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Friday, July 31, 2020

TEN 02


TEN 02


Day two for TEN.  I just went through all of the TEN collages this morning.  I just love how the postmarks give line and movement to the total composition.

Well I had a bit of a misadventure yesterday morning.  I was doing some work on the house replacing some framing around the dining room window that had dry rot.  I had deconstructed and was putting up the replacement board when I fell backwards off our eight foot ladder.  I hit hard on the asphalt scraping my arm and hurting my back.  As the day progressed so did the back.  Yesterday afternoon and evening was pretty tough.  I considered going to the ER but I was hesitant because of the virus.  So I iced my back and kept trying to walk and sit to give everything some exercise.  Last night I slept sitting up. 

Today things are better.  I was expecting the worst and even though there is still pain I am able to move around.  SO I am going to take it easy for a few days and see what happens.  I did have my back checked for breakage and it seems OK.  I think it might be more muscle than anything.  I think I may have dodged a bullet.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

TEN 01


Ten 01


The Puget Sound Book Arts Guild offered a summer project for its tenth anniversary.  The theme was TEN.  That made me think what can I do for TEN.  I have thousands of stamps which my husband organized by country for me.  We combed the stamp collection for ones that had at least ten of the same stamp.  I adhered the stamps to a piece of watercolor paper in a rectangle with the center open.  Next I made tiny collages to fill that space.  Welcome to my latest series TEN.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Staple Again Series - 10


Staple Again Series - 10

I got out of order yesterday so here is no. 10.  When I lived in Japan I had a soaking tub in the shower room.  I hardly used it and now wish I had one just like it.  Soaking is a big deal in Japan.  I was visiting friends in Tokyo and we went to the local bathhouse.  It is quite an experience.  Males and females go into separate areas.  Everyone sits on a plastic stool and cleanses their body.  You have a small tub in which you fill with water to rinse.  Then you climb in a community tub to soak for as long as you desire.  It is really humid in the public bathhouses.  

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Staple Again Series - 11


Staple Again Series - 11


I have to definitely work on lighting when I photograph images.  There is so much grey to the bottom of this photograph that is not there in the original.

Monday, July 27, 2020

Staple Again Series - 09


Staple Again Series - 09


Funny how we see something in our work that we like and focus on that in the finished piece.  I love the yellow dots with a touch of a shade of red.  The days seem to be racing by for me.  It seems like yesterday that I started posting this series and here we are on no. 9 already.

In my sorting and cleaning process I found a bunch and I mean a stack of unfinished work that I started in Mexico several years ago.  Most of what I found was in journal form but I will never work on this journal again.  So I tore out the pages and cut them into postcard size.  Now I will complete them in the new form.  I need more postcards to be ready for mailing anyway. :-)

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Staple Again Series - 08


Staple Again Series - 08


You know what it said about less is more.  That certainly seems to be the case in this piece.  I love the negative space around the woman.  It helps to create whatever narrative you would like to add to the collage.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Staple Again Series - 07


Staple Again Series - 07

I guess you can tell I am Japanophile.  I lived there for two years and loved it.  Lots of my art has a Japanese flavor.  I am into wabi sabbi and thus really like three element collages like this one.

Friday, July 24, 2020

Staple Again Series - 06


Staple Again Series - 06


I am a fan of stapling collage because I like how it allows a 3D effect for much of the ephemera.  I also like the shadows it can make depending on the light source during observation.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Staple Again Series - 05


Staple Again Series - 05

 I have not looked at this collage for awhile.  Stepping away from a piece for weeks allows me time to see the piece in a new way.  Now I see the boxiness of the figure and the boxiness of the additional ephemera that I did not notice previously.  This was not intentional but innate and I believe important for the composition. 

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Staple Again Series - 04


Staple Again Series - 04


Simple three element collage.  I like the geometric-ness of this piece.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Staple Again Series - 03


Staple Again Series - 03


In this one having the photo in the background with the sides folded in gives a lot of depth.  I also like how the circle punches in the paper lace relate to the circle shape in the background.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Staple Again Series - 02


Staple Again Series - 02


Now that I see this piece again I am thinking it should be more grounded.  For me it seems a bit top heavy.
Perhaps it needs something darker nearer the bottom of the collage.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Staple Again Series - 01


Staple Again Series - 01

I have to laugh at myself.  When I started this series I was still pretty much working from bed on a clipboard.  I was still wanting to create mini collages but I needed a new title for the series. I was still joining ephemera with stapes.  Ha!  Staple Again Series came to mind.  I also was very into creating map lace but for this one I used the same punching technique but not on a map.  I really like the positioning of the figure in this piece.  There is a definite narrative that evolved from auditioning the ephemera.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 13

Staple II Collage Series - 13



This is the last of the Staple II Collage Series.  But, I am not done with stapling.  There is yet another staple series coming.  Yesterday there was a comment about giving up ephemera.  Awhile back I decided that I needed to use what I have.  I am the only person who will do anything with what I have and when I am gone everything will be disposed of.  So why not use it.  Also I decided that either I put my work in a book or, in the case of postcards, send them off to some other place in the world.  I scan everything thing I do and if I want to go back and look I can do that.  I frequently remember some work and hunt for it on this blog.  The blog is my archive.  It is never gone, backed up somewhere on a cloud I am sure.

Friday, July 17, 2020

Staple II Collage Series- 12

Staple II Collage Series - 12



I must say I am smiling a lot lately reading the comments that many of you are writing.  I love them and appreciate your comments so much.  Thank you.  When I started staple collaging I never imagined that viewers to my work would start hunting for the staple in each collage.  It was just a method of securing the  ephemera in each piece.  Now it is like Where’s Waldo?  I love that!

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 11

Staple II Collage Series - 11


Using fluorescent colors is something that I don’t think I have ever done but I like how it worked in this collage especially where the map lace covers the letters and just a circle or two show the fluorescence.  

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 10

Staple II Collage Series - 10


Just works for me....black and white, words, a little bit of an additional color.  Although this one is small, I could see it as a large piece.

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 09

Staple II Collage Series - 09

Strong comes to mind when I look at this collage.  I think it might be because of the bold partial letters.  All the components work for me in this four element collage.

Monday, July 13, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 08

Staple II Collage Series - 08


Maps offer amazing line quality in a collage.  They also can offer movement.  For me, my eye is drawn downward toward the pop of red on the map.  

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 07

Staple II Collage Series - 07

When I was on my trip to the UK last year each night the three of us travelers would create collages.  I had collected a bunch of site-seeing maps and I got the idea to create what I call map lace.  I made it by cutting out the spaces between the streets.  The result was delicate pieces of lace like ephemera.  This led to another type of paper lace using a whole punch and maps.  I ran out of the European map lace and so because I wanted something that sort of gave the same effect I used a hole punch to make the new map lace.  You can see that  type of lace above.

I like how this collage turned out.  There is a story about this particular imagery which I will relate at another time.  I call it Bathing With the Geishas.  If I forget to tell it, remind me in a few weeks.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 06

Staple II Collage Series - 06

I purchased the beige ephemera in San Francisco at an ephemera store called SF Box.  I got an email recently that the store was up for sale.  Sad!  It is an amazing store where one could spend hours upon hours looking for just the best must haves.  I suppose the store is a victim of the present pandemic economy.

Friday, July 10, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 05

Staple II Collage Series -05


I saw this on Facebook today and decided it deserved being posted here.

FOR SOME PERSPECTIVE ON OUR CURRENT SITUATION: Janet Batchler, July 8, 2020. She writes: 

I've been thinking a lot about the Blitz.

During WW2, for 9 months straight, the Germans bombed London and other major cities in Great Britain. Every night, for weeks at a time with no break.

Here's what the Londoners did: They went to a complete blackout every night. Every night. All lights out. All windows covered with blackout curtains. As a result, the Germans couldn't see their targets (such as St. Paul's Cathedral), and had to drop their bombs flying blind.

Everyone stayed inside. Most people went underground, spending their nights in basements or crammed into Tube stations.

***** Everyone. Every single night. *****  If even a handful of people had kept their lights on, it would have helped the Luftwaffe find their targets. But everyone did their part.

Here's what the Londoners didn't do:

They didn't argue that they had the right to keep their curtains open.

They didn't say that the bombings were a hoax or that they would stop on their own.

They didn't say that it was dangerous to be out at night without any lights.

They didn't insist that businesses had to stay open in the evenings to prop up the economy.

They didn't say that the experts didn't know what they were talking about or insist that their uninformed opinions were just as valid.

Nope. They pulled their curtains shut. They went underground. They took care of each other.

They **put the interests of the community ahead of their own** personal self-interest, in one of the most remarkable feats of communal courage the modern world has seen.

My father lived through the Blitz. He didn't talk about it much. He lost almost all his friends in the Blitz and the War. (Many years later, this led him to move to America, where he ended up starting a family (me) 20 years later than most of his peers.)

But he carried the lessons of the Blitz to America with him. He'd seen what could happen when an entire country did what was in the best interests of all.

And when he saw people acting selfishly and stupidly in their own self-interest, he'd brand those people with the phrase. "I'm all right, the hell with you."

I'm all right, the hell with you.

***  When you refuse to wear a mask in public, you're saying, "I'm all right, the hell with you."  ***

When you insist that bars and beaches and gyms open up because you're bored, you're saying, "I'm all right, the hell with you."

When you demand that other people's children go back to school in patently unsafe environments, you're saying, "I'm all right, the hell with you."

We aren't being asked to run for shelter the second we hear an air raid siren.

We aren't being asked to huddle underground all night surrounded by strangers.

We aren't being asked to emerge every morning, wondering if our homes and everything we own still exists (2 million homes were destroyed during the Blitz — but only 30,000 Londoners died, because of the precautions they took).

*** All we have to do is stay home and wear masks. ***

What we need to do to stem the spread of this pandemic is so easy. Almost every other country in the world has managed to do it. But we haven't.

I wish we had the courage of London during the Blitz.

I wish we had the concern for our neighbors that Londoners showed to one another during the Blitz.

But apparently, we are a country of people proudly proclaiming, "I'm all right, the hell with you."

Is that who you want to be?

Stay home. Wear your mask

💙

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 04

Staple II Collage Series - 04

I am such a fan of desperate ephemera.  Doesn’t that sound like something out of an opera?  Perhaps the woman is a soprano ready to belt out a song.  Maybe she is trying to avoid the Texaco sign.  The staples even give a line quality.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 03

Staple II Collage Series - 03

Two staples on this one.  I finished my book for the Puget Sound Book Arts Guild prompt yesterday.  The book is called TEN since it is the tenth anniversary of the guild.  What a good feeling to have it done way before the deadline which is in September!  This is not my usual style as I have a stack of projects that need my attention.  I will get to them but I am not letting them weigh me down.  All in good time.

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 02

Staple II Collage Series -02


It is fun putting random pieces of ephemera together to make a composition.  The staple method works great because you can audition the whole composition before committing with the staple.

I have been working on a new book of ten compositions for a project that the Puget Sound Book Arts Guild proposed.  It is their tenth anniversary so the theme is ten.  Now, I have to bind the book and it will be well done prior to the September deadline.

Monday, July 6, 2020

Staple II Collage Series - 01

Staple II Collage Series - 01

There are 13 works in the Staple II Collage Series.  I really like black and white art.  So this one works for me.   This four element piece came together quickly.  This series was completed while I was spending so much time in bed.  I must have been quite a sight.  Clipboard desk, glue sticks, boxes of ephemera spread out on the bed, scissors, and pillow.  Thank goodness no photos were taken.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Staple Collage Series - 10

Staple Collage Series - 10


This is the last of the first Staple Collage Series.  Series II coming next.  When I finished Series I, I was not done doing staple collages and continued.

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Staple Collage Series - 09

Staple Collage Series - 09

Happy 4th of July.  Stay safe.  Practice science.  Social distance.  Wear masks.  Be well.



Friday, July 3, 2020

Staple Collage Series - 08

Staple Collage Series - -08


Unlike yesterday’s collage where I felt the color captured my eye first, the placement of the colored circles this time seems to be more in the background.  For me, there is a layered feel from left to right where the colored portion comes last.  What about you?

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Staple Collage Series - 07

Staple Collage Serites - 07



I have heard comments by blog readers that you are interested in where the staple is and how many staples are in the collages.  Ideally I try for one staple.  There have been times when I felt a need for a second one for support.  Each of the collages in this series of ten is housed in a book, one of the 365 that I made last year.

In this collage I particularly like how the pink and blue seem to stand out causing the eye to look there first and then at the rest of the collage.  My eye goes to the deer or elk...not sure which it is....next.  Movement is so important in art.

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Staple Collage Series - 06

Staple Collage Series - 06

First, if you had trouble viewing the Winged Messenger video from yesterday’s blog entry it is most likely because you are a subscriber and the video link did not transfer with the email message.  You can view the video by going directly to the blog site at www.artjuvenation.blogspot.com.     Second, several people have emailed me that they can not leave a comment.  Again, I am thinking that some subscribers can not leave messages as the link is somehow separate.  You can always go to www.artjuvenation.blogspot.com directly if you want to leave a comment and are unable to do it directly off the subscriber link.

I want to thank all of you for your comments.  I usually do reply directly to any comment.  Sometimes if I know your email and you ask a question I will then email you directly or answer your question in the next blog entry write up if I think it will be of interest to blog viewers.