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Monday, August 22, 2016

Learning to Ski in Summer

Deb's Gray Wool Coat   mixed media on paper   28 x 21
refers to a dormant learning period in which new ideas and new lessons have an opportunity to gradually "plant" themselves into your being....a way to process new information before putting it to use.  My ideas seems to follow this path.  My friend and fellow artist Debrah Butler has a most amazing embroidered wool winter coat.  From the first moment I saw her in it, I knew that I had to work this idea.  By the time I asked her, Spring was on its way, and the notion of wearing the coat in a pose, felt way too creepy hot.  The following winter, I shot a few very unplanned photos of her at the end of a way-too-long meeting.  We were both anxious to get moving along in the day.  Oh well.  The ideas took hold, and I simply couldn't wait to work with them.  And so....here is Deb in her wool coat...a picture completed just as the thermometer approaches 90 degrees.

The work started out in vine charcoal.  The biggest challenge I faced was the huge gray form of the coat.  My personal approach was that I needed to break up this form, in order to incorporate the background into a "oneness".  The background sold, as well as the patterns were printed onto the paper with relief ink.  I am satisfied. 

I guess we will be learning to swim this winter.

2 comments:

Sonia said...

I really enjoy looking at your work - sorry I don't comment more often. I like the looseness you achieve and how you manage to incorporate printed elements. I use linoprinted papers in my collage work and occasionally as a background feature in watercolour, but sometimes have trouble deciding when enough is enough!

Linda Hutchinson Art said...

Thank you for your comment, Sonia.

Yes...enough is enough....always very difficult. That is why the final stages of a work sometimes take weeks. Baby steps at the end. I try to see each work as a design, rather than reality. So, in essence, the work is being evaluated as an overall design, minus the reality of the subject.

Work is stimulating, but very difficult.

Good luck with yours..............