February: Works of Paper

This month our challenge is something new for us, works done using paper in a different way, not just to paint on. Read on to see how each of the Pieces of 8 met the challenge.
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Cindy's response to the challenge:

Collage is the art of gluing lots of different things down to make a pleasing piece, recycling old magazines or other printed material is one way to do this.  Here is a portion of a collage I made using ripped magazine pages....can you tell what it is?

GAIA

I so easily see the green foreground of the mountains that turn to blue as they go deeper into the horizon.  But squint your eyes and look carefully: do you see the figure of a woman on her side supporting her head with the hand of a bended arm, the other shoulder jutting up, the valley of her waist and the gentle hill of her hips??  I do.  This is Gaia, the earth goddess.   Cindy Michaud

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Donna's response to the challenge:
Speaking of collages??  My second love after oils, is collaging and I was surprised how long it had been since I had done one, so I was very excited for the challenge this month.  Somehow I had the idea I would like to do a cowboy boot?  Why? Who knows, but I was inspired. I used acrylic paint to cover a gessoed support and then drew the boot in chalk. I always try to use something connected to the subject when I collage so maybe it was the great cocktail napkins I had with peppers, writing and deep Southwestern colors I had that screamed cowboy boot!!

Instead of using magazine papers I used tissue, cocktail napkins and all different types of papers I have collected over the years.

These are a few close ups of how I used paper to show length and roundness.

I really liked the angle of this photo.

donnavinesart.etsy.com

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Kathy's response to the challenge:

I have created hundreds of paper butterflies for all occasions over the years. But, I've been wanting to create a Cecropia moth and this challenge gave me the chance to work on it. I have a stash of special papers, including beautiful rice papers I find at Ralph's Art Supply on Highland Avenue in Eau Gallie. Below are my first two moths. The brown version is made of a rich felted paper. The one above it is mostly rice paper and a few pieces from an antique paper doily. Each is larger than life size - a Cecropia has an average 6 inch wing span, and these are both 9 inches wide. 

Bottom right is my first attempt, top left is number 2.

The bodies and antennae were much more of a challenge than the wings. The brown butterfly used a mix of chenille like white yarn and a specialty orange feathery yarn. The other is just the chenille yarn and acrylic paint. Neither do justice to the actual body of a Cecropia which is a true work of nature's art. I also tried a variety of methods to create the antennae. The brown moth ended up with antennae tediously cut from black paper. For the second moth, I hand tied multiple black threads to a thin wire (after many other less successful attempts). I was happy with this method after starching and cutting the antennae, but they mangled easily when attaching them to the body. Some of my progress steps are shown below. (Click to enlarge.)

Here's a closer look at how my second moth was created.

Getting that truly magnificent (yet artsy) look of a Cecropia that I'm after is a challenge. I just finished the third moth today - the last day of the challenge. This one is watercolor pencils on rice paper. I forgot to get a photo of it before I put it into a plexiglas frame.

Cecropia Number 3 -with a few plexiglas reflections!

All three in order made from top to bottom.

Kathy Garvey

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Denette's Response to the Challenge

Donna's Papers 

I decided to take a picture of Donna's beautiful papers and paint it.  So here it is.  

Denette Schweikert

denette.net

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Carmen's Response to the Challenge

I never miss a challenge, but I have spent the whole month of February sick and have not done a single artistic thing, so here's a repeat. Years ago Cindy Michaud and I competed in The Mystery Build Contest to create an artwork using the items mailed to us in a box. The box contained twine, wood, clay, paper, glue and other materials and we were to use those plus paint, and nothing else. We had great fun creating a tableau of a crucial point in the story of Moby Dick, and we even used the box. Moby and the little figures were paper mâché. 

Carmen Beecher

www.carmenbeecher.com

www.carmensart.etsy.com

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Fay's Response to the challenge:

I have already written a post about this sculpture that I saw at the Cumner Museum of Art in Jacksonville in an exhibit called "Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt." This piece from an unidentified sarcophagus 320-30 BCE. The planes of the face combine in such a dramatic and yet soft way to imbue this fragment with an expressive personality these many centuries later.

I wanted to use this piece to study contrast. Although the photo doesn't capture the light reflection on the foil or the glittering gold of the background, I think I did manage to get the contrast. What I came nowhere close to portraying is the inviting personality of the original. My "person" would not be fun to know at all and looks more like the Tragedy mask than a friendly face.

Next Month's Challenge 

The Pieces plan to visit the Vero Beach Art Museum and study their current exhibition:

From Homer to Hopper: American Art from The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. From there, we will each see which artist inspires us the most and prepare information on the artist and a work inspired by that artist. How each meets the challenge is yet to be seen. Watch this space for the results on March 31st, 2020.