This week was a week of exploration in how to possibly approach materials for IP. First I spent 4 hours exploring how I could combine glass and paint. I used a piece of wood and drew a rose on it then glued different shades of red glass throughout the rose. Next, I experimented with used the grout as a thickening element for the paint. The texture however is very gritty and it did not mix well with the paint. It proved very hard to paint on top of the grout as well because it did not hold the color well. Although I do not like how the final result came out, I think it was an important step in the exploration of combining the two mediums. This week I want to continue to explore this combination, using other materials possibly caulk.
Also this week I spent another 4 hours exploring different ways to make a mark with just painting alone. The mark making explored is different then how I have approached painting in the past and reflects mosaics and how in mosaics an image is put together. The painting with the dots is an abstract Turkish landscape and the one with the squares is three people overlooking a body of water in Istanbul. Again these pieces represent exploration of possible ways to use materials. This week I want to finish both paintings and possibly start another.
As I try to do every week, I continued to free read about issues that I observed while I was abroad in Turkey, including both women’s issues and poverty. Although, I am very interested in these topics I think I need to find a more personal approach to how my content will relate to my piece. Although I am nervous about using New Orleans as a theme, right now I am thinking it is the most personal issue I have. I have also thought about incorporating just the idea of home and what is home into this idea. This week I want to continue to think and do research about content but at the moment I think that my research about how to approach medium is more important and hopefully through this exploration I will discover how content will relate.
I'm glad to see the paintings, which I didn't get to see in your studio the other day. The material research you're doing is smart. On the other hand, it's going to be important to explore possible subject matter physically, and not just by thinking abstractly about what you'd like to do. One of the interesting things about these paintings is that they're both landscapes, which seems to me to relate to a sense of place that keeps popping up in the way you talk about your work--whether that place is New Orleans or somewhere else. I wonder, as you continue to research materials and processes, if it'll be possible to continue these quick landscape studies as a way to think quickly and casually about what interests you about those places, or if "place" is what you want to really make work about (I could be wrong).
ReplyDelete