Category: Side Projects
All the creative explorations that come and go: the Index Card a Day (ICAD) project, analog and digital collage, acrylic paintings, and more.
COVID & HOBBES: Week 1
When words fail, create. Here is a new series I’ve been working on — a daily Calvin and Hobbes remix, the coronavirus version. I call it “COVID & HOBBES”.
My Toolbox: Birch Panels
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Over the past year or so I’ve been exploring going bigger in my art. I have been painting and collaging in books since at least 2008, the largest pages of which have been about 11 x 14 inches. Creating single, stand-alone art — as an alternative to a bundle of spreads to be viewed as a multiple-paged whole — is new territory, as is experimenting with new materials.
Being used to a smaller, hard surface, attempting to switch to large canvas has been a new learning curve. Canvas has a lot of give, and it pushes me to use a gentler hand — something that ultimately changes the style of my art, I think, for better or worse.
A few weeks ago, though, I decided to try out wooden panels. They don’t come in as wide a variety of sizes as canvas, but is a good place to start broadening my horizons while working on a surface that retains some of paper’s characteristics. I bought some small panels on sale at Michael’s (their website is currently down) and later ordered larger ones from Amazon.
I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting on these. More experiments will certainly follow.
If you work or have worked on wooden panels before, I’d love to hear: do you gesso or otherwise prep the surface? Do you varnish the piece when you’re finished? Any other tips?
Bleach and “Cofefee”
For years, I’ve been collecting lost grocery lists. I love the unique handwriting on each one, and imagining what recipes people might be shopping for. On this one, which looks to be written by two people:
- Bleach
- Cofefee [sic]
- Eggs
- Bread 7 seed
- Bread white
- Cheesez [or “Cheese 2”]
- Milk
- Veggies
- Meat for dinner
- My gum
- Frozen dinners