The Interrupted Drawing

I miss posting on my blog - my favorite blog, I might add. And it's my favorite not because I'm conceited or proud, but because it's such a wonderful outlet for writing about the things I'm most passionate about - beauty in life, vibrant color, nature, people. It's not just about the art. It's about the impetus behind the work. It's what motivates or inspires the work in the first place, the complex interweaving of events and people that bring it all together.

Art can be viewed as a product of our lives. The way I see it, art is the finished or fixed expression of everything that happened to me in the last while before I painted or drew the piece. It's a kind of visual diary piece - telling you the viewer, all about me.

Conversely, the flip side of the work, is YOU - the viewer. Someone who doesn't know me very well looked at this drawing and said, "That's it? Just a few trees? It looks empty." Just as my life informs and creates my art, your life informs and interprets everything you see. And many times when we observe something, we're not looking at it with a careful eye. We miss a myriad of details. And depending on your background, your beliefs and attitudes, you won't see those details the same way I might see them. This is one of the reasons why art is so subjective, and why some art will speak to you while others won't.

This is a drawing done while I sitting at a picnic table positioned at a campsite by Long Lake. It was early in the morning and I was staring off into space enjoying the smell of fresh air mingled with my morning coffee, and the chatter of the birds. I pulled out my sketchbook and thought it would be a good warm up exercise to draw the trees that graced the perimeter of the campsite next to mine. I have always loved trees - their unique shapes and how expressive their branches are in the way they reach up to the sky. I noticed that there were also a lot of dead branches hanging in various strange positions. As I drew I started to remember the challenge of drawing exactly what I see, but at the same time accentuating or exaggerating the small details that interested me - which in this case where the shapes of the dead branches - the dead among the living.

All of a sudden in the middle of this drawing, a massive RV pulled up into the spot next to our campsite and completely blocked my view. So the drawing didn't get finished. I had planned on filling in the background with a forest of trees - not as detailed as the trees in the foreground, but I didn't. And I don't think I will anymore, because the comment, "That's it?" reminds me of how life interrupts us. There are always things that pop up unexpectedly that interfere with what we're doing. And our lives, or the products of our lives are affected. They are altered in subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways.

The resulting product is also a product of my choice. And it's my choice as to whether or not I want to add the rest of those trees or leave as is. So when someone looks at my work, or some isolated part of my life as says, "That's it?" you have to remember that it's a moment in time they're observing. And that moment is surrounded by everything that brought me to this point now - the point where you are reading this post. My point? The white spaces that seem empty are actually filled with perhaps more of a story than the area that's not white.

So the next time you're looking at something that raises questions, ask yourself why the questions are even there! Give the seemingly empty places the benefit of a doubt - there might be something in those spaces that you never imagined existed!

All the best,
Kate

Somewhat Negligent...Who Me?

Hello everyone!
Yes, I'm guilty as charged - this blog has been so terribly neglected. I've been dabbling in collage, drawing, tried my hand at oil painting, and am returning full circle to acrylics. We always return to what we know - and for me that's drawing, pen & ink and good old acrylics!

This piece is an on-going project that is a compilation of mini collages done on wood. My goal is to have 9 of my favorites mounted on a large 24x24 cradle board. These little collages tell individual stories that document my moving to and putting down roots in Edmonton. I'm almost finished the group - I've done about 20 of them so that I have some good ones to choose from. I don't always like my collages when I'm done, so I like to have plenty to choose from. This project was originally intended to hang on one of the my walls in my apartment, but now that I'm close to finishing, I'm not so sure... it's so big! I might mount the collages in sets of 4 or 6. Not sure - I keep changing my mind on this one. No worries, it will eventually resolve itself. Usually, the pieces tell me how they want to be arranged (and no, I'm not hearing voices, but they do talk to me intuitively!).

Meanwhile, summer is flying by at warp speed. I have some beautiful pictures taken from Half Moon Lake and small towns around Edmonton, that I would like to turn into some acrylic paintings sometime soon.  Other projects, for other days! There's never, ever a shortage of ideas to work from... they just keep pouring in. And what a blessing that is! I'm not definitely not complaining! I consider my imagination and ability to generate ideas a great blessing!

I just need more free time... what's that you say? We make time for the things we love/enjoy? Yes, I agree... I just enjoy too many things!

Have a wonderful Sunday,
Kate

Dear friends,
I'm finally back after a very long delay! I moved half way across the country... and what a difficult transition it turned out to be! But I learned a lot (as we always do when we go through something big). I'm moving into a new place at the end of the month, and I'll be setting up permanent residence again (a hearty halleluhia goes up to Heaven!). I've continued to create art throughout this period and will post my pieces once again starting in September.

I also want to thank all you from the bottom of my heart for being so patient throughout this long silence.

Thank you for coming back...

The sketch is from Half Moon lake... August 2013

All my best,
Kate

Coffee, Tea or Collage?

Another Sunday afternoon that's perfect for collaging! Between reading, making a collage and eating a Turkish chocolate bar it's been a pretty fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon. What more could an artist ask for? I might still make a few tiny additions here and there before I add the remaining coat of varnish. It's so hard to leave these collages alone when you're close to finishing. It seems there's always another piece that could be added. "This might look good over here"...and so it keeps evolving until I add a few coats of varnish. Once the varnish is applied, I rarely change anything.

The second piece shown here was the original arrangement, which I ended up changing once I started gluing my pieces down. I really wanted to use that mini Queen of Hearts card, but it didn't seem to fit in, so I left it out. Too much fun! It's like an addiction for me. But I should stop saying "too much fun" as if having fun was something I shouldn't be having. We should all have more fun in our lives - the kind of fun you get from doing something you truly love... your passion!

It's also Mother's Day today, so a Happy Mother's day to my mom, and to all my friends who are mothers! My wishes to all of you for an enjoyable and very special day!

Happy Mother's Day &
Blessings,
~ Kate


  

Almost An Obsession

Another collage over the weekend (actually I did 2). This one is a little bit different in that I included a couple of different elements. I carved a lino pattern last week and experiment with printing it. The central flower near the bottom is one of those prints. And there's a real leaf that I saved from last fall that is collaged into the right corner. It's a little bumpy, but that only adds texture to the overall piece. The large pink flower on the right is a paper napkin. Can you see that there's just no limit to what you can use in a collage?

I'm wondering if this is turning into an obsession, since there's a third collage assembled but not glued down...yet. This medium is too much fun! It's so easy to do, and because it doesn't really take that long (and it's easier on my hand than more detail-oriented drawing and shading, which can be intensive), it gives me a sense of accomplishment when I'm finished. And when you combine those two elements - having fun with a sense of accomplishment - I end up with an activity that I could easily get addicted to. My friend who is an addiction counselor would say that's a pretty healthy addiction! Also, I'm going into overdrive with my art work right now because I was recently laid off from my job. Having all this time on my hands gives me free license to produce as much art as my little heart desires! I've noticed, however, that when my anxiety increases, so does my art output. It's also therapeutic for me. The bottom line is that art is incredibly fun, enjoyable and satisfying. Moreover, If I can pass that wellness feeling on to someone else, and they benefit from it, then I will feel like I have accomplished something really worthwhile!

Best wishes & blessings,
Kate

Courage

This 6x8 collage on wood is meant to be paired with "Off With Her Head!" I love the rich red (Alizarin crimson) combined with warm brown and gold colors, which are the dominant colors in this piece. I also added some color to the collage pieces that I cut out to make them blend in a little better. You can do that with collage - manipulate your own pieces, and even draw your own if you have to! You may actually prefer to draw your own pieces, because sometimes it's more meaningful to create your own "clip art." And that's the beauty of creating used a variety of media - you can use this, or that, and create your own using whatever color scheme you wish!

The only thing I haven't done yet with my collages is add 3 dimensional bits to them, like buttons, charms - little objects. I just haven't really come across anything that I wanted to add that was meaningful. I think that's next, however. Collage is so much fun, it's also a form you can forever experiment with.

If you've never collaged before, you might want to give it a try. I have a workshop coming up on Saturday June 2nd - 11am-4:30pm. If you're interested, send me an email, artistikat@gmail.com

Blessings,
Kate

Off With Her Head!

This is my latest collage piece done on a wood panel. I used acrylic paint for the background and then used a matte gel medium as the base glue and top coat for each piece. This collage is unique in that some of the elements are hand-drawn. I'm learning that if I can't find exactly the right color combination in a piece of clip art or from a magazine clipping, I can simply draw it and color it myself! Besides getting exactly the effect that I want, I'm also creating a finished piece that has original elements to it. I also used 2 puzzle pieces for the bottom left corner, but colored them to fit into the overall color scheme.

This collage was a lot of fun to do. It's a truly relaxing activity - more so than the drawing, watercolor and pencil crayon work that I do. Collage is an assembly of collected pieces of paper and bits of ephemera that are arranged in a desirable pattern. They are glued to a prepared surface layer after layer. It's a process of adding layers with paint and paper pieces. This process is truly therapeutic as you work with your hands and your imagination. There is no pressure to be perfect and to draw well. And there are no mistakes in collage, because if you don't like a particular effect, you can easily paint over it and glue down another image!

I enjoyed working with a red and golden yellow theme on this one, and added some of my own drawn pieces. Other bits include wrapping paper, magazine clippings, a bit of text from Alice in Wonderland, and a couple of puzzle pieces.

I'll be facilitating another collage workshop in May - probably on the 27th. More details to come. Until then...

All my best,
~ Kate