heading somewhere

This weekend I began work on something that has been floating around the peripheries of my imagination for a few weeks. Without being entirely sure what my idea actually is, I gathered supplies and started to put together the skeleton of my creation. As you can see, materialized so far are a set of cotton-candy-colored hills or bosoms, clustered in perhaps a cellular sort of way... and I've only a vague idea where we're headed next.

Some of the inspiration for this project came from a visit to the Triton Museum in Santa Clara a short time ago. A gallery of recycled-art sculptures such as this intriguing portrait ~

got me excited about three-dimensional, textured work. My friend Nita, whose background is in architecture, kept exclaiming as we looked at each piece, wondering how the artist arrived at each of the minute choices it took to create the overall piece.

She got me thinking about how I make artistic choices, and that peaceful, creative zone where one just seems to "know" what to do. Faced with the everyday world of chores and grocery shopping and driving to and fro, finding that mental art space doesn't always come easily, but when achieved it's a real joy. Some of my artworks are for a specific purpose or communication and require some planning and forethought. But other times, as in the project I just began, the piece is more about the process and following the vaguest idea that cannot be seen clearly until suddenly, after hours or days of creation, it suddenly manifests itself in the completed artwork.

While I was at the museum, I admired these pointy pencil slippers by Renee Billingslea. I wonder what the artist's initial starting point was when creating these. Was it a prepared statement? Or did she just have a bunch of pencils lying around and thought of something to do with them?

It's true I had a lot of washi paper. It happened to be in these colors, so that explains the palette, though I painted over the green paper as I didn't care for its shade. I added gold, bronze, blue and yellow. Paper circles from an earlier painting prompted the round shapes to be cut out, but I wanted to sculpt, so they turned into cones. I knew I didn't want to paint on a rectangular canvas, so the idea here is that I'm attempting to create a lumpy, more organically shaped canvas to work on.

I had to sew the paper to keep the cone shapes. I had buttons and beads, some of which ended up on the seams. The buttons worried me a little. I thought they might suggest clothing and suddenly the hills looked like a whole lot of brassieres. But I left them, since the paper beginning is only the start. I think more will happen to these hills and in the transformation the buttons may not be too noticeable.

This other room of sculptures and paintings done by another local artist, Harry Powers, got me thinking that a great way to have art is to make it, and not worry about what it's going to end up being.

It's a bit meditative, sewing painted papers and heading who-knows-where. I'll keep you posted on the passage and we'll see where we finally arrive.

a day at the museum

We caught Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris at the de Young Museum on its last day. 'Twas a foggy, drizzly sort of day, softly warm. It put us in the right mood for viewing art.

I'd heard many good things about the exhibit and was curious to see it. Picasso isn't my favorite artist and I hadn't seen a large collection of his work before, so I wondered what I would think and feel when I stood in front of his work. The exhibit was quite extensive, displayed mostly chronologically, and included paintings, studies for paintings and sculpture. Perhaps the quote that resonated with me the most was:

"Painting is 

just another way 

of keeping a diary."

- Picasso

I hadn't thought about painting in that exact way before, but I liked it very much. For me, blogging is another way of keeping a diary - of artistic pursuits in particular - and I could see how Picasso recorded his experiences in his art. The exhibit felt both like walking through an experiment of multiple phases and also of browsing a journal of events and opinions. Sometimes the styles led from one to another - expressionism, cubism, neoclassicism, surrealism - and sometimes the leaps in style were huge with the art seeming to connect only by repeating themes (such as of bathers in striped blue suits on the beach). Why so many bathers? Why the stripes? I felt more curious about him by viewing the collection of work.

I enjoyed the studies on paper that led to canvas works or sculptures. I was impressed by the large scale of his work and his enormous capacity to create. I also found that I appreciated the design of his works more than many of the works themselves, or their message. There were not too many that I would feel like hanging in my home or living with on a daily basis. Sometimes it seemed that the message of the art was lost in the study of its process - although that wasn't the case with his Bull's Head, which just might be my favorite piece of the entire show. 

Overall, the exhibit was quite fascinating and interesting. I was glad not to miss it.

Looking across the plaza to the California Academy of Sciences.

The next de Young exhibit I'm especially looking forward to is The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, arriving in the spring. But I'm sure I'll be back to Golden Gate Park before then...

art afternoon

My friend Chiori and I met with our boys at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University this afternoon for the last day of the Art of the Book in California show. We ended up going through most of the wings, so got to see unique books, antique books, African art, contemporary Bay Area artists and of course, the famous collection of Rodin sculptures.

Here are some of the beautiful books:

Some of the Rodin collection:

A few of the modern pieces:

And a huge sculpture of metal that one could enter inside and see ever-changing curves of metal, light and shadow:

Iced coffee in the cafe', a walk around the Stanford campus (boys shooting ahead on scooters), a pause in the shade for sketching and admiring the architecture, and soon the sun was setting. A perfect afternoon, I'd say!

Quick sketch that I'll send to Chiori for happy memories.

virtual museums ~ {art project by google}

I spent some time this morning wandering the halls of Versailles, Uffizi Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate and Museo Thyssen using Google's Art Project. Half the time I admired some of the amazing architecture and decor (especially in Versailles, where even the ceilings are stunning) and the other half of the time I looked up some of my favorite artists and paintings or discovered new ones. One can wander around the museum's floor plan or find all the works by a certain artist across all the museums.

Here is a view of the Mars Room at Versailles where I found Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun's portrait of Marie Antoinette with her three children. I've always been fond of her works and it's such a treat to see a painting's actual location, then be able to zoom in on its details and read up on its history and the artist. In this case, I was led to another portrait of Marie Antoinette, also by Vigee-Lebrun ~ that had been quickly painted to replace another one that caused scandal because her dress was too casual for her station.

The views of the museums are not 100% complete. There are some rooms not included in the virtual tour and not all the paintings are able to be examined up close. However, there is still plenty to explore.

This one by Seurat was fascinating to see his brushstrokes and scientific approach to color. In this picture I was zooming in on Grandcamp, Evening.

Even more fun was examining Van Gogh's works up close. His works are highly featured in the Art Project between the Van Gogh Museum and all the other Van Gogh paintings held in the other galleries. I loved seeing his color choices and areas where it seemed like he gave up on a brush and just squeezed the paint on directly.

Nothing can actually match seeing a painting in person, of course. I had seen so many images and prints of Da Vinci's Il Cenacolo ~ The Last Supper ~ but those replicas did not prepare me to have my breath taken away so forcefully when I entered the church to stand before it and share its space.