ereisa wells gentile

WIP 3

This week I had to do a little demolition on the triptych I've been chipping away at. The trees weren't working for me. I tried salvaging some of it but they look like they're in a wind storm which bothered me. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you have to undo what you've done to make a piece better - even though you've spent a lot of time on something. It's a little painful but it has to be done. I need to spend some time thinking about what I want to do with the doors. 

I also spent more time on the flowers - still so much to do but I've really been enjoying it. Feels good to be painting again.

In other news, my favorite former painting professor, Meri Bourgard is having an open studio this September in Brooklyn. She is an amazing teacher and a wonderful artist. You can see her work at her site: www.meribourgard.com.

Happy Independence Day!
- Ereisa 

 

WIP 2

SO. Last week I challenged myself to work at least 10 minutes a day to try to finally get a painting done (well, to start to). For the most part I did pretty well - although there were a couple of nights I was too tired to do it. I know it's hard to believe I could be too tired for a measley 10 minutes but between work and our toddler it's true. I doubled up my time on other days to make up for it though. I discovered two things from my little experiment. One is that 10 minutes a day doesn't produce much in the way of results. And two, 10 minutes a day DOES produce SOME results and that's a good thing. I was able to start the underpainting of the Magnolias. 

In other news, my 19 month old and I did this little collaboration. Of course, all the most interesting stuff is by her. 

Can't wait for the weekend and hopefully more painting.

-Ereisa

 

WIP - Work In Progress

I have been lamenting the fact that I have had such a difficult time getting into the studio to work and that I haven't blogged in what seems like forever. Having an 18 month old is more wonderful and tougher than I ever could have imagined... tough in the sense that finding a minute to myself is nearly impossible. Recently, a friend asked me how the blog was coming along. I had to confess that it had been months and months since I had worked on anything or written a post. To which she responded, "Well, there's a season for everything." Such a simple statement yet the reality of what she said was a comfort. There IS a season for everything and now is the time in my life that most of my energy and creativity is and should be going to my daughter. That being said, I still have a desire to work so I am beginning an experiment this week - I am challenging myself to work at least 10 minutes a day - meaning that at the end of the week I will have tallied up over an hour! I know, I know - it sounds a little pathetic but I need to start somewhere. And rather than begin something new, I am committing myself to working on things that have gone unfinished for too long. I mentioned this piece ages ago and now I am going to try to tackle it and finally finish it. Here it is again just waiting for a little attention.  Ok, well maybe a LOT of attention.     

 

    

I still have a lot to do on the doors... script on the banner and I'm not happy with the trees so I will be repainting them.

The inside is bare - except for the beginning drawings for the Magnolias...

I start Monday and will post what I've done in a week. 

Have a great weekend!

- Ereisa :)

 

more recycling :)

Ok, so I'm really getting into this recycling thing. Sometime in the middle of the night I had an idea to recycle some old paintings. I always seem to have a stack of half-finished or complete canvases that just aren't working. The truth is, I've all but retired from canvas painting because I don't really like the texture and prefer the smoothness of working on wood. I never really feel like revisiting these pieces but feel bad about getting rid of them so I thought, I'm doing paper cuts... why not canvas cuts? This one was kind of a quick test. I'm not crazy about it mostly because of the color but hmmm... it could work with some of the others I have lying around. It's really fun to work with these pre-painted surfaces because you don't really know what you're going to get when the cutting is over and you find so many surprise little areas of color. 

                  

Here are a few more color pieces I did on paper painted with acrylic. It's really addictive.

                   

                   

                   

                   

And also, 

I want to say Happy Birthday to my Dad... he and my Mom have always been so encouraging of my work. I love you!

-Ereisa :)

              

too hot to write

The weather report claims it's 85° here in Brooklyn but I'm not buying it. We do have air conditioners but we have a huge open living space and it seems to just not cool down - so we're sweltering and complaining. Even the cats have been immobile -  laying on the wood floor or belly side-up trying to keep cool. I wanted to post the painting I mentioned in my last entry... my first one with a lot of carving in it:

                   

In this case, I wasn't happy with the wood color against the lightness of the trees so I went back in and re-painted it, leaving the edges where the carving had been.

                  

Now forgive me, I'm off to take yet another cool shower and position myself in front of the fan for the rest of today...

-Ereisa

carved painting

                  

This is a fairly recent painting I showed at the BWAC group show this Spring. As you can see, Finnian is hanging out on the window sill. Cats are so funny. None of the three that we live with spend any time in my studio but as soon as I set foot in there, it becomes the most interesting place in the house. I usually have to battle it out with Olive who is obsessed with my paper cutting and lays on the table next to me trying to swat the X-Acto knife. 

I have been painting on wood for many, many years and also have some background in printmaking (mainly woodcuts). Several years back, I started carving into my paintings a little, just for a bit of texture - nothing major - but I always planned to do more at some point. See? Procrastination rearing its ugly head. 

                  

Recently, I came across a company called McClain's that sells beautiful Japanese woodcutting tools. I had to have them. Once they arrived I immediately did my first piece... a painting of a woman which I'll post about at some point. Honestly, I couldn't wait to get through the painting part to be able to use the tools. They didn't disappoint... the blades went through the wood like butter and I am now officially hooked. I love what carving does for a painting. Although I am definitely still in an experimentation phase, I think there's a lot of possibility in it. 

                  

This particular piece came about in an interesting way. My father-in-law is quite talented in wood working and was kind enough to let me raid his wood shop. I don't always work on recycled wood but I like to whenever possible. Not only is it better for the environment, but it allows me to come up with some interesting canvases and stretches my imagination.

The theme for the show was "The Color of Hope" in which artists were asked to create work that reflected our feelings and attitudes about that phrase. My idea for the painting was to paint these dried Lotus pods (among others). I wanted to convey a scene in which these dormant plants (still in the dark) begin slowly coming back to life from the roots up. I think many of us felt the outlook for our country was pretty bleak prior to President Obama's election and the painting is meant to reflect the feeling of slowly coming back to life and our renewed hope for the future. 

The show opening was an interesting experience. I haven't participated in many shows and it was fun to lurk near the wall and eavesdrop on some of the comments made by passers-by. My husband was like a kid every time someone stopped to look, getting wide eyed and elbowing me. Some of the things I heard were surprising and it made me realize how differently people view art.  "It's like an optical illusion" was one (and looking again I could kind of see it) and "Well, she certainly has a lot of patience" made me laugh... um, no. Not really. 

Have a great weekend,

Ereisa

biting off more than you can chew

               

"Annunciazione" by Lorenzo Monaco, circa 1418 (this photograph doesn't remotely do it justice)

Two years ago my husband and I went to Italy for our honeymoon and, while strolling through the Uffizi in Florence, I fell in love with the gold-leaf paintings there. I’ve always been a fan of Italian Renaissance paintings but something about being in that romantic city, in that wonderful Gallery, just did something to me. I decided when I got home I would try my hand at incorporating gold leaf into some of my paintings. I have always wanted to paint a triptych as well but the prospect of building one seemed daunting for someone who is pretty woodworking challenged. I told myself I would learn how to do both one day.

Fortunately, a few Christmases ago, my husband surprised me with a triptych he had made and carved himself. To this day, it’s one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would do with such a beautiful canvas and finally decided to make it a kind of memory of our wedding day.

                  

I was full of enthusiasm when I started. I did the drawing for the front doors of the triptych first, figuring ideas for the inside would come to me later. Our wedding was outdoors at an arboretum so I knew I wanted to incorporate Magnolia trees and birds to represent the wildlife there. I started to paint it and that’s when I had a thought about the banner the birds are carrying - gold leaf! So, I set out to attempt it on the edges of the banner.

                 

Clearly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I applied the glue, let it dry as directed and then laid a sheet of leaf over top. My idea was that it would adhere to the glue, but not to the surrounding areas leaving a nice, crisp line between.

Yeah. Right.

                    

I pulled off the leaf and discovered a sad, jagged edge. Here’s where I realized that I would now have to cut teeny-tiny individual pieces of the gold leaf and adhere them one at a time, which is not at all easy since gold leaf is quite possibly the thinnest, most delicate material on the planet. The slightest current of air sends it flying, it sticks to your fingers and you basically have one shot at getting it in the right spot. It requires so much patience it’s hilarious.

So, it seems that I have a lot of work ahead of me and, to be honest, I’ve kind of been avoiding it. Every now and then I’ll add a small piece. As you can see, I haven’t gotten very far. I figure I might be done by my fourth anniversary… if I’m lucky. I have a feeling, though, that when all is said and done and the piece is finished it will be really special. All of the hard work will make this piece mean even more.

I think you have to be willing to try new things in your work and to be okay with it if you don’t really know what you’re doing or you aren’t doing it well. You just have to keep plugging away at it. It’s so easy to see your self as one kind of artist or to get bogged down in one medium. The only way you’ll ever grow and the only way you’ll get better is to step out of your comfort zone again and again and again. I hope I can continue to push myself that way.

-Ereisa