Or shall I call it a Creative Bender? In either case, that's what I've been on the past three weeks. And it was a total surprise to me. Total. What started out as simply taking advantage of the perfect marbling weather (humidity! cooler temps!) quickly turned into serious, full-time studio days where I couldn't stop digging deep into exploration and experimentation...and along the way created a few new series of works. That, coupled with the fact that my computer died (BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, thank you Microsoft!) and I was so exasperated with just the *idea* of having to start over with a new system that I simply avoided it for a week (denial is a beautiful thing) ~ well, let's just say it opened up A LOT of space in the ol' noggin and the next thing I knew, creativity had taken over.
So yeah, I've been in the studio every day for the three weeks (even busted out the MONSTER TANK) and almost completely unplugged the whole time. I do feel a bit out of touch with folks and behind on what's happening with the important people in my life that live far away from me, but the studio results make it worth it.
Here's a peek at just a few of the things I was working on:
Underneath Series ~ this one has been a challenge for me (it involves a lot of tape, plastic, and black paint!) and I've changed directions several times. This is one direction I'm particularly fond of ~ though I'm not done playing around with ideas for this concept and doubt it will be the final direction I end up going.
Distressed Wood Series ~ except it's not wood! I really liked some of the marbled wood pieces I did for Triptych Fusion and wondered if I could create the same effect on paper. You know what? You can! Took me a while to figure out what paper, techniques, and paints worked best but once I did, it was so much fun to do! As usual, these look better in person but hopefully you get a sense of what is happening here.
Funky Design Series ~ Self-explanatory. And REALLY fun to do. I had to do a ton of background papers first, which was very zen, and then I overmarbled the funky designs on them. Very satisfying to complete. And did I mention fun too?!! What I like about this series is that it is reflective of what is going on in my mind and what my mood is like at the time I created it. Free therapy!!
Amoeba Series ~ a riff on the Funky Design series AND done in the Monster Tank (papers measure 25.5" x 40" and my tank is 30" x 45").
