Art Intentions

Getting Ready! 

For several weeks I've felt like I am caught in an artistic slump. At such times I think about old arguments contrasting artistic process with artistic output. I believe the origins of the discussion is really educational theory, and it is a good way to look at my situation. 

For me, artistic process includes any number of activities. The only thing that has slowed down is my work in the visual arts. When this happens I recall years ago when I was making collages from magazine pieces and was always suspicious of my color selections, I'd lay out the pieces I was planning to use and look at them for several days or even weeks. I wanted to give my eye time to really see the interactions of the colors before I committed myself to glue. I'm sure I just couldn't get the gumption gathered to engage in the sometimes tedious act of gluing. BUT I'm not making excuses, simply describing.

My current stalled project includes lino block printing on a variety of prepared papers. I've messed with it over several months and finally selected some colors, maps, brushes, inks, on and on. I'm not quite sure my block cut is finished. Hopefully I'll have some finished piece to show next week. I remain hopeful and while my mind keeps at solving visual projects, I keep writing stories. And telling them.

Denver, 2016

Artist Trading Cards of Tape

Add caption

Last Thursday I enjoyed a wonderful evening in the studio of Jerry Simpson at an Artist Trading Card "Trade 'em; Make 'em and Trade 'em." Well something like that. The evening began with trades of cards made with tape. I used tape to make print plates which I then printed onto printing paper. Then I collaged various other things into the result. Pictured are three cards that I called "Taped Music" that used cutouts from an old German hymnbook. 

Other people showed once again the vast world of ideas and applications. I traded my cards for others make from tape. Some used commercial tapes simply but artistically taped to the cards. Others were more adventuresome in ways I cannot adequately describe. One artist made monoprints, another collages, another mixed media with wrapped tape around tiny frames with dolls inside. You'd have to see them. As always the ideas seemed endless and the company even more than fine. 

Denver, 2016

Printing from Tapes

Tape and acrylic paint by Phillip Hoyle 2016

An experiment with making prints off of tape left me with an interesting piece of art. I adhered masking tape, artists tape, electrician tape, Scotch tape and a few other tapes to a couple of pieces of board in order to make some Artist Trading Cards. I put the paint directly from the tubes onto the tape-covered board and rolled away with my brayer. By the time I cleaned it all up, I had printed quite a few cards--some to make ATCs, others to serve as backgrounds for more ATCs, some I don't quite know what to do with. AND I have from one of my tape plates this nice horizontal piece of art measuring 4" x 11". The rolled-on acrylic paints made interesting fluid designs to contrast with the rigid marks of the tapes themselves. 

Sometimes an artist just lucks out. I guess I'll keep this one for myself. May you have good luck in your artistic efforts.

Denver, 2016 

Birch Bark Art Cards

I got the idea from my grandson Matthew. He found birch bark pieces on the grass where we were staying in Kansas City a few weeks ago and cut out a card on which he wrote a thank you note to his grandma who was hosting us at a beautiful hotel.

I saw more bark scraps on the grass and, following his initiative, collected some for several experiments of my own.

The birch bark in these cards was printed on my little copy machine. Then I found an unusual petroglyph from Ojibwe country where native folk used to make birch bark canoes. (Some still make them.) I cut a block and printed an approximation of the petroglyph onto the prints.

I’m sure I’ll trade them soon if I haven’t already done so when you read this! (Most of them traded on Saturday at CORE New Art Space monthly swap.)

The source of my idea!

I love art and even more than that I love doing artwork. And I love my many artistic grandchildren! 

Denver 2016

Halloween Returns

Haunted Houses and Ghosts Artist Trading Cards
Phillip Hoyle

You may have to get close to the screen to see the printed house outlines in the five black Artist Trading Cards. I printed red on black and had to highlight them with thin lines in white pencil. The photo doesn't make it quite clear enough. The white figures (eyes, teeth, and hair) are done with paint and white gel pen. 

The ghosts were cut from a photo of a geyser and with tiny holes punched out. They are mounted on a cut-up painting, acrylic washes on watercolor paper, a painting in which the brown got too brown for whatever I was trying to do that day. 

The trade last Thursday evening was fine. I traded over thirty cards and collected some winners! These ATC artists love Halloween and Day of the Dead for the wide variety of often weird images they suggest. One woman came dressed in a black robe and interesting feathered mask. We shared cards and food, and then made cards for another hour and a half. What a nice celebration.

This weekend I decorated the front porch with spiders, bats, and spiderwebs. We put pumpkins, spiders, bats, and lanterns in the living and dining rooms. We're almost ready to receive the young neighbors begging for treats, and we've got enough chocolates and Skittles to upset the hardiest stomachs. More and more the little ones are accompanied by costumed adults. Last year we had 86 kids at the door. We're ready for even more.

Happy Halloween.

Denver, 2015

ATC by Phillip Hoyle, September 2015

I made several ATCs from scraps left over from some GELLI monoprints I had used for another purpose. The ATC group where I am going to trade them meets in the studios and galleries of one of the world’s most interesting dumpster divers who is also a rather well known artist. You can find interesting videos and comments about Jerry Simpson on You Tube and elsewhere online. His compound of buildings is in itself a work of art as well as is his extensive orderly storage system. His place inspires the use of found objects for re-purposing, up-purposing, and transforming from trash to art. 

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle, September 2015

I couldn’t easily throw away the trimmings I used due to their brilliant and deep colors. The paint made by Golden, their Open Acrylics, makes a bold impression. I’ve used what they package as Modern Colors: Hansa Yellow Opaque, Pyrrole Red, Phthalo Blue (Green Shade) Quinacridone Magenta, Phthalo Green (Blue Shade), and Titanium White. I also used a white Jelly pen.

Thanks for the comments on last week’s posting of the Claret Cup Cactus. I framed it this week and am very happy with the results. I’m sure there will be more cacti showing up before long!

Denver, 2015

Art Prints Galore

Printed on magazine paper, I played with
aa combination of colors and the use of
a circle of cardboard. Look here next week
to see if I was able to turn this mono-print
into a mixed media bunch of flowers--my goal.

A little over a week ago I spent an afternoon with my artist friend Sue printing in her studio. Both Sue and I print and recently have been working with mono-print techniques. I am a newcomer to the filed; Sue has been at it for quite a few years. She invited me to join her for an exploration of using the relatively new Gel printing plates available from GELLI ARTS. Plates come in several sizes. I had worked with a small one, but that day I was going to explore what I could do on a plate 5 x 7". Works made on these soft plates do not require a press or even a spoon. The artist simply uses a hand. 

Sue really liked this design made with a stencil. She was more moved than
I although I too like it. I'm not quite sure what I will do with this one, but
she suggested I make a work with a group of these pieces showing perhaps
six or nine of the figure in different colors and backgrounds.
The bear is from an old Ute petroglyph in a group of several carvings
along the Gunnison River in western Colorado.

I liked working with the larger plate and used a brayer to spread the paint. I used my hands to transfer the prints, but sometimes I used a baren or another brayer. I used a variety of mark makers as I continued to explore the interactions of colors with one another, of the paints on different kinds of paper, of the effects to be made with stencils and other mark makers. I kept varying my techniques and following suggestions Sue made. And I ended the session with quite a few prints and many more ideas. I plan to make a set of Artist Trading Cards of florals. I'll call them Colorado Wildflowers! Be sure to check next week to see what took place. I believe the work with the bear figure will prove even more challenging. You may have to wait several weeks on that one.

Hope you are having a wonderful artistic summer.

Denver, 2015 

Retreat Update

The arts retreat continues. I've been drawing native plants for a couple of projects I have decided to undertake. I roamed my son's farm drawing plants from a small prairie and down by a ravine, all the time watching out for snakes and hoping I would not pick up too many ticks. I didn't see snakes out there but of course did get acquainted with ticks. I don't know if they came into the house on my clothing or in the fur of the dogs who seemed to want to be with me all the time. I drew and took photos for color references. 

I also got underway with the writing project I've been thinking about for the past twelve years. The time seems right and I have made a good start on the project. I have no idea just how long this task will take, but I suspect several years. I'm quite pleased to be writing.

I spent about a week at the farm finding there the solitude I imagined. The disadvantage was that I didn't have on-line service there. (Yes I'm outdated in the electronics end of my projects, a fact that doesn't matter to me. I recall the first writing job I took on when I first got my word processor. It was truly primitive. I recall the first bulletin board I used to visit for games, freeware, and occasional messages. The upshot is that my now rather outdated computer is ages beyond what I used to write on. Also I know that writing is not a function of the pen, typewriter, word processor, or super-up-dated computer, but rather it is a function of the writer's mind and imagination and, of course, an able editor.)

For several days I've been in Jefferson City tending to family matters, but still I've found time to write. I also have drawn on a side trip to Missouri Wildflowers, the native plants nursery where my son is the farm manager. I spent part of a day at the Runge Nature Center, a project of the Missouri Department of Conservation. There I drew and engaged in an interesting conversation with a young man who was interested in my drawings. Today in the gardens around my ex-wife's house where I am staying I discovered two native plants I have not drawn. I've been writing for about two hours and I will soon go outdoors to draw. SO I'm addressing both projects. I don't have the right connector between my camera and computer, so I won't be able to show you photos of my favorite flowers and the like. Perhaps you will be so lucky next Monday if you read blogs on National Holidays.

Keep smiling. I am.

Jefferson City, 2015

Stilll Printing

Block print by Phillip Hoyle

For quite a few years I've been printing some artwork. i began by making Christmas cards with simple relief prints of words and designs. Then the designs got more complicated with several punk rock angels. Last season I made a print of pine branches and needles in Craftsman style. The other day I finished my most complicated piece yet, one with aspen trees in winter in Chiaroscuro style.

The piece required two block cuts--one for brown, the other for black. I can't say I'm completely satisfied. About half way through the designing and cutting I realized I'd made a very intricate design, too ambitious for a first try! But I stayed with it. And I did learn a lot in the process. I hope to learn even more from the ideas that came from this project.

Long live art and the making of art!

Denver, 2015

The Gathering

Bad photos of somewhat interesting Artist Trading Cards
I made last week. More description below.

I was pleased at last week’s Artist Trading Cards (trade ‘em, make ‘em, and trade ‘em, a monthly fourth Thursday meeting) to be seated between Bill, a long-time ATC maker and Mylan, a youngster in about fourth grade, two very able artists in their own rights. It was especially fun to sit beside the young lady who was this meeting making ribbon cards inspired by a card she’d received from another card maker Sue, who was seated across the large table from where we were working. To be surrounded by artists is always a thrill for me, an inspiration to my own artwork and sense of being an artist hard at work! To be surrounded by artists of all ages seems especially fine.

I traded cards at the beginning of our session, new ones I’d made even though I didn’t know what the theme of the opening trade was. That’s always okay with group members. The given topic was cereal images. I made black Christmas trees—sparkly trees on a black ground. After that I gathered some pre-cut grounds pre-printed in light blue and light green, glue, scissors, a knife, a black fine-point pen, and several magazines. And I went to work. I had no idea doing what, but a folded cloth photo caught my eye, a simple flower design in black and white. In another magazine I found some photos of broken sticks with bark still attached. I tore them out and then looked at what I had.

As I worked I became aware of the girl’s frustration. She asked me advice on how to integrate a ribbon she’d just glued on that didn’t easily go with the rest of her design. I gave her a suggestion that she liked and watched as she improvised on it to nice effect. Still she was not satisfied, so I gave her another suggestion and found that we were both searching for the right string to make it. Eventually she found the perfect string to glue in place. I gave her advice what glue to use and how to get it started so it wouldn’t be too much. She showed me her other pieces as they developed and asked me my opinion of a thing or two. I gave her advice on cutting off the edges of the ribbon so they’d cut easily and neatly and watched and complemented her on her work.

Milan’s mother watched and commented. She seemed to be getting a kick out of our interactions. There were a few exchanges. I said I’d worked with children for many years, especially planning art projects. Milan’s younger sister said with surprise, “You worked with children?”

“Yes, I assured her for many years and I had two children and quite a few foster children at home as well.” Children often seem amazed at the long pasts of older adults! Milan’s project was quite successful. Another adult at the end when we present our cards for viewing and swapping said of them, “These are really beautiful.” I agreed.

The evening was wonderful in many respects: working with a child, Beating snacks (especially snacks made by Bill), some white wine, Bill’s cards that are always neat (his combination of images and colors in collage), and the rest of the artists that night.

I also liked what I was doing, the combination of torn images and finishing them off with ink drawings. Sue and Bill and Jerry liked them as well. The girls did too. Mostly, though, just being there talking with and working alongside other artists, seemed right, meaningful, wonderful—a great Christmas week event for me.

Hope your holiday also has been merry and bright.

Denver, 2014

Still at It

This past week and over the weekend I dedicated quite a bit of time to my current art project that I described a couple of weeks ago. I have completed six of the projected twenty-three pieces. I'm pleased with the results and am looking forward to displaying them soon. 

Bagged, acrylic washes on watercolor paper
by Phillip Hoyle

I've been messing with these petroglyph designs for many years and have never tired of them. I'm working with some designs that are familiar and others new to me this time. It has been fun to try a few different colors and shades. The great breakthrough for me was when I began to use masking medium in the process. By building up washes close in color and texture to the "exposed" rock (that that has weathered less than the face of the rock) and then applying the design in masking medium, I create the effect of the subsequent washes being the weathered rock. The design can look like color was removed. At least that is how I have learned to work. 

By not using flow enhancer in the acrylics I get a more rustic look that seems compatible to me for the look of sandstone. Anyway, I love working with these primal subjects and ever changing artistic ways and always seek to treat the designs in a manner respectful of the people who made them in some cases many hundreds of years ago. 

Hope your art projects are bringing you the same kind of buzz.

Denver, 2014

Save That!

In a week-long painting workshop I attended years ago, in which I learned a particular approach to using acrylic washes on paper, my teacher had us lay out all our first designs and went around to talk with each of us. He saw one of mine and pointing at it, said, "Save that and hang it in your studio." I was somewhat amazed for it seemed like just a few paint strokes and lots of dribbles in basic colors. He went on, "You will rarely get that free again." AND he was right. So I framed the thing and hung it up where I'd see it every day. 

An assortment of Ute designs

Last week I finally got around to beginning a painting project of smaller pieces, petroglyph designs I could sell at a low price at the co-op gallery up in the mountains. I chose to use all Ute designs from the tribes that roamed what we call the Central Rockies and the Colorado Plateau these days. It's a project still in process, but here's what has happened. I selected sizes and designs. I drew the designs on the designated areas of large pieces of Arches 140# watercolor paper. Then I washed the background with two coats of similar color, the second one slightly darker than the former. and upon washing the second one sprayed a mist of rubbing alcohol on it. The droplets push back the paint leaving a stippling effect similar to the way I see the sandstone rocks where these designs were made. 

The masking medium is shiny and resists the washes leaving
the undercoat untouched.

When they were dry I tore the papers into the marked sizes and painted the designs with masking medium--actually a product used with watercolor washes but that I discovered also works with acrylic washes. It's a resist medium made of latex and ammonia that when the paint dries can be removed with an eraser. It will be left on the paintings through several more washes.

My current "Save It" guide
acrylic washes on paper by Phillip Hoyle

I'm not referring to that first "Save It" piece, but this time using a painting of a petroglyph I made several years ago, one that attracted the interest of collectors and artists. I will this week paint the other layers of washes and next week let you see what happened. 

Art is always a process, and for me it is a process that may go on for weeks. Whatever work you do, get to your studio and get it underway!

Denver, 2014

Pushing the Season

A few weeks ago when the media were trying to make engaging news of the annual laying out of Christmas retail products for sale —an topic that picks up some olden time sentiment but fails actually to be news—I was reminded of days years and years ago when in August Lucille M., one of our great volunteers, told me we needed to look at the Christmas decorations in the large downtown church where I worked. It was time, she told me, to put in our order for fresh greens that we’d hang on the first Sunday of Advent. To me that time was a long way off, but to her orders needed to be placed immediately if we were to get what we wanted. So all these years later when the media was working up people’s feelings about a non-issue, I realized I, too, was still directly involved. 

Presenting goods for public consumption is only a marketing concern and such concerns seem always to be in the American consciousness. I had to quit moaning because as an artist I have a challenge before me. The reminder from the retailers always helps me since I print my own holiday greeting cards. It's time for me think about that task and get to designing what I am going to do! Luckily I am a long way from being surrounded by endless tunes of Santa Clause, reindeer, angels, and the baby Jesus. I realized I’d need to figure out what to do this year because I might need the cards early if I again shared a booth with my friend Sue in a holiday crafts fair. Those events start weeks before Thanksgiving!

To the studio! I have to manufacture a Christmas mood in order to get going. I considered beginning with spiked eggnog, but I don’t even like eggnog. Would I be able to tolerate Christmas music? No. So I started leafing through a huge volume of Gothic art. I looked and looked and even began sketching, but didn’t get caught up in anything. I thought I’d go another direction, American Craftsman traditions since I live in a neighborhood of Denver bungalows, many of which are definitely craftsman in design and appointments. I decided to do something with long needle pine branches and began looking at the trees, their needles and cones, and the designs I might be able to emulate. That turned out a worthy topic, one that I have yet to figure out!

I got out my printing supplies and messed around with some other projects using those methods, something to get me into the mood. I cut a couple of lino blocks and kept drawing pines. So this weekend, before this blog shows up, I have to meet the challenge. 

Here's what happened in picture form.

 I started drawing after looking at trees, photos of trees, craftsman examples of pine cones and long pine needles. I messed and messed and finally got a design I hoped I'd be able to actually carve on a lino block.

I traced the design onto tracing paper, then turned it over and taped it to the block. By again drawing it, the original pencil transferred to the block leaving a backwards copy of the design. Just what I wanted.

I carved the easiest parts first. I was afraid of the needles since they'd need to be more delicate. I'm not very delicate myself, and I sure didn't want to have to start over again!

I made a proof print, then compared the original drawing and it to find out where I needed to go back in and clean up or re-cut some details on my block.

Finally I was fairly pleased with the results. Now I'll take a variety of papers and a stack of white card blanks and another of brown card blanks and get to work! Wish me well, you know, good luck with the different colors of ink, the clean up, and eventually finding the current addresses of my friends and relations I want to send cards to this year.

And if you try something artsy this Christmas, I likewise wish you all the best. Oh that's so far away.

If you are putting off your holiday planning, I urge you to get to the planning and work. You can still hurriedly address and mail your cards at the last minute and get that holiday rush. I worry that if I don’t get this underway immediately, I’ll never get to it until next year or even the one after that! Merry Christmas!

Denver, 2014

A Gathering of Bears

I’ve long been fascinated by bears, those large lunky denizens of zoos I used to watch with admiration and fear. I bought a figurine of one in Estes Park as a child, a figure I kept with me into my adulthood. Then I discovered bear paw prints and bears in a panel of petroglyphs on the south-facing escarpment of Spring Mesa west of Montrose, Colorado. They thrilled me. The panel has been dubbed The Three Bears since three carvings of bears climbing trees appear there. The symbol is still current in the traditional bear dance of the Utes who used to spend time each year in the valley. Perhaps they held their annual vernal equinox dance there. 

Recently another Ute bear petroglyph image has captured my imagination, one from the Gunnison River some miles north east of the three bears. This bear looks ferocious to me. I painted it several times and have now used it in a lino-block for printing. This past week I printed. My artist friend Sue suggested I try printing on different kinds of art papers to see what would happen. So I printed on roadmaps, hand made papers, papers with seeds or leaves or strings embedded in them. I hd fun with my brayer, baren and tiny Speedball press. And I’m pleased with the results.

Some of these prints will be shown at the Colorado Mountain Art Gallery in Georgetown. Going on a color drive into the mountains soon? Stop by the gallery and see all the additional colors there as well. Oh, the food’s good up there, too.

Denver, 2014

Opening My Eyes

“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.”

John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books (New York, 1972).

Nice outing on Saturday to see the Tom Wesselmann display “Beyond Pop Art” at the Denver Art Museum. It was my second gander at it, this one with my friend Deanna and the former one with my friend Diana. Although their names are almost the same, their interests and insights are extremely different. The contrast reminded me of John Berger’s book Ways of Seeing , a book I read many years ago when learning how to see objects and their surroundings in drawing. Berger asserted, “Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way” (p. 16). That is even true in the time between my two trips to the museum. The context in which I viewed it changed.

Two weeks ago while seeing the show with Dianne, I found my attention going to the large picture of what was there to be seen. Dianne had received her art education by living in Paris with artists and eventually working in a gallery there hanging art shows. While her education was not formal, it was intense, and she has a remarkable eye and memory. The immersion method prepared her to make design and historic connections with other artists—especially impressionists and pop artists. She opened my eyes to perspectives I’d surely have missed had I viewed the show alone. Having been a clothing model, she also was very interested in Wesselmann’s treatment of the female form. We talked a lot about all these ideas and insights.

Yesterday with Deanna, I took quite a different look at the retrospective, one related to her interests. Her technical questions informed by studio training pushed me to look at how the artist attached his canvasses to his frames, how he approached gluing on his collage (for instance, did he first paint and then glue? she asked), and the relationship between his drawn and constructed studies with the eventual finished artworks. Reviewing the display from these differing points of view opened my eyes and left me with a flood of new images and ideas, and a deeper appreciation at what the artist had accomplished.

But don’t take my word for it. Get to the display before it closes September 14. See it for yourself.

Today I thank John Berger, Dianne, and Deanna for my continuing perception of the world of art and the world as art and art subject. Thanks, thanks, thanks. Thanks to DAM, too.

Denver, 2014

Time to Print

I’ve had a lino-block in my studio for some months, one I made an image for and carved, but all my experiments didn’t work out right. I couldn’t print from it to my satisfaction. Mid-week I decided to do something about it and got out my knives, gouges, other equipment, printing inks, brayers, and medium-size baren. I was going to rework the block and get busy. I wanted to use if for a card to send one of my grandsons for his birthday.

I really liked the design, one inspired by a Ute petroglyph out in western Colorado along the Gunnison River. I’ve seen drawings of the original and photographs but have never encountered it on the cliff wall where it shares space with a couple of other impressive carvings. I looked at it, tried it one more time with a different ink, but still decided it need more strength, the kind that comes from contrast. The original is a work that one anthropologist described as new-style given that the chipping that creates it simply removes the outer layer of weathered rock to create the design. In contrast to what he called old-style, the artist did not make deep gouges into the surface but seemed contented with the color contrast. So I figured it might work better if I were to remove the lino right around the figure itself and finish it with a border. Parts of the figure would interrupt the border. 

I set to work, selecting a medium large gouge and taking care not to let my fingers get in the way of the sharp instrument should it slip. Oh it did slip a few times, but mostly I was safe and am pleased I didn’t end up with bandages like sometimes I’ve done this work. I brushed off the waste into the trash and wiped the block with a damp cloth. Then I gathered a few pieces of paper to make some proofs and see what I had got. I like what I did and used the rest of the ink to print another block I made years ago. What ink was left on the surface where I rolled it out I drew into and lifted another print from that, an abstract I may mess more for a mixed media piece. I try not to waste any product.

And along the way I found I wanted to hang a few small prints at the Colorado Mountain Art Gallery in Georgetown. Guess I’ll have to work quickly since I work up in the hills this Tuesday. 

Denver, 2014

Ideas Galore!

ATC clown by
Phillip Hoyle

I seem never to be short on ideas but often do find myself short on motivation. I may list ten new art project ideas in my daily morning pages but not be able to corral my energy and focus long enough to even re-read the list. Organizing the project may wait in a long line of other needs, even some that had not occurred to me while I was making my list and that sometimes seem more like my attempt to dodge the creative process. I’ve never quite understood this in me except to accept it and work with it. 

ATC clown by
Phillip Hoyle

Making Artist Trading Cards has certainly kept my project ideas and motivational hang-ups in good shape. If I can’t face making a big mess—meaning resetting my studio for some large project, which would involve cleaning off all the counters, gathering the needed canvas or paper, and choosing tubes of paint; or in some other project organizing and cutting lino blocks, choosing inks, setting up my little press, getting all the other things I need to complete the idea, and sometimes sweeping the floor. If I cannot face all that, I can always work on a few ATCs! So I stay busy with my art.

My friend Sue says, “If you can do it as an ATC, you can do it as a large piece of art.” I quote (or misquote) her when deciding to focus on some ATCs, and in so doing I have discovered the truth of what she claims. 

A couple of weeks ago you may have looked at my clown ATCs. No, I haven’t made large paintings of those crazy characters, but I did make some new ATC collages of clowns constructed mainly of letters from ads in fashion magazines. My encounter with drawings clowns taught me the basic shapes I needed: lines, circles, boxes, triangles, lines, and curlicues. 

ATC clown by
Phillip Hoyle

In this new ATC project I looked for letters with those shapes in magazines and went to work. I liked this project. It seemed connected with many collages I made years ago when I cut out letters for messages and the like—emulating those cut-and-paste ransom notes in old TV shows. I discovered the best letters came from Madison Avenue ads in fancy magazines. This time I began with Vogue and Details. I also found some interesting smaller letters in other magazines. I cut out the most interesting letters and sat down with blank cards (2 ½ x 3 ½), my best scissors, a few pens, glue stick, glue bottle, varied sizes of plastic googly eyes, and my trusty pen knife, and began the task. 

ATC Clown by
Phillip Hoyle

What resulted I call clowns. You can decide for yourself. But I certainly had fun clowning around with the images.

Faking It

I continue being interested in Native American petroglyph
designs to provide content for my acrylic washes. These
three represent a warrior with bow and arrow, one of his
slain, and another warrior who luckily had a shield. At least
that's how I see it.
Acrylic washes on watercolor paper by Phillip Hoyle

I overheard a conversation between two professional artists who not only had earned graduate degrees in fine art, established successful art careers, and taught art to avid students, but also wrote professionally about art. One complained to the other, “So often I just feel like a fake.” She went further, “I sometimes wish I had never gone to art school. All the things I learned about art tend to impede my creativity.”

The other artist agreed, “I know what you mean. When I lead workshops, the people who never went to school are not afraid to try anything. They’re not uptight about the proper ways to go about doing things.”

As I listened to these fine artists I thought, "Maybe I’m in a good place, for although I was educated, it wasn’t in art! Maybe I have a chance to be an artist.” But then I had a more sane moment in which I realized I was going to do artwork the rest of my life but i had better clarify my aim: for instance: Did I want to live by my art? Did I want to be in a gallery? Did I want to paint for pleasure? So for me the aim was to do the work, to sell some of my art, and eventually to be represented by a gallery.

I have pursued my art, following the advice of my teachers, studying collections of art in galleries and museums, poring over Google-searched galleries, and otherwise immersing myself in an arts world. I do the work and most of the time, I really enjoy it. Still sometimes I say to myself, “I feel like a fake.” Who doesn’t have such moments?

Denver 2014

Shopping Around

Hands and Feet, acrylic washes on watercolor paper
by Phillip Hoyle
Petroglyphs are found in groups like this painting of
some in western Colorado. When I'm in a more literal
mood, I paint groups of these rock carvings.

My daughter loves to shop for office supplies. One of my friends loves to roam the aisles of hardware stores. Another one rarely goes by a clothing store without looking inside. My partner loves to find bargains at groceries and shopping clubs. I like shopping for art, but not going from gallery to gallery even though I have done my share of that kind of shopping. I’m not talking about going on line to find a painting or print to hang in a just-right place in house or apartment. I’m not talking about going to silent auctions hoping to pick up a bargain or stopping by the neighbor’s garage sale looking for an undiscovered masterpiece. I used to go alone but finally have found a friend who shares my specific love of art shopping. Sue and I go on shopping forays for art supplies, one of my favorite activities and the only kind of shopping I can easily embrace.

Preparation calls first for the making of a list. I keep a growing list on the counter behind my art table. 

Set the date and hope I can make it.

On the day of a likely shopping trip, I gather coupons from the paper or on line just like Sue taught me.
I have a special factor: my hope she will be up to the next trip. Sometimes health factors limit her mobility.

One day I was looking around the locally owned Meiningers art supply store for a kind of pen I needed to finish some Artist Trading Cards. There I ran into Sue who immediately said, “Have you seen their sales?” Also shopping with Sue was Jan, another person who does art work and writing. As the three of us shopped, I realized I have an additional shopping partner! We had fun looking around and buying more things than we needed, at least I did so. While the shopping was pleasant, having Sue there served another purpose: she knows products, their use both from her teachers and from her years of using them often in surprising and experimental ways. She likes to teach what she knows.

You can imagine that now I have many more things to work with and a beginner’s knowledge of how to approach the things Sue has led me to. While digging deep into my drawers and boxes run across supplies I bought years ago and have never used. When that happens I evaluate if I can use the product right away, perhaps on some Artist Trading Cards. Then I open the package or bottle to see if it is still usable! I love the supplies I keep using and buying, and I so enjoy sorties to art stores to find replacements and brand new supplies: paints, pencils, paper, canvas, boards, lino-blocks, gouges and knives, replacement blades, mat board, new mixed-media papers, on and on. It’s almost like these things speak to me as I walk the aisles of the stores, and if they don’t, sometimes Sue or Jan will speak for them.

Have fun with art. I certainly am! AND I am anticipating another shopping trip this Friday!

Denver, 2014

Finally!

Finally I have completed my collage, the one I've referred to before, that thrilled me with its content and stalled me in it's execution. Finally it's done and now waiting on the purchase of a piece of glass to complete its framing. I promised to show it to a friend tomorrow evening. Hope that's enough stress to move me!

But the artwork itself is what I am most focused on. In the past I made Artist Trading Cards by printing on maps. I'd print a cut of a Ute petroglyph on a Colorado map or an Osage petroglyph on a Missouri map. Then I wanted to see if I could do something larger--well actually I had a larger petroglyph print I wanted to mount on a larger map. So...

I gathered my pieces: a road map, several prints of the petroglyph in its strangely altered state, a quotation from William Clark's Journal, and my wits. I arranged my equipment and media products: glue, brayer, brushes, gesso, acrylic paints, India ink, stylus, a photo of native grasses of Missouri, a sample of early 19th century cursive handwriting, and about a gallon of piping hot coffee and my mug. 

I started the process--actually many starts and stops lasting over several weeks. (I'm ultimately a multi-tasker.) I mounted the map so the snaking Missouri River lies near the top of the ground. I watered down the white glue and spread it on the mat board and map, rolled the map onto the ground smoothing out bubbles with a brayer, and pressed it between waxed paper to dry while weighted down by big art books. When it was dry I looked at it again and again. Finally I brushed on water-thinned gesso leaving the riverbed unpainted. Several times I changed my mind about which print to collage into the piece. Finally I glued on a print made on translucent paper I thought might let some of the map features--colors and lines--show through. I placed it on the left-hand side below the river, added the box to the circle like in Leonardo DaVinci's study of human anatomical proportions, and decided to paint the native grasses on the right-hand side. 

I painted any number of samples of the grass cluster I would use. I wanted to represent the tall grass prairies common to the area in Lewis and Clark's 1804 explorations on their westward trek up the river. I mounted the print and painted in the grasses. Then I added a quote from the journal around the print. In order to represent the measurement obsession of both the European Renaissance and the exploring spirit shown in mapping rivers and otherwise measuring the newly-acquired Louisiana Purchase, I added the compass points and measurements Clark recorded for the day he also drew the "paintings and carveings" [sic] on the limestone cliff. For balance I drew in another figure--a snake from another Missouri petroglyph and added Clark's comment about how the place where he saw the petroglyphs was "a den of Rattle Snakes." Finally I was happy and have put to rest another piece of art. 

"Taking Measure" mixed media with collage by Phillip Hoyle

One of my art teachers, Polly Hammett, observed that my starting point in art seems usually to be content--in this case a fascination with petroglyphs, Lewis and Clark, 19th century mid-western experience, interaction of Native and Euro-Americans, maps, and so forth. It's no wonder this piece took so long to complete. Now off to another task--oh the framing.