contemporary collage paintings
the process
Leslie Avon Miller

My life flows when I'm in my art.


Jean De Muzio
Showing posts with label limited color palette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label limited color palette. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2009

A View From the Edge










I like the edges of things, where things come together and change because of contact with one another. I like the edges of things, where there is a rawness, a frontier to be discovered. I like the edges of things, where the water and sand burnish one another and leave each other softer, more rounded and energized.

I particularly like edges in my art work. I like to see two colors come together and create contrast. I like to see water media flow into one another and create an interesting trail of changes. I like to see textures, one abutted up against the other, making each more beautiful in the visual reaction. I like margins on the page, and breaking the rules and writing or drawing in that space just to see what comes of it. I just like the words “threshold” and “verge”.

And when it comes to ephemera, I love the worn, softened edges of 100 year old wheat colored papers; music sheets, handwritten diaries, and yellowed book pages. I like old photographs, poorly exposed, or badly composed, but changed by being pasted in an old back photograph album. I love my family’s collection old player piano rolls, some worn out beyond use. And I adore yellowed tape, no longer holding much together, but leaving a rectangle of the most beautiful amber color that can only be created over time.

I have created a little book using yellowed ephemera, the only criteria being the pieces have interesting edges, lines, markings, or signs of age. Making this book I was able to hang out with Kurt as he continues to heal from his surgery with his foot elevated, and still satisfy my creative urges as I found interesting tid-bits, arranged them and affixed them to stationary from World War II. I’m calling this book The Book of Edges.

And some of my inspiration came from Jo Horswill’s Quiet Book, which you can see here.

“We’re always attracted to the edge of where we are, out by the edges where it’s a little raw and nervy.”

E. L. Doctorow

“Energy gathers at the borders. It appears spontaneously at birth and death, at the beginning of a novel and at the end. It gathers at natural boundaries such as the new moon and the first day of spring, and at human-made borders such as presidential elections.”

Paul Richards.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Sensuous, Sexy Color


Contemporary collage - my current color palette

Nothing pulls me into a painting as immediately as color. Clear across a gallery my eye will instantly find the colors it loves. Books and articles abound on the subject of color and tend to use words like hue, intensity, value, temperature, cool, warm and compliments. I usually fall asleep when I try to read them, for all the good intentions of the author. For me, color is a tool I use daily, that I make discoveries about and that I experiment with intimately. While there is a science to color, my approach goes beyond scientific. The words that describe the “rules” aren’t part of my thinking process. I mix my colors using all I have; my experience, my intuition, and my sensitivity to color.
I think as I am working - deep profound color thoughts like “yummy” and “yuck!” In fact, I think “yummy” is the Nobel prize for color in my studio. Immediately after declaring a color I have just mixed to be yummy, I begin to apply it to any nearby surface that resembles potential collage material. It’s just so much fun.
I collect colors; pages from magazines, photos I have taken, color chips at the building supply stores, rocks and rusty bits brought home in my pocket. My books are full of frilly tags marking the pages where my favorite color combinations are illustrated. I am a fan of design and architectural magazines and books in which designers have produced exquisite examples of perfect edgy color use.
This week Shauna Chapman from Quail Ethical Fashion commented “I was attracted by your collages and the colours you use. Colours of chalk, charred coal, clay, ochre, burnt umber, etc...Your colours remind me of the cave paintings at the Lascaux Cave in France.” And Philip commented “I also see urban art influences by the way.” How satisfying it is to hear my influences have been communicated. Thank you both.
In my inspiration notebooks are photos of old walls, cracked concrete, windows and doors, man hole covers, bleached drift wood, pebbles, feathers, old yellowed stationary from 1940, a winter tree branch. When I am successful, these influences – natural and urban – combine in my work to create a piece that that hopefully evokes a response in the viewer. That is part of the appeal and beauty of contemporary work.
Later today Kurt and I plan to take the cameras for a walk. I know where there are bunches of bare rose hips. A perfect inspiration for red.

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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year


For me, the New Year begins in the Autumn, when a new school year would start. I would have a new, fresh notebook and pencils, a new outfit, a new teacher, new subjects and a different mix of classmates. It was always an exciting time for me because I enjoyed school and being in the flow of learning and meeting new people. I love that time of year. I usually found ways to incorporate art into most subjects, especially science and social studies. If it was an assignment in biology I would include drawings (horses, of course!) I remember drawing all the different types of clouds for a science report. If it was a research project I would make a cover for my report and include a visual collage. I wrote a paper about Australia, and I made the Australian flag for the report cover. I researched England and asked my Dad to make a wooden cut out (like a puzzle piece) of the island country and mounted it on a wooden cover complete with tiny little hinges. That one was my design and his work. (Thanks Dad!) So for me the New Year in January is more about a time for a little rest from all the holiday busyness. A personal day. A little gift of time. Hopefully, I will get to create some art! Happy New year to all of you!
At the Virtual Tart site of Dale Copeland there is a new on-line collage exhibition by Laura Lein-Svencner of Darien, IL, USA, called Crow Count. Her series is in a limited color palette, and includes words, images, textures and shapes. I think this series is great work. Dale invites a different artist each month to put on an exhibition. I signed up for late 2010. I don’t have a clue what I will be making then, but I am excited about the possibilities!