I'm thinking these are the pieces I'll put in the show this year. They are a dramatic departure from my usual representational work, so we'll see what happens.
They are all part of my "Pasture" series. Last summer we had so much rain and so many storms, there were lots of trees down and twigs all over the pastures. At that time I was pondering what living in rural America means to me. That was the theme for a fall 2010 show that the local art and photography groups were planning. I was thinking of how rural people's lives are so connected, intertwined and so rooted in a place. The roots on the twigs I was gathering began to look so elegant and interesting in my eyes. I collected them as well as several small trees that the sheep had stripped the bark off. Once dead, the small trees were simply pushed over, bringing a bit of roots with them. I'm excited about incorporating them into some felt work too. Not sure how that will work yet.
I also hope to put a frosty pasture photo, similar to the blog's banner, in the show. It would give a sense of where the twigs came from. So today is D-Day, gotta get this all pulled into shape and ready to hang tomorrow morning. I'm not sure about the black frame, the piece definitely looks better in a black frame, but it will stand out when hung with the rest of the pieces.
On the weather front, it's bitter cold outside, about -20F on our thermometer, but I just heard the weatherman say that Mora is at -26F. Temps the last 4 nights have been in the double digits below zero, so I brought the mama hen and chicks back into the basement. I'll put them back outside tomorrow when the BIG warm up comes. For those of you wanting a bit of spring, I shot this video of the hen and chicks last week. It might help.
I didn't realize just how much I was smiling until the video ended....thanks for brightening my day.
ReplyDeleteI wish I was live and in person to view your works of art, they look stunning.
Thanks Kelly, I love watching the mother hen feeding the chicks by breaking down the tidbits she scratches up. And I love the sounds of the chicks peeping, but for the most part they're pretty quiet down in the basement. So nice to have a mother hen to take care of them. Back to cutting matts.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck at the art show/contest! Your work is beautiful. I'm going to go ahead and plan the retreat for 3/5 and 3/6 ~ just waiting to hear from Chris so I know if it will be a MSSBA event or just something that I throw together...
ReplyDeleteI love your clucky hen video!
Oh good, March 5 & 6th, I'll watch for more info and see how things go around here. Seems like there's always so much to do. It's just an art show, no contest, but we do have a viewer's survey each year. Last year my Portrait of Lena got the most votes for viewer's choice. :-) I've still got some finishing touches to do on my entries, I got sidetracked making notecards this afternoon. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour feltworks look lovely, mounted as they are. I think your new direction was a good one for you. I tend to stick to representational work too-- to let go of that is very brave.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gail, people seemed to like them last night at the Gallery Tour. Even though I was late getting them delivered, I was honored that they were placed prominently in the show. They are the first pieces people see when they walk into the exhibit.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some of your work sometime too!