Open-Box In Cast Plaster- First Try

I have been wanting to do a test-run of this idea for a while. I foresee this working on a much larger scale; this manageable sample measures about 3.5 X2.5 (widest point) in feet and that's 1 meter by 75 cms for my euro-pals out there. As the perpetual teacher, I want to share the steps...

Above you see the clay slabs cut into the layout of an open box, then designed with impressions made from man-made and natural objects. You can see some of the implements on the floor.

Here you can see that clay walls have been built to control the flow of the wet plaster...

Doesn't my foot give you the sense of scale?! Anyway, here it is filled with plaster, labeled and with hooks for hanging. The tricky thing about this technique, particularly large scale, is that it has to be done all at once so that neither the clay nor the plaster harden too quickly. 3-4 hours straight, no breaks. Until this point. 

A couple of hours later it is safe to pull back the clay and let the plaster air dry a bit more before washing the terra cotta clay residue off. 

That's where I am at now: all the pieces have been washed and cleaned with a toothbrush. Now they must dry at least 4 days (that's in the Mallorca sun) before I can paint them.

But Alas, I must leave this piece in limbo until mid- August. I am going to America with Malena first thing friday morning. I will be working and posting from there, but on paper pieces and actual little open boxes. Stay tuned!! Give me a few days to get there and bounce back from the long journey.

New Diptych

Is it done? This image is a bit washed out. Seeing it up here now I think I need to better integrate the rusted metal elements. I know it needs to be about twice as long.

A side note is that this painting contains a 'reject' painting that was cut up into little squares and used as the base for the lower half. I love recycling older pieces that haven't found a home or satisfying resolution. Stay tuned for more.

Plaster Tiles - Color Schemes

I think these plaster pieces are approaching the color scheme that works with the under-construction theme. Still feeling that, for the size (approximately 8X10 in.), these are still too busy in terms of texture.

You wouldn't believe how many layers of paint are on the second one.  The textures were created with found objects from the street and back roads of Muro, Mallorca.

...well, back to the lab.

Happy Accidents?

This is what results when you prime open boxes over unresolved drawings....Hmmm, these have left me curious. For all my exhaustive planning and gathering, I often am more attracted to the abstractions that result when I am not trying so hard.

Plaster Reliefs, new & reworked

You've seen this top one before, but now I think it's more resolved. It was a technical experiment to figure out this material, so I see it as a piece on it's own and not totally connected to the open box/building theme. No title yet. Plaster relief, approximately 8X10 inches. 
These two are samples of a few pieces I am currently working on. The clay original is cut into the shape of an open box and impressions are made with various natural and man-made objects. The resulting plaster relief is then painted in many transparent layers.

The plan is to hang these in large clusters on the wall.  Once again, I amazed at how what I fore-plan in my mind's eye and what comes out is soooo different. While I enjoy these, they also look bizarre to me. Where will they lead me?

Texture compostitions

These are some images I have been making which will be collaged onto open boxes.  They are also the materials I am using to create the plaster relief pieces.

Artist: Gordon Matta Clark

You can learn some basic facts about Matta-Clark from this link to Dwell magazine: www.dwell.com/peopleplaces/profiles/3921046.html

or, of course, Google him  yourself. I think my association with his work is pretty obvious.

This stuff leaves me speechless.

Motherload of Ruins in Palma!!

Check THIS one out! Isn't it delightful? This is in the old part of Palma. It must have been a massive home or block of beautiful apartments. There are so many morsels to look at...need to zoom in on a few details.

architectural details like molding, elaborate ceilings, intricate staircases...

...what is most interesting to me with this complex of ruins is the depth. I have for the most part up 'til now I have been focusing on two-dimensional facades, but the cutting in on various angles and levels of floors is really wonderful here. Reminds me of an artist I love, Gordon Matta Clark.

Silhouettes

This is what happened next to the textural over-lapping of the open boxes of post (Open Box Experiments). Still unfinished, still unsure...

Any comments?

Farewell Biel, Reach for the Heavens!

I would like to dedicate this post to Biel, my good friends' Maite and Xavi's father and father-in-law respectively, who passed away just after midnight on Saturday. He left his body at the young age of 60 and will be missed and held dearly by many.

The passage painted on a home in Muro means "Dominate the heights and await infinity". 

Blessings to Maite, Xavi, Clara, and all of the extended family of Biel.

Walls in Muro

Taking a luxurious walk around Muro village I spotted a few more texture combinations. What attracts me to these images is the compartmentalization like the "rooms" of the torn down which I have posted a few times already. In addition, particularly in the stone wall ones, how what man does with materials will, eventually and inevitably return to it's natural form.
This metal door above is so good, I'm not certain I should even try to paint it. It just is. What can I do to improve it? I think this is why I so often chosoe to work more abstractly, my realistic work always leaves me wanting.

Re-Cycle

These are some of the lovely elements I am using to create texture in my plaster pieces.
I appreciate how man-made or man-manipulated things (almost) always return to their source.

Plaster Relief Experiments

Ok, ok, I know- what does this have to do with anything?      EVERYTHING.     This is a piece of plaster cast from a clay impression I made, and then painted.  I am planning a large body of work in this material, but need to play first to get the techniques down.  The 'baldosas' or tiles will be created with either natural or man-made elements.  You will see how this idea develops (as I do) over the next few months.

 All of the objects used to create the impression were collected from the street and back dirt roads of Muro, Mallorca.

Stay tuned.

Open Box Experiments

Working on the upper terrace today in 80 degrees. Benefit- paint dries quickly; drawback - sunburn. I am posting some soon-to-be underpaintings to get some objectivity. These were created with layers of transparent paint silhouetting open boxes. (See Call for Boxes post).  The first image is early in the process, this is what they look like now:

Hmmm, what to do, what to do?

Boxes in the mail!

Yay! I got a big juicy package of opened boxes in the mail today. Getting mail is an event in and of itself, but this was just heart-bursting. Of course, it was from Gail (see art be Gail Mitchell), I knew she would be the first international addition to the collection. I must also give credit however, to two of my English students.

Some of theses boxes are so cute - I don't want to change them!

addendum: two of my yoga students brought me a big satchel of boxes this evening! Gracies a tots.

Sketches using white-out

I'm not sure what to think of these 2 studies from my sketch book. I had fun making them with white out amongst other mixed-media techniques. How to they inform my new work? Sheer exploration may suffice.

Art by Elizabeth Saitta

Death of an Ideal, mixed media & printmaking on paper, 2007

Here you have a few works by friend and former colleague Elizabeth Saitta.
Measuring Up, collage, mixed media & printmaking on paper, 2007

Portrait Cheesecloth 1,  graphite on cheesecloth, 2008

Trying on the Ideal,  monoprint on paper, 2007

Liz is exploring self-portraiture in both a representational and figurative way. She says, "The work is about the disappearing and breaking down of me and my ideals. I'm interested in communicating this through deconstruction and transparency".

Art by Gail Mitchell

5+, mixed media on vellum, 2007

I would like to share some recent work by friend and former room mate while I studied at the Cooper Union in NYC. Gail Mitchell lives in Williamsburg Brooklyn and can be contacted at: gailrobin@billburg.com

One Unit,  found object assemblage, 2007

Vellum 1, mixed media and found object on vellum, 2007

Vellum 5, mixed media and found object on vellum, 2007

Gail has always been a master at collecting from the streets and shores of New York, and what's more, at re-presenting these objects in their unique glory without clutter.  The ability to edit and leave room for her subjects to breathe are what most attract me to Gail's work.

Escavations in Málaga