and paint it, thinly, on a gessoed surface. The directions said the thinner and more layers used the better the product. So here is what I did. I had some Ampersand Gessobord, so on one I painted 2 thin layers of the product allowing the first to dry before adding the second layer. The second layer was allowed to dry thoroughly before dropping paint on the surface. For this first piece, I sprayed the surface of the prepared board with distilled water and dropped thinned acrylic paint on the surface. As you can see, it clearly did NOT take up the paint in the way watercolor paper would or in a way the Ampersand Aquabord did.

This particular material handles in a very different way. It is a surface unlike paper or Aquaboard. If you are more of a traditional watercolor painter, it might work very well for you, though. If you are more of an experimental painter or abstract expressive painter with watery paint, you will get a very different result than the other two products. I have already began to change this particular piece…it was very difficult to look at even as a test!

The second Gessobord, I did three layers allowing for thorough drying between the layers. This time, I also sprayed the surface with distilled water, but I used acrylic ink rather than the watery paint. The intensity of the ink was more appealing to me, but the ink still sat on top of the surface more than I had wanted. Since a lot of it was just sitting on top, I tossed a bit of sand on the surface (I am not really a good tester, am I?) to get this result.
I liked the result of this okay. It is fine, but nothing to write home about. I, personally, still like the other surfaces better than the Absorbent Ground.

But, once all this had dried, I noticed my pot of Golden Pearl just hanging out nearby. So I picked up that and did a bit of dry brushing over the sandy surface. Granted this is not controlled at all, but I really liked the result.
I know it is difficult to see the pearl effect here, but I thought being able to see the difference would help. Photographing those more reflective paints is a real bear!

So what experiments have you done recently? Are you willing to share the techniques? Do you think it is good to share this kind of thing or do you feel it is something an artist should keep to themselves? How do you feel about sharing just bits and pieces like this…not really art, but tests or how mediums and materials react with each other? And is this kind of blogging unfair to other professions such as writers or workshop instructors?

I look forward to hearing from you…

Have a Very Beautiful Day!

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Staying on Task! Is it important to Creativity?

Kim — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:49:00 +0000

“An Afternoon With NPR” 24″ x 36″ Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This is a piece I did about 4 years ago as I was listening to National Public Radio on Saturday afternoon when they were doing an afternoon of classical music. I just had this huge urge to prepare some colors and use a small brush to paint those marks on that dark canvas. I can’t explain it any other way. I do not even know the music which was playing, and I don’t even normally turn on the radio!

What made me think of this? If you read this blog, you probably know I have started a series based on music. This work is approached in a very different way, though. It is a lot more planned and there is a particular path through the process of these particular new canvases. And it is important to interject my series work with things I just feel like doing. In addition, I am working on two series at one time! With my little studio, there is a lot of painting and waiting going on at this house. So when I am waiting…I visit you!

Now, here are my questions for you! What is your approach with your work? Do you have to have a plan or prefer to fly by the seat of your pants? Do you work on lots of things at one time or just one at a time? Do you sometimes put aside the work to do creative things just because you want to do them, even if they have nothing to do with your current “project”? Is there anything else that moves you forward? As always I am eager to hear what you have to share.

Have a Very Beautiful Monday!

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Bonus Day

Kim — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:16:00 +0000

Today is a bonus day! Yes, happy leap year day! I have been focused this week on a lot of marketing and networking. My time in the studio has been very little, so today I am going to paint! And I am looking forward to it.
With that in mind, I am just leaving you with an image from one of my sketchbooks. Clearly it was just one of those doodles, but that is also just fine. This has been a very good and a very exciting week for me in other areas, and you all have played a very important part of that. Now, I head to the studio to work on something to share with you next week!

I thought this was the cutest mushroom. I found it in a forest in western Germany. Don’t you think it looks like something from a fairy tale? Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? Fairy Tales…Germany! I am slow, but I often make the connections!

Have a Beautiful and Creative Weekend. Do you have special plans? Will you be in your studio?

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Movable Studio and Honors!

Kim — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Happy Monday Everyone! Friday’s post inspired some of you out there. I have noted this morning two other bloggers have spoken about it. You might like to visit their blogs. Diane writes Umbrella Watercolors and has created a pieced based on some work she did with her mother! Please visit her and see what she has done. And Paula writes Second Studio from New Mexico and has featured me on her blog today. She said she is going to try the woven paintings. Thank you both for this lovely honor. I am glad you felt inspired by Friday’s post. And guess what? This is not what I have to share with you this week! We will get to that soon, but not today. Stay tuned, though. There are a few more things to do and that will be ready to share with you!

Last week, I promised I would let you have a look/see at my very cramped studio. Above you see my little music area. Now, though for a little background. For those of you who are not aware of it, we move a lot so my studio has to be very mobile. The last move we made was from Europe so our possessions arrived in 3 shipments and at the time, my daughter was also living with us. So everyone grabbed the spaces they wanted while I was unpacking things like the kitchen, and this little bedroom was left for me. I am such a good mama! I was so wanting to paint, I just unpacked my things and set up a simple studio. No painting…I didn’t want to take the time to strip that ugly wallpaper…no anything except plopping things down. One day, I will claim another space, so I can redo this room, but for now it is what I have.

From the door, this is what the room looks like…yes, it is also my library! That may change sooner, rather than later. Do you see the drying line? I mainly dry my brushes here, but lately I have been working with rice paper and also wipe off brushes on tissue (which can make for some really interesting painted papers for collage) and find drying those on that line works great.

This area sits to my right when I am at my work table and just behind me when I am at my easel. I know it looks very messy, but I know just where everything is located…and no one else can find a thing (you know I love that).

This tambour sits to the right of my easel and holds a lot of things for me. The nice thing about a lot of the items I use is they can be easily broken down and moved where I need to go next.

And this is my work table…it is actually an old drafting board…there is a parallel bar at the top…which sits on another table. Can you see my paper storage on the table under the board?

This is not an ideal studio, but it works for me for now. If you could see what I have to do when we live in locations where we do not purchase a house you would probably be shocked! The good news about this spot is it is just across the hall from both a bathroom and a laundry room, so I have good access to sinks! I don’t have to hang plastic from the walls here and I have a room!

Here are today’s questions. Do you have a separate room for your studio? Do you have special needs for your studio? Do you have any ideas which will be helpful when you have to relocate a studio with regularly?

Do not forget to keep checking here, because once everything is ready, you will be the first to know The Secret.

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