12 September 2010

Translations & Obliterations: New Work

Last weekend was a good weekend/holiday -- quiet with lots of time to paint and explore various ways to express thoughts and desires.  The weather was perfect -- sunny, warm with intermittent cool breezes.  One day it was watercolors and gouache, using papers that had been gessoed, painting watercolor/gouache on jajara paper (handmade in India).  I found it could really take a beating -- scrubbing, multiple layers of paints, etc.

But now this weekend was good in an all-together different way -- weather was chilly, clouds scudding through, sun in and out (mostly in).  So I worked inside trying out ideas on these 8" x 8" gallery canvases.  There are "unsuccessful" paintings underneath, so that the primed surface was very textured and rough.  Working with wax and oils, I scrubbed and rubbed, using fragments of other paintings and found translations from old Italian and French dictionaries published back in the 1920s --


Translation #2: That I might love
While I let those dry, I moved over to the "paper" table and worked on more "Translations," using watercolor papers, fragments of old paintings and more dictionary terms. What great fun!  Time slid by unnoticed, music played and incense burned. No inner critics around, either . . . :-)

Translation #3: I would speak
I'll continue to work on this series of translations and see where it leads me -- another creative trail to follow.  There's something about these notions of ephemera that intrigue me -- flotsam and jetsam, bits and pieces of sentiments, thoughts, passing moments in time that drift into oblivion, obliterated from sight and mind . . .

Time flies on restless pinions - constant never.  

Friedrich Schiller

10 comments:

Caterina Giglio said...

oh I love these, they remind me of my latest pieces created just following my brothers death, love the words rising up from the canvas and the layered texture! cannot wait to see where this series takes you and how you feel about it...

Kelly M. said...

Hi, Caterina! So glad you like them -- I think the oncoming autumn makes one more reflective, contemplative of memories, etc.?

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

This is a good beginning...the texture is wonderful and how it moves into a series will be very interesting...Translations!

Kelly M. said...

Thank you, Mary Ann. The question is: does one ever get lost? :-)

Laura J. Wellner (author pseudonym Laura J. W. Ryan) said...

These are very 'lush', I love looking at them!!!

Kelly M. said...

thanks so much, Laura!

Anonymous said...

Kelly these are really beautiful images. I like the textures and colours of autumn and they do have a feeling of emotional quality about them. Lovely!

Kelly M. said...

Carolann -- thanks so much! Isn't it exciting to find another medium to express oneself? Thanks for stopping by --

Leovi said...

I love abstract painting and I find yours very plasticity and very suggestive.

Kelly M. said...

Many thanks, Leovi!