Posts Tagged “igneous intrusion”

5″ x 7″, acrylic paint, cotton fabric and thread
I finally finished my 2nd “soft painting” installment in my Earth Series yesterday afternoon. I had begun this a couple of weeks ago, but have been overwhelmed with a marketing class I’m taking and also the events that have transpired in my personal life.

My duties this week are starting to lighten, however, and I am finding more time to work on my art. I found that naming the pieces in this series is really fun. These are based on geological phenomena and the titles serve a double meaning. The term intrusion, in geology, refers to an event where igneous molten rock intrudes on another type of rock (such as metamorphic or sedimentary) and then crystallizes as it cools. So when you’re out looking at rock formations or even holding small rocks, you can often see a streak of something else through the rock’s body.

Here’s an example:

From Class Zone

Obviously my version is abstracted using both color and magnification of what it would actually look like to the naked eye. I love how the literal meaning of the word Intrusion implies and additional possible interpretation, just as Collision does as well. To intrude means to “thrust or bring in without invitation, permission, or welcome.” To collide means “to strike one another or one against the other with a forceful impact; come into violent contact; crash.” (Taken from dictionary.com)

Without knowing the meaning of the work, I wonder if a viewer would be scratching their heads wondering why this colorful seemingly abstract work was titled Intrusion. I have often struggled with titling art work and especially get a kick out of the title generators found online such as The Abstract Art Title Generator. Now I have realized that the idea behind the work will go miles and provide all of the inspiration for titling and writing about art. Maybe others who specialize in abstraction can correct me here. In the past when I have tried to make abstract work with no idea behind it, it becomes more about patterns and color and that’s why I have had such a hard time naming them. BTW, I consider these 2 soft paintings to be based in realism, but most likely the viewer wouldn’t.

Collision was donated to the Art Student’s League of Denver for their Mini March Madness Auction last Saturday evening. I haven’t heard whether or not my piece sold or not, but would like to find out if it was and to whom. Otherwise, I would like to have it back so that I can keep this series together.

Tags: art student's league of denver, geology, igneous intrusion, soft painting

I went to the Art Student’s League of Denver today to trim my pots that I threw last week on the wheel. Lucky for me, I remembered my camera, though I felt a little dorky photographing my work in public. There was another person in the studio at the time and I had to explain that I blog. And, what would an art blog be without pictures?

I mentioned last week that I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to remember how to throw and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was like riding a bike! I was little rusty, but I didn’t fall off my wheel or anything. I decided to return today in advance of the class tomorrow so that I could trim (make pretty) my pots that I had thrown last week, so that I wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow. Ideally, I should have gone in last week because these were almost too dry to trim.

I should mention that when working with clay, it’s not WYSIWYG. I am working with a cone 6 stoneware clay body. When in its raw state the clay is a dull gray color, however, once I bisque fire the piece, it will become an off-white color. The same is true of glazes. I hope I can document this for you tomorrow when I glaze my UFO from last summer.

Back to the slide show…green ware is basically manipulated clay that is dry to the touch, but has not yet been fired in a kiln. I was going to say thrown clay, but it could also apply to ceramic work that has been hand built as well.

I have been busy updating my website this week and even started a new “Earth” series “soft painting”. Thanks goes to fiber artist extrodinaire, Lisa Call, who alerted me to the term soft painting. The image below is going to be the base for my painting. After looking at my last work, I was reminded of an intrusion. More to come on this later in the week.

On a side note, today marks my 200th post since the birth of my blog. I will send a fabric aceo to the first person who leaves a comment! Send me an email with your address if you are the first to comment.

Tags: art student's league of denver, green ware, igneous intrusion, pottery