I was a lego and block girl. I still am. I can never resist stopping in the wood items aisle at the craft store to see if there are any new styles of finials. A few years ago a scored a Michael Graves set of building blocks at Target. Swoon!
I think working on blocks is a great way to forge through creative block if you are experiencing one or need to have an aimless project to keep busy. There is something non-committal about it. It's not a 'real' canvas, it's not attached to your journal. Just a humble loose supply that can be sanded, painted, stamped, wrapped, collaged, brushed with wax….and then make another, and another….then stack them. Move them around. Build compositions. Learn from it or just enjoy it. And before you know it you have an emerald city, or an urban landscape.
Speaking of 'creative block', I covered a host of blocks with some of my Stampers Anonymous images as an entry to an art contest for Art Continuum (an art retreat hosted by the Creative Block store, and won a prize!). I've used blocks as a class format on several occasions, and have enjoyed the process with groups of friends – first Lisa, Anne, and Lynne in Montreal was back in 2002, and with Betsy, Sande, Laura, and Anne when I first was entertaining holding workshops in my home studio. I love that each artist completed them in their own way, their personal styles evident.
The first piece I show below "Perpetual", is one that evolved from an a-ha moment…taking some of the blocks and stacking them on dowels so they spin, revealing all the sides. It's an interactive art piece – as seen in Somerset Studio, July/August 2005. Each time I pass it on the wall I move a few blocks. The following picture is a sampling of blocks that are stacked around the studio – you can see how I started with paint and stamps and moved into spray paint. A great time-capsule of how my style has changed.
In a creative rut? Pick up a few blocks and start making some of your own. It's been a rough few days here – more about that later….I think it's time for ME to get out some blanks as a therapeutic distraction.
EDIT: In February 2017 I revisited blocks for an article for May/June Somerset Studio. The surfaces were treated with a wood burning tool with a method called pyrography. See the blog post HERE.
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