Pierre Bonnard, Gardens and Photography

Pierre Bonnard is an artist that I have long admired, not only for his paintings of gardens but for his photographs of them as well.  While his paintings of gardens are lush and colorful his photographs of them are dark, painterly and mysteriously seductive. 

Bonnard's exploration of the photographic snapshot or l’instantanée is something that I have thought of while working on Moon Gate.  I decided to look at his photographs and paintings this morning. Even without color in these images you can feel the warmth of the sun and the cool of the shade and hear things rustling in the bushes and birds singing.  Color is wonderful but sometimes its absence is even better.

Side Note

George Marks

Lisa di Stefano

On my trips to Louisiana I've meet some amazing people.  Some of these people are in the arts.  The gallery that I own with my husband, Matt Scheiner, will be showing the work of two Louisiana artists that I have meet since starting work on LPP.  Lisa di Stefano and George Marks both from South Louisiana will be featured in our next exhibit, "In A World", which opens on August 20, 2015.  "In A World" is on view from August 20 to September 26, 2015.  Gallery hours are Thurs - Sat from noon to 6 pm and by appointment.

If you are in Houston on Saturday, August 22nd please join us for the artists' reception at Gallery Jatad, 1517 Blodgett St, Houston 77004 from 3 - 6 pm or just come by sometime during the exhibit.  

Reference Photos

When I graduated from the University of Texas in 1988, photography was the primary medium even though I started art school intending to concentrate in sculpture and drawing.

Photography has continued to be an integral part of my work as in these reference photographs from Jim Leonard's Louisiana Iris farm in Lafayette, LA to be used for paintings and drawings.

I took the two requisite life drawing classes at UT and one oil painting class when I was studying architecture at Texas A & M.  Most of what I have learned about these mediums has been through trial and error and observing other artists' works in galleries and museums.  While drawing, painting and sculpture have been the major part of my work for several years I have continued to use photography and to a certain extent a photographer's eye in most of my work since 1988. 

Last fall in the exhibit "From Here to There" at Gallery Jatad, photography was the primary medium in that body of work.  "A Collection of Silence" will include at least one photograph in the exhibit and French & Michigan will have a few photographic images on hand that are part of this series of work for the LPP. It is stimulating to be exploring this medium again using digital images instead of film to create work and to learn new editing and printing techniques that do not require a dark room and chemicals.

Working, Working, Working

Above are details of two additional drawing pieces that I am working on besides the large drawing, the paintings and the audio for "A Collection of Silence".  People often say "It must be fun to be an artist".  It is fun or enjoyable most of the time - collecting and synthesizing information, creating a concept and problem solving how to make the idea become a real physical piece of art are the most enjoyable parts of the process for me.  The drawing, painting, constructing a piece are enjoyable too but can be monotonous and are very labor intensive. There is usually a point in each piece that the process becomes a lot of work before the desired end stage feels close. 

I like to work on multiple pieces at once so that I can take a break from one and work on another.  When I am going back and forth between pieces I can look at each one from a fresh perspective.  Every artist is different. Some artists like to start one piece and finish it before starting another.  The most "fun" aspect of being an artist for me is being able to choose how you will approach your goals because there are many different ways of making an idea into a object.

Process

Each part of the large drawing that I am working on is sketched in with contour lines then articulated with lines and/or shading. Some areas will be left sketchy while other areas will be fixed and refined two or three times working on contrast and detail. Then any smudges erased from the negative areas and a final sealer is sprayed over the whole drawing.  I am working on roughly 40+ drawings  of various sizes that will be assembled to create Moon Gate.

The detail above is the first and second states and will have one or two more layers of drawing before being sealed. 

Assembling and Titling

This large drawing that I am working on is a slow piece to emerge in the final state.  The final piece will be 8 x 9' and essentially 3 large drawings taped together.  Each large drawing is a grid of smaller sections.  It takes time to move the elments around and get the balance right and to then permanently assemble the pieces to prepare for installation.

I have not yet decided on a title but Moon Gate is a possibility.  Sometimes the titles happen before the piece is finished and are instinctive.  Other times several words or phrases for a title seem close but nothing fits perfectly until just before the piece is finished.  

This drawing is about the intersection of native and non-native plants and how culture and people have  intertwined with the land to create the landscape of Louisiana as it is today.  This development has happened over thousands of years with Native Americans, colonists, farmers and contemporary gardeners as well as natural influences all adding something to beauty of contemporary wild and domestic landscapes and the areas that are a mixture of both.

Looking Back at Italian Landscapes

Private Garden in Castiglion Fiorentino

Sycamore Tree

Edge of a Field in Tuscany

In 1990 I was working with a medium format camera and experimenting with pushing film and black and white printing protocols. I can see some similarities with recent landscape photographs taken in Louisiana even though they were taken with a digital camera and if the image is altered at all it is with digital filters. 

Since most of the photographs that I have taken recently are references for drawings or paintings, I have begun to look at the older photographs from Italy with a different purpose.  Some of these images could be beautiful as drawings.

I am still interested in a lot of the same things: the plants growing on the edge of fields, the structure of trees and discovering gardens in unlikely places.

Parts is Parts

As I work on drawings, paintings and audio, I also have to think about parts and hardware that will be needed for the LPP exhibits.  I am lucky enough to have found an ottoman for the paper rooms, Variorum I and II, that is almost exactly what I imagined for the interior of these installations.  The ottomans will be placed inside of the rooms so that viewers can sit inside to view the drawings that will cover the walls in layers.  The walls will be constructed of 3 layers of canary paper. Some of the drawing will face the exterior and some the interior of the walls.  

These neo Victorian ottomans are perfect for the Variorums.  The idea of using a minimal contemporary reworking of the circular conversation sofa as part of this installation seems very apropos.  

Searching for Silence

Working on paintings, drawings and audio right now with the help of my studio guardian Milla Belle.

I have been editing audio recordings and thinking about the idea of finding a place where only natural sounds can be heard - no motors from cars, boats, planes or trains.  It is not easy to find such a place.  I have come close but I  can almost always hear road noise in the distance or a plane or boat come by while I am recording.  

This search for silence is similar to the idea of finding a place to see the stars with no interference from the "glow" of a city or town or street lights.  

My audio installation at French and Michigan will be about this search for silence in Louisiana.  I have collected recordings from fields, nature preserves and parks, neighborhoods and churches late at night and early in the morning and sometimes in odd places near the freeway between cities.  

Botanical Variorum

Sections of the Botanical Variorum coming together.