Online tools are great to keep you organized. Thank you AA! See new work posted here: https://www.artworkarchive.com/artwork/lisa-sisley-blinn.
Texture
New Work: 100 Thoughts
What started out as a journal exercise of a few hours turned into a 3 week project exploring color and texture, and thinking about reflections from surfaces and thoughts. View the series for “100 Thoughts” on Flickr.
The reflections off water, glass, marble, and other transparent, translucent or glossy surfaces have always intrigued me. The image that is reflected is often distorted, ambiguous, hazy, blurry, and edited by the shape of the surface. Sometimes, much like our thoughts. Situations and encounters can occasionally leave our thoughts bouncing around like light off a surface: uncertain, out of focus, out of context, or clear but truncated.
“100 Thoughts” is a set of small images that correspond to thoughts that were generated by the act of mark making with encaustic paint on paper. Although some of the images began with an idea, most were “named” after the image was completed. When the actions of the mark making were done, the thought regarding the image crystallized. Titles were kept short to correspond with the small image size, and a specific idea.
All pieces in the set are encaustic with oil bar on Fabriano Artistico paper. The paper is 5 1/2 ” x 6″ (14 cm x 15 cm), images are about 4″ x 4″ (10 cm x 10 cm). Edges were taped, creating a restricted painting/reflection area. Not unlike a print edition, the edges and backs of the paper were kept as clean as possible. Images that were inconsistent with the established theme were removed from the set. Out of an original 116, only 100 were selected for the completed set. The others were added to the original journal entry.
Some titles from the “100 Thoughts” series:
Answer II
Berries I
Blaze II
Blueberry Kiss II
Creamsicle Sky I
Fever I
Frosting II
Fury I
Glow I
Inner Glow II
Jam I
Jumble Ice I
Last Remark I
Mindful II
Night Mood II
Odd Moment II
Promise I
Rhubarb Vortex I
Startle I
Stormy Light II
Sweetness I
Thinking I
Transpired I
Undecided II
Whispers I
[ No music in the studio today. Only the snoring of 2 cats and a dog, and the soft sounds of heat on metal – the encaustic paints being warmed on the metal palette.]
New Work: “Rondo Weave: Great Burnet”
“Great Burnet” added today to the “Rondo Weave” series. 18″ x 18,” encaustic with oil bar and metal leaf on canvas wrapped braced board.
Detail from upper left corner.
Show Acceptance: “Meditation: Sunset”
“Meditation: Sunset” was accepted in the Working in Wax exhibit. Juror Eileen P. Goldenberg. Bedford Gallery, http://www.bedfordgallery.org/. May 6 – June 21, 2009.
“Encaustic paint has luminous translucency, a succulent surface, and warms to the touch, like human skin. It offers a wide range of applications, such as using the pure encaustic with no color, adding pigments for rich color, creating texture, casting in molds, collaging with photographs, and making sculptures by combining it with wood, steel, and other materials. I believe this is why we love the wax; it gives us endless possibilities for expression.
Selecting well conceived, beautifully executed, and visually satisfying art works was my vision for this show. I was looking for artists who give us a glimpse into their emotions and lives. Though the focus of this show is the material, what is vital to art is the expression of the artists, and it is their visual language that shines through.
Eileen P. Goldenberg, juror”
18″ x 18″ Encaustic with Oil Bar and Metal Leaf .
Canvas on Braced Board. 2009
Detail from bottom left corner.
May 6: Exhibition Opening Reception, 5:00—7:00 p.m.
June 18: Culture + Cocktails Reception, 6:00—8:00 p.m.
June 21: Exhibition closes
Bedford Gallery
1601 Civic Dr.
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925/295-1423
http://www.bedfordgallery.org/
If you are close, take a look at the exhibit and snap a picture for me!
Inspiration: Unexpected Subject
For inspiration I often revisit previous ideas. The following image collage came from a trip with 2 girlfriends to an Amish country bed-and-breakfast in the late fall. Although the company and the lodgings were comfortable and restorative, the weather was cold, overcast and bleak.
I took many photographs of the surrounding rolling hills, farm equipment, pine rockers on the sprawling porch, as well as small details including a birdbath that was chipped, stained and discarded behind the barn. Layers of sediment, decaying leaves and bits of bark created an interesting patina at the bottom.
Long after the trip was over I looked again at these photos when asked by my friends for copies to document our trip together. The picture that fascinated me the most was that of the birdbath. Thinking about my feelings of being with my friends and having the daily chores of life lifted gave me a new perspective into the image.
By enhancing colors, textures and light, and adding bits of photographs I took from other outings I evolved an image that better represented the experience for me. I found that the rudimentary documentation of the birdbath served as inspiration for deeper contemplation.
“Wordless does the mind search.”
Although this image is part of an older journaling project, I see similar thoughts regarding color, texture and light being manifested in current work, such as the New “Rondo Weave” Series.
“Rondo Weave: Thyme”
Related posts: Rondo Weave: Lavender, 3 New “1000 Petals” Paintings, and Dog Dream Series.
Sisley-Blinn 