Not for Everyone

When I first pulled this piece from the bath, I immediately thought, "Overmarble!" Even a few days later when I looked at it again I didn't think I would keep it in its original form. But as this piece sat on my workspace in my inside studio, I suddenly fell in love with it. And not a passive kind of love. I mean that when I looked at it I wanted to DIVE into the piece. I wanted to become physical with it and the experience of it. I wanted to dance with it, to make it dinner while sharing a bottle of wine, to sing at the top of my lungs with it, to take it for a run up and down the hills in my neighborhood. I wanted to sit outside, in the dark, under a full moon, and coyote-howl with it.

This is a wild piece. I know. It's not for everyone. In fact, it's probably not for anyone. It's messy. It's disorganized. It's hectic. There's no real focus to the piece...where are my eyes supposed to go? There is little sense of satisfaction when you look at it. And yet I'm in a state of rapture when with it. It makes me want to move. It makes me want to BE. Perhaps that's the true beauty of the piece. It's not what's on the surface ~ it's not that which can be mirrored back. The beauty is found behind a secret door ~ a door I sought out, maybe even created, and then stepped through.

Much like my life.

The energy that created stars moves through me too. Every day. ~ Sue Krebs / Soul Speaking

New Series

I have been in the studio the past four days working on a new series of pieces that I'm really excited about. The photo above shows the first few sheets off the bath as I try to execute the initial concept. Moving an idea in my head into an actual, physical entity can be incredibly frustrating most of the time. But this time, I was pleased at how easily the transition was. The four pieces above are not exactly what I was aiming for, but it's pretty darn close. I'm not sure if I'm getting better at fully understanding my capabilities as a marbling artist, if this particular concept was easier to implement, or if the bath was being REALLY nice to me, but whatever the reason(s), it's all coming together nicely (I probably just jinxed myself).

My hubby asked me where this concept came from ~ what spurred it ~ and I told him I had no idea. One day I just had a vision in my head of a set of circles three across and three down surrounded by white space. When I got to the tank, that's what I did. From there, the reverse of that ~ white circles emerging from a stone background ~ was a natural evolution. It felt as if the circle were plucked from one paper and put on the other. My hope is that they make great companion pieces, like sets of three or five.

I'm using my favorite paper in this series ~ Arches Text Wove. It's the second most expensive paper I work on and at one point, 20 sheets of paper into the day, I was like, "HOLY BUCKETS this is getting expensive." And as quickly as that thought entered my head, it vanished. Some things are worth paying for. And this series definitely is.

South Pas Arts Crawl this Saturday!

I am always excited to participate in the South Pasadena Arts Crawl and demonstrate the beautiful art of paper marbling, but this time I have an extra-special reason to be extra excited ~ my mom is flying out from Minnesota to be there! To celebrate her special guest appearance, I'll be offering a discount on April's Introduction to Marbling class AND I'll be having a give away. Everyone who signs up for any of my marbling classes or makes a purchase during the Arts Crawl (note cards, matted pieces, and individual marbled papers will be for sale) will have their name entered into a drawing for a prize. Come to the demo for more details (and meet my mom)!

Marbling Demonstration ~ South Pasadena Arts Crawl Saturday, March 2 from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Book 'em Mysteries Bookstore 1118 Mission Street (next to Mission Wines)

Research

More from the Studio

Just messing around when creating some of these. Especially having lots of fun with the funky spiral thing in the fourth piece below ~ I think I see a series with them in my future.

Switching Things Up a Little

I'm sure you're sick of the whole white space series by now so to give you a little break, I'm showcasing a few of the new cards I made this week. Plus, the new header this month comes from one of the cards!

All note cards are original, one-of-a-kind marbled papers encased in a bordered, white frame. Each one is numbered (1 of 1, of course!) and signed by me (either on the front or on the back). They measure 5"x7" and come with an envelope with a matching swatch on the front. I sell them for $6 each but my blog followers and eNewsletter subscribers can get them for $5 each including shipping!

Click on the collage below to see a slideshow of the cards. If you see one you'd like to purchase, note the name/title (i.e. CardFlame360) and then send me an email at Cheers "at" BarbSkoog "dot" com.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="7929,7930,7931,7932,7933,7934,7935,7936,7937,7938,7927"]

The Best Way to Watch Football

A little break from posting marbling stuff. (But don't go too far...I've got something REALLY fun for Monday!) I couldn't care less about who wins the Super Bowl this weekend but if the replays were like the video below, I'd be glued to the TV from the first pass of the season to the last touchdown.

"You got an orange peanut? An orange peanut? For me?"

Genius. Pure genius. (via Kottke)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zce-QT7MGSE?rel=0]

Zebras, Gel-gets, and Stones!

When I first started playing with white space, one of the patterns I began to gravitate toward was Zebra where you throw Stones over a Gel-get. It's a very simple pattern but I adore the way the Stones interrupt the trajectory of the Gel-get and make the lines go around them ~ like a fast flowing river has to scurry around large boulders. This is what a Zebra pattern looks like close up:

Isn't that awesome? I could stare at Zebra patterns all day long!

What I like about doing Zebras with the white space is that not only do the "tails" of the Gel-get break the design grid by venturing into the white-space zone, the Stones can do the same thing. (You can see I did something similar with the first marbled piece in this post.)

These pieces below are a little more subtle but still posses the Stone-out-of-the-box effect.

I often buy papers that are on sale ~ I like to have a wide variety of colors and in different paper types on hand for my classes. The chocolate papers above are a new color on a familiar paper: Canson Mi Tientes in Tobacco. I really like the way the paper color interacts with the paint colors. I may be hoarding this paper for myself since I didn't order a lot of it!

More White Space

Only one today since I have several "close ups." Here's the full piece:

Click on the collage below for a slide show of the close ups.

[gallery type="rectangular" columns="4" ids="7886,7884,7882,7885"]

I Prefer to Call it "White Space"

My friend, Annika, is, among many things, one smart cookie. Well read, diverse interests, college and worldly educated, quick to make connections, gets the big and small pictures. I love to hear her talk "technical" about her work (she's an awesome letterpress artist) as well as her thoughts and opinions about the art process overall...which is why when she points to one of my creations and makes a comment about it, I PAY ATTENTION. Having graduated from a REAL art school and having an intuitive eye for design, the girl knows what she's talking about.

One day I was at her studio and she mentioned how much she liked my pieces with "negative space." Most of what I know about art I learned through graphic design classes. In graphic design, "negative space" is more frequently referred to as "white space." They both mean the same thing ~ Annika just sounds more CULTURED than I do when talking about the effect (and I don't mean that in a pretentious way...trust me, she is the furthest thing from pretentious...just that is sounds SMARTER). Regardless, I still prefer the term "white space" simply because "negative space" sounds so, well, negative! And it also sounds like I'm EXCLUDING something. When I create these pieces, I actually feel like I'm INCLUDING something ~ I'm USING the white space, not ignoring it.

You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-ma-toe.

Anyway, she was on my mind when I decided to practice more with white space. Like with the circle theme I talked about a few days ago, I've dabbled with white space before. This time though, it was more about CREATING than EXPERIMENTING (well, there's always an element of experimenting when it comes to marbling).

I'm really pleased with the way some of these turned out. They, of course, look better in person (it's really HARD to photograph large pieces). Over the next few days, I'll bring you a few more highlights ~ and some of the so-so's ~ of my White Space series. Hope you enjoy!

Things I Love: Flo Rida!

Can't get enough of the first four tracks on this CD ~ I dance my behind off the second the music starts. He's a little bit Kaskade, a little bit Calvin Harris, and a whole lotta Miami rolled into one.

This is the song that grabbed my attention first (but you'd be a fool if you didn't check out this, this, and this too):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OnnDqH6Wj8?rel=0&w=640&h=360]

Recent Work ~ More Circles!

I had a really fun time in the studio these past few weeks and I'll share with you some of the successes (and maybe even a few failures as they can be "interesting") over the next few days.

First up: circles. I've done a circle theme before but I was truly surprised at how popular the pieces were at the Peach Tree Holiday Show last month. I brought eight of them and they all sold ~ and very early on in the show! So I played with the circles again but this time I added a little twist ~ a Spanish moire. A moire is achieved by rocking the paper back and forth as you lay it down on the bath. The result is a three-dimensional effect ~ like rippling water.

I'm the world's worst moire-er (as evidenced by the gaping air bubble blotch on the top photo) and usually only one in 10 papers I try to do the moire on actually look good. I don't know what my hang-up is ~ why it's so hard for me to do the moire. It's probably more psychological at this point than technical ~ I should just have a cocktail to relax a bit before attempting the next time!

Marbling these circles takes time. A LOT of time. In fact, it's the only time I bring a chair into the studio to actually sit on. A "regular" marbled paper probably takes around five to seven minutes to make from beginning (initial skim) to end (pulling the paper off the bath). The circles can take 15 to 20 minutes! This causes all sorts of "problems" that would be considered unacceptable for traditional marbled work ~ dust specs, disintegrating patterns, fuzzy edges ~ but that I find artistically pleasing (except for the dust specs...those do drive me up the wall).

The above is a circle overmarble (I made the circles, let the paper dry, then marbled another pattern over the circles). The black in the circle in the very middle was a happy accident ~ I think it looks like an eye and am completely in love with the effect of having that eye there. It's not a piece for everyone but whomever ends up with it is going to have something very special!

Things I Love: Marbled Coasters!

Earlier this month, Tina took my Experience the Tank class. This is just one of the things she did with her marbled papers ~ she took glass coasters designed to put your personal photos into and instead used her marbled creations! They look fantastic!

My favorite is the one in the upper left-hand side ~ Sap Green with Quin Purple, Carbon Black, Indian Yellow Hue, and Cerulean Blue. Whenever I use purple, I always end up with Easter colors somehow and I hate the look. I love her color combo ~ you'll be seeing that in my future work!

Desert Delight

My hubby asked me if I wanted to go to Joshua Tree last weekend. Just a day trip ~ hit some back roads, a little hiking, lunch on the trail, happy hour watching the sun set on the desert. How could I turn down such an invitation? It was a holiday weekend and yet we saw NO ONE on the trails we were on...until happy hour when a group of off-roaders (at least a dozen vehicles) came whizzing by, kicking up dust and turning a perfectly perfect sunset into Beijing. Oh well ~ by then it was a half hour past sunset and we had finished our bottle of wine, so it was time to go anyway. Turns out the forced evacuation was perfect timing ~ driving through the park at twilight was the highlight for me.

(Click on the photo collage below to start slideshow.)

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="7774,7822,7775,7776,7779,7778,7777,7781,7780,7782,7783,7784,7785"]

One Word: Extradordinary

I am in love with Christine Mason Miller's latest creative spark ~ her new Tumblr site, Ordinary Sparkling Moments. She calls it her "virtual cabinet of curiosities" and that couldn't be a more perfect description for it (unless she included the words "kick ass" in there too). Hits of poetry, favorite buys, movies, books, websites, trinkets, "notes from the Rocket," photography, food. It's a site that celebrates deep into the corners of inspiration ~ the things that stir our inquisitiveness and excite us. I obsessively check it several times a day.