New Life for Odds and Ends

At the end of the day, most artists would admit some paintings work better than others.  What do you do with these odd pieces of ephemera?  They are often conscious thoughts carried out, but as a whole piece, they remain unsuccessful.  I have found there's nothing wasted when it comes to these odds and ends.  I keep them back, and frequently return to them, cutting them up, painting into them again, reassembling, and generally re-purposing them.  It's another example of creative problem-solving, and quite satisfying to do.  From a practical standpoint, it also eliminates a good bit of waste.  You could call me 'The Recycle Queen'.

When I am in between major works, I often indulge in this activity.  The end result is a collection of original, hand-painted and assembled greeting cards.  I am influenced by my environment, both physically and atmospherically, and music can be a big part of this.  This is definitely true of my latest group of such works.  Oftentimes the composers are not household names, but this in no way lessens the beauty of their work or its impact on my sensibilities.  I recently heard some works by American composer Robert Kyr for the first time -- I found his Violin Concerto Trilogy particularly inspiring (to hear some samples, click here), and I painted using colors and forms invoked by the music.  Naturally, there are many other works that have moved me, too numerous to mention here -- it's all about environment.  Acoustical instruments, in many genres -- classical, folk...even bluegrass -- speak to my soul.  This was true when I began this particular series, working with my odds and ends.

I began with a completed small painting in watercolor of free-form shapes with an overdrawing in black of an architectural landscape.  I was totally underwhelmed by this piece, but saved it back.  My first step was to cut the work into 3" X 5" rectangles.  This broke up the form and provided room for new interpretation.  I was listening to acoustical guitar and mandolin at the time.  Many of the shapes found in the piece mirrored those found in the instruments themselves.  I worked at emphasizing various elements of the instruments' construction -- bodies, strings, fingerboards, etc.

These are the resulting seven 'tiny works of art':

Concerto

Intermezzo I



In Concert


Strings


Rhythms


Mandolin


La Ronde

I also collect found objects and hand-made papers.  Among these are hand-formed watercolor paper and yupo, a synthetic. slick paper.  The pieces I mentioned earlier by Robert Kyr formed the audio background for a session of painting on selected scraps.  These are the results of interpreting and giving form to the musical elements I found in his work.

Guardian Spirit

Prelude

Sonata


Symphony


Motet

As examples of how changes in music can have an effect on the resulting visual imagery, here are four additional works done while listening to a piece that was a bit more free-form, full of energy, with little of what one might call a 'traditional' melody line.  The piece in this instance was Robert Erickson's Piano concerto.  I've found much of his work very soothing, with this piece being very different in my experience of his music.

Intermezzo II

Figure in Shadows

Timelessness


Medley

Last, but not least, are the works involving found objects.  They have a bit of all of the concepts of the works above, but with the added three-dimensional element.  When I approach this method of work, I will take the context of the composition so far and realize that it needs 'something'...and I'm often not sure what that 'something' might be.  As off-the-wall as it may sound, the found objects are not random -- I feel they are 'sent' to me in various ways with a specific purpose to be realized.  I work at finding that purpose.  The following pieces, all recently completed, are perfect examples of this process.

Complexities

Good Times


Ideas


Lines in the Sidewalk


Map of the World


Less is More

In a world that we're hopefully making a little 'greener' every day, recycling and reusing materials and objects is something I feel is important -- when it can also become a part of the creative process, it's even more pleasurable and satisfying.  I was taught 'waste not, want not', and this is one way I can put that into practice.  Collage can be a very artistically rewarding pursuit, and I would encourage you to look around you and find things that 'speak' to you in one way or another, and find ways to re-purpose it.