Building Your Nest

We interrupt this painting to bring you:
                    random thoughts which illustrate how art ideas are born.

Building Your Nest

I stumbled across a tiny bird's nest this week while walking the dog.  It was very little and delicate and felt quite precious to hold in my hands.  The wind has been rough all week so obviously this miniature home had fallen victim to the change of seasons.  As I carried it back to the house I began thinking about the way I build my own "nests," some permanent, others temporary and I wondered if the little bird who built this one had any special flourish or additions (it did have some white string and a bit of black plastic in it) that truly made it hers.

I felt sad that I now had the piece because, after all, it was her sanctuary.  "Sanctuary."  That word I have been chewing on all summer, the word I want to explore and examine as the basis for a series of art works.

So, you guessed it, I am building nests.  I am pretending that I am a mother bird and I have carte blanche to build as I see fit using nature in any way I wish.  I am imaging what it would be like to build a human nest and how I would line it with the finer pieces of flotsam and jettsam from my life. And I am wondering if Ms Bird could call a contractor what embellishments would she add to the place that became her sanctuary, her place of peace and renewal.

Thus the mindset of an artist.  Sometimes people ask me where I find an idea.  I think the ideas find me; it is embarrassing to admit that sometimes a lot of incongruent thoughts suddenly weave themselves together into something that just begs to be tried.  And sometimes I have to admit that the purpose of the creation is not to hang on a wall for decor, but to push my skill boundaries and perhaps, just perhaps, prompt some thought on the part of a viewer.

 Real birds do not use armatures for weaving, somehow they slip it all together and tuck and swirl and tuck some more.  I'd love to watch a film of such.  A pretend bird (me) needs a shape to work with.

Ms Bird went to her roladex and called an adobe-master (yeah, right!) to fashion her an adorned abode that will hang in a very fine neighborhood.  More to come, she is just getting started.

A home says a lot about what we do every day and I want to see if I can build this nest from things that we have laying around...the dregs of our "more important" projects and the leftovers we stuff in drawers.  Here you see plastic, ribbon pieces, tee-shirts and paper bags.

This nest will stand up tall, ready to hold more of the things I collect on my ambles out and about: stones, rusted washers, bits of glass and maybe a feather or two.  Is it art?  Heck, I don't know, I'll let you opine on that one.  But I do know that working like this puts me in a meditative state where time doesn't count.  A day where the crock pot needs to be humming before I start playing or we might never have dinner.

Keep sending me your "sanctuary" ideas....more on everything later.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

Cindy

Barn Quilts Offer Stories

Anyone who has driven the back roads of western North Carolina has seen the beautiful (public art) quilt squares gracing many of the old barns.  These often huge replicas of quilt patterns have been painted onto plywood supports and mounted for the simple pleasure of bringing a smile to travelers and neighbors.  I knew that Avery County had a flier that pictured the squares in our area with maps and stories about the patterns.  What I did not know is the back story to this wildly popular and fairly recent form of folk art.

barn off Hwy 221

The story starts with a woman named Donna Sue Groves who decided to decorate her barn in Ohio to honor her mother. Maxine.  She choose to paint a quilt square as her mother, an avid seamstress, had made many quilts.  Not long after she got it up, Donna Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer and soon after lost her job.  Friends and neighbors pitched in to assist Donna Sue and began spreading the idea of gracing more barns with painted quilts.  Somehow the idea caught fire and a grass roots campaign began that spread to Iowa, Illinois, California and Maryland.  The projects began to unite communities as they learned how to create the pieces.  All ages got involved and it became a vehicle not only to learn about ancestry and forebears but to spread a unique form of folk art throughout the countryside.  Donna Sue credits it with giving her a reason to live.  (Although she is a breast cancer survivor she is now, 4 years later, battling another kind of cancer and additional health problems).  Meanwhile, the love she wanted to share keeps spreading.

town of Banner Elk, blazing star pattern

People often chose their patterns based on color, family memories or subjects that held significance for them (stars, geese, wedding rings, trails, trees, mountains and so on.) Some even came up with new designs.

I don't have a barn but that did not keep me from wanting a quilt square for our home.  As western NC picked up the project Yancey, Mitchell and Avery County art groups taught folks how to design and paint the pieces.  A friend of mine, Heidi Fisher, became one of the "go-to" painters for local barns in our area. So of course I approached her about doing one for us.

Heidi and her work

A Ringling Art School grad, Heidi took to barn quilts like a duck to water loving the challenges of size and the precision of composition.  But where the artist really took off was when she was asked to design a custom, family-specific square that did not come from the reference books.  Her imagination and color sense could really come front and center.  So Heidi and I had a chat!!

Voila!  Ta-da! and Oh yeah.....

Heidi and my husband hanging our quilt 

"Bottles and Birds" last night on our deck

We spend a lot of time on our deck enjoying the myriad birds and dispensing with a lesser number bottles of wine.  Thus I asked Heidi to work with the theme of bottles and birds.  She asked our favorites (goldfinch and cardinal) our upholstery colors (gold, reddish) and wanted a photo of where it would hang.  Then I stepped out of the picture until she called to deliver.

Isn't it just the best?  I never, ever would have painted the background purple (actually "California Lilac" by Benjamin Moore) but it is so perfect....it looks like the sky and really changes hue with the light.  Do you see the bottles and birds?  And Heidi says she tucked other little symbols in as well, I have found a "M" or two and enjoy studying the piece for more revelations.

close up

This is on a special board Heidi orders which will withstand the harsh winds and wet winters up here.  The finished size is 4 feet square and we are so very pleased with the results.  To give you some additional perspective, the first barn I shared above is one Heidi did on 9 panels, each 4' square.  She had to get the electric company out with their truck to help with the installation and then got to take a ride herself up in the cherry picker to paint over any dings or screws that could be seen after it was hung.

If this interests you at all you will want to check out one more link, another favorite, to see just how far this idea is spreading.  Julianne Donofrio, Washington DC is a filmmaker and is in the final stretch of a documentary on this project.  She has funded it via "Kickstarter" (another grassroots vehicle) and you can watch her video by clicking on this link.  

So my thank you to Heidi, dear friend and wonderful artist,  for making my wish come true and for inadvertently connecting me to a movement of love and art that is crossing the nation.  I may not have a barn but I feel a kinship with the local farmers who have taken the time to put this cheerful folk art on their barns...it's the kind of public art that brings a smile, lifts the mood and makes one whip lash around saying, "did you see that?"  Come on by and I will gladly share my bottles and my birds with you.

Feeling Lilac,

Cindy

Day #16 All Up From Here

A friend of mine took took a heron photo several years ago and as soon as I saw it I wanted to paint it.  He gave me his permission but somehow I never found time until I accepted the challenge of 30 paintings in 30 days. If I felt intimidated before by this design, I know I was crazy to attempt it with my left hand...but fools rush in. Besides I have a heron holding a lotus (statute) in my yard. and there is something about the duo that appeals.

I actually could not complete this in one day because the necessity of layering the dark areas meant a lot of time spent waiting for paint to dry before the next layer could go on.  Too wet and you end up lifting it off.

A helpful painting tip is to turn everything upside down so that your brain sees 'shapes' instead of 'things' it might remember how to paint.  In my case, I often have to turn the painting around and upside down just because some directions of brush movement are easier that way with my left hand.

I'm calling it done here.  It is so easy to get lost in the tiniest of details and working on a small piece, 7" x 5," seems to call for more little details than if I were painting it larger.  And just so you know, I discovered that in the Chinese culture (where the lotus symbol is very important) if a heron is painted with a lotus it means "May Your Path Be Ever Upward."  What a lovely thought.  Not certain if this is a baby heron or an egret but regardless I think Hershel the photographer should take it as a divine sign that he came upon this scene in the woods and was able to capture it.

If you wish to share this blessing with someone, you can purchase the painting here.  It comes matted to a size of 10 x 8 and can be shipped wherever you choose.  Just this month the 30 in 30s are only $30 + shipping.

and P. S. to Hershel - don't go comparing the painting to your photo!  I do not project my drawings and I take plenty of liberties with color and composition....because I can: I am an artist and I am a woman.

Jetty Park Plein Air

Day #14
My painting gang, the Pieces of 8, meets on Monday and as Florida is at its prime in January, we took a "field trip" up to Jetty Park near Port Canaveral for a day of plein air painting and photography.  The birds really showed off for us and we had a delightful lunch on the river.  But we also managed to squeeze in some art!  After getting as many photos as I could take (from a compromised position, often having someone else push the shutter while I aimed the lens...) I sat down to paint the inlet area between the ocean and the port.

I decided to use just my ink pen since setting up the watercolors was going to be a bit challenging.  My 5" x 5" square was blocked off on my pad so I settled in to enjoy the sun, the water and the birds.  I wasn't totally finished when the gang declared that lunch was in order, so I snapped a photo to finish up at home.  I wanted to add some color as well since the composition was pretty much straight lines and rocks.

I got home late and went into the studio to work.  I found myself relying primarily on memory since photos never seem to capture the entire view.  Now if it were not w/c and if I was not racing a clock, I can see a few changes I would definitely make.  However, my goal was met: a gorgeous day out on the water, painting, eating, exploring and taking mental notes for a future masterpiece.  When I finished the piece at 5:00 pm the sun was down so I had to take the photograph inside which is not ideal.

Honest to Pete, that middle spit of land does not, in reality, sag so sadly into the the water...if it did I am certain the Army Corp of Engineers would be there today!  Just a loss of control on my part.  Some days you win and some days you should try again.  But I got my money's worth from the day of fun, plein air painting AND the attempt. And my left hand did not complain.

Stay tuned...Day #15 is only 24 short hours away.

To see more painters who are in on 30 in 30 go to: www.Lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

P.S.   I don't always get each painting posted into my etsy shop right away, if you are interested in a previous piece let me know and I will get it up asap.  For this month only they are $30 each + shipping, my 30 in 30 for 30$ special.

Chickened Out...

This is it for the chickens...at least for a little while! I have learned several things concentrating on these birds, one of which is that all chickens are not alike.  And I'm not just referring to the variety of breeds; I'm talking about personality.  Really.  I guess I never thought about it but these two legged animals each have a character all their own.  If you don't believe me just try painting them or raising a few.  (Notice here we have a cheerful chick, a busy hen, a mother hen, a bossy hen....and so on.)

Anyway, I enjoy putting a number of related images together in what I refer to as a "painted collage."
Here's my tribute to those hard working hens who keep us in eggs.

 

24" x 24" acrylic on board

 

 

This style of painting gives me the opportunity to play with my backgrounds and surfaces...and while I want the figures to move forward and backward with some depth, I don't have to position them in relation to a horizon line or worry over shadows always cast in the same direction.  Another reason I have fun with this is that I can vary the sizes of my subjects and then, with color, move the viewer around and through the work.  While the layout and composition are a challenge, this time I did not have to paint out any completed subjects. 

 

I'll share a few details for closer viewing.

 

Buying a painted collage is like getting many paintings all in one.  Now it is off to the framer's with this one.  Thanks for sharing my chicken period with me...it's not "over and out," but I have hit the "pause" button!

Cindy

p.s. I am now posting my plein air work for sale in my etsy shop on-line at:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/cindymichaudart   I will blog about the work from time to time but encourage you to check out this site if you are ever interested in a piece.  And, of course, I am in the process of updating all my larger pieces on my website at http://www.cindymichaud.com  Thanks.

 

 



A Painters Quilt

In the mountains of western North Carolina there is a wonderful

movement to place quilt patterns on old barns across the landscape.  These are painted and

range in size from 8 feet x 8 feet to a smaller 2' x 2' depending on their placement.

Artists recreate some of the vintage patterns and tie them into the wishes of the landowners.

Sometimes folks want a custom pattern that reflects their family or lifestyle.

It was the latter that inspired me to see if I could create a pattern of my own.

You may remember my grid and planning I did killing time on an airplane:

I had decided to use the shapes of wine bottle and birds as those represent two of our

favorite deck 'activities.'  Everything must be gridded as if you were to plan

a pattern for straight line pieceing of materials.

Next I had to transfer this pattern to a canvas carefully marking off a similar grid and sticking to the formula.  The pink color has nothing to do with my plan...it was paint used to

cover up a painting-gone-awry so I could recycle the expensive canvas.  I painted in the "muslin" color to get me started in visualizing where I was going with color.

Slowly and carefully I painted in each square, or portion thereof, and later I went back and did some of the background "fabric" in a slightly different tone just so it would have the look of cloth.

Obviously my canvas was not square so I had to fill it in and write the name of our home as well as the name I gave the pattern on the space below.  It took about 2-3 coats of paint over everything.

And ta-da!  It's not on a barn for sure but it is in the mountains of western Carolina.

I think we will enjoy knowing that our "Bottles & Birds" can be added

to the quilt tour...in our neighborhood at least.



Mr. and Mrs.

I love cardinals!  Not as arrogant as the blue jay but full of color and personality.  I did not know that they got their name from the red robes worn by the Roman Catholic Cardinals; and I have heard that they are faithful to their mates (no proof of this).  Unlike some of our feathered friends the cardinals sing all year long and I like that too.  Another motivation for painting this winsome pair is that the logo for our little village is the red cardinal.  Oops, and I confess: I had to paint another pair because the first rendition went flying out to a new home....sold in a flash.  Hopefully I will have to launch a third version soon!  Purchase here...sorry, SOLD

This piece is 10 x 8, mixed media on board.  That means that on a cradeled piece of birch (framed with a painted edge about 3/4" deep) I put many layers of gesso sanding between each one.  As I got the surface closer and closer to glass I added some acrylic to the gesso and put several layers of mossy green on the surface.  I then draw the birds on with graphite and tease out a bit of color, go back in with additional graphite and voila!  it's done.  Wish it were that fast.  Hope you find some cardinals where ever you go today.