October 24, 2007

Forgetfulness... Not Always A Bad Thing...

The studio tends to accumulate unfinished works which gather precariously in doorways, traffic paths and even propped in front of works on the wall easel... following through is not my strongest attribute. Consequently, a recent head count shows I have over a dozen works in progress or on standby... unfinished great ideas. Yesterday I grew tired of reaching behind three large WIP's in order to turn the lights on in my studio. There's a long hallway handy that easily accommodates these transitional pieces so I took the time to move them around... and realized that I need to get my act together.

Flip side, I do prefer to sit on the development of an idea for awhile (define that period of time, please) but seems contemplation can quickly morph into forgetfulness along with complete loss of direction as to where I planned to go with a piece. I figure if I forget, it wasn't a good, solid direction anyway... so I look for new inspiration within the piece. It's all about layering for me regardless, so what's a few more applications?

Just for fun, a few months ago I took some scrap strips of canvas and wove them on four 12x12 stretchers, purposefully leaving a small squarish hole near the center. They were then shelved to wait for the great inspiration to hit.



Well... something hit one day for sure and now there are scraps of corrugated cardboard pieced all over them, along with numerous applications of varying paints and mediums. They certainly are textural... wonder what happens next? Graffiti, perhaps? This is certainly NOT evidence of my original thought! Stay tuned...


And then there's the mistake I made when ordering some sale canvases (I can't resist a good sale,) 12" squares which I like to keep on hand for grouping small series. The mistake was that these are way thicker than I prefer (numbers, inches, lengths, etc always get in my way) so they required some dedicated thought. Currently they are in the process of becoming supports for an earlier tree idea I've been playing with in one form or another. I have some very thin paper (which I've forgotten the name of) that I tape to typing paper and send through the printer to get the black and white images I need... that process is working pretty well at the moment. And so far it glues down with medium and nearly disappears just leaving the print... great! This is kind of fun. Once the prints are in place, I'll continue to layer with ink or graphite lines, glazes... I'll probably need to think on it more. Should make an interesting series.

On the pegboard I have four abstracts in progress... one's been around for six months or so. I like it but still don't understand it. It's conclusion is yet to be written... same goes for most of those stacked in the hallway...

8 comments:

Jacie Wiggs said...

Karen, don't you get down on yourself now! You have some great work on the go!!!! It takes a lot of energy to come up with all that you have. It isn't easy to get all the ideas down and finish everything. I am so very impressed! Go Karen! Go Karen!

Karen Jacobs said...

I know where to go for a good pep talk! Nah, I'm not complaining, just telling it like it is. Much better to have all this work at the 3/4 mark so if a deadline shows up, I'm close to being there! Funny how works can resolve themselves when it's almost time to go... otherwise I'd fiddle away forever, seldom finishing anything.

Annette Bush said...

Nice new directions, Karen. I like both ideas and can see them merging at some point -- or not! ;-}
A

p said...

love the cardboard/hole and trees stuff....looks interesting for sure!

Daphne Enns said...

Both ideas are great. I've been meaning to use acrylic gel medium to transfer printed images for a year and a half.

I know once I do it the first time it will be easy to do it again and again, and yet it's the idea of starting a new process that always seems to be the hurdle...

Sigh. You're one hard working woman.

Walker said...

hey weren't we talking about this idea (in some form or another) in France? That's a long germination!
Robin

Karen Jacobs said...

Which idea, Robin? I think there are a half dozen in progress on this post alone! I think I tend to over-germinate... or the crop is starting to sprout ;-)

Walker said...

I was referring to the trees -- but in looking back through I know we've talked about the canvas weaving, too. Really like the wink of a hole in the middle.