“Sheer Playfulness and Deadly Seriousness are my closest friends” – Philip Roth
Totally resonates with me :)
So sad to hear that one of my favorite authors died.
This spread started as a demo in my art journaling class in Paducah – I always love coming home and finishing or changing those spreads.
Black gesso was a big friend this time :) Here are some of the supplies I used besides Acrylic Paints
Once in a while I thought I would share with you some nifty finds – like an Artist who’s work caught my eye…, some Inspiration or the what, when and where that caught my eye and got my creative juices flowing, and Tools & Techniques I am currently digging like a new way to use a material or an application that I’m taking away. Hope you enjoy this.
Here we go for this month:
Last Wednesday my friends and I went to a MoMA opening which I will tell in a later posts about. They had opened another Gallery and my friend Adam pointed out this painting by Alice Neel.
To be honest, I had never heard about her but Adam talked in such a passion and with so much love about her work that I knew I had to check her out.
Her portraits strike something in me – they let you stop and feel with the person in the painting. Her life sounds interesting and I cannot wait to watch the movie about her. I hope you check her work out as well :)
With the better weather daily bike rides are back and on top of that my husband and I are also scouting out some other neighborhoods in the city. As most of you know I am always intrigued by old buildings especially if they also show a lot of patina like this one
I love this one so much with all the patina and also because you can see on the left and the right how it looks like when painted (restored?). All the intricate patterns in the tin, the lacy curtain -I wonder how this building looks like inside and who lived in this building, what stories could it tell. I find this so inspiring and def. want to paint it some time.
As I have relentlessly mentioned (for the purpose of holding myself accountable to it- LOL), I am reorganizing my studio and while I was getting through one of my drawers I found one of my super super favorite tools again a woodgrain making tool.
I bought it about 15 years ago and have used it like a mad woman with modeling paste, heavy body paint, heavy gesso – oh man …anything that is a thicker paint medium. But then I kind of lost it in the move and when I found it again I jumped up and down and took it to town with my Gelli plate to make collage paper:
Twist, turn, drag …many options- oh Woodgrain tool – thank you for coming back into my life :) Now I am really excited about organizing my studio- who knows what else I re-discover- LOL
See you soon again with some new finds that I am currently digging !
In April my friend Thomas and I visited the Whitney and the exhibition
It was interesting, thought provoking, strengthening, powerful, emotional and…incomplete…So many different ways to protest, so many different topics to protest, so important to think about this today.
Detail of what covered the whole entrance wall
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith – Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art, 1995 – Collagraph.
Quick-to-See Smith baded the standing rabbits in the collagraph on ancient North American petroglyphs. She has noted that dominant narratives of American history typically beging with the arrival of Eurpeans in the “New World”. Her work counters this notion.
Mark Bradford, Constitution III, 2013 Found and cut paper and acrylic on canvas
While initially resembling a purely abstract painting, Mark Bradford’s piece contains excerpts from the United States Constitution. His embedding of this language within an aggressively worked surface suggests that the founding document is also a living one, subject to modication and debate.
Above and below – Kara Walker -Photolitograph and screenprints.
Jeffrey Gibson, I Know You Have a Lot of Strength Left, 2017 Rawhide, acrylic , graphite, metal tacks and canvas on panel.
M
General Idea – active 1969-1994 – Toronto, Canada – AIDS, 1988
The collaborative General Idea altered Robert Indiana’s well known “LOVE” icon from the 60s and changed it to read AIDS. The images appeared on the streets in different cities, in the NY subway system, in art galleries, and in mass media. The concept behind the works was akin to advertising: spread awareness about AIDS by making art so ubiquitous that it would become part of the social unconscious. Six years later, in 1994 the two of the three members of the collaboration, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal died within month of another from AIDS related complications.
Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world
Anti Vietnam War Posters
Faith Ringgold (b. 1930), Hate Is a Sin Flag, 2007. Acrylic, graphite, and ink on paper
Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting 1960-66 – Oil on linen
“From 1953 until his death in 1967, Ad Reinhard focused exclusively on a series of untitled works that came to be known as the “black paintings”. The paintings are pared down to a predetermined arrangement of elements with little sign of the artist’s hand immediately evident. In the 1950s and 1960s Reinhardt contributed his time, art and money to civil rights causes and he vocally opposed the war in Vietnam. ”
I am always intrigued by the way how artists create artwork that are political statements, it is a powerful. I am not a political artist but I am a political person and I welcome art that makes me think, provokes feelings, or consider maybe even other views. I hope you found this little art stroll interesting, it made me think a lot about the past and the now and the future, about symbols, and words, and most of all, about the power of art.
I thought the same Sue .
Time for a Stroll Through the Hood . Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and to get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.
This view gets never old for me.
The inside of the Liberty State Train Station – I love the ironwork and woodwork
A different view of Lady Liberty
shown before but still always making me happy. It depicts many buildings I love and sketched – the Lady Liberty train station , the powerhouse…
Come on- that is the cutest free library EVER – in our Hamilton Park
So Van Vorst Park competes with some beautiful peonies :)
A little bit of progress in my studio reorganization – I moved the letterpress to the other side of the wall and arranged my stackable industrial drawer next to it , instead of on top of the letterpress.
new spray painted drain …interesting.
New hairdo …hey …you don’t see me much so I thought I sneak this one in ;)
And this is how I felt when I came from the vet – happy the cat was doing well ….kind of going nuts that the bill was crazy :) LOL.
Hope you enjoyed this little stroll through my hood – thank you for strolling along
Love the ironwork also.
Nice do and lighter color for a change. I want to do eggplant to dye my grays and maybe it will show up better than on my dark brown hair?
Sewer drain painting…who does that? Gorgeous.
Have a nice creative weekend Nat.
That sounds like a cool color choice- go and try it! Have a wonderful creative rest of the week , Sue!
Now is the time to sign up for Art Journal Summer School! Early Bird pricing ends May 31st and class begins in July – Woohoo! This will be the Art Journaling party of the summer :)
Here is a little preview of the fun we will be having:
I’m loving the lineup of teachers and I know they will give lots of new ideas to try, in whatever setting you find yourself this summer. Even the supply list is designed to go anywhere you do – travel, beach, back porch – and be super no-stress and super lots-of-artsy-fun. That’s the whole idea with this workshop: Summer can be busy but if you love creating as much as I do, you know you want to carve out a little time for arting.
To register and check out all the info just go HERE.
See you in Summer School ;)
Just saw this…..I tried to sign up and wonder with the time change, did i miss the early bird pricing? this looked like a great class. Thank you.
Hi Julie the time for the sale was on European Standard Time midnight- which is 9 hours ahead of you. There is still another Lucky Bird Price on there right now that is still 20 EUR less then the normal price. So if you would still like to join- go and hurry- it is going up again in two days.
Ready for some inspiration? Today we have some projects from around the globe. It’s always fun to see how you’re using my stamps and stencils and I am so happy to share some examples today. So let me know if you’re doing something cool with my products, and you might see yours on the next Inspiration from Around the Globe!
First from the US we have a gorgeous little book for Earth Day by Tina Walker (who was a member of our Creative Squad and you can check out some of her other projects HERE). On this page she is using my Versailles stencil for the background.
Here she uses my Toledo stencil as a background pattern for another page.
Next is an art journal spread from Mary Thoma in the US also. I love this portrait and the use of my Batik Pattern 4 foam stamp for the bold background and that little chain border is my Chain Link rubber stamp from the Embroidery set. What a beautiful page!
Loving all these patterns from Kate Crane in the UK! She’s using my Marks stamp set for those red and black xxx marks and hash marks.
Here is a beautiful page from Ellen Captijn from the Netherlands, inspired by this year’s Creative JumpStart online workshop. Be sure to visit her Instagram page to see the full art journal spread. I love how she’s incorporated by Buenos Aires Border foam stamp along the bottom in blue and my Valley Road foam stamps along the right side.
And finally we have an “oldie but a goodie” from Louise Nelson in Australia. She reposted this layout from 2013 so we thought we’d give it some love too :) That awesome texture in the background is none other than my Crackle stencil – one of my first stencil designs and always a fan favorite after all these years! Thank you Louise!
Thank you to all the talented artists! If you’d like to give some of these ideas a try, here are the stamps and stencils that they used:
Don’t forget to tag me when you post your projects! I’d love to include your work in my next Inspiration From Around the Globe post!
Love love love Ellen’s page and the way she used your supplies for the border!
“What good are wings, without the courage to fly!” . yessss FLLYYYYY :)
I used my Midtown Foam Stamp Set on a print of mine and added some collage elements of the print of the painting to the Art Journal.
You can buy prints and the original painting of Whose Front Yard? in my store.
Have a wonderful courageous day!
Last weekend I taught three days at Ephemera Paducah in Kentucky. It was so much fun!
We started off with my Mono Print Painting Workshop and worked our way up with some basics. Kathy and Valerie did approve – no, really :)
After some basics we were ready for some fun and more and more elaborate prints.
Lot’s of cats :)
and beautiful happy colors.
And of course Elephants :)
It was easy to be inspired in this wonderful classroom! Rebecca and Gwen are totally in the zone
Such a cool space!
Cats and Dogs- fun!!! Allison did the one on the left and Kristen was like- hey – I am a dog person ….
and Lisa thought, cats, dogs, I do abstract ! All at one table- cool, right?
Saturday and Sunday I taught a two day Artful Adventures in Art Journaling class
I loved meeting all those wonderful students from 11 different States ..yes 11- isn’t that amazing!
It is my favorite thing of a class – getting to know the students and spending some extended time with them.
Look at all the yummie pattern – Art Foamies were used left and right :)
Those patterns and colors- yummie!
How can you not get in a good mood seeing this.
Here are some different pages – can you see the Elephant Stencil was quite the star LOL.
Lots of mark making and color play and layering.
And here is Jackie – she drove 11 hours – WAHHHH -thank you so much for coming from so far !
Mhhh that bird better watches out! ;)
City scapes – here with one of the Midtown Stamps.
and some Chicago love and Batik love as well :)
Some serious easy peasy sketching :)
And hey lots of smiling faces
in those gorgeous city scapes created with the help of my RubberMoon Stamps.
Just looking at those pages makes me all smile – I hope my students had as much fun as I had.
I really love Karen’s grid ! And do you see John Travolta below …well I did and I showed my Travolta imitation …you have to take a class if you wanna see it- LOL
Claudia smiling at us and Kristen, the owner and wonderful host of Ephemera , checking what shenanigans I am up to now-
Tana and Dana smiling beautifully and no …I did not rhyme their names during class- this is a coincidence here !
Oh looksie !!!
It was just so so cool how all those pages came together and incorporated techniques and materials we used throughout the workshop.
I want the the funky pants on the top left , the skirt on the top right and the dress on the bottom- woot woot.
Dana and Laura from Memphis
and here are cool collage of some more pages.
Thank you so much Kristen for having me – I truly enjoyed my time in Paducah! And thank you to all some of you traveling so much -and for your super sweet help!!! You were awesome and I hope I will see you some time again!
You missed this class? I am teaching a couple more classes this year which you can check on my In-Person Class here- but the next one is in San Jose at A Work of Heart. I will be teaching my Mono Print Painting Class there on July 29
and an Art Journaling Class on July 30th
there are still spots available and I would love to see you there. Let me know if you go !!!
Have a wonderful day!
Great post!! We had so much fun with you in class. I enjoyed every minute of it. Ephemera Paducah is an awesome place to take classes! Thank you for making it fun. I’m obsessed with drawing people now thanks to you. ?
It was so so good to have you! Thank you for coming and thank you for bringing me to the airport at this terrible time :) You are the best!
In the end the question always is…will it matter in 10 years?…and most often the answer is NO even in 5 years.
Thoughts that went through my head about something that didn’t work out the way I would liked it to work out- I was actually really disappointed but to be honest …it really won’t matter even in one year …so I will get over it ;) LOL
I played with spray paint and tried to keep it just to teal, beige and purple. I used my Toledo Stencil and sprayed over- then flipped the stencil to also get the reverse pattern transferred to the background.
The journaling and sketch on deli paper was done with acrylic ink and a bamboo sketching pen and I added some marks by dipping the end of a pencil into paint and stamping with it.
It was a freeing page to do :) Sometimes art journaling just helps you to get some stuff straight ;)
Here are some of the supplies I used
Wow. Mark Bradford’s piece really makes me think.
Hate Is A Sin is hard to read and so powerful.
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