I had a lot of images saved of clocks that were from the Midcentury Modern era.

I wonder if the general public realizes how much work artists do even before a piece is started. This particularly applies to conceptual pieces which for me are usually mixed media. In this case I had to make sure that my images were definitely all from that era. I also want any type that I use in the piece to be from that era. You can see that I’ve drawn some common motifs from that time onto my canvas. I will be painting them in the next phase – I think. Could be I decide to use some collage here. After that I definitely start turning it into mixed media with collage and the addition of objects. My path is much clearer now and things should move along quickly. I may just get this baby done in time for the take-in! * Some of the drawing here is from a previous idea.

I have to repeat myself and say once again that I LOVE to watch how an art piece EVOLVES. I’m certain most artists do, or we wouldn’t sit through the endless amount of demos that we do. 🥴 I’m showing you phase 2 even though it has evolved beyond this as well. As you can see, phase two was mostly about subtraction with a little bit of composition thrown in. However, while looking through the images I had saved on my computer for this project, other thoughts came to me. Please make sure to check out the last post to see the difference. You definitely won’t want to miss the NEXT post! Hold on to your hats! This ride is going to be a blast…from the past.

Starting a new work is almost always exciting. For me when it’s a mixed media piece, my exuberance might be a little too much. In this case particularly so. The idea for this piece called “Timing is Everything” has been in my head for at least 10 years. That means I’ve been collecting images and items for the piece for that long. The first phase is to bring out everything. It might surprise you that this in the picture ISN’T everything.

I have tons of digital images that I need to sort through and print. The next phase will be placing more things down, but also subtracting things and moving a lot of things about. During this process thoughts also come and go. These help me clarify what I want to say with this piece.

Given the amount of images and stuff that I have, I suspect this will become a series of at least 3 pieces.

This hasn’t happened in a long time:

Good afternoon,

We want to thank you for submitting your work to the upcoming “New Beginnings” at the Art Center Gallery. 

The judge made her final choices after two days of deliberation over the 70+ entries.  We are sorry to let you know that your work was not chosen for this exhibition…but, don’t be discouraged we have several other opportunities coming up in 2024.

I wonder if non-artists realize that we suffer the slings and arrows of rejection. This one is a little rough, because I entered THREE pieces. Not the judges cup of tea? Not deemed in alignment with the “Theme”? Just not going to work with the rest of those selected? Ah well. They will get into another show someday, I hope.

If an artist is lucky enough to have attended college, then they learn how to take it early on in their career. Students undergo regular critiques and competition. Once you start entering shows you have to grow thicker skinned. Rejection comes and goes. You may not win a prize for years (and often won’t even agree with the Judges choices – the same goes for the jurying process. You gotta just let it roll off your back. BUT then you have to re-access your pieces and work harder and smarter next time.

Today was a bit of a rough one and yet it was also exciting and fun. Is that unique to artists or do other professionals experience this? My “studio assistant” didn’t show up today to stop me from going overboard. I had to knock a few things back or cover them up along the way. I’m happy with the result. We will see if it gets accepted to the show I made it for….

Please please please enlarge this on your screen to see the details of my mark making. I have to thank my fellow artist Princess Rashid for teaching me the joy of mark making. It’s something some artists find scary and I think I did at first. It’s a powerful feeling though to embrace it. I think I’d have to write a whole essay to explain what the difference between mark making and painting is. Perhaps this is enough of a visual explanation. My Studio Assistant showed up today – Maybe just in time – to tell me I needed to stop soon (and pet her). I don’t think I over worked it yet. Why she couldn’t sit on the pillow in the chair to tell me that I don’t know. She must have wanted to emphasize it. Thank you assistant! See below for some of my plan for tomorrow. You’ll also see some of the bonus material from today.

Sometimes when printmaking you have too much ink on either your stamp or found object. If you don’t knock some of that ink off you will end up with a squishy mess. Keeping a piece of paper or some deli paper at hand you can lightly stamp or press some of that extra off. You’ve just performed magic! Presto! You have some collage paper. If you don’t think before you plop your paint or ink on your plate for rolling, you might also have a ton of left over paint. Don’t fret. Just perform some more magic by using that to start another piece.

I’m preparing to do some printing with found objects on the piece I shared yesterday. This is a danger ⚠️ zone! It’s so easy to go overboard. In this particular case I am keeping in mind the feeling I want in the piece. Luckily exuberance and excitement factor in.

Actually after the portrait, this feels like play. That won’t last though. Composition is the key to abstracts so I will have to slow down and think more. Maybe not in the next phase, but definitely every move after that. It’s going to be Fun too! Artists are so lucky.

It might surprise non-artists to know that one of the hardest questions for an artist to answer is “When is it Done?” I’m pretty sure all my artist friends are nodding their head at that. The mistake I make most often is to call it done too late. It is something many of us are guilty of…over working a piece. This was the place where I decided the portrait was done. It’s not overworked, but I can see some things I’d change. We do that, us artists. As hard as we try to not overwork a piece, we also are our own worst critics.

These three images show not just incremental but also infinitesimal changes. You’ll have to look very very closely in some cases to spot them.