I have been working hard getting ready for the exhibit but I get distracted--and tiredness begets silliness (which I love). Along with frames, I ordered some acrylic inks. I really wanted to play with the ink in those cute bottles--there was a
Pottery Barn catalog nearby, and an ashtray with butts. These are pages from the catalog, the blue ink, used cigarette filters, and an ink pen. Recycling? Yes. And no clean-up!
These are some of the pages--I omitted the pole-dancing (actually, beam-dancing) woman. I'm not sure using a catalog in this way is okay but it has my name on it (and I like their products). I'll call this "The Blue Women of (my town)" or "While You were Away." DWR, Frontgate--I get all the catalogs.
Hmmm...........homemade recycled Holiday gifts for friends; everyone gets a catalog with surprise pages.
I don't know which I like best; I feel like the woman at the top. Now it's back to work, playtime is over.
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OMG! These are fantastic!! I agree-I love them all --but the one at the top is my favorite too---she looks whipped from a long day at work...is that a dark beer she is having to unwind? She looks too zoned out to even drink it. lol. This is just brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks Celeste--these were fun. I think the woman at the top is already unwound--doesn't need that tall dark beer. She was my first ink-play; then I became energized and tumbled on beds and swung from chandeliers. I laughed out loud while doing these.
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud while viewing these! They are fun and well done. My favorite is the bottom one. Her pose as she swings on the chandelier is perfect. It's obvious those 3 bottles of wine are probably quite empty...
ReplyDeleteDid you use the used cigarette butts for your "brush". I looked for them in the artwork, but couldn't see any - hence my assumption.
Good luck in your show preparations.
-Don
OK, I have to tell you this. The word verification for my previous comment was "phags". How funny was that based on my question about the butts?
ReplyDelete-Don
Hi Don and thanks. I tore the filters off the butts--the filters were great for dipping in the full bottle and using as a brush. Ear plugs would work, too--whatever's handy. I didn't notice the beer and wine until these were finished; I chose these pages because of their light-colored backgrounds. The chandelier-swinger is a bit close to the centerpiece.
ReplyDeletePhags and coffin-nails--haven't heard those terms in a while.
Hallie, You never cease to amaze me with your zany creativity! Clever too! It took me a moment to realize the top one was painted in. It looked like someone had an eclectic taste in fine art and interior decorating. They're all festive and the one in the chandelier is way too funny!
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderfully playful and a little snotty. I love snotty! I love poking fun at the seemingly perfect. The impossibly beautiful interiors here would fall apart in about 15 minutes of real life as represented by your alterations. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHi Peggy. When I get really tired, zaniness keeps me going. I can actually imagine setting up the camera and doing the chandelier trick (a few years back, a few pounds lighter, and with no one around). Maybe that's the authentic me--I pretend to be shy.
ReplyDeleteDavida, thanks. I hadn't thought of being snotty but that's probably part of the fun. Maybe I was looking at PB's interiors; then looking at mine--papers on the dining room table, too many books, dog treats and natural peanut butter on the kitchen counter--I do love poking fun at the perfect. Mine looked perfect before we actually moved in (I have photos--looked like Metropolitan Home).
Hallie- These are all fabulous! I love them all. I do especially love the woman in the chandelier and it's a great way to end the series. The second one, the woman jumping in the bed is so cool! I imagine it to be you celebrating seeing light at then end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteThe blue is a perfect complement to the neutral interiors. What fun!
These are absolutely great! Fun! Frivolous! Creative! Where oh where did your dark mysterious side go? I like the top one too, but I think the last one is awfully clever - I would never have though of that. When I first looked at your post, I thought you had a large doll that you had carried around the house. :)
ReplyDeleteThese brought a smile to my face. It brings the idea of interior decorating to a new level. I can chuckle because that's what I do for a paycheck. I'll forever see the blue woman as part of my portfolio creations.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam. These comments are so interesting. I hadn't thought about it but neutral colors with one blue wall would describe my MD house in the 70's. It has been a long time since I jumped.
ReplyDeleteHi Dan. The dark side is just one click away from humor. This is what I do when I only have a few minutes--when I know I have a deadline. (p.s. My large doll doesn't have boobs. Ha!)
Hi Margaret. I'm glad you smiled. Make sure the chandeliers are firmly attached to the ceilings. I've always drawn in catalogs and magazines--doesn't everyone? This was the first time using color and theme. I hope you find your summer place in good shape.
ReplyDeletewhat a riot! your humor shines through although I am embarrassed to admit I enjoy looking through the PB catalogs! Your figures would make their catalogs even better... there is a marketing idea waiting to happen here....
ReplyDeleteHi Robin. I don't just look through their catalogs--I order...linen shades, linen pillow covers, curtain rods, bedding, etc. In fact, I have an earlier version of the pillow covers shown in the top photo. They're stored in the shed right now, but they'll come out again.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic imagination! Not only the images, but the tools you used. My favorite is the bottom one, I've swung on a few chandeliers in my life time, (not literately, but close to it) and this one brings back some fun, but embarrassing memories!
ReplyDeleteEva, it's a pleasure to know someone who swung on chandeliers! Maybe it's not too late for me--I'll need a ladder; then the Rescue Squad.
ReplyDeletehaha, i go away for a bit and return to be amazed and delighted by these iconoclastic pieces! I see a woman (turned ankle) high as a kite, well, as a chandelier, wine bottles below. Others are cavorting and disporting in assorted ways.
ReplyDeleteYet despite all the fun and the light-hearted spirit in which these images were made, there is something serious and sad about (guess it must just be me).
The female figure is like a blue Caspar the Ghost. She seems to haunt the immaculate home rather than inhabit it. The possessions are more substantial than the owner. (Is she the owner? Or a home invader?).
She lies in the bed but is too insubstantial to be supported by the pillows and find true rest.
And yet she succeeds in reversing our mind-set. She is an alien blue in the idealized beige of the perfect home. Yet she is the only living, moving thing that addresses with her gaze. Ghostly as she is, she is real. It is the rooms that are fake. It is the dream of perfect domesticity that is illusion.
Brilliant, Hallie.
Wow, Harry. I looked at these earlier today and noticed how transparent and not "of the surroundings" she is--light as air.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a ghost home invader--one who plays in model homes and leaves no trace. I hope my mother is cavorting someplace (she'd pick a tidy beautiful home). And she would cavort! I find this thought strangely uplifting.
Yes, I can see the sadness although I created these as play. (I thought of a woman wasting all day on housework; then having an overwhelming urge to ruin everything--I've been there.) I think artists are filled with emotions up to the eyeballs--we can laugh or we can cry. I've tried to lighten up with age; maybe I'll be light as air one of these days (and cavorting). Your comments are wonderful; thank you.
Having read through all the comments, I'll just say ditto!
ReplyDeleteImmediate response was to your amazing wit! I may 'borrow' this idea if it's ok with you to use as a lesson sometime with my art students. It would make a fun sketchbook assignment.
Hi Indigomar. Borrow away! I find blank sketchbooks intimidating. I'm surprised that no one else does this--next I'll learn that other adults don't work the puzzles and mazes on backs of cereal boxes, or sculpt their mashed potatoes into faces, or use their fingernails to cut designs into orange peels.
ReplyDeleteLove em -- will write soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun I have had enjoying these!! So very clever and the ultimate re-use of "stuff"!!
ReplyDeleteSteven
Hi Mary. Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi Steven. Thank you--I checked out your blog; looks like you find the joy in creating. I'll visit again and read more.
Hallie, back from my travels to again get tickled pink by these sketches on catalog. I thought a bit of Myrna Wacknov, whose blog you follow. I love the way she does her daily drawings on a quilt calendar and how she merges other papers or works with her art.
ReplyDeleteHave you done collage? You could create whole environments for your blue person from bits and pieces.
Hi Mary. When I read about Myrna's quilt calendar I bought a Sudoku calendar. Instead of drawing or painting on it, I ended up working the puzzles; one-a-night before sleep clears my mind. I've never tried collage but I've bought the books. I thought of the blue woman as filling in the blanks, or like adding a mustache to a political poster. It was great fun.
ReplyDeleteHi Hallie,
ReplyDeleteMaybe the next show you have at MacCallum More should be a group show about the art artists do in the midst of getting ready for a show.... you know..... amidst all the boring framing, matting etc. Your escape and play is delightful. So how long away is Christmas? I can just imagine what it would be like if you did a flip book!haha
mary
Hi Mary. I guess "flip" has more than one meaning; I was sort of flipped out when I played with my blue ink. I'd love to see what artists do just for their own entertainment; it would make an interesting show. Do you think Bob would let me illuminate some of his old books? Imagine a collector finding a blue nude in the middle of his newly-purchased expensive old book.
ReplyDeleteThese are far more entertaining that the original catalog...
ReplyDelete