2010 Spring Sculptures

New wall relief sculptures for Spring 2010.

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Great Exhibit Opening at Cove Gallery Saturday night

I attended the opening of my latest handmade paper paintings at Cove Gallery in Wellfleet, Cape Cod Saturday night (http://www.covegallery.com/).  Nice to meet some patrons who have been collecting my work for years but I had never had the chance to meet them.  Beautiful evening: warm, dry, salty air, perfect for an art reception.  

Handmade Paper Paintings: Process and Applications: Tilting the screen

To aid in excess water removal from the surface of the in-progress painting, I tilt the screen the painting is adhered to so that excess water will drip off the surface and onto the vacuum table.  I leave the screen in this position for approximately 30 minutes, while I work in other areas of the studio.

Using a squirt bottle

The squirt bottle is an invaluable tool.  I use any size commercial bottle filled with tap water and spray a fine mist of water over the surface of the wet in-progress painting during the course of the creative process.  In the photo above, I am squirting water in the area where I just removed the metal ruler.  This process forces any stray bits of wet pulp back into the desired area and ensures a straighter line of newly applied pulp onto the work surface.  Sometimes I mix a little acid free glue and/or paper sizing in with the water.  This addition allows the new pulp to bond more completely with the drier pulp. 

Handmade Paper Paintings: Process and Applications. Wet pulp that has been barricaded.

Photograph of wet pulp that was barricaded with the metal ruler once the ruler is removed.  To get rid of excess moisture, I tilt the screen the painting is resting on at an angle and allow the water to drain off the screen.  Applying a dry, absorbent cloth to the edge of the wet pulp (where the wet pulp rests against the drier pulp) and allowing the water to absorb into the cloth is another option to hurry drying.  The pulp cannot be re-worked until it is dry or nearly dry.

Handmade Paper paintings: Process and Applications. Working from an outline part II

In yesterday’s post I wrote about using an outline to guide me of where to place the colored pulp.  As I cannot work from an easel as the wet pulp would slide off the surface, instead, I work on a flat surface.  As I mentioned yesterday, I draw onto the surface of  in-progress paintings with different colored grease crayons in order to guide me as I continue to work.  I then draw the image from the photo onto the in-progress painting, which I have drawn a complimentary grid on, just at a larger scale (i.e, an inch on the photo might represent a foot on the painting surface).  This photo provides a clearer picture of a work in progress using the outline method.  The shiny areas are wet with newly laid pulp.  Once dry, I can pin the still unfinished painting to a wall surface and draw another grid!