Vacation time

 This blog is late because of my vacation, but about vacation....

Everyone needs vacation time. To decompress, re-energize, disconnect and reconnect, rest, do nothing or do everything, stay home or go places, and so many other things. I've been on lots of different kinds of vacation. Driving cross country. Amusement parks, Solo European adventures. An Alaskan cruise. Staycations. Camping. None are as great as the one I've been taking for more than a few years now.

Each year I take a weeks vacation to go up north to what might be called a retreat. Several of the Martini Girls (The other Martini Girls does what she wants, too, it just isn't this week.) get together and spend some time: one on one, all three together, individually. I could speak generally for the three of us, but I'm not going to. Mostly, because even though we are a group and all of the MG's are my sisters, we are still individuals.

As an individual, this week is sacred to me. I look forward to it like nothing else. This week allows me to recharge, sleep late, complete at least 1 important to me piece of art, experiment and spend important time with my Martini Girl family. 

It starts with an almost 5 hour drive for two of us. We chat almost nonstop, sharing stories and experiences that bind us closer together each time we make the annual drive. Our arrival is a celebration of being together again. The whole week is about shared meals, sleeping in, coffee together each morning, working together in the garage turned studio, a few outings, rides on the lake, and connecting.

Outside of just being together, art is the most important part. We work in the studio, talk about ideas and wanna tries, go at least one art show/gallery. Usually, I bring a piece that needs to be completed for an upcoming show. Once in a while, my work takes a turn away from my plan. This is almost always a good thing, as it was this year.

I had big plans to complete a collage/assemblage piece where some of the elements extended beyond the cradled panel, increasing the size of the work. The plan isn't as important as the work, though. Quite a bit of the bits and pieces needed were created prior to this trip, but the assembly of the piece was finished completely within the week; no elements going beyond the edges of the panel. I thought about ways I could incorporate those bits. They just weren't needed.  My current obsession with transformed ephemera on my collage/assemblage work and love of circles merged almost magically. Some of that magic stopped it from being overdone. It was very satisfying and exciting to create this piece. With my sisters. On vacation. . 

These are always among my favorite pieces. Just a look at any one of them brings me right back to th.e week. We don't take nearly enough photos when we are together. Turns out, they really aren't needed; the weeks live in my heart and mind. 

Maybe this isn't your idea of vacation. That's okay. You need to do you and I hope you do find what can inspire you, that makes it wonderful to create your art and fills your heart. 

Patti Belbin 

Obsessions

  I was at a meeting recently and the method we used to introduce ourselves was unusual. Of course, we said our name, where we were from and then ,what our primary medium is followed by what our latest obsession is. My primary is cold wax and my obsession is collage/assemblage. What used to be flat and smooth with occasional texture changed to very textured and rarely flat. The first image below is cold wax. And the second, one of my first forays into collage. A monoprint, use of a handmade stencil, wire and foiled/painted twigs. 

 

Working smaller is easier. Exploring mediums and materials, what they do and what they can become, how they can tell a story or take the viewer places. My favorite part of collage is creating my own ephemera. Transforming materials, wire, paint, tissue paper, metal, found objects into sparkly, grungy, antiqued, molded, folded, wonderful bits. Finding new ways to transform, unusual use of products, happy accidents, awful results, but the most fun and fulfilling creative endeavors I've had in a while.

All of the Martini Girls, except for me, included collage/assemblage in their repertoire. We all watch videos and find new products, make our own secret formulas (that we promptly share), wave our artistic magic wands and viola....art. I was pretty sure I wasn't ever going to do collage and I said so. And for years, I didn't. But I learned how to make monoprints and Eco prints...before I knew it, I was off to the races. And having a grand time.

 

Go out there and experiment. Play with materials you don't normally, or have avoided on purpose. Just try something new, or just slightly different. Make a mess, have fun. Wave your artistic magical wand, see what your viola is.

Tiger Blooms

 

I've been doing a lot of experimentation in the last 18 months. Mixing and layering mediums, creating ephemera by transforming miscellaneous wires and washers and metal sheeting, using molds to turn paint into something that doesn't seem like paint, Dropping and throwing various types of paint and ink in to see what happens. Decorating and using various colors of tissue paper as backgrounds, taking advantage of the transparency of it. And it's been a blast. 

I never thought I'd be a collage artist. Couldn't even imagine it. But, as everyone knows, when you hang out with highly creative artists and absorb their bravery and why not attitude, it's a no brainer. How could I not be a collage artist. One of the greatest things about being part of a group is how you adopt some of everyone's vibe and it informs your practice. Each one of us Martini Girls does collage, but in our way, interpreting the materials completely different than the other three. 

If you are practicing art alone, keep doing that. And just think about being part of a group, creating separately together. 

 To those of you awaiting your Martini Girls invitation to this years Art Bar show, the wait is over.....

The Art Bar has changed it's policy on groups showing every year in order to make room for more artists and groups. It was decided to reschedule our shows to Biennials and our next show will be Sept 2025. We will keep you posted. Keep creating! 

 So I haven't been really good at doing this blog on a regular basis. Life got in the way, as it does. Starting in March 2024 I'm committing to do this much more often. Not sure exactly what the schedule or format will be, but I'm still creating art and still want to talk and write about it. Stay tuned for more....

Swamp Gas

 

Swamp Gas, 24 x 24, Oil/Cold Wax. Sold.

Time Off From Art?

Just like taking time off from my paying, art supporting, full time job, I take time off from making art. A few days or even weeks, occasionally, a few months. It can happen after finishing a piece or several, or a show has concluded it's run, because life is happening or other things are calling me.  Not a sabbatical. Not getting away from it all. Doing other things that feed my heart and soul as much as art does.  Knitting, cooking, gardening, time with friends, travel, reading, watching subtitled foreign TV shows and movies, or just being. Each of these things, and more, feed a different need. Then they lead me back to art. 

Art is never far away. My brain never seems to shut off from art.  Inspiration is everywhere, fueling ideas and visions. A photo of hibiscus, an art exhibit, a conversation with other artists, especially artists who work in other mediums, a walk in the park, time with loved ones, a trip to another place, the familiar and unfamiliar, working in the garden, dancing, anything can turn the brain into an art generator. 

My imagination is in overdrive during my time off. I've tried to go into the studio and work, feeling like I should be taking advantage of all the images in my head. It rarely goes well, my brain isn't ready. What does go well, for me, is getting ready. Often, in the middle of the time off, I'll prep surfaces, deep clean my tools, restock old favorites and discover new colors, mediums, and tools, organizing my studio. These tasks don't take a ton of time and is time well spent. Time that won't exist and my brain won't recognize the need for when it wants to put down the paint.

The time off allows me to return to the studio all in. The need to do other things has abated. When the paints call my name, I can respond enthusiastically and wholeheartedly, letting the work lead me to it's destination. 

I hope you are able to find the time off that works for you and your art, or whatever calls your name.

Party Dress, An abstraction.

Party Dress, 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas

 A while back I was participating in an ongoing studio night/class type event. The instructor challenged us with a project: to find a poem, a line of poetry, song lyrics, or other written word to inspire us. Paint a picture that represents the words. 

The photo above isn't where this piece started. I don't remember the line of poetry I selected, but I had a lovely photo I had taken of an echinacea. The poetry suited it. So that was what I chose to paint. 

 

ECHINACEA

The instructor cancelled the project midstream. Hoped we would finish our pieces. It was a nice start, but I was so unsatisfied with it. I set it aside in place I could see it often. I thought it was calling out to be something else.

This was the point where I really started to choose something other than realism. My painting group would say I started the shift way before this. They are probably right, there were plenty of signs in my work. This was my first conscious choice.

I could see that this particular work would be so much better if I just let be what it wanted to be. It took a really long time, like 3 or 4 years, before I was truly ready to have at it. The catalyst for the change to the original work was a show for abstracted work. It took only took 2 or 3 studio session to complete the transformation:

The first two layers of change were done with a fairly large brush. I wanted exuberant, colorful, dancing petals. I realize that except for the cone in the center this doesn't really seem like an Echinacea. That's the beauty of abstraction, things are not always what they seem. During the last session of painting I grabbed a couple different pallet knives, expanded my palette just a bit and turned on the music. I was really lost in the final session. More than a hour went by before I just stopped. It was done. Nothing more was needed. It felt joyous and defiant all at once. And really, really wonderful to see what I had imagined the Echinacea could be, what it called out to be.

This isn't my first abstracted work, but it was one of the first times I knew what I saw in the photo I took. The first time I acted on an out of the box idea of how something could and should be represented. I let those thoughts loose. They've taken me on a wonderful journey, paintings done to create something new and encourage the viewer to feel the painting. To let it into their hearts and minds and see what happens. Do they see the joy, or the journey, or the heartbreak represented on the surface in front of them? Does it inspire them, make them think deeply, send a smile to their lips? Make them want to get lost in it? I hope it does all of that, and more, for the viewer. 

What do you want your art to do, to say, to be? I encourage you to do that. A lot.

DISSOLUTION, layer by layer

One of my favorite things about Oil and Cold Wax is that it always takes me on a journey, I go where it leads me. The destination usually a surprise. Once in awhile I get the idea I know where we're going before the paint's been mixed. This work was one of those times. 

 

LAYER 1

I had some stencils and masks that I made just for this piece. A hazy vision of circles and arcs and transparency had been calling me for several weeks. My palette of yellows and blues mixed and ready. Starting with a 12 x 12 board coated with oil ground, the first few layers looked and felt promising. This needed to dry for a little while before I could continue.  

LAYER 2
After about 20 minutes, the surface was dried enough to continue adding layers, excavating, masking. Enough for this day, let it dry at least overnight and see what's what.

LAYER 3

When I returned to the piece, layers were added, removed. A happy accident created bubbles. I liked it for an instant, bubbles are happy things, and then not at all. Rotating it in all directions didn't help me see anything good. I remember when I first starting using cold wax, I would watch videos on YouTube. talking to the screen, telling the artist to stop, don't go there. Why did you have to ruin it? Well, that's exactly what I did...ruined it. It doesn't have to stay ruined, keep going.

LAYER 4

Added a line, liked it less. Too clean, boring. contrived. I need to step away from it for at least a few minutes. Coming back to the work, evaluating composition, values, shapes, and trying to see and feel where this is going. Changing direction of a piece in progress isn't as hard as it sounds, at the same time it is hard. I start with small steps, one thing at time. Adding a color, disturbing the work already down, changing a shape, or adding a new value, each can have great impact on it's own. 

FINAL LAYER - DISSOLUTION

This particular piece needed some messing up, some complexity, to be undone. Taking away some things in a very deliberate random manner achieved those things. This piece was pretty quick, only a matter of days. Some evolve over time, getting worked on as I have time or they call my name. There are pieces that have sat around for long time, weeks, months or a year plus in my studio. I leave them where I can see them, just in case inspiration strikes. Or I get a whim to paint over them completely and start over. That's a post for another day.

Fall Walk

FALL WALK, OIL ON OIL PAPER, 16 X 20 FRAMED