ebb+flow studio fine art: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Ten Fish - Four Days

I started on what I'm calling the east end of the runner. I decided to try to get three fish a day painted. I started out by building the shape of the fish with white paint and adding some of the background color for some of the shading, in the hopes that it helps to give the effect of water. You can only really see it on the one fin; I'm still working on them. I went ahead and mixed a very dark color for the black and started to put in some of the patterns. I'll mix the orange tomorrow and add those patterns to the black. Here you see the east end - approx. on quarter of the runner, plus three close-ups of the fish in progress. Looks like I'll have to amend my deadline or paint faster! :D

Thursday, May 26, 2011

(ad)Venture (into) Capitalism

Clearly I need to find a better way to take my photos. I did these blind/overhead; parts are missing. Still, it's a beginning. :D

I'm going to post daily pictures of my unfinished koi pond runner so that you can see the changes as they occur. This marks the beginning of my hand-painted floor cloth adventure. I've always wanted to try taking progressive photos as I create my paintings. This seems the perfect venue for that; plus I'm hoping it'll put the spurs to me! I'm going to do some light sanding and attempt to smooth out the rough patches, then work on the fish patterns. I had trouble with the paint sticking and changed the base colors three times. Now I'm happy with what I have and will add glazes from here on (to change the base colors.) I wish I could find a way to photograph the whole thing, but at 10 feet x 3.5 feet, it's rather unwieldy. I'm glad I got a chance to go to Santa Monica and see the kitchen again - midway through the work. I feel like the colors will work just right.

About My Work

I've been exploring this body of work since 1997. It arose conceptually from my notion of the house as a metaphor for female experience, with walls as a metaphor for the body that contains that experience. Many of the symbols that I use are derived from the interior (or female) space of ancient cave sites; the materials I use are for modern house building; wood panels and topping compound, or drywall mud. Topping compound re-wets, so the acrylic washes that I use to paint the symbols get absorbed and contained, rather than sitting on the surface as does paint typically. With this last series, Interstitial Revelations, I began to paint oil directly into the topping compound. I made this decision based on my research into adobe floors for my new house. The adobe mud is sealed/cured with linseed oil, the same oil as from which oil paint is made.

I discovered many of these symbols in the work of the late UCLA archeologist, Marija Gimbutas, author of the books Language of the Goddess, Civilization of the Goddess, and Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, among others. While some of the symbols are said to be general representations of woman, others are specifically stylized vulvas, the site from which life emerges. What connects me spiritually to this work is the fact that ancient people who worshipped the goddess saw women, and specifically the vulva as sacred, honored and respected. Learning this was a turning point in my life and represents the point at which I had my first positive model of woman. Author Riane Eisler's books The Chalice and the Blade and Sacred Pleasure also had a huge impact on my life and work. Learning that ancient cultures were ordered on the principle of partnership rather than domination and submission (as we now order our culture) was particularly profound.

I layer symbols that represent inter-connectedness and partnership with symbols that represent isolation and separation. I try to find a visual balance, as a metaphor for the balance we must find in our lives as individuals who are intimately connected to everything around us. Over time the symbols have morphed and I have added other symbols of my own in order to further explore various aspects of these ideas and my connection to them.