Old Rocking Chair's Got Me

This image is made from my experiments with arty apps on my new tablet, slapped on to a photo of a wicker rocker I've had for decades. The result reminds me of a painting from my  Chair Series

I'm presently visiting Montreal so this is as close to making art as I get. It's both fun and frustrating. But mostly fun.

BURIED TREASURE: Paint and Paper Surprise

Seth Apter of The Altered Page has invited artists to dig through their past posts and come up with a piece of "buried treasure" that they feel should be in the spotlight again.  It's also a great way to find other artists hidden away on Blogger. Seth will be posting the links to all the participants on June 12, and it will remain on his sidebar indefinitely.  Happy digging!

I'm reposting "Little Queenie" as she combines my love of mixing collage and painting, and flying by the seat of my pants, expecting the unexpected.
(originally posted in June 2011):

***

It's been awhile since I've painted.  I'm trying to sneak up on it, I guess.  Yesterday I put together a collage of various papers.  Today I decided I didn't like it so might as well smear some paint over it.  I wish I'd have followed my impulse to scan it before I started in with the paint, because you would never believe how I got from there to here...

©2011 L. Ciacco, Little Queenie, collaged papers + acrylic paint on paper, 7.5 x 6 in.

 I had no preconceptions or expectations when I grabbed a tube of unbleached titanium acrylic paint and began slapping it on.  The collage was just random papers--no image.  Many times I thought I'd lost the whole thing and was about to end up with nothing more than a muddy mess.  But gradually this little lady made her presence known.

 I hope you, my blog friends, 

are connecting with your creative powers 

much as the the little queen in the picture 

is growing into her own.

Rainy Day Woman

Remember in the post before the last maxim I said there was plenty of good stuff to mine from a double page spread in my art journal?  (You can click here if you don't, to see what I'm referring to.)

True to my word,  here's another nugget I dug out.

The big red shape at the top reminded me of an umbrella and I began to discern a lady striding happily along through the puddles.

With a few lines digitally drawn in using Photoshop, I emphasized the shape of the umbrella and woman.  Turns out she's a black angel come to earth to sample the weather.  See the wing shape I outlined on her shoulder?  And is it my imagination or is she being followed by a big white French poodle?

• Does anyone else see what I see?
• Do you prefer the painting with or without the drawn lines to suggest the figure?
• Now that I've shown you the umbrella-toting angel, can you still view the original image without seeing her?

I hope wherever you are, you're having a heavenly week, no matter what the weather.

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).

A New Look

Instead of coming up with a new piece of art work this week (still working on the commission piece after a long weekend of much Thanksgiving celebrations) I found myself fiddling with the look of Ragzedge.

For the background of the blog banner I used a painting that is no longer in existence, other than as a digital image.  This was one of those very spontaneous slatherings-on of paint which ended up being completely washed off--yes under the tap!  Now I look at it I wonder why I was so hasty.  Anyway, I think it brightens up the place. 

What do you think about the new look?

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.

Wedding Bell Blues

I'm not sure what the mood of this young bride is.  I suspect she's having a moment of reflection before heading off to the church, realizing that she's leaving one part of her life behind forever.

©2010 L.Ciacco, Bride Reflecting, mixed media on cradled panel, 8 x 6 in.

I have to admit to a slight obsession with a tv show called "Say Yes to the Dress" which follows women in a very ritzy NYC bridal salon as they choose their wedding gowns.  I think I'm mostly in shock at the amount of money they're prepared to shell out for a piece of whipped cream they'll wear once in their lives.  Or it might be that I'm more interested in the characters of the bridal advisors (sales clerks) trying to sell the would-be-brides their gowns, often in the face of obvious opposition from the bride's entourage.  Anyway, the program seems to have switched from NYC now to a town in the American south, and my obsession has been magically cured, rather like a Virginia ham.  I'm thinking that this little portrait was my subconscious tribute and farewell to "Say Yes to the Dress."

But then, when this is where the piece started, with no planning at all on my part,  how could it have gone in any other direction?  Wouldn't you have painted a bride??

Here's a little blast from my past:  a tune that was very popular with me and my girlfriends,  not that we agreed with the sentiment...

...and not that any of us actually ever got a wedding dress.

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.

Tartuffo

Tartuffo is a wonderful gelato involving different combinations of chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings...you get the idea. It is a specialty of one of my favourite Calabrian towns, Pizzo. Each gelateria--and there are many-- in the town square has its own spin on making a Tartuffo. My spin on my experience of Pizzo is partially captured in this large, 48 x 36 inch painting.

This composition, like the others in my Calabria Series, began with fabrics and photo transfers.  I really liked it as a textile piece and deliberated for a long while whether I should simply present it as such.  I had thought I would stitch it to a linen support and then stretch it like a canvas.  In the end, I decided that as I am a painter rather than a textile artist, I should glue it to a canvas and use it as the basis for a painting.  I added more fabric elements to the original composition in order for it to fit the large canvas I had on hand in my studio.  Waste not want not!

If you look closely, you will see an elderly signora gazing out the window of her apartamento to the square below, where a small family of Canadiensi are seated at a gelateria,  savouring their first ever taste of Tartuffo.

Another one for the Calabria Series.  For a change, I used a figure rather than only architectural features.  This was a lady I viewed from an upstairs window as she was leaving the Saturday market with a big box of groceries on her head.  The photo in the upper left is a shop closed up for the noontime rest.  I wanted to keep the colours very muted, old, faded, and yet still rich, while showing up the crumbling textures of the buildings and the patina of centuries' worth of daily living.