As promised in yesterday’s post, here is the rest of the “Primitive Gestures” series!
In addition to several of the 8×10 size pieces I created these two larger ones as well:
I hope you enjoyed seeing these new creations! I had so much fun getting my hands into these pieces, there isn’t a texture or color on any of them that I didn’t touch!
Today I’ll be sharing a small series of work that I created for the “Mixed Well and Served Fresh” show.
My inspiration for these pieces were the primitive cave and rock drawings made by our long-past ancestors. Even then, with their hands and rudimentary tools, people had the urge to create, communicate and share their life through art. Some of the markings I used on these works were taken from books about the rock drawings, a few were combined to create new symbols and some were from my imagination.
Similar to making designs in the muddy earth, each piece in this series originated with concrete being applied by hand to wood panels, with lots of symbols, marks and texture being etched into them. Just as the passage of time concealed many of the original rock drawings, more concrete was drizzled and dropped on top of the original design to give it feeling of age. Once dry it was topped off with multiple layers of color and acrylic glaze. A final coat of white was used to further veil the design.
I’ll share the rest of this series with you in my next post!
I haven’t posted any lately but I really have been busy making new art! I just hadn’t had the time to edit the photos and get them ready to post! Here one recent creation:
Why is it named “Pachua”? Well I’m glad you asked! 🙂 I felt like it had an almost dragon-like appearance but I didn’t want to necessarily use the word dragon in the title so I did some online searching for dragon names. As I was browsing around I found the name Pachua, which is a Hopi Indian name and translates into “green feather snake”. How could I pass that up?!
As far as the creative process this was constructed on a wood panel with layers of concrete, glaze and acrylic paints. I took some images of it during the process for you to see some of the stages it went through. Here they are:
If you’d like to see this piece in person it is currently part of my show “Mixed Well and Served Fresh” at Artistic Designs Gallery in Brownsburg – it will be there until April 14th, just waiting for a visit!
I’m hoping to get more new work posted soon but I’ve also got a lot of news to post too! At least it won’t be quiet on the blog for a while!
Lynne
I’ve spent much of the last few days putting the finishing touches on artwork for “Mixed Well and Served Fresh” that opens tomorrow. I’ll be taking the pieces to the gallery to hang them this afternoon. As always I have a mixture of styles and media I’ll be displaying!
My most recent work (as in the paint was drying late last night on a few pieces!) turned into a small series that I’m calling “Primitive Gestures”. Each piece originated with concrete on wood panels, applied by hand, with lots of symbols, marks and texture. Topped off with layers of color and glaze, my inspiration for these pieces were the primitive cave and rock drawings made by our long-past ancestors. Even then, with their rudimentary tools, people had the urge to create, communicate and share their life through art. Some of the markings I used on these works were from books that I’ve read about the rock drawings and some were just from my imagination. I really enjoyed getting my hands into these pieces, there isn’t a texture or color on any of them that I didn’t touch!
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I am also displaying many pieces of newly created digital artwork. Those pieces, during the creative and production process, I did not touch at all until I signed my name on them! Although perhaps not as sensory to the touch they are a wonderful experience for the eyes with vivid colors and movement through each piece. Making digital art is fun for my brain, my imagination gets a workout!
Another type of art I’ll be sharing at the show are mixed media compositions that are framed in shadow boxes. More refined that the primitive pieces and a bit more personal and hands-on than digital, I like the puzzle-solving aspect of adding and subtracting different elements to achieve a pleasing composition. I’ve created many pieces in this style for both businesses and homes, they are a wonderful addition to your personal collect for your office.
So there is a mini preview of some of the artwork that will be included in the show. More “sneak peek” posts coming soon! I hope to see you at the opening tomorrow (Saturday, March 3rd) from 2 to 5 p.m. to share other new works with you.
Lynne
I had a friend point out that it was interesting that I’ve been using what are typically considered construction materials and “constructing” art with it instead. I liked that thought! The piece of art featured in today’s post was created with wood & concrete. Other new works that will be featured soon were not only constructed but de-constructed and then re-constructed before they reached their finished stage!
This piece was a bit of an experiment to see if I could achieve a pattern using contact paper as a “stencil” of sorts. It actually worked pretty well! The first step was to paint the entire background of the wood panel with some black gesso. As that was drying I cut a piece of contact paper roughly the size of the panel and began to sketch out a rough pattern on it with a marker. I used an x-acto knife to cut out the shapes and then peeled off the backing and applied it to the dry background.
The concrete was applied over each opening in the design and textured or smoothed as I saw fit. Then it was left to sit for a few hours to firm up.
Before it got too dry I carefully peeled off the contact paper and excess concrete and then left it to continue drying for the rest of the day.
The following day I added several shades of yellow, beige and terra cota to the pieces and, once that dried, the final bit of color was a touch of copper paint wiped on the top of different areas.
The last step was to go back in between each of the concrete shapes and repaint the background with more black paint and then seal the entire piece with an acrylic gloss. I loved the way it turned out! I reminds me of an ancient construction, perhaps part of a temple or a secret site that is waiting to be discovered. What kind of a story does it tell you?
Lynne
