The theme is In the Red, and we were to make free with the phrase and explore either the topic uppermost in most people’s minds right now: debt, or we could just be inspired to use the color red. One is, of course, immediately reminded of the quotation (attributed variously to artist Audrey Flack, designer Paul Rand, “my teacher,” “a guy I knew,” etc.) “If you can’t make it good, make it BIG. If you can’t make it big, make it RED.” To this I have seen a spuriously added, “If that doesn’t work, add a nude.”

So, here is my red contribution to the world of art.

10"x10" Tissue paper and black tree coral

This is a tissue paper collage on a white substrate. I cut the paper to allow the support to show though as the moon. The black tree coral is glued onto the piece.

As I like to do in collage, there is no paint on this piece, only paper and the coral.

I’m absolutely fascinated by both the moon and trees, and use them in my work as often as possible. There’s something primal about these natural elements that speaks to everyone. We’re part of them; they are part of us.

The show runs from September 26 through November 17 at the Lynnwood Library Gallery in Lynnwood, WA. The reception is October 1. How appropriate that the first day of National Art Month should find me at an opening.

I’m also a little blown away (is that possible? It really seems a contradiction in terms) that I’ve entered three times (2007, 2008, 2010) and was accepted all three. I wanted to enter in 2009, but I was, sadly, too busy buying a house and moving to actually make any art other than a few pieces of jewelry over a couple of days’ vacation last summer. I’m hoping “Fronds” will sell, but at the same time I’m concerned; sooner or later I’m going to have to get a business license and collect sales tax and all that, and I still find it a bit confusing.

I have added a whole lot of new images to my CafePress store and updated a lot of the old stuff. Particularly relevant to me at the moment are the Analog Mind-themed items (Texting it Old School and Analog Handheld) . My goal with the store is to get people acquainted with my art and have the shop pay for itself. It’s almost done that in the past. So I have to figure out all this marketing stuff, submitting to search engines, etc. etc.

The love-hate relationship with technology continues.

Bloodstone and jasper, silver-plated bail, hand-made clasp

Now, you want to see someone who knows how to stage a photo, take a look at Little Byrd Vintage on Etsy. Her photos of her merchandise are so beautiful, she should sell them as well. I’m all envy. Oh, and she has some really beautiful vintage merchandise, too. And no, she didn’t pay me to say that.

"Fronds" - Tissue paper on cradled birch panel

You can see a larger version here and on my Portfolio page (click on the pic twice from that page). For reference, I used a beautiful photo by Heather Thompson of Belle Etoile Designs, with her generous permission.

This collage is made entirely of bleeding tissue paper. What that means is that I had to take excruciating care that the colors didn’t bleed into each other while I was gluing, and that I used the tissue itself to lay down color on the substrate just by dampening the paper, then lifting the paper off after the color transferred.  I think it’s going to be tricky varnishing it, but I will just have to be incredibly careful. I always varnish my pieces using a UVLS (UV protective) varnish.

Man, it is so nice having a studio to work in. This is the first piece I’ve produced in my new studio (converted garage in our new house), and I have so much room to work now. It’s very exciting. Cleanup wasn’t too bad, either. No carpet, so the broom took care of all the flyaways pretty well.

I made some art! Finally!

I am racing to get a piece finished in time to make the July 31 submission deadline to the Lynnwood Library Gallery Themed Exhibit and the weather is hot. So I’m in my studio (I love saying that!) from about 10:30pm to 11:45pm cutting and pasting (in the analog sense, of course) and paper is drifting all over the room.

On the plus side, I’m liking how it’s going and the acrylic medium I use for glue (thanks, Daniel Smith!) is drying really fast.

For ruture reference, I now have a link posted on my Links page.

It also amazes me how nowadays you can actually communicate with people you’ve seen on television just like they were anybody else. I left a comment on a wall recently commending some people on a TV show I’m currently following, and two of them actually responded– not directly to me, but still they responded to something I posted. How weird is that?

Someday, will someone do that to me? Think, Wow! Paper Man just responded to my “like”! . . . Funny.

My visit to SAM on Sunday was very pleasant. I got lost in front of the Bierstadt, as I thought I would; I honestly don’t know how long I spent in front of it. I stood back to take it all in, I moved close to examine all the tiny details, and every so often when my eyes found another perfect spot on the canvas, my brain cried Look at the light! How did he capture it so beautifully? I am amazed and humbled. I have a visceral response to that painting that I really can’t explain. I am engaged emotionally in a way I haven’t been with many other works. For me, there is something magical about it. I might even be having a relationship with it.

Funny aside: I took advantage of the Member Appreciation Days 20% discount and bought a couple of books. Turns out I bought a Taschen book on Turner that I already own– and had bought from SAM two years before. What a dope!

I’m really enjoying watching Work of Art on Bravo on Wednesday nights. It’s amazing to watch how these creative people work. I also like having the bird’s-eye view; the artists comment on each other and their works behind each other’s backs, and sometimes they’ve misread the person and sometimes they’re just being bitchy. I wonder sometimes what they thought of themselves and the things they said when the watched the video back. Were they embarrassed?

Art is so weird. It’s completely subjective. In most of the arts, such as fashion, dance, haute cuisine, architecture, there are standards and usually a set of rules most people have agreed on to determine whether one’s creation is, in fact, fashionable, enjoyable, edible, etc. In visual art, SO much is entirely subjective that it really depends on who’s doing the judging. I’ve seen a lot of art I don’t like, or understand. I’ve seen a lot of art that takes my breath away. Who decides whether it’s art? And then, who decides whether it’s good art?

Art is what happens between my work and your brain (don’t quote me on this; I’m quoting someone else and I can’t remember who). If there’s a reaction, it’s art. If there’s not, it isn’t. But only to you. Someone else might respond to something that left you cold or (worse!) indifferent.

I could go on, but it’s late and I have to get up early. Note to self for next entry: wunderkammer.

I’m going to be working on my submission for the Lynnwood Library Gallery show using a photo by Heather Thompson of Belle Etoile Designs as inspiration– with her kind permission, of course. I hope it turns out as I envision it. Collage is such an organic process; it sometimes has a life of its own (like a party) and it’s hard to predict how or where it will wind up. I’m usually pretty good at guiding it, though.

I’m planning a solo excursion to SAM on Sunday; the museum will be open for Member Appreciation Days and members get 20% off everything in the museum store! I have to go every so often just to be alone with the art and visit my favorite Bierstadt. You can look at the piece online or in a book all day but you won’t feel it until you’re standing in front of it. It’s really breathtaking.