Art on the Easel ... and on the Floor.

This is a pretty large canvas, 40" h x 30" w.  Based on a snapshot of my Twilight looking rather elegant, short-legged Percheron that she is.  These three shots show the progression from first stages of sketching and very thin washes of solvent/oil paint, to working out some of the "background" composition.

Above, what the painting looks like as I type this post. I've got a good sense of solid form and some depth happening, and from here on out the challenge will be to finish the piece without overworking and killing it. I like the looseness and want to keep that.

Meanwhile, on the floor beside the easel, I've got a composition laid out for a salvage piece in black and white. I have to paint some of these elements, assemble them all, and then create other pieces to add. This is feeling more and more like part of the Crows series, so expect there to be black birds involved.

Troy Horse

 

Found objects, salvaged electronic components, oil paint, wax medium, polymer clay, antique box. 14.25" h x 10" w x 7" d; horse piece can detach from its box/stand. I really did have fun with this and I think it shows. Found the pulley-wheel about a year ago near the tracks in St. Paul and I am really pleased to have finally put it to use.

Another of the Crow Series, Sold

292, found sign, salvaged metal, oil paint, wax medium, colored pencil.  8 x 10".

This is the piece I made specifically for the Soap Factory's annual $99 Sale. I had fun with the idea that the crow this time had just flown off, leaving a couple feathers in its wake.

The feathers are cut from salvaged aluminum sheeting, and painted with a wax medium that gives them a realistic-looking texture. I have a great time with these, and will be making more.

Still living less safely: I just finished a submission disk for a show opportunity. I might or might not make the cut, but there's only one way to find out.

Computer Bugs (and traffic jams) for Art Crawl

 

These are made of salvaged electronic components -- transistors, resistors and fuses, oh my -- and polymer clay. All are quite small, and most are priced around $12 to $18. They'll be available at Saint Paul Art Crawl THIS WEEKEND, as well as more at Tarnish & Gold Gallery in NE Minneapolis.

 

I even made a  Trojan Horse!

If you're coming out from Minneapolis, be aware that I 94 Eastbound will be CLOSED from Friday night through Monday morning! Closure is from 35 W to 280, so be sure to find a detour if you'll need one.

Blue Pony, found objects, polymer clay, oil paint and wax medium, 12 x 12"

I lost some sleep creating this one. Kind of a lot of sleep in fact.

What happened was, I mistook one deadline for another and ended up with something like 72 hours to come up with two entirely new works. Oops!

This and the Red Bird are the result of that deadline. I had to simply make things; there was no time to second-guess myself. Though I hope not to pull almost-all-nighters again any time soon, I can't say I'm sorry I did it this time. 

What I'm loving are the various interpretations I'm hearing from people. Everything from "Aztec" to "Pony Express." I have my own associations with the piece, but I'm leaving those unsaid for the moment.

The Blue Pony and Red Bird are part of the This Old Mouse show at Tarnish & Gold Gallery in NE Minneapolis, starting tomorrow night at 7 p.m.; if you come out, I'll see you there.

Just completed: Red Bird

Found/salvaged objects, polymer clay, oil paint, wax medium.  7.75" high.  Just done today, and the paint's not dry yet.

I've had many of these objects for a very long time -- the decorative piece that forms the base of the wing, and the wire mesh part; I've had the old hinge that made the stand for it for a couple years at least. Bought the polymer clay yesterday for a dollar on sale. The electrical components come from OceanTech in NE Minneapolis.

This is going into a show; stay tuned for information on that.

Cat House

Cat House, about 9" high. Salvaged objects, oil paint, wax medium

One of the first salvage things I ever made was titled How to Let Go by Climbing, and I consider this one a direct descendent of that. It had about a dozen working titles, none of which I can remember now; I eventually settled on Cat House because that's what everyone was going to call it anyway.

Yes, that's a piece of a broken stereo, forming the doorway of the Cat House. Found in a vacant parking lot near the old Schmidt/Landmark brewery over the summer. The square wood piece is from the same site, while the triangular "roofline" is one of four such shapes I found near White Bear Avenue, beside a vacant hotel building. The bits of broken jewelry I used, I've had for years.

The bright little cardinal on the hanging ladder was part of a broken Christmas decoration, found behind a shopping plaza in Crystal. I've had it for over two years, and the cat charm for over ten.

Sometimes I hang onto things too long. By which I mean, when I have great stuff to work with -- the cat charm, the fine chains and pearl beads, the salvaged perching bird a friend sent me ages ago -- I don't want to "waste" them. I balk. What if I come up with some better use, later on? Surely I should wait until then!

But waiting means nothing gets made and I still have all the boxes and jars of pieces, instead of something beautiful. I'm learning to let it go.

Winter Squares

Winter Squares, mixed media on salvaged wood, 4.5 x 4.75" each. Click to enlarge.

Finished last night while the Giants were winning the Super Bowl. Drawing the tree at the upper left helped distract me from the Patriots' pain. I don't follow football, but that was a really good game.

Frameworks Gallery, St. Paul

I'm part of a six-artist show at Frameworks Gallery on Ford Parkway right now. It's a nice place; good art, low-key staff, relaxing, open until 7 most nights -- and you can get food from the Chatterbox, Leeann Chin, Panera, or the Highland Bakery Cafe, all in the same plaza! Or walk across the street to Barnes & Noble for books and/or coffee.

Come out and have a look if you're going through the Highland Park area. Tell 'em Tracie sent you.

In progress today: Winter Squares

Well, more like winter-hinting-at-spring, as it turns out; this happened mostly because I like color and wasn't content to leave these little things without any. They've developed in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, starting with the whim of drawing the little tree on wood with a Micron pen, knowing I couldn't erase and having to be okay with that. It went well, so then I added the coat of wax medium and a bit of oil paint; when that worked out, I took a couple Prismacolor pencils and drew into the wax. Liking that, I repeated the process with the narcissus bulb (which I probably ought to plant, now that it has served its intended art-modeling purpose).

These are not fully finished, though I'd say they're almost there.

Oh, and they are little. 4.5 x 4.75" -- almost square, salvaged from a pile of discarded scraps at the ACVR Warehouse a few months back. I have two more of the same size, so I will have a set of four of them in the next few days.

New Crow Series piece

She Followed Me Home, oil paint, wax medium, found wood and metal; 12.5 x 18"

Dedicated to the crow who started it all by following me, scolding all the way, for more than half a mile.

This piece and several others in my series of salvaged-material Crows and other birds will be on display at Frameworks Gallery in St. Paul starting Jan. 14.

Crows are Geniuses

Today I'm using the birds in this video as references for the Crow Series piece I have in progress. It's worth watching, though, just for the ingenuity of the crows, who have figured out what stoplights are for.

Crow in progress. This 7 x 5" oil on salvaged aluminum is the heart of a new piece, the full design of which I haven't worked out just yet, but that's normal for these things. They develop on the fly.

$99 Sale at the Soap Factory

Saint Paul Crow, 8 x 10", salvaged metal and wood, oil paint, wax medium. Click to enlarge; for some reason, Blogger makes the thumbnail photos a little blurry.

I have no idea who bought this piece; it had sold by the time I arrived at the show. That made me very, very happy. This is the seventh work in the Crow Series and I plan on creating more.

Can safely say a good time was had. There was some amazing art at the sale, worth much more than the $99 asking price. Also very good food, and an ongoing exhibit I liked a lot. See The Soap Factory's site if you're curious.

Crows who Rule the Town

The Landlords, found wood and metal, oil paint, wax medium. 24" x 18". Click to enlarge.

They'll chase you, if you trespass where they think you shouldn't be -- zigzagging above your head, from one tree to the next, reading you the riot act all the way. It's enough to make you wonder who really owns the place, and what lease you signed while you were dreaming, that you then woke and didn't recall.

I like crows a lot.

Lost Sleep and Found Objects

A preview of the smallest of the new things I made for the FUSION Showcase tonight.

Balcony, 12" h x 3.5" w. Oil paint and wax medium on found wood and metal

This piece of wood was behind Saigon Restaurant on University Ave., near the dumpster. I found it about a week ago while heading into the restaurant with a friend.

The owls are a rusted hinge I'd picked up in Tennessee, along the highway where my truck broke down. I confess I don't recall where I got the broken finial-piece that forms the balcony, except that I was in Minnesota by then and I didn't think I'd ever use the thing but, being me, I kept it a while to find out.

I've been making a lot of art and doing a lot of prep work lately and not getting much sleep. That's one of those deals you sign on for because you can't refuse -- difficult but you want to do it because showing your work is a Good Thing.

Last night I was working on a larger piece -- one of two; the first is gloriously finished, the other, not -- and I'd meant for the hinge to be part of that, as something suggesting a window shutter. But I kept seeing two creatures side by side, curious little eyes looking back at me, and I wanted to do something more whimsical with them. This is the result. I'll have it available tonight at the Fine Line event for $65. 

Sneak Preview Salvage Art -- Crows and their City

Design stages of two new Rescued Materials pieces. Both around 24" high.

This is the part that's like playing with Legos, for me. Putting things together to figure out how they fit. The construction and the additions of paint and other elements comes next.

 These will be part of my display on Thursday night, 8/25, at the Fine Line Music Cafe. Come out and see the transformation from design to completion; catch some great local music and a fashion show from Twin Cities designers.

Tickets are just $10. Be sure to pick my name from the "Support your artist" drop-down menu. It helps RAW:artists keep doing these great events.

Music, Fashion, and (my!) Art at Fine Line Music Café

Clicky clicky on the header for full information!

I will be featured at the Fine Line Music Café on Aug. 25th, in the FUSION Showcase with RAW:natural born artists. Come see my Rescued Materials series of art ... and the slinky little black dress I bought for the event. ;-)

The Fine Line is a great venue, and tickets for the evening of music, art, and fashion are just $10. If you follow my link to purchase, be sure to select my name from the "Support your artist" drop-down menu on the upper right.

Katie Bar the Door, indeed!

Strip-mall Petunias, 3.5 x 5.5", in the Tiny Moleskine Sketchbook, sketched outside PostNet on Ford Parkway yesterday

                                       Katie Bar the Door is 11.5" high, found wood, oil paint, wax medium, string.                                             A symbol of the dangers of too much self-protection.

In the last month or so, I have:

Made art every day
Taken a fantastic painting workshop with Kami Polzen
Begun teaching at Old Town Artists
Accepted an invitation to participate in the $99 Sale at the Soap Factory
Accepted an invitation to participate in the Rescue Me show at Altered Esthetics
Signed up (this morning) for a demo and workshop with Mark Balma
Accepted an offer to be profiled on CreatedByChicks.com for their "Who's Creating? Wednesday" feature
Sold several drawings and paintings
Found a new venue for my salvaged-materials art
Begun writing professionally for others after years of writing professionally for myself
Joined the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota

Thanks to Lauri Flaquer, the Mackmillers, Josephine Geiger, Kelly Williams, Gail Weber, my amazing family and many many others in my life for reminding me that if I want to, I can.

And I'm sharing all this not just because I want everyone to know how awesome my life is now, but because  I've been the most timid, the most self-effacing soul, the one with the most reasons why the things I wanted were out of my reach, and I've changed. It can be done.

I hope someone else will see what I'm doing and decide to do what they want.

Salvage Art: Katie Bar the Door, and the Tall Vine House

Katie Bar the Door, left; Tall Vine House, right. Found objects, wax medium and oil paint, by Tracie Thompson

These are 11.5 x 2.5" and 14 x 1.75", made primarily of discarded surveyor's stakes. Similar materials, similar colors, very different ideas (at least for me, while I was making them). Click to enlarge, and if you feel like it, I'd love to know what these bring to mind for you.

Screwy Little Houses

Screwy Little Houses, found wood pieces, oil paint and wax medium, about 7" high

This is what it looks like when I am purely playing and having fun. These bits of wood were half-buried in the late October leaf litter near ACVR Warehouse in St. Paul. I dug them out, thrilled to find three in one spot, immediately thinking of tiny houses.

They're now at Anita Sue Kolman Gallery at the Northrup King Building, at $35 each or $90 for the set of three. Designed as a group, they hang on a wall and cheerfully keep each other company; I hope they will go on to brighten up a small space for someone this winter.