Blue Flag Iris, 10 x 10 x 1 inches  oil stick on canvas

Spring Garden Mix, 18H x 24 inches Oil Pastels on 80 lb acid free

BlossoMania, 12H x 16W inches Oil Pastels on 80 lb acid free, painted with Oil Blending and Glazing Medium.

I’ve been admiring the round masses clumped on the Plum tree branches in our neighbor’s back yard for a week or so now. Yesterday and today, pink swirls in the wind…

Above: the finished piece, which was cropped from the original size (left), 18H x 24 inches. Blogging always reveals a different perspective. If I had not cropped the original (left image)  in order to post details here, I might never have recognized that the cropped portion is quite complete, and I’m satisfied with it after only a few hours of work.

I still recommend taking work past  its prime once in a while, a decision best made when there’s a lingering sense dissatisfaction with it. In order to  push a painting’s boundaries and your own to see what’s possible, honesty is key, and making the call is different each and every time. Have a look at work from afar or from photos or blogging, and take breaks often!

Celosia, April 19th in progress, 18H x 24W inches Oil pastels on 100% cotton paper

I felt as dissatisfied with this piece today as when it was tucked away a month ago, so with nothing to lose, I jumped back in and threw more color around. I splurged today and bought about 40 new oil sticks, and highly recommend the ”Sennelier” brand. Wow, they are so intensely colorful and creamy-beautiful to work with! There is no contest as far as quality, compared to any of the other brands I’ve been using. Tomorrow: the plan is to continue building and removing colors, but not so much that they become muddled. I’m loving the colors – an unusual palette for me.

Left, March 22nd, 2013, Day 4 in progress

Reminiscent of retro sofa fabric, now that I see it on-screen! Usually leaving page space showing through to create light and brightness, this time I colored the entire page yellow before starting. Adding white did not help brighten areas much, but did muddle colors, helping some flowers recede. Much of the pure color as seen in the early versions has been covered up or removed, but will be re-added cautiously. The style has also gradually changed to more of a Representational/Impressionistic one. To finish, there will be more scrutiny, and fewer emotional responses before adding or removing anything else.

March 20th through 22nd; Days 1, 2, and 3

Multnomah Falls, Hwy 84 East, Oregon 18H x 24W inches Oil pastels on 100% cotton paper, almost finished, work in progress details below

Zinnias, 24 x 36 inches graphite on paper. Using an eraser just as much as the graphite, marks are initially roughed in to fill the page with enough smudges and dark tones to work with; some removed, some detailed. Initial plans were to create a drawing with about 4 inches of grey tones bleeding into a colorful central square to be drawn and painted with watercolor pencils, similar to Chrysanthemums,with borders more defined. However, I got lost in the fun of drawing, and too much graphite would muddle colors. In future I would simply outline the subject lightly first, then add colors, gradually filling in tonal details afterward. Back to the drawing board!

]]> http://www.nikkiartwork.com/pencil/zinnias/feed/ 0 http://www.nikkiartwork.com/trees/deciduous-forest-washington-state-usa/ http://www.nikkiartwork.com/trees/deciduous-forest-washington-state-usa/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:26:09 +0000 Nikkico http://www.nikkiartwork.com/?p=8730

Deciduous Forest (Washington State USA), 12 x 16 inches watercolors on paper

Thumbnails 1. resist medium applied, dried and first paint application 2. peeling off the dried resist after painting dark hues of sap green 3. stage 02, after peeled off resist medium 4. before brushing  off the rubberized pieces of resist medium that bounced onto the paper, it occurred to me that they could be reattached as leaves, using  more medium as glue. I won’t use this idea here, but may use it at some point in the future.

A while back, I had visitors attending a show of mine peel off the rubberized medium to reveal the flowers on “Flowering Shavingbrush Tree”. (The painting has since been cropped to a smaller size). This could also be an interesting way to “wrap” a small paintings, either to surprise a client, or when giving as a gift…cover the entire surface or certain areas, and have them discover what’s underneath!

Flamboyant Tree flowers and seed pods (Chapala, Mexico), 9 x 12 inches oil pastels on paper. I started this before ‘Deciduous Forest’, posted previously, so finished it while the resist medium dried.

 1.  2.

Northern Delights 04, 12 x 16 inches watercolors on 120 lb cold pressed 100% cotton paper

1. Applying resist medium 2. Watercolors, a limited palette, were also dripped down the page, and colored pens add more details

Sumac 12 x 16 inches oil pastels on 140 lb W/C paper

I’m so tempted to go back into this and make it bolder, but am going to quit while I’m ahead. This piece has a base of watercolor crayons, which I hadn’t heard of before and was excited to try. With expectations to complete a piece today, I wasn’t too impressed that the rough crayon color marks remain on the page, and the colors are weak. With more experience, those properties can be used to advantage, but not without an open frame of mind toward experimenting….so oil pastels are layered, then scratched away using fingernails.

Fields of Flax

Rowley, Alberta Canada, 12 x 16 inches watercolors on paper and digital painting, preliminary study for larger acrylics painting

Stone walkway on the grounds of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas 15 x 22 inches watercolors on paper

 Big Leaf Maple, near Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, BC (Canada) 12Hx 16W inches watercolors on 140 lb 100% cotton paper

Transplanting Daisies, 36W x 12L x 3D inches graphite and acrylics on canvas

Work in progress

The idea here was to do a painting similar to “Chrysanthemums”, where one color is hlighted amongst monotones of black and white. Here, green was to be outstanding. Starting the work on a Hansa Yellow Deep background dictated the results though, and at this point it’s not really what I had envisioned. A period of study will help show the direction; either a) it’s finished b) I go with the flow of a full color piece, or c) completely paint over the yellows, outline with black to make greens dominant as initially planned.

Colours For Cameron, 24L x 8H x 6D inches, mixed media on quilted muslin over cardboard pages

“Colours For Cameron” (Canadian spelling!) is composed over five deconstructed heavy-duty cardboard children’s books bought at a dollar store. The Monte head-templates were covered with inexpensive everyday items, so I splurged on unique notions like the $10 monkey button sewn on the ‘Brown’ page, and the cute little cars and tractors that Cameron loves. Some of the fabrics were fairly expensive, but there are enough remnants to make other similar-style projects in the future.

Each page is a quilted muslin sleeve pulled over the cardboard, and colored fabrics divide each page at the base, where they are all sewn and glued together. Rubber letters were covered with various fabrics, and each page has stuffed colored pockets on the outer edge, inviting chubby little fingers to open them..

Since I only had a vague plan; just resolving the design as it developed, I’m glad the cover was last, because it was much trickier and took three tries. I went the extra mile to use nice, seamless thick cardboard for the final layer of binding, which looked great, but upon trying to open the book, it would not! That beautiful, straight piece ended up being bent over a table edge at every page. It’s always worth the effort to make useful things beautiful, but if the beauty impedes on the practically, then it’s not so beautiful after all, is it?!

I found a perfect black, 100% cotton with white dots embroidered on it, planning to paint each dot different colors, but when the whole thing was assembled, edited that out. Enough is enough with all the buttons and textures sticking out. Velcro-ed handles keep the book closed, and also makes it comfortably portable.

Other details: I saved more $ by making my own piping by sewing black stretch-velvet over piping rope, which can be purchased in bags of 12 foot lengths or more. Piping was carefully glued around each plastic googly-eye — not hot glue; crazy glue or equivalent. The googly eyes were $1 store items; much more expensive at craft/sewing stores. Eyes with piping were gently inserted then hot-glued into holes of the Monte face template, then after hot-gluing the face onto the muslin page, each was also lined with black piping to tidy. The final page has three squeakers (removed from dollar store dog toys) placed under the face.

So, a couple of new brushes and 12 x 16″ paper block, and now with the rainy season upon us back in Oregon, I look forward to establishing a routine of painting again. Invigorated by a summer full of gardening and flowers, the stunning scenery across America this time of year, plus reviewing archives of work I haven’t seen for ages, I’m all set to splash out some new watercolors. Our Portland house is a renovator’s dream (nightmare?), and we’re not out of the woods yet, so to speak. Attempting to gain back the focus more on art than house, smaller paintings are more manageable, and less of a production than my typically large canvas paintings…however, I’m curious to see how watercolors dis-behave on primed canvas at some point!

Fintan Fox, 9 yrs old. Below, an angel fish drawn after snorkeling in Figi

I recently had the pleasure of conversations with nine year old Fintan Fox, the son of a good friend whom I had not seen for over 35 years. My friend Julie and her son, Fintan, both created blogs about their extensive travels beginning in England where they live, to Russia last August, then through China, Thailand, Cambodia, to Australia, Figi, and now through western North America. They are on the last leg of their year-long trip around the world, stopping to visit us in Oregon on their way to Canada.
This drawing is one of Fintan’s blog entries, an Angel fish drawn after seeing some while snorkeling in Figi. So impressive! With a minimum of information, the style is bold and confident… simple, yet accurate. Similarly, he writes with matter-of-fact wisdom, and surprisingly well-thought-through opinions. Wow, nine year-olds can be great sources of inspiration. My friends’ blogs are a bit behind since they’ve hardly stopped anywhere long enough at a place that has internet access, but do check them out anyway!

Chrysanthemums, work in progress; see previous post. Above: color details of 85W x 45L inches graphite, colored charcoal / dry pastels on white 100% cotton

When working with a large format, it’s easy to overwork the smaller areas. They’re like little compositions on their own. The trouble is, they may seem successful close up, but may not contribute to the overall balance and flow of the larger piece. Above are some examples, where I’m now reluctant to change what needs to be changed…but I will. Back to Art 101: It’s absolutely necessary to stand back often and study the entire composition from afar.

When you throw in a factor like color, there’s no turning back. I had a specific purpose for this drawing though; to fill a wall space in an otherwise fairly monotone, contemporary room. After much deliberation I kept with the original plan, which was to create a look similar to a black and white photo where one color highlights the main subject only. It was time to dive into the unknown.

It’s obvious that introducing color has compromised some of the original spontaneity, so to recapture some of that energy, I carefully try not to disturb what’s left of those livelier marks, and enhance some with little sparks of color. Isolating red, and only red to the central main flower sapped all the attention, so I’ve added more colors to it and the surrounding elements than initially planned. To continue risks ruining what is working, but there is no satisfaction in quitting, especially when the leaves on each side of the main flower look like wings! Back to the drawing board…(but not for much longer).

June 26th update: Hopefully those leaf-wings are no longer dominant! Now, after a period of study,  just a few more strokes of primer in the right places may bring out more depth around the main flower.

Chrysanthemums, 45L x 85W x 3D inches, graphite, charcoal and primer on 100% cotton, work in progress

Rather than priming the fabric first as usual, water and primer are painted to enhance the graphite while the composition works itself out. It’s been all about getting lost in the improvisation and surprise! Grass blades are implied by the buildup of thin streaks throughout, which also serve to balance and energize the work, plus add slight cubist effects.

This is will hang in a contemporary-style room. If color is used at all it will be limited to red, yellow and green areas near the large main flower. Parts of the surface may be left raw, so to set the finished piece, the entire back will be primed and the front will be sprayed with fixative.

~

The chaos of this past year, moving to Oregon from Texas, has truly put my artsy artist’s statement to the test; that ‘creativity is an attitude toward life’. I’m accustomed to creating chaos in my artwork, then resolving it. With too many move-related priorities and unfinished renovations, no wonder I’ve felt increasingly disoriented. The good thing is that observations never stop, even if the focus on art-work has to.

The move west, and renovating homes around that, has unfortunately thrown my career on the back burner. Hence the home improvement tip brought to you by Dr. Ip, another new character based on good ol’ Monte, who has evolved since 1974 and still plays a part in my expressions today. He’s getting a good work-out these days!

Monte is optimistic….

Tree fern shadows cast across garden rocks in Chapala, Mexico

“Your true colors are beautiful” - Cindy Lauper

I’ve been in Mexico for the past two weeks, so I’ll be contributing more images to the True Colors website (www.trucolors.info), created in 2007 as tribute to the colorful landscapes and cultures here. Developed separately from the other chapters of nikkiartwork.com, True Colors is considered as one complete and independent project. I’ve posted a few more of the recent pieces in this series on nikkiphotography.com

Monte rocks! Who is he?

3.4.

While I was in Portland two weeks ago, starting the Texas-Oregon relocation process, I completed five new Zen Gardens, filling a request for one. All five are smaller, slightly different versions of ones made previously. Four are shown in thumbnail images below.

The very first Zen Garden was created in 2000 as part of a four-painting commission. The ideas established in that set foreshadowed new routes to trying methods I hadn’t before, like enhancing my paintings with 3D elements. That set is also the origins of the “box frame” design that I’ve used on several other paintings since then, where each main canvas is mounted on a wood platform, framing the work with about four inches of extra play-space.

Whereas some frames have the effect of abruptly ending a composition, this type of frame enables space for the subject to continue, softens the edges and adds an interesting twist to the overall impression. When items related to the main subject are placed in that area it adds dimension, not just in the physical sense, but also in the conveying of any abstract or symbolic stories beyond the presentation of the main painting inside.

Because of the challenges acheived in those paintings, 1) a series was born that I’ll continue with for the rest of my days. In 2) Prickly Pear Cactus, pins were applied around the main central frame, then painted. The smaller canvas done during 2005 (left) borrowed this technique, and the same principle of attaching things to the main frame can be used with any number of objects.

In 3) Alpine Meadows, I learned to use all the qualities acrylic paints offer by watering down the consistency for the distant mountains, then sculpted the flowers and grasses with a palette knife on the lower portion. Finally, the theme of 4), The Evolution of Communication has intrigued me ever since, but I still haven’t fully pursued the possibilities. This is the perfect means to learn about Art History hands-on by attempting to recreate it in some form, then to share that adventure and ideally, inspire interest in the topic at the same time. Two old keyboards have been collecting dust in my studio closet for a number of years, yet to be disassembled and incorporated into a new series of work with similar associations.

~

Some of our peers advocate that if we don’t concentrate our efforts to learn one medium well, we will never excel in any. They are right of course, in many respects, but scores of artists are not content with singing just one note. Some simply cannot. To be fair, what works for one does not work for another. Each of the above paintings are examples where a combination of skills and different media in one piece can be very effective. I’m here to say that integration is possible! It’s a longer, meandering road..but it is possible.

There are so many different paths artists can take, long and short term; opportunities every day. There are endless kinds of subjects, ready-made and unconventional materials, always something to start or finish, new methods to explore, and an overabundance of ideas to attempt in one lifetime. Self discipline is the order of every day, either to start working or know when to stop.

My philosophy is that doing something, unless naturally in need of rest, is better than doing nothing. However, being overly ambitious in too many areas is also how I, along with millions of other artists end up with a variety of different kinds of art (or just stuff!), and the arguements endorsing one type of study come into play. Should we restrain ourselves when it comes to making “stuff”? Why is consistency given more support than variety when it comes to showing and selling art?

Whatever choices we make; whichever direction we take depends mostly on the intention for the finished products. Who is it for, do you want it to sell it, where, how, and how quickly? Was work done as a personally cathartic process, as a lot of art is? …or is it just a thing with no emotional attachments or brainy messages? Artists who support themselves by offering a range of services, satisfied and busy enough by word-of-mouth sales, do well jumping from medium to medium. If the hope is selling work through galleries and art dealers though, what some call “too many voices” are apt to be a disadvantage.   

In one of his recent articles, Robert Genn writes sensitively about multi-media artists. While he supports that “for artists, exploration is like oxygen” and that ”the nature of our game is to be distracted by our muse”, he also recommends that artists must present consistency in our approach if gallery exhibition/sales is what we pursue.

When a gallery represents an artist, they expect an overall consistent look and a clear statement. Where venues sell a number of artists’ work, the ambiance cannot be one that resembles a yard sale. If potential buyers view too many styles, subjects or media in one place or by one artist, they tend to lose interest, resort to window shopping, and walk away empty-handed.

I can relate to that: the effect is like standing in the toothpaste isle at the pharmacy, where the senses are bombarded with colorful packaging, alluring titles and fine-print promises. Assuming beforehand that the choice would not be anything but simple, there have been times when I’ve said ‘forget it’ and gone back another day. With art sales though, you don’t want buyers to come back another day, because it may not be your art they choose then.

Gallery owners and dealers do not do us any favor if they display too much variety in typically limited spaces, so Mr. Genn has an excellent suggestion: bring art done in different medias to different galleries.

He also says to keep working no matter what.

Artists have a strong sense of mission. Periodically it needs reevaluation, and with that bigger picture clear, we create the way as it unfolds before us. If we are serious about selling, we first need to become familiar with what we are best at, what we love, what works and what doesn’t. We need experience in order to learn – that takes time – and there’s no getting around it. Experimentation is fundamental to this profession, but if it’s intended to be sold to others and by others, simplifying the look and clarifying the purpose of our art is crucial.

A viewer at one of my exhibitions commented, “You’re all over the place, arentcha?!” As disturbing as that was, it’s true and I needed to hear it, eventually concluding that I do need to clean up my act, but at the same time this is how I work. This is how my stuff works. Every so often there are paintings or a series of works that encompass all that’s been learned and all that I’m capable of; breakthroughs that define a solid new direction or validate the existing one. The commissioned set of paintings described above were like that, and their significance is still an influence on today’s work and will be on tomorrows’ too. They verified that I’m on the right path even though much of the time is spent off of it, experimenting. I call it serious play and paying attention… “playing attention”! Once in a while the bits and pieces come together in one big rewarding “Eureka!”.

Art is all about adaptation – of materials to circumstances, to changes in initial plans and set expectations, and staying open to the serendipity of the inevitable unknown in order to recognize opportunities when they unfold as mistakes. A painting goes through alternating stages of chaos and resolve, of full-on confident energy intermittent with periods of reservation and study. One never knows when the process will be finished, and sometimes great efforts result in nothing great to show.

Adapting to life changes is very much like painting. The materials are different, but seeing it that way, moving personal and professional life to another part of the world does not seem so disruptive. That “life imitates art and art imitates life” never quite made sense to me until now. It’s about seeing the picture as a whole while manipulating sections of it, without getting so involved in the details that, ironically, the focus is lost.

All the travel last year was rejuvenating. By the time Fall arrived I was good and ready to apply those experiences to some dedicated painting when, during September my husband accepted a job in Oregon. As folks who know us know, he moved there in October while I stayed behind. With all this attention to house-duty, I’ve been feeling anxious about not being able to maintain all my career commitments during this transition. After not posting any new art on this blog for about six weeks, it’s important to my reputation as a professional that clients and associates (past, present and future) know that I have not stopped working; only have briefly been working on something else.

I’m looking forward to the drive from Texas to Oregon; one phase completed and another beginning. Regardless of location, ideas and inspirations are infinite, always available and uninterrupted in the grand scheme of things. Best of all, these things are portable! You can take the girl away from the art, but you can’t take the art away from the girl!

Saying that change is good sounds cliche, but here’s how I think it works: change pushes us into discomfort, which in turn pushes us to seek innovative ways out in order to regain comfort. In that sense, discomfort is motivating and progressive. Now that I think of it, too much comfort can be uncomfortable! When one set of dilemmas is resolved we instinctually go searching for more. Life and Art are a soul’s song and dance. 

Above: Basil roots and stems garden sculpture entitled “Song and Dance”

There are days when a falling leaf is just a falling leaf, but today one caught my eye as it floated down then caught an updraft, then flipping sideways and rolling over a few times, it seemed to be avoiding its final destination as long as it could. It was five seconds of beauty I will never forget!

I’m sure my friend and mentor, Jo Williams will not mind me passing along her note of a quote by Judith Hanson Lasater: “As many times a day as you can, find something to be grateful for because that will connect you with yourself, with others, and with the wider world. And we need to do this MOST when things are their most difficult in our lives. ”

Maybe the leaves have fallen like that all season, but I was too busy grumbling about raking half of them from our neighbour’s yard. I’ve been too busy detailing the house inside and out, trying to get it listed as soon as possible. There have been issues this winter of solid ice in the evestroughing, and having to chip away and melt trails with boiling water so the roof run-off would flow properly. I was too annoyed to notice the incredible phenomena on the other side of the house that were created by the very same problem. Left and above: alien-like forms were created when slow-melting ice dripped from the eavestroughs onto shaded Dogwood branches.

Before the snow and frigid temperatures last week, the pansies were finally filling in and gorgeous alongside the back yard fence. When winter came with a vengeance and would not let go, so did my view that, “Aww! The pansies are frozen!”, but yesterday,it changed to: ”Awe! The pansies are frozen!”

Thanks for sharing, Jo!

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Aesop’s Fables

Oak Leaf bedside tables, 24H x 12D with a 20 inch glass top, crinkled brown craft paper over heavy cardboard tubes. The tubes are available in a variety of dimensions, sold in hardware stores as use for cement-pouring re: fence building.

I’ve had this idea to make bedside tables for a few years now, and selling the house  has motivated me to finally make them.  I have not been able to find any in the stores that I like. Faux suede effects were the intention here, but whether or not that was successful, I’m pleased with the results. A brown circular woven mat was purchased for $2, finishing the look.

These bedside tables coordinate the oak leaves on the oak headboard that was carved and given to us by my Dad.

Northern Delights 02, 24H x 36W inches acrylics on canvas, adhered to a 36H x 48W x 1D inches canvas. Mask/resist medium was used to maintain white spaces and pure colors in both sections.

The central painting was started in 2008, and the framing dilemma resolved today – a perfect example where some paintings just need to hang around for a while before they are well and truly finished.
I began extending the scene of the central painting onto the back “frame”, a 36H x 48W x 1D inch canvas, in the same style, but stopping for a coffee break, then coming back with fresh eyes, decided to quit in the early stages. I’m pleased with the clash of styles – a rather impressionistic style framed inside an abstract. Art is the best place to exhibit any rebellious tendencies! Besides, formal frames can sometimes cut off the energy of a composition too abruptly. Every painting does not need a frame, but finishing the edges should always be considered.

Here is the finished painting as it was previously. I used masking medium to block out areas that are intended to stay white, and am continuing the same technique on the back frame.

At the time these were made I was working freelance, mostly for interior designers. There were outside on-site jobs, but the work I enjoyed most was designing or matching and painting fabrics at home. I’d be given a fabric sample, a room theme, or sometimes only one word as inspiration, and a limited time to come up with an original idea, then produce it. 

The standard business advice to keep professional and personal life separate might work great for companies buying and reselling someone else’s products, but  does not apply to artists. For me at least, work and home life flow as one. Creativity is basic. It’s always there buzzing around, and when professional work is not switched to “on”, it’s looking for something else to do!