This IS the life...(somewhere in the South Pacific).
9/30/09
9/24/09
Gone fishin'...
COPYRIGHT JonesMoore 2009
Can you guess where?
I'll update in a few days
(I think)
if I decide
to actually come home.
Dia de los Muertos, oh my!
"Manos y Ojos", COPYRIGHT 2009 JonesMoore
I am just bursting with excitement! Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is happening in less than one month! This is a major holiday in Mexico, during which families celebrate their ancestors and departed loved ones. The collage shown above was based on images and my feelings about Dia de los Muertos. "Manos y Ojos" (the handwritten text in the background) means hands and eyes...with the Virgin of Guadalupe floating above.
Dia le los Muertos is one of the most profound and beautiful cultural holidays I have ever experienced. So much love and sharing happens during the festivities. The streets, homes businesses and cemeteries of Mexico are just alive with music and pageantry. Check out my photos taken during this amazing holiday in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2007!
9/23/09
"Proper Station", in the works...
COPYRIGHT 2009 JonesMooreThis is an encaustic collage piece that is almost finished. I'm still trying to decide where to place the tiny bottle with the red label. The photos in this collage are from my father's collection of photos he and his buddies took during Word War II. You guessed it! That's my dad in the hula skirt. If you click on the photo, you'll see much more detail!
This will be a featured piece in my upcoming show at the Oasis Art Gallery, in Seattle, Washington, which opens October 25 (my birthday!).
9/22/09
Doodads and rusty stuff for my kid...
My daughter, who is attending her first year of art school in Vancouver B.C., called me the other day requesting some interesting things. Rusty stuff and found objects...ahhh, I have trained her well. I guess they don't have much of that stuff in downtown Vancouver. She is in great need of these items for her first science (really!?) project. The assignment? Create a "Cabinet of Curiosity" (in box form) of natural objects–basically, an assemblage piece. Joseph Cornell was one of the first artists to actually do this in box form. Check it out–they are fabulous!
http://www.josephcornellbox.com/
I am feeling fairly excited to put together a "care" package of rusty things for my daughter, and so glad her love of using mixed media and found objects has stayed with her. I can't wait to see the finished product!
9/21/09
Experimental College classes now "live" and open for registration!
I am offering two fabulous workshops at the ASUW Experimental College (Seattle, Wa), and online registration opened today! Just go to Exco.org, click on "Catalog", and then "Arts and Crafts". My workshops are: The Painted Page and Altered Book Shadow Box. I hope to see you in class!
Questions? contact me at jomoma58@yahoo.com
For my other workshops being offered this fall, see sidebar under "Upcoming 2009 Workshops" Remember: "the early sign-ups get the worm". In otherwords, the earlier you sign up, the more likely it is that the class will actually take place! Yes, we depend on YOU, the student, to make the class happen...
Edmonds Art studio Tour (In case you missed it...)
I survived the Edmonds Art Studio Tour–that would make a great T-shirt!! It was a huge success, thanks to everyone's tireless efforts--especially the organizers!! A++ to you all! I had over 175 people come through my studio. Everyone was genuinely interested in learning about the "process" of encaustics, which I was demonstrating all weekend. I had some fabulous conversations with various people about love of junk and found objects, the use of beeswax in art, the history of encaustics (dates back to ancient Egyptian times!), how I progressed from 'pastel landscape artist' to 'mixed media/collage/encaustic artist', the gorgeous September weather, how Latino cultures affect my artwork, Day of the Dead festivities, and on and on. I wish that I could have recorded these wonderful conversations. Maybe next year (if I recover enough to do it again), I will set up a video camera at my demonstration table, so some of these conversations could be recorded--ooh! is that too "Big Brother"? Anyway, this weekend, if nothing else, restored my faith in the fact that people still have a genuine and hearty interest in the visual arts! Thank you to all who took time out to come by!
If you missed this event, there is always next year...
Pictured above: one of my three "art viewing" rooms during the studio tour. I apologize for the photo quality, I have mush-brain today...
9/19/09
First Day of Studio Tour a Real Success!! (I'm exhausted).
Well, the first day of the Edmonds Art Studio Tour was an amazing success. Judging by the number of people who came through my doors, I would venture to guess that other art studios on the tour had just as many visitors. I had well over 80 people come through the studio (including the mayor of Edmonds and his wife!), and I'm hoping for at least that many tomorrow (although, I may need to hire a "bathroom break" surrogate, I think!). Everyone had a good time talking about junk collecting, life changes and the history of the use of beeswax in the visual arts...
If you did not make it today to the studio tour, there is still time to come tomorrow, 9/20, from 10-5. Believe me, it's worth it!
If you did not make it today to the studio tour, there is still time to come tomorrow, 9/20, from 10-5. Believe me, it's worth it!
9/17/09
9/16/09
My studio is squeaky clean...
I've been hanging and cleaning for over a week now, preparing for the Edmonds Art Studio Tour THIS weekend, 9/19 and 9/20. Right now, I feel like doing what this guy (who happens to be my dad) is doing...putting on a hula skirt, swigging a nice bottle of something expensive and getting a little crazy!!
I will be showing close to eighty (yes, that's 80!!) works of art, and 1/3 of my house has been turned into a gallery! The studio tour is open to the public and free. (I just need to remember to keep breathing!)...
9/15/09
ArtsNow Faculty Show Reception/Edmonds Art Walk Sept. 17
Pictured: "Displaced", beeswax collage, Copyright 2005 JonesMooreThere will be an reception for the ArtsNow/EDCC instructors during the Edmonds ArtWalk this Thursday, September 17, from 5–8 p.m, at the beautiful Edmonds Conference Center at 201 4th Avenue North. I will be there to promote my upcoming fall quarter classes: Beeswax Collage and Recycled Book Altars. In addition to this event, you can do the downtown Edmonds Art Walk, also taking place from 5–8 p.m. I hope to see you there!
9/11/09
It's been a long–but productive–week! And, the power of re-packaging...
"Those Purple Trees", pastel, copyright L. JonesMooreI've spent the week preparing for the upcoming Edmonds Art studio Tour, which is happening September 19 and 20. It's amazing how much work (and how easily one can move from point A to point B to Point C) when there is no child in the house. And yet, I do miss him. He's off to start the Great Middle School Experience that everyone remembers (NOT!). So far so good. He still seems excited about it all by Friday afternoon. We'll see how he feels about it in a few Fridays.
Anyway, back to preparations. As I'm pulling out older work, and discarding some of their tattered wrappers, and re-packaging them, I've been doing a LOT of thinking about the Beatles. If you read the newspapers, or read the home page of Yahoo, etc., you know that the Beatles have released TWO new re-packed versions of their incredible body of work. In video game and music form. I'm very excited about this. Re-packaging past works is not a new idea. Look at the work of the Impressionists! It's all been re-hashed, re-packaged and re-printed numerous times. But, people just can't get enough of the stuff!!
Which has me reflecting on the value of my past work, and how important it is to keep 'putting it out there', in one form or another (if it is , indeed, quality work). In my 'past life' as a visual artist, I did vibrant pastel landscape and still life paintings, and was a Signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society. I did some very good work.
My conclusion: embrace all past endeavors! Why not? I encourage all of you 'creatives' out there to do the same. Some of my pastel works will be exhibited during my Open Studio, along with my other, more recent experimental works. I do hope you can make it...
9/7/09
SPANISH word for the week
letargo English Translation: lethargy Spanish Example: Estos dias de calor son una causa de tremendo letargo! English Translation: These days of heat are a cause of tremendous lethargy! |
9/4/09
'Mining' older work is a great way to get out of a creative rut...
I recently pulled out a bunch of older and unfinished pieces, in a desperate attempt to get ready for the annual Edmonds Art Studio Tour. It's been difficult to start any new work over the summer, with an 'almost 13 and bored' kid at home–SO, I have tried re-working some pieces that I formerly disliked, or work that just never came to fruition. Guess what? Paying attention to discarded pieces can really lead to unclogging the creative process. What is there to lose?? A piece that's already in the 'iffy' drawer? With nothing to lose, the inhibitions seem go go out the window. I've been having a great time with these art pieces (about 8 in all), throwing on more wax, text, metallic pigment rubs and even a found object or two. Try it!
I have to give credit to my daughter for the photo of the purple door. She hand-altered this photo that she took in Mexico. The sunflower photo was taken by me, and then hand altered, as well.
The pieces shown are still in progress...I'll post the finished art soon!
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