New Website and Blog

I'm excited to announce that I have created a new website for my artwork and I have moved my blog to the new platform.  Please come take a look!

https://ronni-hunter.squarespace.com/

2013: More catching up!

In April 2013 I took a workshop with the amazing Sue Benner.  The workshop was all about abstraction and we were asked to bring some examples of artwork from another artist we admired.  Sue showed us images of artwork done by past artists who had used artworks they admired as inspiration for further abstraction studies.  The artist I chose for my inspiration was Lynne Perrella.  This was my first workshop with the Front Range Contemporary Quilters and I was hugely intimidated by my fellow students and Sue herself.  In spite of that I had a wonderful time and learned more than I could have hoped to in a few short days.  At the end of the workshop I had two very incomplete pieces of art, but seeing as I would be jetting off to Connecticut three weeks later I was not able to continue working on these pieces when I got home. The workshop in CT with Lynne Perrella and Michelle Ward was one of the best things I have ever done and also left me with unfinished artwork.  I spent the summer working on those pieces and then along came the workshop with Katie Pasquini Masopust and more incomplete art.  Well, I'm happy to say that I have now finished all the artwork I started in these various workshops.  At the end of the Sue Benner workshop my first piece looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

The photo does not do it justice as you cannot really see the lovely sheen of the silks and the sparkly organzas.  My best friend made the little polymer clay faces for me and I just love them!  Wow, putting these photos together is an interesting instruction in photography!  Hmmm.......  

The second piece that I began at that workshop looked like this when I got home:

Sorry for the blurry and off color photo.  Knowing it was nowhere near finished, I did not put much effort into taking a good shot.  I was pretty excited by this piece as it was quite a departure from my usual stuff and I liked where it was going.  After practicing on other things to explore monoprinting and quilting options, I ended up with this:

One of the most important things I learned from the three workshops was that I tend to be much too literal.  I am now exploring ways to take things further and to expand on my original concepts.  Invaluable!  Each of the pieces I began in a workshop last year has led to other pieces of art and more ideas.  I learned new techniques and made friends and I can't wait to do it again in 2014.

2013: Catching Up

2013 was a busy year!  I made a ton of art and really learned a lot.  I was fortunate enough to attend three very different art workshops and I spent most of the year either finishing pieces that I began at those workshops or making art inspired by what I learned.  In September I took a great workshop with Katie Pasquini-Masopust and I recently finished some of the work I began there.  The first piece is called "Cosmic Duet #1" and consists of two panels that are meant to be hung together.  The second piece is titled "Hot Graffiti".  I love both of them and love, love, love this technique!  Before this workshop I had never painted on canvas before and I love the way it feels and the fact that you can sew it.  How awesome to combine all my art loves:  painting, collage, and sewing!  Elements of this technique would apply nicely to paper too, although to be honest, the thing that makes these pieces sing is the quilting, which you could not do on paper. My mind is off and running with ideas for experiments!

These are photos I took with my phone camera of the canvases for "Hot Graffiti" prior to cutting them up.  Sorry they are a bit blurry.  I had never used the camera prior to doing this!  Sometimes I feel like a Luddite.  LOL!
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Painted Canvas

In September I took a class with Katie Pasquini Mausopust where we learned to paint canvases, cut them up, and reassemble them to make art quilts.  The class was fantastic and I just loved Katie.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera and had to take pictures with my cell phone.  Now I can't get the pictures off my phone! I'll get that worked out eventually!  In the meantime, I was so inspired by Katie's class that when I got asked to make a memory book for a retiring coworker, I decided to paint and quilt some canvas.  I began by painting a background of colors in acrylic paint.  The result was fairly uninspiring but I intended to stencil over it so it wasn't too distressing.  After hand stenciling two large motif's I realized that doing it this way was going to take FOREVER and I was in a time crunch.  What a great excuse to go buy some of the new Liquitex spray paint.  Whoo-weee!  I spent a fun filled, happy hour out in the sun spray painting through all my stencils and the results came out better than I could have imagined.  The memory book looked great after I quilted it and I made a small bag for a friend out of a remaining piece.  Now all I have left are some small pieces and these photo's.

Far Away Places - Finished!!!

I finally finished the pieces that I started at the Far Away Places workshop in May.  It took me a month and a half, but that's not too bad for three pieces of art.  At the workshop, Michelle advised us to COMMIT. Decide on one thing and commit to it, and the next step will follow.  When I got stuck working on these pieces I tried to follow her advise.  Truthfully, on the project above, I felt like I didn't have a clue and was going to screw it up anyway, so I might as well just do whatever came to mind.  It worked!  I can't say that I accomplished the things Michelle was trying to teach us, but I did end up with a piece that I'm happy with. After working on this piece I found myself with a big desire for more stencils!

My '"far away place" was some sort of mix of Gothic European elements and Indian elements.  Two styles I love.  This piece is 12.5" x 36" in real life.  I blurred out the face because I don't own the photo.  I have no intention of selling this piece or submitting it to an art show, and I don't intend to profit from it in any way. But I am really happy with it and wanted to show it on my blog.  There is a lot of Portfolio oil pastel on this piece, along with acrylic paint and collage.  The acrylic paint goes over the pastel very well, but it scrapes back off the pastel quite easily too.  The substrate is red rosin paper, and many of the collage elements are on plain old photo copy paper.  Considering the delicate (and non-archival) nature of the materials, I felt all these pieces needed to be sealed really well.  The Portfolio's are water soluble so I couldn't brush on a liquid varnish.  I decided to use a Golden spray varnish which worked very well.  I will also frame these pieces so they look nice hanging in my house and are protected from the elements.

When I got back to work on the piece above, I was pretty sure it was going to end up in the trash.  But I persevered and ended up with a piece I like so much that I am going to include it in an exhibition I'll be showing in at the end of the year.  Lynne's approach to things really helped me here.  She said that if something she tried worked well she would usually do more of it.  So I tried to both COMMIT and DO MORE.  Good advice!

Now I'm getting back to work on the pieces I started in the workshop I took with Sue Benner in April.  Sue had so many great ideas for abstraction that I really want to try.  I'm taking at least one more workshop this fall so I figure all of my work for 2013 is going to come about as a result of multiple workshops.  I've been feeling kind of blocked for a long time now, but these workshops are giving me direction and opportunities to learn and to practice.  I have a lot of hang ups about making art, but my one great "skill" is my ability to follow through and to not stop trying.  Making art is a huge leap of faith and I work hard at maintaining my faith that doing the work will lead to better art.  I'll take care of the quantity, and the creative source will take care of the quality.

Michelle Ward does these great Evidence Pages that she often shows on her blog.  She provided us with little labels for us to use in making our own evidence pages from the workshop.  I'm keeping a scrapbook of things I've done and so I decided to make my own evidence pages, including a folder that I could keep mementos of my trip to Connecticut and the workshop.  Here are a few pictures of my evidence pages.

Award of Excellence!!

Graffiti Lillies

I entered this piece in the 2013 Inspire show being put on by 40W Arts here in Lakewood, CO.  This year the shows theme is recycled art or vivid color.  Happily for me I had this piece in the works.  This is made on recycled inter office envelopes, with newspaper, paint, tissue paper, various pens and grease pencils.  I mounted the collage onto a black fabric background that I pieced out of fragments of cloth leftover from some other project.  The background is quilted and trimmed with black satin ribbon.  I think it fits both of the shows themes!  Much to my delight I was asked if they could use my artwork for some of their outreach efforts and I won an Award of Excellence at the show.  My very first award!

Here is the thing about this piece..... it came together rather intuitively.  This never happens to me and finding that inner voice has been such a struggle.  I just wanted to play around with techniques one day so I started layering paint and newspaper on these envelopes and then tearing the paper back off to reveal layers.  When I decided I was done I had a background that I really liked.  But as usual I had no idea what to do with it.  It hung around on my design wall for several weeks while this teeny tiny little voice in my head kept whispering " add lillies made of more inter office envelopes".  I resisted.  Resistance is my specialty.  But I kept getting the same message and eventually I caved in and went for it.  This is the first pieces I've made that my husband genuinely likes.  The first piece that won an award.  Hmmmm.  I'm guessing that that intuitive voice in my head knows what its doing.  Now I just need to learn to hear it better.

Far Away Places Workshop

In May I flew to Connecticut to take the Far Away Places workshop with Michelle Ward and Lynne Perrella.  These two amazing women have been my mixed media heroes for years.  It's hard to believe that in a very short span of time I got to take workshops with the artists whose work I most admire.  Far Away Places was about imagining some distant exotic locale that spoke to your heart.  Some people chose Russia, Morocco, or a fairy garden.  I wanted to play with elements of Gothic European architecture and Indian opulence.  Michelle was our instructor on the first day and we worked on these accordion books.  Let me just say that Michelle is a stenciling wizard!  She also designs amazing stencils and she brought a huge pile of them and let us use them.  Another wonderful artist, Margaret Applin, was also taking the class and she let me use some of her great stencil designs as well.  Michelle's demonstrations and instructions were like a light bulb going off in my head.  Until I got to work, at which point the light promptly blew out.  Sigh.  I get in my own way so badly.  However, I was by no means the only person who did not get their project anywhere near finished.  I love the colors and shapes I've got going here, but I'm kind of stuck on what to do next.  Here are some better views of the front and back panels:

On Saturday Lynne took over teaching and we worked on these long banners.  I ended up working vertically, so maybe mine is more of a panel.  Lynne showed us how she uses Portfolio Oil Pastels to color faces and other elements in her work.  Both Lynne and Michelle make great use of stencils and masks.  It was so fascinating to watch Lynne demonstrate.  Here is my banner as it looked at the end of the day:

Getting this home in a suitcase without getting is creased was a challenge!  One of the things I love about Lynne's work is the rich color and busy-ness.  There is so much going on in her work.  Endless small details to peruse.  After taking this class I can look at her work and understand better how some of it was accomplished.

On Sunday Michelle and Lynne taught together.  We started by making a grid, either by collaging pager or painting, and then added other collage elements on top.

The grid part was easy.  I excel at creating backgrounds.  I just get stuck after that, LOL!  At some point I will add a headdress to the woman and details in their clothing.  Below is a photo of my work space at the workshop:

As with the Sue Benner workshop, one of the best parts of this experience was meeting the other participants.  I had so many lovely conversations with total strangers.  I dug deep down into myself and dragged my inner extrovert out into the light and it was so worth it.  This was my first time going to the east coast and most of the other women there were from nearby areas.  A couple of lovely ladies came from Toronto.  Something about taking a workshop draws a connection between everyone for a few days.  Its a wonderful feeling.