Thursday, July 5, 2012

"Recurring Memories"





















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"Recurring memories form the rhythm of my mind." The only part of this quote appearing on this glass work is "memories". However, the quote and the image reference my fond memories of living most of my life in Texas. I see this image everyday in the hill country landscape. Recurring memories can be very soothing or very troubling. It all depends on which ones become the focus.

As I have mentioned before, my mixed media work influences my glass work and vice versa. Creating a glass work like this is very much the same as cutting up paper and reassembling them to form one piece. The separate pieces of glass are texturized with glass powders and glass line paint and then fired at a full fuse. The pieces then become part of your selecting process. Solid opaque colors were also included to create a contrast of opacity and transparency. In the end, there is three layers of glass and then the glass is fired again at a full fuse.

The mixed media equivalent of this is determining how to texturize your papers and then reassembling them on another piece of paper which would be referred to as your support. It is wise to paint the support with solid paint, Speedball Printing Ink and a brayer, or using silver leaf to be part of the support. And there are many other ways to begin as well. One book I would like to recommend is Acrylic Innovation by Nancy Reyner. (Not to be confused with Acrylic Exploration which was her first book.) This one is superior and includes some of the top artists in the field of mixed media. Each artist goes through a part of their process with a step-by-step analysis.

No matter which medium is chosen...the same principles apply. The artist must think about division of space, edges (straight and erratic....hard and soft), corners, values, texture vs. no texture. It is also wise to remember this quote..."When in doubt, leave it out." And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

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