"The Quiet"

(unavailable....6" x 6".....mixed media on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)

"I feel the quiet in the presence of my books." Invariably, my art and quotes emerge from whatever is going on in my life. And as it happens, I have transformed my upstairs studio in the house to a library. I feel quite pleased and very peaceful surrounded by my books. (All my work is now done in the Buck Hill Studio.)

Today's piece is a compilation of techniques that I have been demonstrating over the past few days. This is a finished piece (6"x 6") using those techniques. 

The text went down first on a black gesso board. I then added papers that including a stamped image over mono printed rice paper. The black and white papers were scraps from the demo posted on Monday. The black and white papers with various lines going from edge to edge set the stage for a horizontal bands type of format.

You can see that rhythm in the piece, but I also broke it up by including papers of both types in the opposite areas...creating a conversation between the two types of papers and also some very interesting shapes.

The ecclesiastical looking stamp works well and established the tone and feel of a "library" piece. The collaged text areas are from a bit of prose by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. My quote emerged from the mood of the piece and the content from "The Wandering Traveler".

So often students will ask how do you know where to place all of those bits of paper. Besides experience and lots of failures...it really, really helps to begin with some type of format (division of space). Just by virtue of the fact that I had decided on horizontal bands really helped to lay papers in a way to emphasize that point. I also paid attention to the lines that were already there and tried to line up additional papers to look like a continuation of the lines already there.  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.