Day 276, 1955 Field and Stream Magazine, ink and acrylic. Illustrator not credited in magazine.
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Like Twelve Dancing Princesses who sneak out in the night
But now there were only five
Gowns dancing, swishing
Thick blades of grass
Under the moonlight
Voices sing
Until the wee hours of morn
Original pg 9 of 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.
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.
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:
Cover with page one peeking through at the top
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 and ink on 1955 Field & Stream Magazine
Micah Richardson 