Invitational Exhibition III

Next Part of the Process

Once the statement for Tell Me A Story:  Women In Art was complete (it was included in my last blog post), it was time to begin the actual work of art for the exhibition. Requirements: 1.  Must be specifically created for this show, 2. Must be presented on an 18x24" gallery wrap canvas.

My thought was to create a painting in a style similar to the last two Basket Weaver paintings completed;  Madame Butterfly and Guadalupe Arenas, Snake Weaver.  

Madame Butterfly

40 x40

Guadalupe Arenas, Snake Weaver

48 x 48

If you follow my Facebook Artist's Page you have seen photos of the beginning and progress of the new painting. 

Beginning of new painting

Additional progress on new painting

New painting with stylized basket designs used by Delores Patencio circling around her.

However, every time I stepped up to the easel I had a nagging thought that this painting just wasn't right.  It wasn't the painting itself, it was the idea behind the painting.  This is Delores Saneva Patencio, an historical, basket weaving member of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.  She would be a perfect subject and one I have painted several times. Eventually I realized my problem was connected to the statement.  The statement that will be exhibited with the painting talks about telling the story of the women, not one woman.  This work needed several faces, not just one.

It was a break through that brought additional ideas.  If I was to paint several faces, representing several different women, why not present them in book form?  After all, this is telling a story, and stories are found in books.  This required book making research.

Creasing 140 lb. cold press paper with a bone folder.

 

Punching holes to facilitate stitching the pages together.

Sewing the pages together with waxed thread.

I decided I would present eight faces, eight actual women who lived in the Coachella Valley and are known as basket weavers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I created one book of 8 pages, but before painting these pages thought I would paint on loose sheets and then perhaps create another book, with the painted papers, after the paintings were done.  This so I could paint freely, not worrying about mistakes, and have the option of using one or another.  After more research about basket weavers and hours of time in front of the computer to locate photographs, I selected the following seven women and painted them in large, rapid brush strokes: Ramona Lubo, Rosa Lugo, Guadalupe Arenas, Mary Kintano, Delores Saneva Patencio, Maria Los Angeles, Mercedes Nolasquez.

First a black and white palette with the thought of 'bringing the women out of the shadows'.

Then Raw Umber added into the palette,

Burnt Sienna added, 

Burnt Umber introduced, 

and finally Yellow Ochre was added.

For the cover sheet of the book I created a compilation of the women:

Back to the process of actually making a book out of the painted sheets of paper.  This time I used a raffia type of material to sew the pages before gluing the spine and attaching snake skin as the binding. Both the raffia and snake symbolize materials and designs used by these basket weavers.

Now that the paintings were actually in book form, names of many noted Coachella Valley basket weavers were added to the cover, circling the head of the woman.  Designs were added to her head scarf which symbolize those woven into some baskets.

As you can see, I also ripped the pages to obtain an undulating, wide, deckle edge which would allow the successive pages to peek out beneath the top page.  With this book of faces in hand I had to address a very blank canvas and figure out how to attach the book and what to create behind the book.  Stay tuned....

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Day of the Dead Altar I

Creating an Altar for Day of the Dead

When I was approached last year and asked if I would be interested in creating an altar for the Day of the Dead celebration at the Palm Springs Art Museum, I jumped in with both feet.  To begin with, this historically Mexican holiday has always intrigued me,  I could not possibly refuse to represent the Artists' Council , and the opportunity to exhibit in this beautiful museum is always greeted with open arms.   Plus the positive twist on death, honoring the deceased by celebrating their lives year after year holds tremendous appeal for me.

Example of an altar

  The inviter mentioned my Indian Women Portraits and that it might be nice to utilize one of these paintings in the altar.As it turns out, the museum is hosting an exhibition titled Grass Roots: Native American Basketry of the West that opened this month.  Actual baskets woven by Native women of the Coachella Valley are included in the exhibition, including some by Guadalupe Arenas. What a synchronous  connection!  My creative thoughts began to race and explode!

Guadalupe Arenas, Snake Weaver

48 x 48

This was perfect, a bit out of the box thinking, the kind of thing I respond to.  Breaking from the traditional Mexican altar, this altar would honor a deceased basket maker, Guadalupe Arenas,  who was a member of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, local to the Coachella Valley where Palm Springs is located.  It would bring awareness to Arenas and other women of the valley who toiled endlessly to create amazingly spectacular baskets.

Guadalupe Arenas, Snake Weaver

48 x48

I decided to approach this project like a painting, focusing on composition, color, line, texture.  Guadalupe Arenas, Snake Weaver, the painting, would be the focus of the altar. Every other element of the altar would pertain to and relate to this work of art, so I began to visualize and sketch ideas.

Proposed Altar

This altar will have traditional items such as skulls, photographs, flowers, and candles, but they will not be presented in the traditional way.  This altar will follow the palette of the painting using pink, purple, blue, green, golds. Lizard and eagle shapes will be cut out of canvas, rocks and small paintings of cactus will represent the desert, snake skins will festoon and drape to symbolize the snakes woven into baskets created by Guadalupe Arenas.  The work begins:

Cutting eagle shapes from canvas.

Using the stencils used to create the painting.

Canvas lizards.

The altar is beginning to go together in my studio and this is the first of several posts that will document the creation and assembly.  It will then be broken down and reassembled in the Palm Springs Art Museum later in October where it will remain on view into November.  Mark your calendars for the museum celebration October 30 10:00 to 4:00.

Much more work to accomplish and explain which I will do as it happens.

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More About Art Gifting.

Or The Art of Gifting, Or Gifting Art.

Cherries 

Dakota Pratt

Ok, this is a bit of a stretch, but when I sell a work of art, my art, I always use some of the proceeds to purchase a work of art from another artist.  A gift of sorts, but not really a gift since I get something in return. OK, it's a purchase.  None the less, I love passing along some of my profits to another artist.   

Detail of Cherries

 Dakota Pratt

This last month Dakota Pratt exhibited at The La Quinta Arts Festival, in La Quinta, CA.  He was new to the show this year, and oh boy, did his work catch my eye.  It's FABULOUS!  He smashes bottle caps and applies them to wooden under structures to create colorful, whimsical sculptures.  You must take a look at his web site to see photos of his work...it's great...and read about him.  Dakota Pratt .  I had sold several paintings over the past few months so I went to the outdoor festival with the intention of taking home a piece of art.  When I saw Dakota's Cherries sculpture I knew it was going to become a part of my collection.

A bonus, another gift, came about after living with The Cherries for a bit over a month.  I was inspired to paint Great Big Juicy Cherry to hang close to Dakota's cherries.

Great Big Juicy Cherry

36" x 18"

Pamela Hunt Lee

This was a gift of inspiration, unknowingly granted by another artist.  It also allowed me to use a little different palette than I have been using these past few months, the gift of color.   And it was just FUN to paint Great Big Juicy Cherry.  All in all, a great big fun filled gift.  

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Art Gifting

Or The Art of Gifting.

How about Gifting Art?  And what about donations of art?This is a rather controversial subject within the art world. Some of us donate our art to fund raising efforts, some do not.  It is a personal decision but one that is discussed over and over.  Artists are frequently, some say constantly, asked to make a donation of their work for one cause or another. 

Palm Springs 75

There many ways to make a donation and many items or situations an artist can donate. It doesn't need to be the art work itself.  It can be art lessons, time in the studio with the artist, a field trip with the artist to see what inspires their work.    Most of us have experience with all of it, so we make choices of how to handle these requests.

Pineapple Welcome

When it comes to donations of my art work I have chosen to support two causes/events, both benefit the arts in areas where I live, and it is the time of year for one of those events.

Three Tangelos

 99 Bucks, orchestrated by The Artist's Council of The Palm Springs Art Museum takes place this next Saturday. The funds generated support the education department for the museum, providing a wide variety of learning experiences for children, youth and adults in the Coachella Valley.  The funds raised give valley residents, who might not otherwise have the opportunity, occasions to enjoy and create visual arts.   This encourages budding artists and teaches appreciation for art.

Red Hot Chile

 Artist's and celebrities are asked to make a creation on a 5"x7" canvas which is supplied.  The canvases are then displayed anonymously in the Grand Ballroom at the Riviera Hotel this Saturday, April 12.  Each canvas will sell for 99 Bucks.  What a great price for an original art work.

Prickly Pear

 Last year there were over 700 canvases and probably almost that many people waiting patiently,  though with great anticipation, for the doors of the ballroom to open, allowing admittance.  It was a throng of patrons, jostling, viewing, ooing and ahing, buying the canvases as fast as they could.  It's crazy fun!

Fenceposts

 Pictured here are some of the little canvases I have donated to this event over the past few years.  This year I painted three which are not pictured here but most definitely show up anonymously on the web site gallery which shows all the work that will be available.  Click HERE to go to one of the pages of that gallery.

Three Dancing Girls

  If you want a little more info about 99 Bucks, click HERE to be directed to the Artist Council's on line blurb about the event.  If you are in the area I hope to see you there!

99 Bucks

Riveria Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

Saturday, April 12

4:30 - 6:30

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Fence Post Cactus II.

The Beginning of the Second Canvas

 You recall I am painting a triptych (three canvases that will hang together) of Fence Post Cactus, or plants that look or fit that general description, and that I completed the first canvas.  So now, here is the beginning of the second canvas.

It's a Browningia hertlingiana....quite a mouth full.  These magnificent plants which live in the dry valleys of Peru grow to 33 feet tall.  Substantial.  I particularly like the faceted look of the plant parts;  like little jewels.

This Browningia hertlingiana has wickedly spiky, sharply pointed, long thorns to protect those little jewels.

It is a slow process to brush on each thorn, but it is rewarding to see the plant come to life on the canvas.  First the thorns go on and secondly the shadows they cast. After the addition of a few minor high lights,  it will be time to begin the third canvas.  

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99 Bucks

It's That Time Of Year!

Time for 99 Bucks!  Well, it's almost that time, it's just a couple weeks away.  Saturday, April 13 at Hotel Zozo in Palm Springs, 4:30 PM.  Mark you calendars.

These are a few of the hundreds of small canvases that will be available for purchase:



Good things come in small packages!  Each year Artist Council members and their friends solicit artwork on 5" x 7" canvases from celebrities and artists from around the state, the nation and the world.  At the 99 Bucks sale, hundreds of these artworks are displayed and each only costs $99.  The hook: the buyer doesn't know who created the art until he or she owns it.  You never know whose work might be hanging in your home....

It's a great and fun event, attended by throngs (over 1000 art lovers) who all rush into the gallery at once, snapping up original art at this wonderful price.  The energy in the room is incredible.  The money raised by the event goes to the Artists' Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum to further efforts of art education to the residents of the Coachella Valley benefiting youth and adults.

Click HERE to go to the on-line gallery where you see all of the little canvases that will be available at 99 Bucks each.  Hopefully I will see you at Hotel Zozo on April 13 at 4:30 PM.

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