Collecting and Gathering

Collecting and Gathering
encaustic mixed media
14x11 inches

I completed Collecting and Gathering earlier this month. It was another one of those paintings that went through many transformations, lots of scraping back, flipping of orientation, even languishing in the corner of my studio for a few months. Then I happened to have an email conversation with Michael Billie, an artist out in New Mexico, about eco-prints. He uses them in his work and I had asked him about it. And we got into a really great "conversation" about process and meaning in our work, which is such a gift to be able to have someone to talk about such things. I have to say that these email conversations I've had with Michael have always been a creative nudge for me. I feel fortunate that our paths have crossed in this way. Sometimes the most influential collaborations are ones that have more to do with the sharing of ideas, the questions that arise, and the sharing of personal stories with other people. Collecting and gathering.

Well from our conversation about eco-prints, I remembered that I had done some prints using plants and whatnot many years ago and had one sheet of some sort of print I did in a drawer somewhere. I dug it up, and added it to my painting, and it spurred me on to the finish. The print is of a fern- I believe that it was a bleach print, which I'm not so sure that constitutes as an eco-print. But it is nature based! I am fascinated by eco-prints and have a lot to learn about them and really hope that one day I will get to.

Please check out Michael Billie's flickr page to see more of his current work. Really good stuff.

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I dropped this painting off at Studio 303 at the Zhou B Art Center this weekend as it will be taking part in The Buzz, a show of work by FUSEDChicago members. I got to visit with Jenny Learner and see what she's up to in her studio which is always fun.

Studio 303
Zhou B Art Center
1029 W. 35th Street
Chicago, IL 60609

Public Openings in the building which will be part of the Chicago Artists Month Kick off Party: Bridgeport Block Party starts at the Zhou B and will also be at the Bridgeport Art Center and Co-Prosperity Sphere: Friday October 5th 5-9 pm food trucks, live music, and free trolleys.

The official FUSEDChicago opening for The Buzz is on Friday October 19th 6-10pm

Bridgeport Artwalk will be happening all of this weekend
Saturday October 20th Bridgeport Artwalk noon-6
Sunday October 21st Bridgeport Artwalk noon-5pm

I will post about the The Buzz opening again closer to the date. Hopefully! This month is crazy with lots of stuff going on art-wise and personally. I am hoping that I can keep up with it all.