A Bit of Color

February can be beautiful with its bare gray trees, and as it is now with a new snowfall, white on the ground, and more snow coming down visible in the glow of the streetlight. Yet at this time of year, it is pleasing to see the colors of another season.




I found a painting, unframed, on a low shelf at the front of the ArtJam gallery. I had seen it the day before in the Town Topics newspaper. It was pictured in black and white and headed an article about HomeFront's pop-up gallery. The painting was not very interesting to me, but when I saw the real painting I had a very different reaction.






The picture made me happy. The colors made all the difference. As I smiled at it,  I decided very quickly to buy it. I was an early bird at the event getting a first look around and I was not going to chance losing this sweet piece of art to someone else.

So I bought it.

Art for a Good Cause

ArtJam is an art exhibit that HomeFront puts on approximately every year. It benefits ArtSpace, a program that gives homeless or otherwise troubled kids and adults both support and a place to make art. 50 % of all sales goes to ArtSpace and the other 50% to the artist.

So guess who is taking part with collages and ceramics? Yes, I am. I framed 3 of the recently made collages quickly today and dropped off a box of ceramics pieces at the pop-up gallery space in Palmer Square here in Princeton. They were first approved by Ruthann Traylor and her exhibition staff from photographs I sent to her.

Ms. Traylor was very welcoming to me, although the gallery was busy with people coming and going and interrupting the entry process. She also had compliments for my pieces, and that meant a lot to me.

Information about ArtJam:

https://www.facebook.com/events/876678275732368/

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x-country skiing in the Adirondacks with my oldest son

The studio has cold clay, cold water and a chilly walk to get to it on these frigid days of February. But I have been working there sometimes, when I'm not skiing (actually just twice) or sitting close to the wood stove (a lot). I must share some exciting developments in the studio realm that are new for me - very soon.

New Collages

I have been making art inside the house, not in the studio. I made four collages.

I used to do a lot of collage. It was very freeing, as you could develop the composition just from random pictures cut from magazines or newspapers and come up with something you could never have planned.

I did the cutting and gluing on all of the four collages simultaneously. Then I braved the ice, and painted them in the studio with acrylic paints. Today I finished, at least as much as I dare to do. The more I add paint, the less you can see the collage images underneath.

All of the collages share the same background theme. They use one or more "Modern or Nonmodern" educational posters from the 1970's. Discards from a public school, they are black and white and a nice stiff surface to work with collage. I cut them up considerably, then added color pictures from other sources.

It is a mystery what they mean. However, there is a focus suggested by the titles. for instance, Blown has ancient Egyptian and a modern glassblower as well as a boy shooting a pistol.

There is a general theme for all the collages of contrasting more modern images of machines, a watch, a plane, a washing machine, a wood stove with images from the past, including ancient and so called primitive peoples.












Mainly, they are playful and meant to stimulate thoughts in the viewer. For me, my own collages can reveal hidden or subconscious feelings and thoughts of which I am unaware. I don't know what they're trying to tell me now. Perhaps after further analysis, all shall be revealed.