Tag Archives: art 365

Arting for 365 Day 261: Un-Nestled

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Day 261 18 x 34, Pierced paper

Day 261 18 x 34, Pierced paper

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

Composed of sticks and twigs and loose paper found blowing down a city street

The quiet nest sits empty

Not entirely purpose-less

Its intricate twines twist with confidence and beauty – an abandoned sculpture with potential beyond its delicate facade

Waiting for life to once again occupy its hearty, rounded floor

For the crane to care

About the potential of its winged kind

To fly another time

This piece is available for purchase

Day 261 Cell Details Day 2651 Nest Detail Day 261 Unnestled Egg Detail

Arting for 365 Day 260: Linked

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3 x 5" paper with pinholes

3 x 5″ paper with pinholes

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

There is a place lined with little streets and tiny houses

Where large trees grow

Whose roots feel their way through cool, damp dirt

Twisting and knotting

Fracturing cement slabs that were unaware of their presence

Linking the world below

Day 260 Linked Detail 2Day 260 Detail 1

Arting for 365 Day 259: Reinvigorated for No Good Reason

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3 x 5" ink on paper

3 x 5″ ink on paper

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I would love to know what clicks in our brains to make us suddenly full of ideas. Why is it that one day, coming up with something interesting and stimulating is a tedious struggle that makes us want to pull your hair out; while other days we have more ideas than we know what to do with? With no drastic changes in our lives – or any changes, really- our minds function on an entirely different level.

Whatever the reason, I say get while the getting’s good and hope that it lasts a VERY long time.

Arting for 365 Day 258: Winter Time

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3 x 5″ paper with pinholes

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

As I tried to figure out what I could complete for my daily project, I came across a lovely picture a friend had taken of  pine trees covered in snow. Because I was still in pinhole mode, I decided creating a winter tree might be a good challenge. This small piece is what I came up with. While not my typical subject matter, it did let me work on my technique a bit more.  So far, I’m loving the process and am ready to finish up one of these on a larger scale.

Day 258 Winter Time Detail

Arting for 365 Day 257: Leaves via Pinholes

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5 x 8" paper with pinholes

5 x 8″ paper with pinholes

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I began working on a larger scale piece yesterday in which I planned to incorporate thread. As I started stitching into the work though, the effect was not as I had hoped. I was going for more of an organic feel and wound up with – as should have been expected – very geometric lines. As I removed the thread from the paper I began to take notice of the small holes that remained. I thought they were wonderful and so added more to a few points around the paper.  Suddenly it dawned on me that I could create an entire design solely by poking holes.

I pulled out a smaller piece of paper and after a few hours, ended up with this piece. I love the subtlety of it. As a viewer you are forced to get in close to see what has been created. Beyond that, there is a really great texture that results from the needle piercing the paper. I also love that nothing has been removed or added to the paper to create this piece of art. I feel like larger scale versions are on the horizon.

Day 237 Leafs via Pinholes Detail 1

Day 237 Leafs via Pinholes Detail 2

Arting for 365 Day 254: Goose Chaser (pg. 3)

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Ink and acrylic on May, 1955 Field and Stream magazine

Ink and acrylic on May, 1955 Field and Stream magazine. Bottom right corner and head, cut-out

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I had started in on the third page of my magazine project yesterday, adding areas of paint and going over the layout in my head when I decided I needed to get out and get a whiff of fresh air. I jogged down one of the many bike paths that weave around Ft. Collins and as I turned a corner I saw a huge field filled with geese. There were easily over 100. Gaggles of geese are everywhere around this town and yet I still feel surprised when I come upon a group this size. The geese were feeding and resting and had very little they felt they needed to tell me, so I continued on my jog.

After a short bit I turned around to head back to the studio. As I passed the geese again, I saw a guy walking directly toward them. My imagination went wild. Was this guy a goose whisperer? Or did he plan to run and scream at them? Was he going to pull out a gun and begin shooting? Did he think he could catch one? I was beyond curious.

It turned out to be rather uneventful. The man continued his course directly into the gaggle’s path, but seemed to have no interest in the birds. He simply wanted a shortcut to his destination. The geese took flight, honking all the while – a sound that made me think of what it must be like to listen to hundreds of bagpipes each playing completely different songs. At that moment I remembered the image I had just been working on and knew I had to create the goose chaser.

Arting for 365 Day 253: Fast Car

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Ink and acrylic on May 1955 Field and Stream Magazine (pg 1)

Ink and acrylic on May 1955 Field and Stream Magazine (pg 1)

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

A few days ago I decided to re-appropriate an old Field and Stream magazine. Creating in this manner was really interesting to me and so I quickly decided I would attempt to complete the entire magazine. Whether or not I do is yet to be seen, but for now, it sounds like a great exploration.

Yesterday I decided to get a jump on page one. I didn’t remember to take an original picture until shortly after I began (see below), but you’ll get the idea. If you look closely you can make out the bird driving the car and a few owls toward the bottom. Beyond that is text. 

Day 253 Fast Car Original

Nearly original design by Keith Wood

Keeping in mind that I wanted to keep portions of the original design to build on while aiming to create something that felt entirely new, I began drawing. The finished work incorporates the colors from the cover and repeated chunks of shapes, but it has an even greater focus on flowing lines – which I like to think helps emphasize the moving car. After completing the drawing I decided to cut a section of the bottom text out revealing the next page, which just happens to also be text.

 As for the cover that I originally began with, well it now looks like this:

Day 253 Step 1

Cover with page one peeking through at the top

Arting for 365 Day 252: The Sorry Fate of a Happy Cow

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3 x 5" ink on paper

3 x 5″ ink on paper

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

There they were. A small herd (if seven or eight counts as a herd) of cows. They weren’t on the open range. They weren’t even pinned up in some corral. Instead, these cows were riding in the back of a horse trailer. The cows seemed perfectly content and at ease – happy even – which made me smile. One cow would poke it’s head through a section of the trailer while another would push it aside and then poke its head through. Another rubbed its ears against a side post. None of the cows seemed to be mooing in fear. It seemed as if they were simply enjoying a perfectly gorgeous Saturday afternoon drive around town. The whole scene made me laugh. Until I remembered where I was. I knew better than to think these cows had a happy fate ahead of them. There is little to no hope for a cow growing up in Colorado. Enjoy it while it lasts adorable little bovine, I thought to myself.

Arting for 365 Day 251: Big Fish

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Day 251 Big Fish

Ink and acrylic on 1955 Field & Stream Magazine

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

Appropriation in art is, in the simplest of terms, the practice of using someone else’s imagery or original design to create a new work. Artists from Picasso to an out there artist named Duchamp did it in one form or another. Today there is a funny artist name Wayne White  who takes a unique, graphic design-like approach for doing this, using old landscape paintings he finds and painting words and phrases on them.

I pulled out an old 1955 Field & Stream magazine and used the cover art (by Tom Rost) to create my own piece of appropriated art.  This was a great exploration for me. It allowed my brain to play with space and design a bit. I kept portions of the original fish, while adding blocks of color and line throughout the rest of the piece.I love the idea of keeping a portion of the old to influence what is new – a bit of a metaphor for life, I suppose.

Because I enjoyed this so much, I’m hoping to continue throughout the magazine. In order to keep the images connected, I plan to cut out a portion of the previous page. For example, I cut the top 1/3 of this piece off so that as I paint the next right hand side page, it will become part of the cover art.

I feel like this has the potential to be a really great project. It’s got me, once again thinking about growth and connections. My only regret of day 251’s art, is that I neglected to take a picture of the original cover. That and I feel a bit guilty about covering up so much of an old treasure.

Acrylic adn ink on 1955 Field & Stream Magazine

Acrylic and ink on 1955 Field & Stream Magazine