Sunday, February 6, 2011

tags and pages


i don't know which i was more excited about last week - painting on tags or the fact that the thin pages in 'war and peace' can stand up to watercolors...


this is the back side of the page, and, as you can see, there was practically no bleed-through, not to mention buckling. i had stalled out on working in 'war and peace' because i really wanted to use watercolors, but i thought the pages were way too thin. a few days ago i decided to see exactly what would happen, and once again i'm impressed beyond words by the paper that's used in books (at least some of them). it's like magic paper...

big if you click

here's most of what i put on the page - the water bowl is in the shot because i used *a lot* of water. besides using it while painting the face, the last thing i did was dip my finger in it (over and over), and smear everything around. and still the page lays almost perfectly flat. i also used oil pastel and colored pencil. just amazing...

casein paint, watercolors, gouache, colored pencil and oil pastel on mail tags

the other thing i've been delighted with is painting on tags, an idea i got from sarah wallis. thank you, sarah! i believe i have a tag addiction now... i love that they're practically indestructible and useful! perfect for leaving them around out in the world, or for sending with packages. i'm leaving them leaned against the back of my watercolor box because it seems a perfect easel... (and they can talk to me while i'm painting)


on tumblr i found the art of ilka gedo. i don't think there's one piece that she painted in her life that i don't love with every fiber of my being. this sketchbook drawing is from her childhood, and there are many pages of them to gaze at here.


her oil paintings are here...

and 'colour patterns' here...

the quote below seems to me to apply to art making as much as writing.

i love it...

* * *


“Kierkegaard said, ‘Drink from your own well.’ And I like that, taking it to mean that each of us has an individual source for our best work, and that to reach deliberately elsewhere is to neglect something essential in our writing.

So when I get up in the morning and settle down to write, I do not reach for what is timely or in style, but for something that suggests itself to me right at the moment. It can be any trivial word or even syllable, or a sound from the tree outside, or what day it is, or that the sun is about to come up—anything. And sometimes I feel that the more trivial it seems the better, for with nothing to live up to I can relax and catch onto a current within me.”

~ William Stafford, from his brief essay “Reaching into the Well” in Crossing Unmarked Snow: Further Views on the Writer’s Vocation (The University of Michigan Press, 2001), via tumblr

XO

24 comments:

  1. Leo would be so proud of you ... ha ha
    I love making tags too !!!! I like yours !!!
    No .... I have not read anything today . Too busy on Etsy

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  2. A rich post, Lynne! Funny, I ran into Keirkegaard in my morning reading. He said something to the effect that faith in God is like floating in 70,000 fathoms of water. I love that! And I love the latest on work your table. Glad the pages in W&P are trusty for H2O. love, sus

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  3. What a wonderful post! Thanks LH for sharing! Sarah has inspired me too (as you do also)and I am still looking for my tags! I love your War and Peace page! Thanks for the wonderful links too! Can't wait to get back to look at them!

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  4. You've managed to ground me, and send me soaring into the universe of possibilities at the same time, again. I adore your tags and your book pages. (And the wooden pieces in you previous post!) AND your much-loved art materials - all those luscious, juicy colors! Simply faboo
    :0)
    xoxoxo

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  5. delicious little treats as always! appreciating all this sweetness.

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  6. such a wonderful perception Kierkegaard had! And yes, that will be the satisfying experience with life, to find ones own rhythm and expression.

    your tags are wonderful!!!!!!! wee pieces of art, who needs a hook on the back, simply hang it from a tack (nail).

    unreal that the thin book paper held up, i can understand your excitement!

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  7. I love the tags you have painted and the way they have become tag companions! Mine are in a little bag awaiting use. Perhaps I should get them out and prop them up. Interesting how the war and peace paper withstood all that smooshing around of paint and water. Is it an old copy? I always think the quality of things has deteriorated over the years so if it would it would fit my theory! Love the artist you shared too and the quote. All most inspiring thank you!

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  8. The tags! What a grand idea.
    Gawd girl. You are so prolific.
    Haven't commented for a while but still continue to enjoy my weekly dose of Lynne Hoppe.
    he he he

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  9. Love the quote from Kierkegaard.
    Always enjoy your post..Send some of your energy my way..I really could use some.
    Hugs,
    Katelen

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  10. Btw, LH, I love the sketch book you reccomended a few posts back! I ordered a larger one! I love the paper better than moleskine! I also got my casein paint...LIFE IS GOOD!

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  11. I love that quote, too, Lynne. Your tags are great- I'm especially enamored of the one with the cat face. Where do you get these tags? Also, I'm pretty amazed about the book; I would have thought it would soak through and wrinkle badly. I never painted in a book before, so now I'm wondering if they're all like that.

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  12. gedo's color patterns and your tags make me swoon... xo

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  13. Your studio photo of tags and paint brightened my day on Tumblr and once again here. Very surprised the paint doesn't show through the thin book page. Love the Stafford quote!

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  14. That is the true quiet profound excitement we live for. -J

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  15. I found you through Lilylovekin.
    Love your work
    julie

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  16. Dear Lynne, I love your art table photo's and all your paintings and idea's, so rich and full, all of this! Hope you are having the most beautiful of weekends... roxanne

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  17. I love these tags Lynne and the way you have photographed them!

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  18. Love the tags and good to know they'll stand up to watercolor. So creative!

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  19. you find such gorgeous artists and thank you for sharing them. Your tags are wonderful mmmmmmmmmmm.

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