From the Studio Files
Volume 1
ART EXPLORATION
I find myself experimenting with new materials. I find it so enticing to try all that I can, enchanted by all the possible mediums, brushes, surfaces, colors, styles, and techniques - oh my! At times it feels overwhelming to go on this journey of experimentation. I am an infant with heaps of identity development to do. On the flip side, like a carpenter ant in a thick forest, I have the promise to always have more growing and exploration to do. My time on earth is more limited than the time it would take for me to crawl my way over every scaly tree surface.
TULIPS
I am in love with tulips. I am in love with color. I think I started these paintings trying to answer the question - what style do I want to paint in? And I left with thinking I am in love with tulips. I am in love with color. I sometimes tell myself I need to narrow things down. Too many aesthetic ways of envisioning things overcrowd my mind and stifle my momentum. But how can I choose just one? I can’t. I won’t. (And so she stubbornly and resentfully continues to be stifled).
BOUQUET COLLAGE
This was so much fun! It is different than my usual way of making art and I love it. It forces you to be playful and abstract. I feel like a kid again tinkering away among a menagerie of shapes, glue, and paper clippings.
TRACE MONOPRINTING
I only recently discovered this very old method of printing. There are so many methods within printing alone as I understand it. This one is called trace mono printing (as it results in a single unique image per print). It involves a sheet of plastic or glass, ink, and cheap computer paper. When you layer it all together and draw on the back side of your paper, the ink only prints where marks were made. I adore the fuzzy texture to it. There are ways to add more value too - either in the printing stage or post print - though I very much like the simplicity of using only some fuzzy, descriptive lines.
BOOKS
Some new books I have added to my collection. I found these on Facebook marketplace. The woman said she inherited them for her dear late friend so now I feel an even greater responsibility to treasure them.
My mother recently found this book in my brother’s old bedroom. We have no idea where it came from as he has never been much into art or such readings. Maybe from his boy scout days? The book takes you on a journey of how an artist creates landscapes using poems and illustrations on each page.
I am I am I am - Not art related but a book I enjoyed nonetheless. Have you ever wanted to read a memoir whose stories are told through near death experiences? Well look no further! Honestly the near-death experiences keep things interesting but the heart, insights, and delicate writings of Maggie is the main melody of the book. I had never read a book of hers before, but for those unfamiliar you may know her as the author of Hamnet.
ART MUSEUM
I found myself back at my local art museum. Some of my favorites were this starfish and the work by the surrealist Dorothea Tanning . One is simple, quirky, and vogue. The other, fantastical, intricate, mysterious.
JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH
A new artist I am currently admiring is Jimmy Lee Sudduth. I discovered his work at a local restaurant here in Nashville. From my dinner chair, my eyes lingered at the chalky descriptions of figures, cabins, and dogs. Admittedly, I was gearing up to learn the artist’s name so I could later stalk their instagram and artist website. But no ma’am, Jimmy was an authentic Appalachian painter, most active in the 1970s - 1990s.
I really appreciate the inventiveness in his work and being. Jimmy was deeply connected to nature and the environment around him in southern Alabama. He sourced untraditional materials like mud mixed with sugar water or coca cola or motor oil, color extracted from plants, and used his fingers instead of brushes “because they never wore out.” It’s such a shift from how I imagine art making today. It reminds me that art can be done in so many ways. The only limits are your imagination!
UNTILL NEXT TIME
I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.
-Mary Oliver
It’s funny, because looking at your work, I already see such a distinct style. Don’t choose! Let yourself be free and develop! It’s hard to see something like “style” or “voice” from inside the process. That’s for the viewer/hearer to discern.