Several months ago I received an email, asking if I’d be willing to show at a local wine venue. I ended up agreeing to a month-long show and arranged to meet with the curator to go over all the details. I ended up expanding my knowledge of wines, meeting a fellow artist with a kindred aesthetic and beginning a new friendship. For all those things, as well as for a brief art exhibit, and now for inviting me to participate in this blog tour, I say, “Thank you, Lola.”
Now my fellow artist Lola has invited me to take part in what was supposed to be a Monday Blog Tour on my creative process, but what has actually turned into Monday-ish. (Tuesday’s right after Monday, and I have always been punctually challenged, no matter how hard I’ve tried to hide it, so I’m just going with it.)
Lola was born to a raven-haired California gypsy with magpie blood. Aries Sun. Cancer Moon. Writer. Photographer. Mother. Artist. Treasure Hunter. Kitchen Witch. Food, booze, and art enthusiast. Creative co-conspirator. Hostess of dinner parties and craftress circles. Collector of books, baubles, branches, bones, and stones. A lover of the written word ever since she can remember, and a lover of food since before that. You can read her answers to the Creative Process Blog Tour here, and follow the links back to see who else has played this game.
Without any further ado, I will answer the questions I am supposed to answer.
What am I working on?
I have just come back from a week long road-trip vacation, so I have been photographing all kinds of wonderful landscapes in Arizona and California, but on my worktable now are several wood panels with gesso that are part of a new series I’ve been working on in a slow but steady manner that I call Specimina. So far these images are of a singular item, like a nest or a flower or a dead bird, that represent aspects of my faith. I am very excited because another friend has asked me to exhibit a whole show of this work in her gallery in midtown Sacramento next month. (Yes, I have some work to get done!) So you’re invited to come see it all next month, at Little Relics Boutique & Galleria on I Street, near 21st, in Sacramento. Kick off reception is Thursday July 10th, 6 to 9 p.m., and the Second Saturday Artwalk is July 12th, also 6 to 9 p.m. As is common a month out, I’m alternately excited and terrified.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Working in photo-based mixed media automatically makes my genre a rare thing. Sometimes the question is who else is even doing this? They are out there, I know, but I don’t really know any of them. I do know a lot of other mixed media artists, though, and a lot of other photographers, so probably the fact that I combine photography with mixed media and collage techniques is what makes my work unique.
Why do I create what I do?
Part of this question is easy for me, because it’s a question I’ve had to grapple with personally already. Simple, I create because I was made to create. If I don’t create, I’m not nice to live with (my husband will verify this.) And why the mixed media and photography? That’s a longer story. I started with photography in college, as a journalism student, and fell in love with the magic of the darkroom. Right away I wanted a way to have color that wasn’t what films and papers could give me and I researched and started experimenting with hand-coloring. Later I wanted to add more, so I started adding layers with overlays in the darkroom, then realized I was really drawn to other mixed media work, so I asked myself why I wasn’t doing that, and started incorporating photos into my own mixed media pieces. It’s just the path that I’ve traveled. Some artists go from one media to the next, I just keep adding to what I’m doing. As for the why of the subject matter, I am never more filled with joy and happiness than when I’m out in some wild spot, breathing the fresh air, listening to birds singing, or the wind blowing, looking at the details of a leaf, spotting a lizard, well, you get the idea. So I try to capture that feeling by taking photographs, making sketches, collecting natural artifacts and piecing it all together with color that conveys some kind of emotion.
How does my creative process work?
I think I sort of answered that in the last question, but to be a little more clear about it, I always start with a photograph and build from there. Each artwork actually reflects my journey as an artist that way. I’ll collect other bits and pieces, sometimes starting with an idea and going from there, but most often following the Spirit and not thinking too hard as I bring things together that feel right and discovering what the piece is about as I create. It’s a very spiritual thing for me, not always easy to put into words.
Like I mentioned, I was on vacation last week, so I haven’t managed to get anyone new to continue the chain, but I’ll see who I can get to play along, and will post links in the next few days.