Another piece for the Timeline

Materials used: watercolor, graphite, on cut digital print.

Riding

This is the latest in my timeline project. This piece is small, 8X10", it seems to be begging for a larger paper. I may work this image again larger or with more empty space. I don't think it is done, it doesn't seem right to me. I will sit on it for now and think.
Materials used: graphite, watercolor, and watercolor pencils on rag paper.

Transfusion

Another piece for the timeline project that I am working on. graphite, watercolor on digital print.

Library

8.5 X 11" graphite, watercolor, and digital print
The first of a series for a timeline project.

Modern Nativity

Kitty introduces her modern plastic fascination to the nativity scene. I like this updated view of Christianity.

New Studio Space

Here is a photo of my new studio space that I am renting. It is awesome and a great deal. I can't wait to get some work done and clear out some room in my house.
I will post some more pics when I move in.

Wallpaper at the Teton Artlab

Wallpaper, opening Friday December 5, 6 -8 pm Exhibit Dates December 5 - 30
Teton Artlab presents a "Salon" style works on paper exhibit featuring works by over 20 American artists.
This invitational exhibit features work by Tom Woodhouse, David Gottfried, Rachel Kunkle Hartz, Travis Walker, Julia Randall, Abbie Miller, Benjamin Carlson, Aaron Wallis, and others. (including me, Abbigail Knowlton Israelsen)
I am thrilled to be invited to participate in this show and love to imagine my work in Jackson Hole. I am from the West and adore the thought of my work returning "home."
Hopefully more pics to come.

Tiger Nightmares

For some reason I have reoccurring dreams that have tigers in them. They are usually chasing me or just sitting in my home in a threatening way. I had a pretty juicy one last night, so while it was fresh on my mind I did a little work this morning. I think the one above is my favorite of the group.

This photo is just to show my low tech process. I like the way it connects the real with the drawn line of the paper cut outs. I am focusing on pink in my new work.

Love This....

Think Make Think, by Clifton Burt

A Lot

I started working on this drawing a few days ago. I added the wolves using lazertran paper. I didn't really like it or know what to do next. Afterwards, I just did whatever came to my mind, or felt right. When I don't have a set plan for my drawings I let the drawings go where they want to. Sometimes it works out to be better than any plan. Other times, it is a disaster. I am not sure where this one falls.
I think I am going to do a little bit more work on it. Even though I have already done a lot to it.

Whether the drawings turn out or not, I really enjoy making things when I have no idea what to do next or how it will turn out. It is a great way to experiment and push myself past the usual.

Sea Serpents

Another drawing that I completed using the same photo as Seas to Forest as the basis of the piece. This drawing is a bit more haunting then the previous and more indicative of what I am really try to illustrate.

Seas to Forests

A drawing I completed today on a photographs of my small sets. I used watercolor and graphite on the digital print. I like the transparency and luminosity that these materials give the piece.

More experiments

Today I worked in the basement with my lights and little drawings. I am pleased with the how rich the color is in these few pieces.

I took a few photos with the sheep. I wasn't planning on using him, but it seemed right. The sheep reminds me of nursery tales I sing to my daughter over and over.

Ship drawings begin

This weekend I have taken a break from my drawing project and began work on the petite dioramas. These images are created using small 2D drawings that I set up like a theater and then photograph. I used some colored gels with my lighting in order to introduce color and mood. I am going to some experimental drawing onto these prints. Part of me enjoys the simplicity of the images, but I feel driven to work them more.

The imagery is referencing my hallucinations from when I was in a coma. These are just the beginning, but I hope that they end up somewhere exciting.

Birthday Drawing

I am working on this delightful, over the top, drawing for my daughter's third birthday. She loves everything in the drawing: rainbows, whales, dolphins, sea horses, and horses. I have enjoyed making something that might be desirable to a three year old and her active imagination.

Materials used: ink, graphite, watercolor pencils, 8 X 10 " on rag paper

Wolves

This drawing I worked on today. I think it may need a little more tinkering. I wanted to take a break from my Drawing for ARDS project to clear my head. Media used: graphite and lazertran collage on digital print.

Shrouded Sheep

I began this drawing to accompany a drawing in my fundraising project. I never felt like it was finished. I did a little bit more work on it today and I think it is done.

Blood Bath City at the Anton Art Center

Come to the party on Friday, October 24th for some music, scary artwork, and fun!

Animal, Mineral, Vegetable: The Work of Tara Donovan

I have always loved Tara Donovan's artwork, they way she makes such breathtaking work with such simple materials. She received the 2008 MacArthur “Genius” grant, and an exhibition just opened in Boston to spanning a decade of her work.
This is an abridged version of an interview between Lawrence Weschler and Tara Donavan that appears in the monograph, Tara Donovan. (Via Design Observer)

Lawrence Weschler:
So you graduated from the Corcoran. Then what happened?
Tara Donovan:
I waited tables for six years.
Then I started making this sculpture where I was filling balloons with sand. And, God, it’s really funny actually. They were these natural-color balloons. I realized that if you exposed them to sunlight, they would kind of turn these pinkish hues and you could get all this subtle variation in color. And I would sit at night watching TV with a funnel and a bucket of sand and I would fill these balloons with sand, knot them, and pin them to my wall. So I covered this entire wall in these sand-filled balloons. It was kind of the first big thing I’d ever made.
To conitnue reading the interview click here.

Amy Sacksteder

Today I had the pleasure of meeting with Amy Sacksteder for coffee. We have a few mutual friends and I have heard of her many times. I am thrilled to have finally met her and to continue our friendship. She teaches at Eastern Michigan University and was recently featured in New American Paintings. We share many similar ideas and aesthetics in our work and it is great that she only lives a few miles away!

No more shopping for me.....

Because I just bought this amazing painting, Veil, by my dear friend Kathryn. I have been pining for this painting since I saw it over a year ago. I am happy she put it on her etsy shop and soon it will be on my wall! Yippee!

Blood Bath City, 2nd Annual Art Execution

Two of my new drawings will be included in the second annual Halloween event, Blood Bath City at the Anton Art Center. This juried exhibition will be on display from Friday, October 10- Nov. 2nd. Opening Reception and costume party with live music will be on Oct. 24, 9PM-2AM.

It should be a blood curling good party and exhibition!

Drawing goes where it wants to...

This drawing I began last night for one of my donors for Drawing for ARDS. I started out with the intentions of drawing something that matched the words that she had sent me. However, the drawing just kept going in an alternate direction. I don't like to stop myself when a project is going someplace unexpected, so I just continued. Perhaps she will like the drawing, or maybe she won't. It didn't turn out how I expected, but I like it.
Materials used: watercolor pencils, graphite on rag paper.

New Drawings

Here are a few new drawings I have been working on.
They are all 8X10" and are done with watercolor and graphite on rag paper.

Abbie Miller at the Teton Art Lab

Abbie Miller is exhibiting this week at the Teton Art Lab, In Proximity Tender: Render.

I have been to her studio and her work is amazing! This piece was done with fabric, zippers, and a wooden frame. You can see more of her work from a review of Centrifugal Force, a show at Russell Industrial in Detroit.

"Miller’s sewed sheets of vinyl together with an evolving repetition. While building the sculpture, she sewed into it two-hundred-foot-long zippers that, when zipped up, spiral the fabric into cylinder-like forms that rest – or loosely teeter - on two built wooden frames. Each piece has two forms that counterbalance each other with a strand that reaches across the room like pulled taffy.The texture is ribbed with folds of vinyl that sometimes bubble or pock with a vigor that has a mind of its own. The human-scaled forms help viewers relate to the “controlled chaos” or “organized erratics” they exhibit.From the excesses of fashion to the repetition of cancerous growths (like berle wood), references can be drawn from the sculpture. But the artist refused to share her intention, other than to say she was exploring the interactions between materials and focusing on the “ambiguity” of the forms." ...continue reading the review of her current show.

Abbie recently began working with the Teton Art Lab as head of exhibitions. Congratulations on a great show and the future growth of the contemporary art scene in Jackson Hole.

From Our Perspective

Last night we attended the opening for From Our Perspective: A National Women's Art Exhibition. There were quite a few nice pieces at the show. Kitty and I in front of my two admissions, Waves and Rain.
Work by the artist Crystal Wagner, Aggregation. I was really drawn to this piece. I loved the folded intaglio prints and her line sensibility. She used layering and translucent materials to make a beautiful installation.
detail

Sculptural Flowers by Zoe Bradley

I have been working on some large flowers out of tissue paper these past few days, so this artist really caught my eye. Zoe Bradley makes beautiful flowers and clothing out of paper usually for window displays or fashion designers. To see the sculptural paper artist zoe bradley’s work in person, her work will be on display at kate’s paperie soho in NYC from September 5th on.

Yarn made from old newspapers

I don't knit much and I have never learned how to weave, but I am quite inspired to do both with this yarn.......
A graduate from Design Academy Eindhoven, Greetje van Tiem, has found a distinctive and creative way to recycle old newspapers. Van Tiem completed a project that turns newspapers into yarn. Read more.

News: OCC hosts national women's art exhibition

From Our Perspective, the 18th annual national women's art exhibition at Oakland Community College was featured in Hometown Life. I am excited to be a part of this exhibition and have two pieces showing, the opening is Thursday, September 18, at 7:00 PM.

Studio turns to play room

I was determined to clean out my studio to make more room for another table and more work space. I soon realized what I needed more then more work space was something for my daughter to do while I was working. Kitty is almost always in the studio when I am drawing asking for this or that and wanting to play. I decided to bring in some of her things: kitchen, dollhouse, car garage, cash register as well as her art supplies. So far it has been working well and she plays much more and is less distracting in my studio. She really enjoys cutting paper as you can see in the second photo. So good bye more work space, hello play land!

Getting Ready for an Exhibition

Example of wall groupings made up of thumbnail images of drawings for upcoming show.
I have been thinking of ways of installing Deep Breath, Drawings to Benefit Lung Health. It seemed like an overwhelming task to decide on grouping and placement of the drawings. I decided to print thumbnail images of each drawing that will be in the show, then tape them together on a larger piece of paper. This has allowed me to expand my thinking about the space and how each image works with one another. This was a very basic, hands on process; made possible with some scissors and a little scotch tape.
This week I will be installing my drawings at the Anton Art Center for the opening on Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. I will soon find out if this preparation process will speed up the hanging time.

my bed was a boat.....

When I was sick in the hospital with ARDS I hallucinated that my bed was a boat and I traveled across the world searching for a cure. I found this illustration online and it fit my story well.

Deep Breath

Please join me at the Anton Art Center on September 12, from 6-9 PM for the opening of Deep Breath: Drawings to benefit lung health. All proceeds from the show will go towards Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. To read more about my ongoing fundraising project visit Drawings for ARDS. Deep Breath will be on display from September 12- October 3, 008.

From Our Perspective: National Women's Art Exhibition

I received great news that two of my drawings will be included in the Womencenter's national annual juried art show, From Our Perspective.. The exhibition will be at Oakland Community College's Orchard Ridge Campus, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Please join me for the Opening Reception that will be held on Thursday, September 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the Smith Theatre Gallery. The exhibit is on display from September 18 through October 10, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m

Ispirational Books and Magazines

These are some of the recent books I have been using for inspiration for my drawings for lung health. I found many of the books at thrift stores and the imagery is rich and ready for my imagination. I reference many art magazines for inspiration and research such as Art Forum, Esopus, American Painters, Art on Paper, etc. I have piles and piles of books around my studio and on the bookshelves of my basement. I love flipping through the pages not knowing what I may find and suddenly something inspires me. I use the image(s) as a jumping off point for my drawings.

Studio Clean Out

When I returned from the hospital this Spring from ARDS my family kindly moved my bed into my studio. This was necessary because I could not walk down the stairs to where the bed normally is. For these past few months I have been sleeping and working in the same very small room. It is now time to claim back the sunny room as my studio and move the bed into the dungeon of a basement.

You can see my mattress leaned up against the wall next to Kitty. I hope to get that moved back to the basement this week. The problem is, the basement is also a mess! Why do I have to collect EVERYTHING!?!?You will notice that the owl on top of the books next to the ship is turned with his head to the wall because Kitty thinks his eyes are scary.

This fortune is pinned to my board as inspiration....

I am posting these photos as "before" shots, hoping that will motivate me to show some "after" shots when the organization is completed.
I have always loved this ad, I think it is for American Express. I think it is an excellent portrait of my life these days.