greenpepperpressblog

Michelle Ward/GreenPepperPress Blog

painting on a grid

July 27, 2015

Using a grid as a foundation for a painting is a default process for me. I love that grids can break down a larger surface into smaller assignments. Wanting to move toward interpreting inspiration with paint, I started with a gesso and acrylic background, plotted my lines, then started stamping with handcut circles and squares. My intention was to introduce my carvings of landforms but I ended up sticking with just the basic shapes and felt myself moving toward moon phases. Sometimes you start out with a plan, but once you are immersed in the process another opportunity reveals itself. Since I painted several backgrounds on accordion folded substrates I can use one to go in the direction that is unplanned and the other to go with the original idea. It's all good – nothing is wasted when you are open to discovery.
more floating above the earth

July 23, 2015

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks. I haven't forgotten about the series I started a few weeks ago. Let's get back on track. We will pick up again where we began, looking at topographical maps. This time we are hovering over Ireland, Tuscany, and China. The regional variations of land forms is fascinating to me. If you've been to Ireland, you know the divisions and borders of farm land is typically walls of stones, likely gathered from the fields. In Tuscany, you can see the orderly lines of trees – or perhaps rows of vines. And then the area of China I have captured shows vegetation growing in tiers. Much different than what we saw with the crop circles of Kansas, and the undulating curves of Wisconsin.

I admit I pick a location nearly every week and just prowl around thanks to the satellite views of Google maps. It's not always farmland that I seek – love looking at cities too – especially ones I've been to or hope to visit. I think that will be enough of showing maps….I'll move on to how my painting was influenced next.
“show me a garden”

July 9, 2015

I've said this before, I choose to celebrate my sister's life on our birthday, May 17. Then comes July 10, her departure for heaven, one of those dates on the calendar that weighs heavy and I wish we could skip over. To fend off the sorrow I revisit photos that make me happy…like the one below of Shannon with Fallon from July 1998. Fallon was not quite three. In the back you can see a young Peter, nearly eight, with my brother John. We were in Minnesota for the 4th of July and spent the day doing fun stuff with the whole family. Happy memories.

I haven't shown you my rose garden yet this year. Here are two sections showing about two thirds of the roses. They were late bloomers this year but when they did finally come out it was glorious. A sign of connection. Sam and I walk the neighborhood in the evenings and we always take a path to visit the local tribe of deer…another sign.

Tonight while I was alone in a store, this song came on. I was checking out and close to tears. Escaped to the car and it was on the radio. Another sign. Chasing Cars will always tug at my heart. I listened to it on my ipod repeatedly when at the hospital with her. It's such a sweet and gentle song. Every now and then I will hear it, and I know she's there. It's good to remember the things that make you smile in remembrance, but it's good to cry too. She mattered.

A page from my sister journal, April 2009. I was so thrilled to see my roses, after their first winter, come "bursting into life".
have a happy 4th of july!

July 3, 2015

Wishing you a super sunny day and the perfect spot to see the fireworks! Be well and behave 🙂
more envelope cutting

July 1, 2015

When testing out some ideas I will often make some quick collages with remnants from my studio table. I showed you some grid studies using paper punches and security envelopes (HERE), and with the leftovers I went organic, cutting free-form shapes….again, land shows its influence.

These posts are a little out of order as I showed you my white on black drawings since the article is out – those were actually done after the security envelope collages.

(This time I made sure my signature was embedded over the image. Last time it was marked just over the photo and someone cut it off before posting to tumblr. While it's nice to be noticed, it's not so nice to have your graphic altered and name removed. The image was then pinned to pinterest without my signature and it's off and running with links back to the tumblr post, not me. It's a good lesson to always mark your work so as the originator, you are findable.)
save the date!

June 29, 2015

I will be getting back to my ongoing posts on The Evolution of an Idea. This week I have a few deadlines – both concrete and self-imposed so I'm tending to business. One thing I wanted to share – very exciting news…I will be teaching five workshops this fall in the big apple. I can't begin to describe the thrill of being invited to teach at Pratt Institute's School of Continuing and Professional Studies this fall. Thank you to my friend Karen for facilitating this connection. Below is an infographic with the dates. I will be uploading the class descriptions and photos to my Workshop page soon – they selected some of my faves plus a new one, Sticks & Stones, inspired by the current mindset I'm in. Pratt's fall catalog is in the works and as soon as I have details for registration I will post here.

There has already been some interest since I posted this on my workshop page a week or two ago. I'm collecting email addresses from anyone that wants updates on registration. If you want to be added to the list send me a note or comment below.

There are some mixed media courses available at Pratt this summer! Take a class with my friends Nathalie Kalbach (July 12, July 19) or Seth Apter (July 18-19) or both! See the Pratt CCPS summer catalog HERE. It is a fabulous venue and the classrooms are superb.

Hope to see you this fall!!
sticking with white on black

June 25, 2015

I had so much fun using the white pen (Uniball Signo UM-153) on black that I wanted to keep going. Like, I wanted it to go on and on. So it made sense to move on from flat panels to an accordion. I could loosely plan an overall concept for the evolution of the design, but then work page by page. To me, the format meant it should read well as a whole when unfolded, and that was exciting to me…each portion or panel segueing forward.

What prompted an accordion? Back in April 2014 I shared how I had an epiphany and turned my favorite Escher poster(s) into a folded book. See HERE. Since I did not have a place to hang the four long horizontal posters, they sat gathering dust (for several years) and were in danger of getting damaged or worse, discarded. Now I can hold his masterpiece in my hands and page through blissfully. Escher definitely influenced my desire to work in a connected series of drawings and patterns. I love his panoramic morphing and transitioning of imagery. Genius.

Being in a mindset of two camps, linear and organic, I took two different paths – starting one with a grid, and one totally free-form. You can read about these projects in the July/August Somerset Studio. My copy arrived Friday so if you subscribe yours will arrive any day. If you don't, the magazine should be on the shelves of your favorite supplier very soon. The theme for this issue is Black and White, and it is fabulous!!

I'm not done yet….more to come.
more process studies

June 24, 2015

After doing some idea sketches I will pause where I am to test out some options. For instance, I showed you some drawings (here), which I combined through layers in photoshop with a background painting. A few manipulations (layer option: screen) as part of the investigation to determine if I should introduce color are shown below. Turns out I really liked trying one of my simple sketches on black paper with white pen. So I took that information and ran with it.

Results of that part of the process will be next.
from rigid to organic

June 20, 2015

I am both architect + artist. So often I cling to the linear approach. I crave order. But I am also drawn to the organic. Using my manipulatives (here), like the sand garden with a rake, has been a motivator to veer off the grid. In an effort to try to be looser, I fed myself with additional aerial visuals. I can't stop visiting Google maps for a bird's eye view of land. I have always loved looking at cities this way, but now I'm obsessed with investigating natural forms. I showed you my collections of images where the central pivot irrigation systems were rampant (here), now check these out….meandering, terraced, winding…ooh! This time we are hovering over Wisconsin.

As the ideas evolve, I'm branching out in several areas of study. More to follow. Thanks for coming along.
someone call security!

June 18, 2015

Can't stop. Kind of cheating with pattern-making, no pens required. No carving or ink pads. Studying how the simple shapes of a circle and a square interact and behave when they aren't a solid color. Security envelopes, which I can never discard, are an easy material to manipulate. Thin enough to punch out then attach with a gluestick.

Very therapeutic, especially when paired with my zen music. Relaxing. Enjoyable. Addictive. Always lessons in composition as you consider the markings, the color, direction, shape, balance of dark/light and positive/negative. I'm off to complete a few more spreads. I bet you'll be looking at your incoming bills differently now 🙂

This is still part of my Evolution of an Idea series – illustrating how curiosity about certain concepts can take you in unexpected directions. The work we do in our journals can be just plain fun, or purposely expressive, or may inform future work.

p.s. for those of you who are going to call me out or tease me for using blue, couldn't be helped…it's how the envelopes arrived. I almost took artistic license and photoshopped to teal.