Bringing in Colour

Winter days in southeastern New Brunswick tend to be somewhat colourless, other than an occasional burst of blue sky or subtle shadows playing on the snow.  While splashing about in my art journal recently I couldn't resist the urge to bring in some unexpected colours and playful markings.

Feels like the energy of spring is trying to burst through. Alas, still a long way to go yet.  Thank goodness for a few boxes of colours and patterns to get me through otherwise dullish winter days.

The great thing about having an art journal is that one can be completely uninhibited therein.  Rather like the equivalent of running naked out into the snow--but warmer.

Let loose a little and lighten up your day!

Haven can't wait

My art journal waits patiently on a desk in my studio for me to be in the mood to open it and enter the little creative haven it provides.  Today the mood was right.  I flipped through the pages and came across one that was fairly far along in its development, and then I went at it...

©2012 L.Ciacco, Art Journal Page: Pasticcio Grande, 11 x 9 in.  

(well, it was either make some art or drive to the grocery and drug stores but I figured dietary and pharmaceutical supplies could wait until tomorrow while mucking about with paint, paper and glue could not.)

I wondered how the piece might look if it was flipped on its side and matted (only a  Photoshopped mock-up as it's a page in a book, after all, but we get the idea...)

Has a different feeling. Which way do you prefer?

• The centre piece is a fragment of a small collage I made many moons ago, one in a series of cards I called "Pasticcios".  
• The letters are from a fabric samples label, "Infinity."  I liked their shapes.  
• The handwritten paper scraps are torn from an old journal of mine 
• Paint is acrylic, both cheapy from the Dollar Store and good stuff from Golden

It's been awhile since I've posted anything from the art "journal" I started this winter while I was in Vancouver.  Here's a double page spread that I made when I got back to my home studio a few months ago

There's a lot of collaged textured papers on these two pages:
*paper towels coated with metallic paints and acrylic medium that were rolled up with aluminum foil and left to dry, then flattened out  (I think that's how I made them but they're from my stash...so not sure anymore);
*foreign writings with interesting characters such as Arabic and Chinese found in free newspapers;
*ripped-up pages from old personal journals (who would want to read that stuff?!);
*clippings from an astrology calendar.

The legible text on this page says, "A Lifelong Journey" which fits neatly with the title of the facing page...

The Wheel 

(which began its life as a large ad for a man's watch on this magazine page).

Both pages were subsequently attacked with acrylic paint, Caran D'Ache crayons, a bit of stamping and embossing and printing with paint on bubble wrap .  Heavy coatings of matte acrylic medium allow me to get rough with the work, rubbing it off with a damp cloth when really dissatisfied, incising the wet paint with a wooden skewer to make my own "hieroglyphs."  

Things happen in this book when I least expect them to.

A little like that famous John Lennon quote,

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

I hope good things are happening with and for you, planned or not!

Not So Simply Red

Here's another double-page spread from my art journal.

There's a lot going on in these two pages.  I used cut-up bits of other peoples' art work from the magazine, Arts Canada, then slathered them with an off-white dollar store paint to integrate them into a cohesive whole.

Overall, they make me feel happy.  There's so much action and colour and movement suggested.

There are a lot of interesting areas to mine from these pages, which I fully intend to do over the next few weeks here.  I think we're all longing for spring, if not summer (well, perhaps not my friends from down-under who are heading into autumn) so I thought I'd start with this one, which reminds me of red sands, grass-covered dunes, and fluffy white clouds floating through summer blue skies.

At least that's my take on it. 

 Perhaps your impression differs?

Possible Possibilities

Here's a page from the "art journal" I made from an old magazine to play in and keep my artistic hand limber while I'm away from my home studio.

c.2012  Lynne Ciacco, Upfronting Minds, acrylic & pastel on magazine paper, 10 x 8 in.

It was done very quickly and spontaneously, using dollar store acrylic paint, some old oil pastels I found in the closet (left over from my high school days!), and liquid matte medium. 

By cropping the image differently, other "paintings" can be produced, creating a series.

These could provide inspiration or jumping-off points for paintings on canvas I might do in the future.  They provide a different approach, at the very least, for  my way of picture making.

c. 2012, Lynne Ciacco, Circle Dance Squared, Digital Art

And for making digital art, they provide fine fodder.

This is the first image seen at the start of this post, plus a repeat of it flipped 180 degrees and superimposed on the original.  I toyed with Distort: Wave: Square in Photoshop's filters, and used a final blend mode of Exclusion.

I only wish I could get the same effect in the "real" world of paint on canvas. 

Hmmm, maybe I could...

Spirit Circle

I was recently commissioned to do a painting on glass, using an old window frame as the substrate.  The request was for something with a native American art feel to it.  I revisited a design that I had created several years ago, inspired by my studies of North American native arts.

Contained within the Circle of Life are Bear, Eagle, Salmon, Human, living in peaceful co-existence and interdepent on each other.  Spider has also passed by as we see the web she has spun, inside the top of the circle.  Represented are those creatures that walk on four legs, those that swim, those that fly, those that crawl, and those who walk upright. 

This is the painting within the window frame. 











We humans are very small within the context of Nature, and dependent on the natural world for our very survival; and yet we have caused such havoc.  This circle is intended as a symbol of healing--a symbol of Spirit; the spirit that inhabits all life on earth.  We are all interconnected.  We are all one.

Sneaky Pictures

Sometimes a picture just creeps up on you, like a little blue cat on silent feet, and jumps into your lap.

©L.Ciacco 2011, Girl With Blue Cat, acrylic, graphite, found text on paper, 7.5 x 5 in.

I keep small pages of watercolour paper on hand and use up left-over paint on them, building up layers and textures, drawing into the wet paint without paying much attention.  Until one day, the page starts to "speak" to me in some way; some aspect of it catches my attention and I begin to see an image coming through.  I follow this ghostly presence and see where it leads me.  And thus a picture gradually unfolds.

I think this Girl With Blue Cat is a message from my subconscious about the recent disappearance of my little grey kitty.

Ambiguously Ambivalent

This painting emerged after a long struggle with trying to make sense of the glued-on fabric bits.  It went from a mother with a carriage of triplets, to complete abstract, to murk, to this wistful woman standing by the garden wall.

©2011 L.Ciacco, Leaving Waiting, acrylic/fabric on cradled panel,  6 x 8 in.

Reminds me of a scene that might be found in a Maeve Binchy novel.

She might be waiting for a lover, a friend, a taxi. 

Perhaps off on a fun adventure;  fleeing an intolerable situation at home;

or just longing for the time when things will be better.
Anticipation?  Despair?  Hope?  Acceptance?

Waiting.

Horsing Around

I was working on a commissioned piece for a few days and am happy to have finished it up recently.  I don't usually do commissions and it was a bit frightening to take on, but an acquaintance of mine was in a sad state over a botched painting she'd had someone do for her as a wedding present for her son and his new wife.  I was given the unsuccessful, matted painting in its frame to work with and pretty much given carte blanche within those confines.  The only indications were that the bride likes horses and folk art.

©2010 L.Ciacco, Sharing, acrylic on paper, 23 x 28 inches

I think this fits the bill, don't you?  It's not a style I usually work in any more, but it was fun to revisit.  I painted it with acrylics on the back of the mat paper as my watercolour paper wasn't big enough.  The paint went on all streaky at first so I had to learn how to apply it in just the right thickness and in layers. 

It's called "Sharing" and I'm sure you all catch the symbolism.

I wonder if anyone reading this has ever been on the receiving end of a piece of art work they didn't like.  (Shirl, please don't answer that!)

Do you think it's a good idea to ever give one's art as a present?  My own experience has been mixed so I tend to only give small works, such as cards or collages that can be easily displayed (or discreetly disposed of).

To Who, To Who?

Or should that be "to whom"?

©2010 L. Ciacco, Boy with Owl, mixed media on cradled panel, 6 x 8 in.

Shades of Harry Potter, I suppose.
 

I wonder how many of you read any or all of the Harry Potter series?  I got as far as the third volume.  I saw some of the movies, too, but I must admit I had trouble staying awake through the Quiditch (sort of like lacrosse played on flying broomsticks) games, and the battles. When you're reading a book, you can just skip the parts you don't like, such as battles, or sports, or card games. Maybe that's why people like eating popcorn at the movies; gives them something to do during the less interesting or more disturbing scenes.  I wonder if owls like popcorn.  Maybe if it's mouse-flavoured.

Bixi Babe

I love this lady!  She emerged as part of my ongoing series about "let's see where this goes" (ie. unplanned painting).

©2010 L. Ciacco, Lady on a Bike Riding Through Town.  Mixed media on cradled panel, 10 x 8 in.

Are you familiar with Bixi bikes? 

They're solidly built public bicycles for rent in many large cities. 

My daughter lives in Montreal and there's a Bixi stand on her street corner. 

I didn't have the nerve to try one last time I was there as it's been a few years since I was on a bike,

and Montreal is a BIG city. 

But this is sort of how I imagine I would look if I got the nerve up to try one. 

Obviously though, this lady is riding her own bike,

complete with wicker basket attached to the handle bars. 

I love her look of calm confidence and concentration.  Very sure of herself. 

So where do you suppose she's off to?
And where did she get that hat?!

Look Who Showed up for Supper

©2010 L.Ciacco, Artist Twirling his Cane While Awaiting Supper at the Café, mixed media on cradled panel, 10 x 8 in.

In my ongoing exploration of seeing what pops up on randomly texturized canvasses, look who appeared!

• It seems like I'm returning to a natural style of my own that many years of art school training attempted to drum out of me. 
• Now, of course, I bring more experience and knowledge to the technique and use a different medium (acrylics/mixed media rather than pastels or oil paints). 
• My experimenting with textiles also brings a love of texture to my  painting these days, in contrast to the very flat surfaces of my earlier work.

Zut alors! (gotta love high school French), I'm just enjoying the ride. 

I hope you are too!

Healing Ceremony

This intriguing little tableau emerged from some laid-down textures that I covered with acrylic paint.

©L.Ciacco,  Healing Ceremony.  Acrylic/mixed media on cradled panel, 10 x 10 inches.

I just never know what's going to pop out of my canvasses these days. 

Kind of like flying by the seat of my pants. 

But it all makes for some interesting discoveries. 

This one reminds me of dreams one can't quite remember;

dreams of helpers gathered round. 

I 'm not sure here just who is the one dreaming and/or being healed. 

I hope it's me--

or maybe it's you?

Guardian Angel

Usually when I make a painting I work at it until it gets to a place where it feels right and I like it.  Sometimes, it doesn't work at all and I have to pretty much scrub it all out and start all over again.  And once in awhile, I come up with something that surprises me with how it speaks very directly to something deep inside of myself that was trying to communicate with me.  This little painting is one of those.

©2010 L. Ciacco, Guardian Angel.  Acrylic, tissue, fabric, cheesecloth on canvas, 8 x 6 in.

It looks like perhahps this guardian angel has just received the precious being she's to look out for during its time on planet Earth.  She seems thrilled, apprehensive, tender, and a little messed up over the whole enterprise.  The picture also suggests to me my own gift of being an artist--something precious that has been given to me that I must tenderly nurture, and try to not get too messed up about.

(I love how her halo is askew.)

I hope you're all busily nurturing your precious gifts and living artfully!


P.S. Coincidentally (?) I posted a little write-up on my rusty angels collection over on my other blog this morning.

Family Ties

An intriguing little painting emerged from the textured surface I'd layed down with cheesecloth, a piece of lace, an oval-shaped scrap of canvas, and some scrunched-up tissue from an old sewing pattern.  I don't know if it's the family groupings in Aris's charming paintings over at peekadoo that are subtly influencing me, or the sketchy beings who crop up in Jeanne Meyers' work from time to time, but it seems that the human form is struggling to come through in my paintings these days.

©2010 L.Ciacco, The Four Sisters Gather at the Dining Room Table. Acrylic, fabric, tissue on cradled board,
8 x8 inches.

I had a dreadful time trying to replicate the colours of this piece so that you'd get a real feel for what the painting looks like, but I don't think they've come out quite right.  It's always a completely different experience to stand in front of a "live"painting at any rate, don't you find? 

I lead a very isolated sort of life in a small village with my partner of 30+ years, far away from all of our family members.  We also don't have much of a social circle, so my life truly reflects the Joni Mitchell line "I am a lonely painter, I live in a box of paints."   Perhaps this lack of human contact is what's prompting me to paint people into my canvasses these days.  At any rate, it's fascinating to find them appearing.

About the sisters who cropped up in this painting:  I can't help but wonder why it is they've gathered and what it is they're so serious about.  I like how each has her own distinct character.  Lots of scope for the viewer to make up stories about them!  My husband, perhaps due to his former identity of TV interviewer, feels  they're looking at him and saying, "So, what's your story?"  I'd love to hear what your take on the little tableau might be.

A Surprise Visit to the Circus

In my ongoing exploration of "let's see where this takes me" I recently found myself in a magical realm of a small, travelling circus in the middle of the night.  Well, not actually, but in a painting that emerged on my prepared cradled board.

©Lynne Ciacco 2010, Circus Zebra in the Night, acrylic + mixed media on board, 10 x 10 in.

The piece began with fabric bits glued to the board and no set direction or idea.  I just grabbed whatever bottle or tube of paint, whatever piece of foam or paint brush or foam brush that I felt like trying and relaxed enough to not worry too much about the outcome.  I find there's almost always some point in the process where I despair and think it's not going to work out.  But it's just at that point that I'm able to let go:  if I've already ruined it, it doesn't really matter what I do next.  And that's precisely when the magic begins to happen. 

Happy Birthday of the Soul

Continuing with my painting explorations, this is what recently emerged

12 x 12 in. mixed media on cradled wood panel

It started life about 2 years ago with a physically altered (scratched, scraped, drawn & quartered painted-on) photo of sailboats in the upper left hand corner.  There were some dreamy suggestions of trees and flowers wafting about the canvas.  But when I started adding paint to it the other day, I couldn't deal with those sailboats so ended up deep-sixing them.  Having no idea where I was going, but just trusting my process of getting there, this is the picture that emerged.  I guess an alternate title could be Subterranean Homesick Blues, but Bob Dylan already took that.  Showing this painting to a friend recently, she remarked that it has a Chagall feeling to it.  I took that as a great compliment.

A Surprise Visit

I had an 8 x 10 inch wooden support prepared with a textured layer of cheesecloth, budgie gravel, a negative photostrip, and dressmaker's tissue waiting patiently on my desk for further ministrations for a few weeks.  Recently, when I'd gone to my studio to finish up the little collage I'd started, I instead got drawn to the textured piece and started slapping paint onto it. Wanting to work quickly, I used dollar store bottles of acrylics, rubbing them on, wiping them off.  All I knew was that I wanted to put a human element in it.  This is who emerged.

Tatianna

I added Golden acrylics on the top surface to enrich the colour tones and enhance the paint quality.  I have about 20 more of these cradled wooden panels that I'd bought to frame some other work but I do believe I'm going to use them for new paintings instead.  I don't want to frighten her away by talking about her, but I do believe my muse may be back!

Sunset Palazzo

Let us begin here.






















And finish here

I got a bit carried away and neglected to photograph the interim steps of this transformation.  I remember being rather shocked to find myself reaching for a hot tone of orange at some point and smearing it on the work quite late in the process.  I've learned to just go with my instincts and not let my head get in the way.  Even if the colour doesn't work out per se, it usually lends an intriguing undertone to whatever colour ends up on top.  In this case, though, I left the pure colour as applied, feeling that it gave a heat and passion to the picture.  When I look at this painting I remember the magical colours of Calabrian sunsets, just after the early evening promenade before everyone heads home to a late supper (preferably after drinks on a terrazzo).

MEZZOGIORNO

The warm, sunny colours of mid-day in Calabria.

The penultimate step of the painting.  At this stage I didn't like how it was blasting right off the top of the canvas and felt some more softening marks were needed around the bottom edge of the composition.

Here are the basic colours laid down.  The building is time-worn and faded by the centuries of hot noonday sunshine.

You can see that right off the bat I was remembering the Calabrian sunshine.

The painting always starts with a fabric collage and then the appropriately toned photos are found to complement those colours.  I also look for details in the photos that will reflect some of the patterns in the fabric.  It's important to start off with a good fabric composition.  It's tricky to find the right photos (I'm running out!) and then to determine what size and level of saturation to print them.  The really annoying, fidgety stage is combining the photos and fabric as it involves machine and hand sewing, followed by a very messy gluing session.  In the end, it's the painting that's the easiest part.