Mini 13 and Gertrude Herbert benefit

Miniature #13 - October 16 - 22, 2011, 6 x 6 in, mixed media on panel

So, I'm going to come right out and admit it - I'm a little superstitious. Working on mini 13, I kept expecting to accidentally spill paint on it, drop it face down, smear it, etc. Perhaps to counteract my natural, superstitious tendency, I picked an especially ambitious project for mini 13. I attempted to fuse some of the most successful elements from previous minis: the panel preparation and varnishing from mini 6, with the layering technique from mini 7, and the palette and tracery from mini 10. Though there are elelments that I still need to perfect, I'm pretty happy with the result, (and no, I have not dropped the panel so far - knock on wood).

I had several additional projects going this week. One was a panel for the silent auction benefit for the Gertrude Herbert Institute of art next week and another was a work on paper dealing with the same theme as mini 12, which I ended up taping to the floor to work on (long story). With about four different projects in process, my studio is beginning to look like an art bomb went off. It defies description, so I've included a picture below.

Fortunately, the minis have escaped the chaos unscathed.

Mini 12

I can't believe that this is mini 12, and I'm 3 months in, or 1/4 of the way through, the "Power in Precision" project. Mini 12 is mixed media with digital collage. I enjoy digital collage - it's a different sort of work than that which goes into a painting. I'm testing some ideas with this piece for a larger scale work I'm still thinking through. It may take me a few more collages to get the ideas worked out, but I feel I'm headed in the right direction. The theme for the collage and the piece I'm considering is "Apiphobia" (the fear of bees). The bees in this piece are metallic ink and the ground is stained Japanese paper with gold accents.

Miniature #12 - October 9 - 15, 2011, 5 x 7 in, mixed media and digital collage

Mini 11 and Erskine Show

Last week was pretty busy, with two exhibitions opening and another one closing (Yay!) I've included a photo below of me with my work at the Bowie Arts Center at Erskine College in Due West, SC. I've changed my hair since painting this one, but turquoise is still one of my favorite colors.

Now on to last week's mini. So this may not be surprising given the nature of the one miniature per week project, but the program where I studied art evaluated students partially based on the quantity of their work (as in x works were expected per y months). When I was a student, I was never quite sure whether this was a good idea, but since graduating, I've started to think differently about it. I'm beginning to think that, at least for me, quantity really does matter in the sense that it's important always to be making something. Even if every piece doesn't work out, at least it will lead somewhere, and so making something (anything) is generally better than making nothing. I mention this because I really struggled with last weeks mini, and there were several times when I considered scrapping it and starting something else. While I think it was useful for exploring the idea of internal framing, when I look at it, I'm reminded of a story about Edvard Munch, who was said to have taken his paintings out into the snow and scolded them when they caused him frustration... hmmmm.

Miniature #11 - October 2 - 9, 2011, 3 x 3 in, mixed media on canvas

Mini 10

Miniature #10 - September 25 - October 1, 2011, 2 x 3 in, mixed media on canvas

Mini 10 is the most intricate mini yet. If one were to ask me how I painted the tracery, my answer, in all seriousness, would have to be: "very carefully."