IsabeauxStudio

I took my newly found media discovery, the experimentation & playing with paper, and decided to use it as an art form.  I wanted to do the thing that I like the most, and "make something from nothing."  I appreciate the challenge of taking something non descript, and making it beautiful.  I took an older existing sketch, an abstracted view from my studio window which I had tried to paint.  Painting it was a disaster, and the piece was quickly set aside, as I didn't like the way the clayboard base took the paint.  The composition was still good, so I decided to recreate it in paper.

This is the unfinished painting.

This is how I translated it into paper.  It became cleaner, and working with the paper gave me the crisp lines and angles that I couldn't achieve with the watercolor image above.

Recently for a work presentation, I decided to make swatches of techniques in paper.  Currently I work for a company that makes photo albums, and I wanted to test a theory of incorporating "recycled bits" into the product.  This was namely craft paper and fabric scraps used to create pattern and design for the photo album cover art.  The goal was to not only re-use materials, in an eco-friendly way,  but to also provide a "shabby chic" look to our product. 

I used my sewing machine for the first time in many years, and played with stitching on paper.  I found that the stitching on the craft paper "elevated" the look of the paper and gave it a more tailored feel.  I discovered in the process, that modifying the craft paper in this way, made it look richer, and gave it the  look of suede.

Doing these "quick & dirty" swatches for the purpose of my meeting was quite exciting in a number of ways.  Mostly, because making the above, had been the first thing that I had done creatively with my hands in quite a long time.  I was excited in the end result, as using  the paper material, gave me a window into a potentially new media.  It was for me an epiphany, as it set my mind to percolating on the possibilities of how to incorporate the this new technique into my art.

This piece, watercolor on Yupo, was loosely inspired in shape only after a not so great workout at the gym late one evening.  I was sitting on the mat stretching  and was looking up and out the window.  The basic shapes in the piece below, come from a framed window. The light was shining through it from several angles, casting shadows in several directions.  To finish the piece I will go back  in with heavier and cleaner layers of color, again putting a unifying color wash over it to tie it together.

This piece, Red Flower & Mountain, was created with the desire to incorporate geometric and organic elements.  I started it by laying down the basic framework on Yupo with India ink.  I then went back and started with a fairly limited palette of reds, blues & browns to lay down color.  By no means is the piece below finished.  I plan to do a final overlay of color to unify it as well as to add a touch of gold leaf.  I am curious to see if the bit of gold leafing will help or wreck the piece.  It will be an experiment to see how it works.

True to some ongoing themes in my work, here is another cityscape.  The first iteration of this piece was something that didn't quite work the first time. It was too bright & cartoony.  I had put it away, frustrated, and had been staring at it for months trying to figure out how to proceed.  I decided that I needed to tone down a lot of the brighter colors.  I went back in and added streaks of color, and texture,  giving the piece a bit of the gritty cityscape feel that I was looking for.