by Diane Widler Wenzel: Valentine

Great Aunt Myrtle's hand sewing on paper and fabric
around 1930

To my valentines, my co-author Rain, my supportive husband, and my readers, I thank you. I appreciate you because of the satisfaction I derive from formulating my ideas here. In the process of writing new ideas come to me. And a special thanks to those of you who have commented.

Love all of you!!!

by Diane Widler Wenzel: Stretchy, Floppy failing support for collage

I embrace the freedom of working on the worst made canvas ever.  No fear of spoiling it.

Handmade papers I made and collected are glued down and covered with gloss medium. Lots of gloss medium!

When the paper dries, the papers might be lighter and more puckers will evolve, so I am eager to see what will evolve.

Update January 18 : my reaction to my beginning without a goal.

Last night; an inspiration and meaningful direction came in viewing Donna Watson's book, WABI SABI AND COLLAGE. I found a parallel in a my direction in philosophy plus one particular detail.  Rounded rocks and bundles of old cloth wrapped and tied by a cord. I was reminded of my father's values of keeping envelopes and files and when old mending them. All his important records he wrapped with a cotton cord and tied with a beautiful knot. The envelope in the collage held his naturalization certificate, the Declaration of Intention, Passport with the stamp proving legal entry, Social Security Card, and Draft Card. I love my father so much.

Part two : Ruth Armitage's WORKING TOWARDS ABSTRACTION Workshop - paintings during and after workshop

Workshop Exercise on Texture

First day:  12 inch square watercolor with textures and gesso that morphed
into a linear dominance when I tried a pipe cleaner for texture making thin parallel lines. Delighted with the effect of the pipe cleaner, I was easily distracted changing my focus from non-objective to what I frequently paint -
the movement of water.

Workshop Exercise on Color

Second Day: Color expressing one title selected from a list representing a series about one subject. 
Dance theme!!  I identify with dance because I am a frustrated dancer who can't keep time and think of my painting process as a dance. When I was a child I selected a Degas dancer to hang in my room. From time to time I have painted dancers beginning in high school.

From the list of  dance titles, I painted a series of small color sketches.

 

 

 

My painting for the day focused on square dancing in a barn.

I  kept to my focus while thoroughly enjoying

 the process of watching the watercolor flow. 

 

 

 

Workshop Exercise on Line that I carried farther at home

 

Day 3: Line expressing my feelings about a title from my list on dance

 

 

Experimental practice with found objects useful for making lines

 

Line painting

 

My painting of the day started by selecting "Syncopated" thumbnail.  However never liking the results of making something slavishly copied larger, I wanted additional interesting choices so I mostly ignored the thumbnail. Subconsciously I must have been influenced by Ruth's larger than life dancers and the use of line in back lighting. Also I felt  influenced by the expressive edges of  Face Book friend, Portuguese Varatojo's simplified figures on black backgrounds. And of course the animated gestures of Walt Disney drawings.

 Diving with gusto into painting my linear piece for the day, I got into trouble with focus on my title.  Syncopated morphed into tango and then jive and back to tango.

 Making radical changes in my focus causes me to move from making choices with happy smoothness. Loss of focus can cause frustration like having to judge whether I should make the woman's left foot disappear or suggest the woman's fast tango flick between the legs of her partner. I chose to go back to making the painting theme of Tango. The woman looks like she wants to lead as she twists his arm. I decided to keep this confrontational dialogue between them.

 I like the process when paintings challenge me to develop narrative even if that change means pictorial problems. Well at least some of the time I like the challenge. Some challenges overwhelm me.

Taking from Ruth's workshop, I was kinder to myself  walking away from this painting several times, I developed it working on it a week after the workshop.

Paintings and Works at Home after the Workshop

At home I was eager to try again to work from the "Syncopated' compositional thumbnail. I wanted to keep the lines straighter than in the thumbnail.  I discovered even with straight lines I can space them to imply a curve. I discovered that I am very heavily set in my painting ways. I should try only a few Ruth's directives which are aimed at more focused personal involvement.

Second new painting at home, "Curved Form Dance" started as a ball and a box developed with out dominance of either color or texture. To express my feelings when almost done I couldn't resist adding line as that is my long standing comfort zone habit.  I recall adding line as a resolution to a painting was encouraged by PSU Professor Fredrich Heidel's class in 1965 and Mr. Clark my art teacher at Portola Junior High School in Berekely, California in 1957.

 

At home I was eager to try making curved form suggested on the hand-out but not actually covered as an exercise in class. I started with a ball divided into facets of reds in three tints and a solid dark purple box above it with no value or hue changes.  Texture and color was suppose to be dominant. But in the end phase I wanted more whimsy and just had to add white lines. With the completion of this painting, I decided I would definitely continue in the direction of making color and line my expressive signature. 

 

The third new work at home is "Broken Line Assemblage" of glass littered on our neighborhood road

 along with pebbles and shells from the beach that I pick up when I go for walks.

 

 

"Broken Glass on Textured Color Lines" inspired by jazz dance

 

I plan to go on longer walks to find more glass. Last Friday the Sanitary collection of glass was cleaner and little glass was scattered on the road. Tuesday the street vacuum sweeper did a good job at picking up glass too small for me to pick-up.

I plan to continue to journal  here as well as privately.

I plan to make small changes in my process with the goal of keeping a focus on expression of meaningful symbols to me including old standbys of dance and water. I hope to continue to have a greater awareness of when I am being to harsh with myself. When I feel frantic to prove to myself that I can conquer a painting, I will change the pace and sit to make more controlled strokes. If keeping to my focus is not working and my own Judge is bullying me, I will walk away for awhile.

Tomorrow when I am plein air painting, I will for the first time start with a list of titles, selecting one but allow myself to change in response to the journey. Maybe moderated intuitive painting will work for a smoother painting process of a stream impacted by dry weather. Maybe not!

Joy and Sorrow of Being a Prolific Painter in a Small Space

Interestingly my studio has all paintings that satisfy me and the rest of the house has more unfinished work that I  like seeing from many different angles and lighting before making changes.
I feel satisfaction and contentment and joy when I surround myself with work that satisfies me as comfortably completed. It need not be perfect. I like looking at work that over a long period time never says to me every time I walk by, "Psst, as soon as you have a moment, I need to be  touched up with a face lift. 

Being as prolific as I am, I  could quickly fill our home with art giving me the feeling that I am caught in an uncomfortable web. I  learned to withstand the sadness of destroying some of my work. 

Happy am I since I almost always keep space open.

To make space for both my husband and I to live comfortably, and welcome visitors, downsizing my collection of my own art is necessary even if it is like pulling teeth.  I go through my archives over and over again.

We need to keep space open for both of us to work and play. Conscious effort is made to display my art work,  improve storage. We keep only the stuff of everyday living that we need in addition to retiring some of my older work.  So various methods are helpful in reducing both excessive duplication in everything that surrounds us. Over the years I am always bagging stuff to donate. Many trips to the grocery store include dropping off a bag of donations. Last year I was lax and now I am back on track on donating.
Just working at  tackling  a little at a time giving me a feeling of accomplishment with each little step.  Happy am I that I have a few paintings that from the start all the variables fall in place.

Even if others do not like some of my alla prima paintings, they are among the ones that worked for me and I am fondest of them because I remember every time I look at them the experience of painting them.

Painted on a pea green background every color I put on was working with the whole right from the first stroke.  I kept the added patches of color open with the green threading through the entire painting.  Then just a few lines drawn  more from a muscle memory of a dance than thought out beforehand.  With the lines I decided the abstract was pulled together.

Hart Lake Creek  on a 1971 pack trip on our way to Lake Chelan, a sentimental painting! I treasure remembering our trips every time I look at these paintings. I do not care that some art critics would say this painting is two paintings, one being the tree trunks and the other being the creek.

 

I am a sentimentalist so my permanent collection is a diary of my life memories.

One collage led me to doing another

My abstract memory painting goal was to focus on organic patterns in movement of the algae and coral. Paper I made in a slurry has the random dispersion I remember from my snorkeling experience in Turneffe Flats.