Cigar bands redux

As promised, I have photos of the two latest cigar band pretties to show you! You can click on the images to view them much larger if you wish.

First up: Ed, Jed, and Marshall on a Sunny Day, 4.5" x 4, 2009.


This piece is dedicated to artist Jed Jackson (and will probably go to him). Three of the cigar bands that I used came directly from the men referred to in the title, who gave them to me outside on the patio of the Castellani Museum on the day of Jed's exhibition opening. And yes, it was a unseasonably beautiful, warm, sunny day.

And All the Ladies (CALM), 8" x 7", 2009.


I love how the word "CALM" is spelled out vertically among the cacophony of color and design in the rest of the piece. This truly developed organically. I was very glad to find that odd double band that had one totally blank area, torn away from a previous effort, I guess. How fortunate that it tore away totally retaining the gorgeous shape of the band! It reminded me of a cloud, which in turn inspired the pale blue sky-like area at the top, also a result of being unable to bear interfering with the line that was created by the topmost bands. It just all came together fortuitously, and I am quite pleased with the result.

I expect that I will squeeze out a few more of these before I run out of materials. The process of creating these is indeed calming, meditative, and just plain fun, to be honest. I don't know about you, but as an artist it is imperative that I have fun. Otherwise, why bother?

On with the Guayabera

Last night I got myself back into the studio because, really, it's been a long while since I haven't been making art for some specific reason, i.e. getting ready for an exhibition. So it was really nice for a change to be there and just really have fun with no constraints. (OK, I say constraints but really it's just a mental thing I have about having to do something and within certain parameters I've set for myself, it's really all good as long as I am in the studio.)

I decided to revisit the cigar band collage. The one piece that I have in the Castellani exhibition now was very popular (it was one of the works that sold, actually), not to mention that the collages are really fun to make, just totally different from what I normally do. It's definitely an exercise in free-wheeling and instinct. I don't yet have photos of the two I made last night, so in the meantime, I give you FLOP, which measures 5.5" x 8.75".



I'll post the new ones tomorrow.