New art and NEWS

In thinking about places in the west that I've found to be stunning, Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona came to mind. This is a view from the creek of some of the beautiful rock formations and vegetation. I added the ledger paper with some sketches to evoke a feeling of the first European explorer coming upon this magical place and trying to capture it in his notes.

NEWS: we have designed and uploaded a new website for my art and my husband Rob's sculpture. Check it out at www.reedstudios.net

NEWS: Rob and I will have a two-person show at the Galesburg Civic Art Center, Nov 19 - Dec 31, 2010!! We think we'll call it "Plains and Planes" and will feature my high plains art and his metal and stone sculptures that are very geometric and planar.

A Colorado scene

Since a friend is offering to deliver a portfolio of my art to Scottsdale, I wanted to make some additional work to put on its pages that evoke more of the western states. I found a photo I'd taken on a pass in Colorado in spring, I scanned it in, and ran several filters on it to make the meadow more painterly. I applied numerous art papers to the meadow, increasing the color fields of flowers and lots of lush grasses in the foreground (click on the photo to enlarge it to see the very fun grass). I'd taken the clouds out of the original photograph and just made a blue sky so that I could add my own rendition of those clouds that form over mountain tops. (This is an 11x14 canvas.)

Art Galleries

I don't have a post on new work for this week because I've been working on a portfolio to send to galleries. I ended up putting 34 pieces of work in the book with descriptions of what all is used in each collage and a short blurb about why or how I made the piece. I sent the first portfolio and CD of images off today to a Montana gallery owner who had met with me and asked me to send her more examples of my work as it evolved. In asking someone I know in Virginia if she and her husband would look at a PDF of my portfolio and give me their feedback, I ended up getting amazing input and an offer to hand deliver a second portfolio to their friend who is a gallery owner in Arizona!
I mailed off a CD of images to a juried show in Rock Island this week and need to submit images to the local art center's 44th annual national juried show, too. Busy, but exciting times.

First work in the new year

After tossing around several ideas for a title, I've decided to call this one "A Sign"... and maybe THAT is a sign that in 2010 I'm ready to move this new series of "high plains" mixed media pieces to a new level. My New Year's list of desires would include: 1. an art gallery in a western state will contract with me to represent my work in their gallery, 2. a gallery show of my work will be scheduled in Illinois or elsewhere, 3. an art consultant will want to show my work to some of their corporate clients. So, that's what I'm putting out there, and we'll see what pops up this year. We're in the middle of revamping our website to better reflect our current focus, and I'm putting together a portfolio of work to send to a Montana gallery owner who expressed interest in my art. Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by to check my art blog!

Two new landscapes

I made a 6" x 4" collage for a friend's Christmas present that combined a photo of horses and one of a mountain range. I really liked how it turned out, so I decided to make a 24" x 8" version. I like the sense of big space it has. My Art Floozy group's assignment for January is to make something utilizing petroglyphs, so the other landscape is for that project. And... I'm planning to submit it to an art competition entitled "Gateway to Imagination" that is sponsored by a museum in New Mexico – the butte and petroglyphs are from the area of New Mexico near the museum.

Giant Step

I made a piece earlier this week that seems to be a giant step for me. I decided to buy a 24" square cradleboard and see what it inspired me to create. I looked through my photos from Montana and chose one I took that featured a large rock in the foreground and a grassy hillside rising up beyond it with clouds peeking over the crest of the hill. I ran a few filters on the photo in Photoshop, giving it a painterly look, and then added a sketch filter which made the blue sky really interesting. In order to print the photo out to fill a 24" square, I printed it out in 6 sections. I then increased the color intensity and printed out segments of the scene to layer over the view.
I took all of the photo pieces into my collage studio to see how they looked all laid out together. I decided to increase the layered effect and first cut sections of canvas and adhered those to the cradleboard to be the surface on which I would place my photo strips (you can see that if you click on the top photo). After getting the image pieced onto the board, I added art papers, grass seed heads and flax fiber. The four people who have seen it have had OMG outbursts, so I'm taking that as a good sign!

New frame technique

At an art auction last month, I saw a work where the artist had made his own cradle board and had made it purposely rough and crude - including finger prints and paint slopped on the sides. I liked the "honesty" of the obviously handmade frame and how it worked with his mixed media art. So, we decided to make a couple 12" x 12" frames to try it out. I applied canvas to the surface and made these two collages of animals whose photos we took in Wyoming. Let me know – by posting or sending an e-mail – what you think of the art and our construction (you can see it better by clicking on the images to enlarge).