Paper Towers

One of the towers has toppled. I set down the largest of the two towers today, and it fell over. I hadn't noticed that it was leaning. Rather than use a dowel to steady it -which would use more material- I think I am going to try and build it sideways. Experiments are exciting, and get me ramped-up for more studio time.

Sketchbooks

     It is widely know that Sketchbooks are a lifeline for us creative types. They serve as a place to jot things down, and develop ideas. Personally, I cary one on most day.  I have one in my bed side drawer, in my studio, at my boyfriends house, in my purse, and in my car. Having multiple books is departure for me. When I was in college I had one, and I carried it with me everywhere. As a result it also served as a journal, and a class notebook.  My older books chronicle my life for the time each was with me, and it would have been blasphemes to start a new one, before the last was finished.
    These days however, I don't carry a book bag, and it is not as easy to lug a large book around. I recently came to the realization that my habits have changed to fit my life, and these five books help me keep track of everything I am thinking. I brought them all out and looked at them together. The images on the pages are now covering a wider range of content, and they are not the cohesive book that I wanted them to be. No sadness was felt though, because they still reflect what is happening in my head: a million different things.

One Gallon

In a desperate attempt to rescue myself form never painting again, I started to stalk paper together, one piece of mail at a time. I glued them together to create a little manolith. It felt pathetic at first, sitting in my studio, not drawing, just gluing piece by peice. Now it is a tiny structure. I want to make a second one and see where it goes. It is subtly beautiful when you hold it up and look at all the different kinds of paper next to one another. I ran out of glue so I bought one gallon to make sure it won't happen again.

New Hope

I went on a trip home form my Mom's birthday. The hope I had for this trip was to see the pacific northwest and to have a renewed sence of confidence in my paintings. What I was not expecting was for it to happen on the plane ride there. A rush of ideas hit me as soon as I pulled out my tiny sketchbook on the plane. How wonderful, and over due. I have been feeling stuck for most of the year, and to finally have some motivation is refreshing. Hopefully over the next few months I will be working on a few projects at a time. There is a fabric project, a paper, and of course my paintings.  Hopefully they will all start to inform each other and my work will begin moving forward.

Stuck

Alright, alright I will admit it, I am stuck in a rut. This rut feels as big as a ditch. Painting is becoming impossible. I simply hate the paintings I have started, and it isn't getting better. After months of looking and making small moves no improvements to the paintings have been made, and I am greatly discouraged. The small collages I started don't feel like they are helping. At least they keep me in the studio and my hands moving. The one breakthrough (if you can call it that) I have had is I now know what is holding me back. It turns out that I don't know what kind of landscape I want to make. I seem to be stuck between the Northern California landscape I see everyday, and the Pacific Northwest landscape I want to continue to paint. When I figure out what I want to do, maybe I will be able to work successfully (I hope).

Installation?

Does transforming a space for a birthday party count as an art installation? When do decorations cross the line and become an installation? These are the questions I have been asking myself. I was sitting on the floor in my living room ripping paper bags into strips and taping them into tree branches, and after the third evening it occurred to me that this is not a normal way to decorate for a birthday party. People usually put up some streamers, and are done. With the amount of work I am putting in... I might be crazy.

However, my decorations have a goal. The decorations are meant to transform my house, and put my guests in a different mind set. I don't want them to feel that they are in a house, at a  party, because that would be the same old thing. I want them to feel surrounded by trees, in a space that makes them smile and laugh. Additionally, I will change the lighting in the house to make is much darker.

How does this fit into my art practice? For one thing, I am reusing paper bags to make all of the trees. I have also been interested in experimenting with art installations for a while, and I think this is good practice for that.

Out of the Box

A friend called and asked me to be a part of an art show in L.A. to hep celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Of course, I agreed. My inishal thought was to make something in my usual recycled matterials. But upon reconsidering I decided that this was my chance to break out of the usual.