TODAY!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Laura&Tina

I am on my way Laura! I am bringing along the newest and next creation for our Two Artists One Surface Project. Read HERE and HERE for my previous thoughts on this piece of collaborative art. Below are some photos of it in process and finished…

I added a Gel Topcoat with UVLS (Golden Gel Medium, Gloss) over the cut strips of antique text pages to give it a different texture than Laura’s green painting. It needed one more element to pull it all together so I added a pink ribbon of paint along the edges. I know…pink! It is my least favorite color, but I have been warming up to it and it fit the tone of the painting. By the way, this panel took one year for a solution! In looking back at our posts, I received this from you last August. Talk about persistence!

Laura and I have a few more things to add to this T.A.O.S process so look for another post in the next week explaining as well as an announcement about this work.

It is done…..for now.

Here is a peek at the panel I am giving Laura today. I continued my thinking of the cut pages and colors. This process is similar to what we did in the COLLABORATIVE BOOK EXCHANGE. I look forward to seeing what Laura does with this.

I am off to catch my flight now!

See you in a bit Laura,

Tina

1 Reply

T.A.O.S. Update

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Laura&Tina

Dear Laura,

YES! I actually have a solution for the TAOS panel you sent me months ago! I don’t know why some of these take longer than others- life, having a desert for ideas, time, confusion, distraction, etc, etc. Anyway, here it goes….

You sent me this beautiful panel:

I tried to put these little window/doors on it from another project I had going on that didn’t go right. Well….these didn’t seem right for this panel either.

So, I sat with this piece for a few more months. Yep….months! Now, I feel like I have a great solution that I am happy with. I will post the final result later next week, but here are a few photos from my studio today as I am working on it.

I know it may not look like much so far, but when my idea becomes complete, I think this one may be one of my favorites. It has been worth the wait to see this come together. Sometimes you never know when the solution will present itself!

~Tina~

1 Reply

New T.A.O.S.

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Dear Laura,

I received your newest panel of artwork in the mail!

T.A.O.S number four

For those of you out there reading this you can catch up on our T.A.O.S. project HERE. This piece is timely with my garden. It is so extremely hot now that the garden slumps into a green/brown phase. I was just talking with my husband about trying to add some color during this month and was wondering what plant actually blooms happily this time of year. At any rate I will pull ideas from my green garden to add to your piece of art. I will post my progress as I go along in the next few weeks.

~Tina

3 Replies

Two Artists: One Surface #2 complete

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Dear Laura and Friends,

Today I finally completed it. This is number two of our T.A.O.S. project. The picture above is of the before and after. You sent it to me in the mail weeks ago and it sat in my studio while I thought about how to resolve it. This process is sometimes quick and other times it takes awhile. I had a resolution on the third T.A.O.S. artwork you sent me (which I will write about later) in a few short days. I am not sure why, but this one had me thinking for a long time. I did a post on this when I was about half way done~ read that HERE if you would like. What got me thinking was your letter. For those of you who are not so familiar with this project, we not only create a partially complete piece of art for one another, we also write one another letters about our process (inspiration, materials used, life, etc). You said in your letter that the dragonfly is a consistent symbol in your artwork. It may not always be there but always reappears given time (in life and in your art). I started thinking about the dragonflies I see here in South Carolina. We have so many and in so many different colors, sizes and shapes. I am sure that there is some sort of scientific documentation on this, but for my purposes I stuck with the dragonfly as a symbol. I use chalk pastel for the cropped white wings and added a touch of red and orange circles to unify the composition. The green color is handmade paper I bought. Here is a picture in process….

and a close up of it finished….

and it completed….

Thanks Laura for always challenging me with color. I am learning a lot about it just by working with you. I am learning how to push my color forward, hold it back when needed, and how to generally make a very colorful palette work.

I am looking forward to number three of our T.A.O.S. project.

Tina

2 Replies

T.A.O.S. round Two

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Laura's work on TAOS round 2

Dear Friends,

Laura and I have been busy creating our new series of work together. Details on our first Two Artists: One Surface project is HERE. We feel that this project is embodying not only the spirit of our collaboration, but also getting to the source of our process that makes this unique to any collaborative work being created we have seen or done so far. This process involves a critical eye, creative problem solving, and a sense of risk/curiosity to try new work.

We are finding that this project is often tugging at our notions of what an art practice is and can be.

It certainly shatters the stereotype of the artist as singular.

When I received Laura’s 12″x24″ panel when she visited January it looked like this….

TAOS panel round one by Laura

I have finished my additions to this composition to make it complete, which I will post next week. Yeah, I am trying to have you hang around a bit longer… in the meantime here is an in-process shot while I was thinking through my response to Laura.

TAOS round two...Tina begins

Some parts are there in the final piece and some have been eliminated. Such is the process. Come back next week for a picture of the completed work.

Tina

1 Reply

T.A.O.S.

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Dear Laura and Friends,

Just a quick note to tell you that I got your T.A.O.S. artwork in the mail yesterday. This one is really going to stretch my color palette.

It almost seems complete already….I have a few ideas on what to add/alter to this panel and will start on it tomorrow.

Laura, we need to post our final artwork from the second TAOS for our followers to see. Let’s do that in the next week, yes?

I will leave you all today with a detail picture of Laura’s work.

beautiful

graceful

intricate

I am looking forward to collaborating on another piece of art with you Laura.

Warmly, Tina

1 Reply

Working Table: Tina

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Dear Laura and Friends,

I have a few projects cooking in the studio this week. One is a postcard I am sending out tomorrow. I did a quick ten minute paper assemblage from an antique text and created a gesture drawing of this banana tree bloom I picked from my backyard. I really did want to do this postcard this week and opted for one that was quick and easy given my busy schedule. The frost got it before any bananas were able to ripen but I think the bud is elegant.

This one goes out to Avis G. Good things come to those who comment! Our postcards often go out to those who comment or sign up for the newsletter. I hope you like getting some hand crafted mail Avis.

Another project in the works (actually it traveling through the US postal service as I type this) is my next installment of our Two Artists, One Surface project….

Laura and I actually started this together when she was here a few weeks ago so I feel like I am cheating a little bit. Our project never happened because we ran out of time, but I really like our initial thoughts about the work. We copied random quotes from our blog, whipped them up in Photoshop and printed them on antique text pages. The photos are also from the days we spent together.

I thought it was great that Laura used this image of the coffee cups in her Vision for the week. Have fun with it Laura. I can’t wait to see how you complete this one. Here is another sneak peek….

Keep in mind everyone that we have big plans to exhibit these pieces of artwork and perhaps have some sort of publication available at that time about this project.

Well, that is what I have been up to in the studio, in between teaching and parenting, the last few days. I also have been enjoying Kim Klassen’s Photoshop class and will leave you with one of my photographs I altered. Spring is on it’s way!

Tina

1 Reply

Studio Visit Week: T.A.O.S.

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Laura&Tina

Dear Friends,

In our upcoming Artful Blogging Magazine publication, we highlighted our new project; Two Artists, One Surface (which we call T.A.O.S). Since we have been together this weekend we have been fine tuning this project and know this is one of our best collaborative efforts yet. Click HERE to read about our first TAOS project sent to one another and click HERE to read the overall description of this project. Posted below are pictures of the final pieces of art. We have created many photographs and written letters to one another reflecting on our thinking and creative processes. Our plan (aka wish, hope, dream) is to publish this all in an upcoming book that will go along with the artwork exhibited. More on these plans will be announced this year.

For now, here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos:

Laura’s First Round

Laura's work in progress for TAOS #1.

Tina’s completed work

Tina completed this work by adding etched glass, lemon tree branches, yarn, paint, and image transfers

Tina’s First Round

Tina's work in progress TAOS #1

Laura’s completed work

Laura's completed this piece by adding old book pages and maps to the background. The wood blocks have photo transfers on them and are meant to be be like stepping stones on the surface.

1 Reply

TAOS: Two Artists One Surface

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Laura&Tina

Dear Friends,

Here they are….

Laura's work in progress for TAOS.

Tina's beginning of the Two Artists One Surface project

We have begun a new project that we believe is going to awaken and intensify our intentions as two artists working together. Read our description HERE.

As these two pieces of art are currently traveling through the United States Postal Service to one another, let us leave you with a few excerpts from the letters we wrote to one another about our process and thoughts.

We dream that one day the work and letters might be exhibited together.

Tina’s letter to Laura….

October 1, 2010

“Dear Laura, I am writing to you before I go to the post office. When I send this incomplete piece of art to you I believe it marks an important milestone in our work together. It feels like a project that will conjure up what we do well together- working in a feminine context of collaboration, conversation, empathy, and speaking to our ‘necessary fire’ as Sue Monk Kidd speaks of in her newest book co-created with her daughter- Traveling With Pomegranates.

I started, in a sense,where we left off with our collaborative book exchange with thoughts on how the landscape deeply affects us both. It is a subject I will be deeply exploring in my own work in the next few months……”

Beginning of Laura’s letter to Tina….

September 20, 2010

“Hello Sweet Tina, I have just started the first panel for our TAOS project and am filled with giddy enthusiasm! As I wait for the gesso to dry I was thinking about why I have been so hesitant to start. The panel has been sitting quietly in the corner of my studio waiting for me, yet it is only today that I feel compelled to actually work on it. (I think it is the deadline we decided on quickly approaching-ha!) I made a list of all the threads of thought that seem to reoccur in our work and had a hard time choosing one. I finally decided to start in the middle and marked an irregular grid on the panel. As I continued to work my mind meandered back to thoughts that were dominant when we were in grad school, pondering the larger question of what is above and below the surface of our lives….”

2 Replies

The Midwest & The Southeast

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Laura&Tina

The Midwest

where I grew up

The Southeast

where I live now

These are a few thoughts I am having today as I begin our new collaboration – “Two Artists : One Surface”. I am thinking about how a geographical place can affect one’s emotional place. I couldn’t help but see the parallels in where I came from and now where I find myself. How maybe I love this landscape in South Carolina because it has familiar colors and forms to those I first saw as a young girl in Illinois. Laura and I often talk about how our home, the land, the seasons, and our experiences outside define and shape our work in intricate ways. We often wonder how two artists being 900 miles apart may talk about this through the visual arts. Not knowing where this project will take us and allowing it time and space to unfold is an exciting process.

…thinking…

…stewing…

…pondering…

Tina

Two Artists : One Surface

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Laura&Tina

photo taken by Terry Hirsig

Dear Friends,
Yesterday I spoke about the completion of our collaboratively made Book Exchange which spanned two years. Today I would like to let you take a peek at our ideas for the next collaboration. Some of these thoughts were posted in our recent Newsletter – please sign up if you have not already.

We are calling our new collaboration

Two Artists : One Surface

or TAOS.

Inspired by the artwork of Jennifer Bartlett from the book of her work titled In The Garden, we saw the possibilities of having us both work on one piece of art together. Since we live far apart, we had to brainstorm a method of how to make this work long distance. What we decided was to each begin on a wood panel, working on about half of it. Once we have completed our half, we will swap our work through the mail. Once received in the mail, we will complete the other’s piece of art.

The artwork created is open and subject to the individual artist creating it- we do not have any parameters or objectives here- only to create in the moment and see what develops between two artists. This is an experiment which will be documented thoroughly on our blog.

In a way, this is similar to our project Vision/ReVision we engage in weekly. In that project we each post a photograph on Monday titled ‘Vision’. In response to that photo, the artists choose an element such as color, line, composition, shape, form, pattern, design, or conceptual idea to create a ‘ReVision’. ReVisions are posted on Friday.

For this new project we will take one month to start a new piece of art and another month to tradthrough the mail and complete. We have projected to create twelve pieces of collaborative art by this time next year.

Look for updates, letters of reflection, photographs in progress, and comments on this process on our blog over the next year.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day~

Tina