Stages

So I thought today I’d share a couple recent pieces that I finished and show a bit of the stages it went through along the way. Both these pieces are currently hanging in the gallery at the Blackford County Art Center in Hartford City, Indiana in my show titled “”Cairns & Other Repurposed Treasures” – along with another 26 pieces that are part of my “Wood | Stone | Metal” series. The beginning inspirations were a set of rocks that I painted last month:

In addition to those larger, detailed pieces I also had painted several batches of smaller, colorful, messy, drippy, watercolored stones:

 

Deciding on the composition is a trial and error process for me, first one layout, then another, tweeking the arrangement and inclusion of stones and material as I progress. This shows an early layout vs. the final version for each of the two pieces.

Potential Layout for “Celebration”

Final Design of “Celebration” mixed media art, 5×12″ in wood cradle

 

 

Early design idea for “Simpatico”

Final design of “Simpatico” mixed media art on 12×5″ panel

The third rock in the set is still in the studio, waiting for inspiration to lead me to it’s final destination, who knows where it will end up!

Lynne

 

TINY sculptures

Each year around Christmas the Indianapolis Arts Council hosts a show titled “TINY” and each year I think I’ll enter something, then don’t get it done. This year I was in the midst of creating the WOOD|STONE|METAL artwork when the call came out so I actually created some pieces to submit!

All these use some combination of natural stones, painted stones, driftwood, balsa wood, metal, paint & ink. Basically the exact same materials I was creating larger pieces from. I don’t really have any step–by-step images of their creation so I’ll share with you images of each individual piece so you can get a better idea of the details.

“Invoke” Painted stone, copper, hammered wire, painted wood $65

“Spirit Wanders” driftwood, copper wire, nature & painted stone $55 (c) Lynne Medsker

“Unfold” painted wood, copper, beach stones, small stones, $35 (c) Lynne Medsker

“Origin” painted wood, natural & painted stone $55 (c) Lynne Medsker

“Terrain” painted wood, flat copper wire, painted stone $55 (c) Lynne Medsker

Each of them are currently available to purchase online in my “Giftables” shop, along with a selection of other small artistic pieces.

Of the above five pieces one was selected for the show, Origins. Which piece (or pieces) would you have selected?

Lynne 

Sticks & Stones

“Sticks & Stones” Mixed media (stones, driftwood) on 24×8″ wood panel $375 © Lynne Medsker

Going back to more of the artwork from last November, this is also one of the first pieces that I developed using the stash of painted rocks that I made. One of the first parts of the process was preparing the sticks to look more like driftwood. I may a foray into our woods and selected a bag full of different sizes/types of sticks that were lying on the ground and then brought them back to the house to prepare. The first order of business was a two-day soak in a soap solution to loosen the bark and clean them. As you can tell the longer/larger sticks didn’t fit entirely in the tub so they were roatated frequently…although a few still never got their “middles” finished. The water jugs helped to keep the smaller sticks submerged while they soaked.The next step was the most labor intensive…peeling off all the bark. Depending on the type of wood some was easy to work with and others just wanted to stick tight, no matter how long you soaked them! Most of them eventually peeled, the ones that were just too stubborn became kindling for our next bonfire. 🙂 Once they were all peeled they went back to the tub, this time to soak in a bleach solution. They bleached out quite nicely! The final step was several days of drying out in the sunshine and fresh air. 

Here’s one of the early versions of the art piece as I was still moving the pieces around. Although the selection of stones changed positions and I added more sticks it still turned out much like my vision. Sometimes it just takes a little time to get there! The sticks ended up in many of the new creations I’ll be sharing with…as well as my Christmas greeting for 2014.  Altough you won’t see them in my next blog post, be on the lookout for them soon!

Lynne

The Beginning: Serendipity

 

“Serendipity” mixed media sculpture (wood, stones, driftwood, copper, hammered wire) 6x6x5″ $250 © Lynne Medsker

One of the first pieces I created in my newest series “Wood|Stone|Metal”, this is “Serendipity”. The entire series could have been named that, it just came together in a delightful way! For many years I’ve collect bits of driftwood, sticks, stones and other items as I’ve traveled through life knowing that “someday” I would do something with them. With that stash of fun things around I was posed the question “what did you really enjoy doing as a child?” and immediately my love for collecting rocks in a shoebox popped into my mind. Even if they were just small pieces of gravel from our driveway adorned with paint, I spent many happy hours with rocks, as well as playing in nature with whatever I could find. But how to incorporate all that into works of art? That was when the exploring began. Sorting, stacking, painting, and arranging I began to gather/create items that might work together in a natural way. With the plasma cutter I started a collection of steel and copper shapes to use.

From my newly gathered stash of scrap balsa wood pieces I began to shape organic, rock-like pieces.

Rocks were pulled from jars, boxes and storage spots…as well as the landscape!

Driftwood, collected on my travels, was unearthed and more sticks gathered in our woods were stripped, cleaned and bleached to add to the pile.

 

I also began experimenting with paint on stones.

Over the course of several weeks I gathered, created and prepared. Then it was a bit like solving puzzles, choosing which pieces went with which, how they should be arranged and what made me happiest. Here are images of the process for this piece as it evolved:

Although I ended up with more wall art than sculptures, it was fun to express myself in a more dimensional form. Look for both types to be featured over the following weeks!

Lynne

Open Studio Class: Nature Inspired Art

Make plans now to join one of the two open studio classes during April and celebrate Earth Day by creating nature inspired art.

"mini art #67" mixed media (c) lynne medsker

We will create mixed media art that includes natural elements (rocks, driftwood, etc.) Feel free to bring your own “treasures” to include in your art, all other supplies are included. Wednesday April 11th (noon to 2:30) and Saturday April 28th (9:30 to noon) are the dates!

"love" mixed media (c) lynne medsker

The cost for class is $30, or if you’d like to pre-pay for three classes you can do so at a discounted rate of $75 for all three. Please email me to reserve your place as class size is limited!

"mini art #25" mixed media (c) lynne medsker

The last few classes before a summer break are:

Wednesday, April 25th – “Recycled Journals” – continuing to celebrate the earth we will create small, decorative journals from recycled materials! Noon – 2:30

Sunday, May 6th – Photo Basics! Just that, the basics on how to take good photos! Composition, lighting and other topics will be discussed, along with some practice time for in-class shooting. 2:30 – 5 pm

Wednesday, May 9th – Mixed media on Illustration Board. Make an abstract design then peel off specific areas and paint them one-by-one. A bit more “controlled” creativity makes this a bit different from our past painting classes! Noon – 2:30

Be sure and join in the fun!