New Opportunities = New Blog Posts!




Hearts Afire (photographed in my bathroom!)

  I started Collagitation blog in 2010, to observe my 60th birthday year with a collage-a-day project. Although I only made it through about 8 months before exhaustion did me in, I produced what was, for me, an astounding number of artworks. All of which are here on the blog. My posting has fallen way off since then, as has my productivity, except for the book illustrations in 2012 (see post from October, 2012.)


Happily, honest effort is never wasted, and in 2011, my collages got me juried into the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. I posted some of them on my member page on the AAP website, where they were seen by the co-manager of the Backstage Bar at Theater Square. In April she emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in exhibiting my work there in October 2013. YES!!

Backstage Bar is petite establishment at the back of the Cabaret Theater in Pittsburgh’s “cultural district.” It also opens onto Katz Plaza, the heart of the district (and which, by the way, has granite eyeball seats designed by the late Louise Bourgois, visible in the link.) Backstage Bar caters especially to before- and/or after-performance patrons, not only from the Cabaret Theater itself, but also the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in season, the Civic Light Opera during the summer, as well as a variety of musical and dramatic performances taking place in the many venues within walking distance. (You can check all these out using the sidebar links from either of the sites above.) In other words, it is a fun venue with a cultural twist, situated in a fun part of town, a wonderful spot to enjoy a drink or meal with friends, as I did recently, at the al fresco tables on the plaza. And perfect for getting the work of local artists, which they consistently display, before the eyes of people who appreciate art in many forms. What an opportunity!

The catch is that my detailed collages, designed on a small scale so I could work them up as quickly as possible, and framed behind glass, are not the ideal works to display on a 30-foot long wall above a row of bistro tables. Thus, I was asked to exhibit larger work, which I assured them would be no problem! I estimate I will need a minimum of 12-15 pieces, ranging in size from 12 x 16 to 24 x 36 inches, to do justice to the space. I have all the way to October, so NO WORRIES, right??? I plan on doing mostly paintings, some of them based on my collage designs, although I may do a few large collages as well. Time to dust off those tubes of acrylics...

I started in April, 6 months out, on a schedule of at least 2 paintings a month, to reach 12 pieces by the end of September. Presently, I am (sort of) one painting behind. However, the more I paint, the faster and (I hope) better I am getting, and I have some tricks up my sleeve for when I get really desperate. It took me a few weeks to get over that feeling of panic every time I started to work, not having painted on any large scale in decades. Now, I am enjoying the heck out of it and can’t wait to get to work each evening when I get home from my day job! Hearts Afire, above, is the first acrylic painting to be completed (12 x 16"). It is based on an ATC I made years ago.

So, Dear Reader, you are welcome to follow along on my latest adventure, Will She Finish Enough Paintings for the Show or Will She Have to Leave Town in Disgrace Come October?!?

The Amazing Architecture of Antoni Gaudi in National Geographic

illustration by Fernando G. Baptista & Shizuka Aoki

Having been long enthralled by the soaring, intricate beauty of gothic architecture, I’ve never much cared for the idiosyncratic art nouveau architecture of Antoni Gaudi. It always seemed a bit creepy to me. (It came to mind the first time I watched “Alien” and saw the huge skeletons on the abandoned planet.) Well, the December issue of National Geographic has totally revised my attitude about the work of Gaudi. It contains an article, “Gaudi’s Masterpiece,” by Jeremy Berlin, about the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. This amazing cathedral is a massive structure with a footprint of 48,438 sq. ft., projected to be completed in 2026, 144 years after work started.

The NG article quotes professor of mechanical engineering Adrian Bejan on Gaudi:  “He understood that nature is constructed by laws of mathematics. What is strongest is inherently lightest and most efficient, and therefore most beautiful.” Bejan calls Gaudi a "tightrope walker on the line bridging art and science.”

Gaudi conceived the columns of the nave to represent a forest of trees that would bear the weight of the building from inside, without the need for the gothic flying buttresses. One of the main interior columns in Gaudi’s cathedral supports a load of 1,138 pounds per square inch, compared to a combined 697 psi for one 3-column flying buttress on Cologne Cathedral. The details of how this is achieved are beautifully presented in double sided 4-panel foldout in the magazine, illustrated by Fernando G. Baptista and Shizuka Aoki, from which I scanned the above picture. This fold-out is a work of art in itself.

Gaudi was, of course, a visionary. To quote the NG article again, Gaudi’s “belief in the beautiful efficiency of natural engineering clearly anticipated the modern science of biomimetics.” Take a look at this illustration below from the foldout, showing how Gaudi adapted the structure of a leaf to create the roof of a school. Is this not amazing and beautiful? The building looks like forest structure out of a fairy-tale, so perfect for a place to shelter and nurture children. (I googled an image of the actual building. It really is small, one-story, but its situation in a highly urban setting belies the woodland look.)

illustration by Fernando G. Baptista & Shizuka Aoki

I’ll be looking at Gaudi with new eyes from now on.

All pictures in this post © 2010 National Geographic Society.

Le Ciel

 

Where is my blog? From Collagitation to Defunctation?

Biting off more than I can chew is not a new experience for me. A collage a day? Why ever not? Maximum sleep deprivation for a year? No problem! So began my dual adventure of getting my chops back after a decade of minimal art activity, and putting up a blog that would actually not be an embarrassment.  I felt up to the challenge, embarking on my 60^th birthday in April, 2010. And I did pretty well for awhile!  Sure, the strain started telling after several months (I also work full time and look after my elderly mother, who lives with me) but I soldiered on, refusing to admit I’d stepped into a bog until the quicksand was up to my neck. I bragged to my Mom about how well I was doing on so little sleep, to which she replied, “Oh, you’ll just age faster.” Just the thing any woman wants to hear! I had my first major melt-down in early August. I didn’t post any new art for about 5 days, which put me into throes of angst. When I resumed my daily efforts, I went from colorful parrots and classical ladies to skulls, skeletons and my own version of the grande macabre.  I figured this was because Halloween was only a few months away. In fact, I now realize it was probably my subconscious sending me dire warnings about the un-sustainability of my new life-style. 

A couple more melt-downs followed, this time met with resignation rather than angst. By mid-October, I was ready to admit that making collage-a-day was probably no longer viable. But good things had happened too:  I’d amassed a body of work the likes of which I’d never produced before, ever; my work has been accepted by my favorite Pittsburgh art gallery, Galerie Chiz; and, last but not least, I've made new friends all over the globe via sharing my artwork online. 

I am still creating, of course, just not at my previous pace. The past few weeks have been crowded with calligraphy free-lance, and with the big holiday season fast approaching, I will have many other activities demanding my attention.  I conceived Collagitation as my art blog, and that is certainly its primary mission. But I have decided to include other things from time to time that catch my fancy, and which I think might be of interest to a wider audience. The emphasis will remain on the visual but will go beyond my own artwork. I think this will be fun…

Meanwhile, I revamped the blog a bit, to get the sour taste of the last few posts out of the air. And here, finally is a new piece, featuring a lovely blue bird I found on The Graphics Fairy.

Glorious New Hat

Hats, it seems, are not as popular as they once were. Millinery shops are a thing of the past. But sometimes, one can understand why. This piece was inspired by Three Muses theme this week, which is... hats.

The elegant skellie lady is from Itkupilli, other elements from Dover, background text is pages from a vintage German book.

Castles in the Air

Ah, that felt good! The first new collage since days and days!

Flood

Tonight's art has no bearing (that I know of) on what has been uppermost in my thoughts today. Like opera lovers the world over, I am saddened by the announcement of Joan Sutherland's death. Dame Joan has been such a fixture, a sort of benign, presiding Goddess over the realm of opera, that it just didn't occur to me she would ever die. Surely, she was much too young? She was 83, an age she achieved secretly, behind all our backs, while we listened over and over to the flights of bel canto magic on her numerous recordings made over the decades of her spectacular prime. Well, all good things must end, and here again is one of those occasions when the world turns, and another Immortal goes to her just rewards, never to return. Brava, Joan, and farewell.

Autumn Dirge

I was too tired last night to finish the piece I'd started (which should give me a leg-up on tonight), so here is something I whipped up on Polyvore during lunch at work today.

Nocturnalia

I missed a friend's birthday party today, due to feeling extremely crappy. Napped during the afternoon but didn't help. I think it's from the past stressful week. And I misspelled "stilettos." Sloppy! This too shall pass.

Collage for Saturday, August 21: Scream Fountain

Collage for Tuesday, Aug. 17: Folly of Youth

Thinking up titles for artwork can be fun, or a pain in the butt. It's a process I usually enjoy, until I come up against a stumper. Especially since I'm often choosing a title in the wee hours when all I want to do is finish and go to bed. I find I am not satisfied with the title for this piece. OK, it may be folly for a young woman to run around half naked with a snake around her neck--didn't she hear what happened to Cleopatra? But "Folly of Youth" seems kind of a cliche. I can still remember myself that feeling of immortality that young people often exhibit (I was a particularly foolish youth) simply because they are so far away from death, time-wise. This work is another memento mori, but I already used that phrase for a title. So I guess I'll let the current title stand. Though I'll admit, looking at her youthful beauty, that there is probably a good bit of Envious Age going on too.

The painting is Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo.

3SIXTY5 for July 3: Es In Iniquitate

One of those pieces that takes its name randomly from some text in it. The lazy artist syndrome.

3SIXTY5 for June 29, 2010: Unicorn

3SIXTY5 for Sunday, June 27, 2010; Santo_omingo

Having recently read an article on the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, I decided I must somehow streamline my art-making methods if I'm going to survive the year. Easier said than done! This and my swan piece were supposed to be a new direction, but this one looks a lot like my other work--and I still didn't get to bed before midnight. I must learn to love empty space!! Randel Plowman at acollageaday.blogspot is a master of artfully deployed "blank" space, which is never really empty, just not cluttered. Actually, my cluttered collages are my "signature style", but  it takes too much time to manage all that imagery for daily production. So I will try to become a diva of editing--at least for now.