Art Diary 2018 – Week Ending March 9

Art Diary. A weekly wrap-up of art activities. For earlier posts, search under the category Art Diary.

Saturday, March 3 – I worked on the last of my assortment of small boards in the afternoon. These were 6″ x 6″ Claybord.

I just started painting. No idea what would develop.

Finally I ended up with 4 small bright paintings.

While I watched TV, I drew this scene on top of a page in my ongoing Large Artist Sketchbook (I had thought the page was finished but I got the urge to draw on it, so…I did.)

A pleasant way to start off the week.

Sunday, March 4 – I worked on mail art postcards. I seemed to have circle-moon-sun ideas in my head.

Monday, March 5 – I was thinking about the small paintings I did on Saturday. It gave me the idea to try something similar, I mean, to do something abstract on a larger scale. I tend to like making abstract work in a small scale but bigger things, well – I tend to go back to more representational (my version, anyway). So I got out three 16″ x 16″ boards.

I started slapping down some color. I almost hesitate to show these stages, because it reveals the utter randomness of my working process.

I got three things going pretty well. I took them upstairs to set them in the living room to “rest” and for me to eye them for improvements or additions. (Please excuse the photo quality, we go for a cozy light level in this room at night, it looks like.)

Tuesday, March 6 – I didn’t have much time today for art, but I got in a little bit of painting. After yesterday’s session I felt like trying another abstract painting, and this time I chose a different color scheme to start with, motivated by the idea of using up this really nice dark brown paint – I had a tube that was gasping up its last drops and I was getting impatient. I used a 16″ x 16″ gessoed board.

Look at all that brown. There was more left in the tube than I thought. Here’s where I ended the day:

I took it upstairs to join the earlier ones to “rest” for a while. Otherwise, I laid out a group of those @ 2″ tiles I made some weeks back and put a couple of coats of Jet Black Velvet underglaze on them. This is the first step I take in my coloring process. I’ll be working one these soon, I think. Look at that photo with all the underglazes lined up. They look like they are about to march out and demand something, don’t they?

I’ve also got a lot of semi-finished ATC’s I’m working on (they are perfect for when I am sitting on the sofa watching television at night). And I’ve also got a few miscellaneous odds and ends I’ve accumulated – I’m thinking of making a small artist book, maybe. When I get some more to put in it, anyway.

Wednesday, March 7 – More snow. I think about 8″ fell over the course of the day. I knew things would be catch as catch can in my routine – my husband was at home, we spent some time shoveling, and I worked on poetry editing, so not much art work done. I spent a pleasant hour this morning watching a Perry Mason episode and coloring the second of those pages of pen and ink drawings from my ongoing large sketchbook:

During one of our shoveling sessions I took a few photos in our back yard. There is such beauty in a snowfall and how it changes the look of bare branches and landscape. I think these photos will inspire me in some art way in the future.

I took this photo of daffodils in the afternoon. By evening I noticed the snow had already melted from them and they were standing upright again. Spring!

Thursday, March 8 – I spent today at Montgomery County Community College, doing a session of the Day Trip Poetry Marathon (for those who are wondering what this is, look here. Short answer, it’s a day+/- a week that I devote to writing poetry. Maybe you didn’t know I did that?).

I stopped at the college’s gallery on the way to my car. I wanted to see the current exhibit, artwork of Montgomery County (PA) high school students.

The arts building is new and beautiful. The gallery is in the entrance lobby area.

The students had done themselves proud. Lots of nice work. I took some (not so great, I apologize) photos of several I really liked. I was amazed by the variety of mediums and artistic visions on display.

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Friday, March 9 – I had a lot of ideas for this afternoon but I ended up working on two of the 16″ x 16″ paintings begun earlier in the week – the brown one and then one from the group of three. Well, things changed. I am not sure if they are getting anywhere yet but…there is always tomorrow!

I’ve been working on a side job all week – I’ve got some larger-sized ad cards (you know the kind, they come in the mail urging you to buy tires, get your a/c tuned up, donate clothes to charity, etc). I’ve been painting at random on both sides, as I want to collect a few,  fold them in half, staple them, and make them into book pages. You may have seen these before – I refer to them as artist books; sometimes they are embellished with collage, and I write text for them after the books are finished:

I’ve also collected some folded brochures and will be seeing what I can do with them.

I finished up my afternoon listening to a favorite radio program, “Funky Friday”, musical funk on WXPN Philadelphia – but most of the day I was involved in a new audiobook. Music, books, and art. A nice place to be.

See you next week! Thanks for reading and traveling this art week with me.