THROWBACK THURSDAY

My studio. 4.5 years ago. Lewisburg, PA.

VISUAL DIARY: ART MOVE, PART 4

the litmus test

I have a test for any new media I decide to start using on a regular basis. I make an image of mountains. This isn't something I deliberately set out to do. It just crept up on me one day. I'll explain.

Eight years ago, I moved from Memphis to the mountains -- the Cumberland Plateau to be exact. I attended Sewanee (the University of the South), and the campus sits on a 10,000 acre plot of forested land in southern Tennessee. Sewanee is secluded and didn't even have reliable cell phone reception when I was there. The remoteness bothers some people. I fell in love. Until I went to Sewanee, the Milky Way was something I just read about in books. I loved trail running through the woods, hiking, sitting on the edge of the Plateau and watching the sun rise or set, and doing my reading for class on a large sandstone rock that overlooked the forest and was older than the dinosaurs. For the first time, I could look out a window and have a "view." I took classes in forestry and geology. I could identify all the rock layers making up the plateau and most of the trees that grew on top of it.

I think mountains are mind blowing and very humbling. I never get tired of looking at them.

A view of Morgan's Steep at Sewanee

Another view of Morgan's Steep.  This image is creeping away from reality, but I had a specific place in mind when I made it.

After college, I moved north to another remote town near the mountains. (Noticing a trend here?) This time I lived along the Susquehanna River in the upper ridges of the Appalachians. I had cell phone reception, but there were hitching posts at my stores to tie up a horse and buggy. Central Pennsylvania's remoteness was not entirely physical. There were pockets my new place that were remote from modernity. Welcome to Amish country. The mountains in the Susquehanna Valley looked familiar -- like 

Tennessee. They were different though and looked completely new when the snow came.

I was obsessed with the way leafless trees looked in the winter -- A sketch from Pennsylvania

When I came back to Tennessee, I settled within spitting distance of the Smokies. I live 15 minutes from the highest point in Knox County, and on a clear day when I drive down Central Avenue, there's a gay bar on my right, a bakery on my left, and miles of purply- blue mountains in the distance.

This watercolor was inspired by the very beginnings of a 5am winter sunrise in Knoxville.

This similar painting came later. Hand incised contour lines describe the rise and fall of the mountain peaks.

At some point in 8 years, the mountains have crawled into my psyche. I have painted and drawn them along the way, but at some point they stopped being specific mountains and just became an image of little bits and pieces of all the mountains, seasons, and times of day I've seen. Mountains have turned into a very sophisticated doodle. The nature of the medium dictates what season or weather seems to appear in the image. I do all of them from my imagination now, and I want each image to be as interesting as the real thing. When I can reach that equilibrium, I feel like I have a decent mastery of my new medium or idea I want to try out.

My first attempt at encaustic painting

More encaustic with dyed cheesecloth for texture.

Cheesecloth on wood. I pulled on the warp and weft strings of the loose weave to create those ridges

I got new Pitt pens a while back and took them for a walk...

studio spaces

Before I moved to Knoxville, I had a studio that was walled off from the larger, communal painting half of the "art barn" at Bucknell University. I was a graduate student for the art gallery on campus, and I was also taking a painting independent study. The painting professor gave me this room because I was older, and more dedicated to working regular, long hours. At first I was resistant to move from the communal barn to this smaller room. There were no windows! I like windows, and daylight, and to be able to see what is going on. However, I took to this space. It was about the size of the bedroom in my apartment. There was only one socket, but it was enough to run my hair dryer and boom box. It had a long, heavy, wooden table -- I couldn't have lifted it without help -- two easels, and a chair. I covered the walls with pictures I liked, things I was thinking about, and my sketches. The room was a complete mess, and I liked it that way. I left everything strewn across the table, and this led me to use tools and media in ways I might not have. Because it was out, it was present in my mind, and easy for me to reach for and experiment with. In this space, I could create without worry. I never thought twice about spilling anything on the floor, making too much noise, or dust, or ruining the walls.

that was the best table

one of many wall clusters

 

In Knoxville, I knew my living room would have to double as my studio space. I looked at some really ugly and small apartments, and some that were too expensive. Then I found mine. There are hardwood floors in the living room and lots of windows.  All of my art things are in one half of my living room, and tucked in every available corner of my apartment. My apartment walls now double as studio walls, with a haphazard rotating collage of things on them. Operating this way for about a year and a half, I have discovered a few things about the way I work and what I like. 

the current state of my living room wall (and my Mary Tyler Moore initial!)

view from the living room

I like having a completely separate place to contain all of this art making stuff. When I was a slovenly pig-teenager, I used to tell my mom that there is a reason rooms have doors. SO YOU CAN CLOSE THEM AND NOT SEE MESSES INSIDE. Right now there is a tripod in my kitchen, collaging material and a sketch board slid under my bed, and watercolors on my coffee table. I like keeping things out so it motivates me to pick something up and work on it for a bit...but I also don't like putting things away all the time either. Art messes aren't very conducive to having guests. Or for putting your feet on the coffee table.

I like going to a separate place. It gets me in a mindset to get good quality work time done. 

I should never work with the TV on. But I do. I  really like my PBS cooking shows, and I try to treat the TV like a radio, But sometimes I JUST HAVE TO LOOK OVER AT JACQUES PEPIN CUTTING THINGS UP. The TV is not a radio and not the same as music.

Maybe with all this said, I really don't work better with a separate place. I might just need a little more self control in the tidying-things-up-and-not-being-obsessed-with-Jacques-Pepin area.

Anyway. When I write things down, I become more accountable for my actions. I will be better at not multitasking with art.