Be Kind! It's a new year of Art

I haven't had the time to blog but HAVE been busy with my art. I looked, longingly at my easel and "just started" artwork during the holidays while I painted stick people on ceramics...

Watersong

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE making people happy by giving them my creations for my shop. Without that work, I couldn't afford a studio to work in! I would never put that down and say it is less BUT, I don't have the full creative process going on when I paint like that. It is far more emotional and thought provoking when I create my own art. What I have done so far is miraculous considering the time I had to get a full body of work together.

My thoughts really need medication but I choose Art to be that drug. During the holidays we have to deal with family, old friends and possibly lots more garbage for our brain waves than we can stand. It all makes me think waaaaaay too much.  But when it comes to producing Art.....that works for me!
I had a close friend say something so horribly unkind to me that it was like a cold slap in the face. We have been friends many years but were estranged for several years. I know that "becoming" who you really are and positive growth is a constant, never ending process. It is like recovery of sorts. You are always working towards keeping a healthy balance. I am too old to have rude, ill mannered people in my life. I mean....why? I have a sweet little studio and business, a husband that adores me, grandchildren and my bills paid. Why then do we "allow" someone to hurt us then work on that relationship? I love this person, she is my past filled with good memories and some really bad ones. I did the artwork above based on how easy it is to be unkind to people you are supposed to be the closest to. The ones who should receive the most respect are the ones we seem to tread the hardest on.  We are all guilty of it. I want to make sure that even that evil Wal-Mart lady has issues she is dealing with and the least I can do is be kind to her. We all have a story.

One sad artist

In the last three years I have lost my Mom, Dad, Mother in law and now one of Glenn's aunts today. I totally understand that life ends, we are not here forever...I know that. But it still hurts my heart to see my father in law cry. I can't "fix" it so I paint. I painted this when my sweet little mother in law died last year. It has layers of papers and thread, painted with acrylic and smudges of charcoal. When I look at it, she seems so sad and far away. It has been a sad day today and hopefully tomorrow I will feel better. I produced 5 paintings this past week which is a miracle! I usually take weeks on just one. Guess sadness motivates my creativity. Strange but true. 

"Grief is the saddest of companions, the beast of the heart."

 

Mixed Media "Visions"

This is my latest creation called "Visions". I have layers of papers and tissue to create the texture then drew the tree and moon. I found a little girl from a mixed media piece that I attacked and trashed. (You KNOW you have broke wild on a work of art that you were sick of!). I had this girl in a "nest" of papers with canvas eggs. I put her on the moon then put Golden golden iridescent all over the canvas. It made the whole picture look foggy and mysterious. 

 I then did what I always do and set it where I could look at it for a few days. As I was working on another piece, a certain scripture came to me but I didn't know the exact words, so I googled it and found Acts chapter 2, verse 17 where it says: Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. It was hauntingly beautiful and the perfect finish for the painting I call "Visions"

Layers of texture

I have tried to set aside a day a week to really work on my art, which may not sound like enough but I have to fill orders for my store the rest of the time! This week I worked on finishing three different works.  I begin a piece of art by layering on papers and gel medium then creating texture with fabric, stencils or kitchen tools.

This mixed media assemblage took a very long time, I mean, weeks. I put papers, texture with gels then fabrics. I set it aside and stared at it for a week but...... I hated it.  I added an old doilie, I still hated it. I took it in the workshop and sprayed the whole thing grey. Why grey? I thought any neutral color would connect the crazy look I started with. I sat it aside to think on it some more. I was freaked out that I had wasted all this handmade paper but the spray paint had made the paper look almost luminous! THAT was when I got the idea of adding silver, pearls and other "soft" fabrics, it started to come together at last. I named it "Behold". It is romantic, deep and somewhat feminine.  All that to say....Never give up! Some of the most botched, scary, crazy beginnings come out to be treasured pieces. Set your frustrating projects aside and just watch them. I promise it will come to you what to do. The artwork below is called "Elohim". I used shredded newspaper, tiny slivers of my grand children's pictures and words in the cross that covers the canvas. There is the Lord's Prayer in Italian in the middle. This one I did with such a purpose and direction. It was finished in one day...go figure how THAT happened!

I usually have a mood or emotion that I start with but very seldom name any until it has the finishing touches.  I only have 30 more pieces of art to go in order to have enough to do my opening show in the Spring. I am trying hard not to flip out and wish I could create artwork easily but it seems to go through a process that I can't control. OH! and did I mention I love really big canvases, thus making art time consuming as well? I could use some tips on how to get substrates started and set them aside for my AHA moments to come.

Mixed Media Mayhem

Hi All,

This is my first blog for Tammi Barnes Art. I am having an art show at the Dunn Center at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC in the Spring of this year and need well over 40 pieces to show. I am now officially freaking! I have been covering my work spaces with strange and wonderful wood, wax, glues and mediums, experimenting with all kinds of crazy textures. The more texture the better. I love to run my hands over it. I had my heart broken by my grown son this summer and some of my newer work has been all dark and scary, but alas, most of my work says "something" about what I am processing through my heart. I hope to check in a little each day and let you know what I am working on! I love sharing techniques and fun tips so share with me! Tootles!