The summer approaches, and I am studioless.  Well, I am studioless, in that I don’t have a lovely flat white wall that I’m allowed to do art upon.  I am limited to what I can do at home, until I get a new studio next year when uni returns.  But, these contraints can often lead to developments in work, so I will just have to evolve.

In thinking about how I will miss my ‘white cube’ of a studio, I thought about other cubes and came to cardboard boxes.

And the shapes continue, for starters in white gesso.  I plan for bright colours, but of course I need a white undercoat.  Documenting this was just a thought… might lead to some white-only works.  The white is rather pleasing against the brown of the box.  But we shall see.  Colour to come, anyway.

It only took me 4 months (or something) to realise I should be using house paint.  I got some from the hardware store last night – why did it take me so long?
It goes on much more smoothly than what I had been using in previous installations.  Right tool for the job and all that.  The large triangular areas are house paint.  The shapes are artist acrylics.  This is a work in progress.  Needs a little more ‘looking’ and perhaps a few more shapes to the nebulous shape in the centre.

As is sometimes my custom, I had trouble with colour again.  Or at least, I thought I did.  Choosing for the shapes in the centre was hard.  But I sorted it, and I’m really pleased with the palette.  Part of my problem seems to be over-thinking.  It’s terribly hard to turn off my brain.

Yep, I finally did.  I have been pondering woodgrain contact all semester.  What might I use if for?  Where can I get it from? etc.  And here we are.

It’s the larger Apple Peel that I wanted to try and in a limited palette. It’s a fabulous medium to work in and goes up really fast.  If I had boundless time, I would like to do more versions – try other colours, other contact, maybe some patterns.  Would also be interesting done horizontally in this large scale.  I wonder if it would start to look decorative and what I could do to prevent that.  Hmm.

I think I will call this finished.  It just seemed complete when I went into the studio this morning.  So I spent some time moving all my stuff out of the studio so I could document it properly.

Also, I had a shot at hanging a paint in the installation to see what would happen.
This is what happened.

 

I’m working on another installation in my studio at present.  Colour blocks of blue, green and pink.  I also have a template for a box on the wall in metalic green contact.  It’s been an interesting medium to work with.  I have to cut the strips myself, which is a bit more fiddly than just using a roll of electrical tape.  But it does give more flexibility than electrical tape, as I can easly make thinner strips.

I have a bit of a thing for line drawings, like those for box templates.  I have been printing them off and dreaming of putting them on walls, around corners and suck.  Ooo!!  I must spend some time making one on a convex corner.  I can perhaps commandeer such a corner in the hallway at the studios and try that out.  Putting a box template around a corner like that would be quite the thing! :)

The shapes for the shapes have again come from the sensor pads in the road.  Love looking as them as I walk to/from the train.  There’s some great ones of La Trobe St in the city that I just adore.  They have more lines.  Perhaps they will appear in a later work.

Have some more sitting and looking to do on this installation, which is a bit challenging, with only 4 weeks until assessment.  I feel like I have to be in a bit of a hurry to get a few more works done.  However, these types of works take a long time.  I will just keep plodding away.