hgwinn

Works-in-Progress

In my studio there are always works-in-progress. It is not uncommon for me to have many “starts” hanging around begging for another layer of paint or collage or a few more colorful strokes from the brush. Sometimes I get down to bare bones after a show, but the studio always has many brushes waiting with amazing potential in them.

And there are scads of paper with works-in-progress embedded in them. As a matter of fact, I have a new stash of “paste paper” I created last week which is inviting me to use it.

The palette usually stays charged; materials are at hand. What’s not a work-in-progress about my studio with all this at the ready?

As the sap is rising in the pecan trees outside, new sap is rising in me too. New beginnings, it’s time to play with the newness I’m feeling in my heart and soul. I’ve painted numerous ideas of “new beginnings,” and the ideas continue to generate, expand, reach for more. Eggs, and their busy yet cozy enveloping environments speak to me of newness. So I’ve started a virtual-work-in-progress. Here you can see green paste paper with printed leaves, orange striped paste paper, also a fragment of an old family letter. Newness is developing, one nest with an egg visible and another with its eggs hidden from view. It’s a current work-in-progress.

Update: May 23, 2011
The finished version of this painting is now on my Paintings page…its title is “Nest Times Nine.”

CLIFF GIFTS SERIES: DEEP CANYON

The CLIFF GIFTS are my depictions of powerful rugged landscapes with tiny gift packets, folded, tied, embellished and tucked into each composition. Each “gift” packet contains mysterious literal gifts: passages from sacred writings, musical score, beautiful papers, postage stamps, medallions, quotations from life’s spiritual seekers, meaningful symbols of faith and/or tiny nautral objects such as feathers, stones, and shells. They are hidden from the viewer but their mysterious presence impacts the expression in captivating ways.

The Sketchbook Project

Late last year I decided to participate in an international sketchbook project; so did 28,838 other people! The project is sponsored by Art House Co-op. Each participant paid a fee, received a small sketchbook, and selected a topic from those offered by Art House. Medium and method were left entirely to participants. In order to participate in exhibits and tour with the other sketchbooks, they needed to be filled and returned by early January 2011.
Art House Co-op Sketchbook Tour opened on February 19 at the Brooklyn Art Library. We have not yet heard exactly how many sketchbooks were returned; no doubt it was a huge number. You can read about this fun project at the Art House Co-Op website, see names of artists participating, the places and dates for the touring exhibit, and many many many photos of pages from sketchbooks which artists have uploaded. I followed ALL the guidelines for the Sketchbook Project. That means you can see my picture, read my profile and see a selection of my pages on the Art House Co-Op site.
If the Sketchbook 2011 Tour comes to your city, or near you, please check out my sketchbook and enjoy it. It’s cover is bright green; it’s topic is IT MUST BE……….ENVELOPES. Inside my sketchbook you will find many colorful collages of envelopes, including several pop-ups. I’m wondering if it will survive the tour, since it is an interactive sketchbook. It has envelopes which can be opened, messages inside them which can be unfolded and read, and other items which invite the viewers’ participation. I’m not really concerned about its survival; I want it to be enjoyed. Sketchbook front

I’ll add a couple of pictures here which aren’t on the Art House Co-op website. In a later post I will add some information about
my long term involvement
with envelopes and what they
mean to me.

The title page, left, has a cut through window with an envelope which is bound with strings and embellishments.

The spiral page, right, has an envelope with a message inside.

I hope to see the Sketchbooks when they are in Austin, TX March 12 at the Austin Museum of Fine Art.

New Mexico Magazine

In the March 2011 issue of New Mexico Magazine, I was featured in the article “Art Is Life” by Wolf Schneider. The article looks at a number of New Mexico artists who have used art as part of a physical recovery process from serious illness.

The assemblage triptych “Postcards From My Heart” was reproduced with the article. You can see that image on my “assemblages” page.

A small detail of the painting “Taking Flight” was reproduced on the Table of Contents page in the magazine. This is the full image:

“Taking Flight” watermedia painting on paper, 22×15 inches