linda_erzinger

10:45 pm - Merit Award for Me, Yeah!

Tonight I received a Merit Award for my horse.  In the midst of the gathering I realized I don't think I had told everyone who my sponsor is.  They are the Eye Care Institute and the final name was "Transforming Vision".  I forgot my camera but here are the final lighted pictures from the group studio.


   

01:06 am - The horse is finished!

It's been a busy month or so.  I did finish the horse.  These aren't the best shots but I should be getting some from the show organizers soon.






  

       

I had some pictures with the lights on but I can't seem to find them. 
The opening reception is Tuesday night and the public presentation is Thursday through Saturday. 

11:44 pm - Horse progress

So my horse lay on the floor relaxing and drying (I glued mirrors to the inside) for two weeks as I went off the Mexico.  More on that later.  For now here are the progress shots.

This is me doing surgery without a license.  Itchy fiberglass on the inside.  When I was using the glue I also had on a respirator.  It must have been a sight. I thought maybe I could fit my entire upper torso in the opening but was afraid I might not be able to get out.  The mirrors are only in the front chest area.  Here I am cleaning off some of the mirrors that are already dry.  The white shiny sticks are plexiglas rods which will be the stars.  

 

It was such a relief to start painting. First the grey primer and then yellow undercoat for the stars and sun.



And finally some definition of shape with purple over the blue on the hind end. 
 

And then when I got home the solar panel and battery were waiting for me on the porch.  So next I start mounting the panel.

Just to give you a feel for the studio space I have been taking picture all along.  Here is a shot of the back room, on the way to the restroom and cleaning sink.  Today they finally had a light on in there.
 Kind of creepy sometimes...late at night.  I glad we are locked in and only artist's have the code for the door.

12:24 pm - Horse Surgery

Well I have been working on my Gallapalooza horse.  After spending many, many days searching online for lights, batteries and solar panels I am narrowing my scopes in.  I am also hopeful to find a local solar company to give me some advise on the venture.    The construction part if easy, it's the electrical part that I am starting from scratch to learn. 

So here you see the access panel which I am just able to get one arm and my head in.  This is even more difficult with a respirator on and itchy fiberglass all over the inside.  I don't have any pictures of me in this position but I may ask one of the other artist's sharing the space to catch me in the act of surgery.  It's a bit like partner yoga with a horse.


In this shot I have put in plexiglas rods (stars) as well as some mirrors on the inside. The glowwy blue spots will be the stars and will allow light in during the day as well as out at night.   I have a temporary light so I can play with the reflections.  I had some issues with the construction adhesive not drying in a 15 hour time period.  This might be becuase they turn the heat down at night.  I am risking it by using more adhesive and just waiting longer to make sure it dries before moving the horse.  I am also using some bondo to attach wood supports for the mirrors.  Next time I will take some pictures of the inside also.



  I only have maybe 1/5 of the mirrors in at this point.

I did get a lot of work done this last week because we lost power for 4 nights during a big winter storm.  The horse studio space was heated, so it was actually more pleasant to be there than at home.  I never was much for winter camping and am grateful to have power now.  I still haven't caught up on sleep and the power came back Sunday night.  Unfortunately there are still many people without power.  I send warm solar powered thoughts out to them.

12:01 am - Gallapalooza horse

The next bit of news is that I will be decorating a horse for the Gallapalooza festival/ event. Louisville artists decorated similar horses 5 years ago and I was very sad to not know about it all until too late.  So I am very excited about this project.  Here is the concept picture and below a description of the piece.  I have already signed for my horse but will not start working on it until the first of the year. 



The theme is "Possibility City"

“Transformative Energy” shows off solar power as an energy source to light the city.  The sun on the back of the horse will house a solar panel which will connect to string lights placed inside the horse.  These will be visible at night through the window (moon) on the horse’s chest.  The lights inside will be magnified by the placement of mosaic mirrors creating the effect of hundreds of stars within the horse.  During the daylight hours as the solar lights charge, direct sunlight will illuminate the interior space through holes drilled and painted to look like stars on the outside.  These holes will be filled in with plexiglas rods and waterproofed with clear epoxy.  This horse represents my personal hope that sustainable energy will be a life giving force in the future of Louisville.   

09:45 pm - "Pieces too small to be saved", art opening

I must confess. I have been too busy making art and doing new things that I have had little time or attention to share them. I had a show opening last weekend. Yes I finally got around to getting some work out of my studio. So we have not finalized when it will come down but it feels like a perfect match. The show focuses on all of my environmental pieces. There are a few pieces from 1994 (shadowboxes) but the majority is my new plexiglas pieces. It is titled "Pieces Too Small To Be Saved". The local is a new Louisville conference center called Earthenirvana. Their whole focus is on sustainability and uniting the community in the effort.


This was one of the last pieces finished for the show.  It is called "It takes a Village".  The peacock feathers are collaged on the back of the glass along with fabric and acrylic.






Many more things happening.  Promise to report later.

10:29 pm - Happy and Sad

I just got the news that I will be included in the "Good Folk Fest" http://www.junkabilly.com/goodfolkfest/ here in Louisville. I know, I swore off festivals. I went to two or three in the last few years and bombed at all of them. I am hoping this will be different. For one it is indoors (no fear of rain or 90 degree weather). For two I am thinking there will be people there more open to my visionary style. I am still struggling with trying to find my art world home.
They haven't gotten me on the website yet, but I am excited to have a place to get some work out.
Picture of the day...

This is a box I made from upcycled Plexiglas. Origami in plastic.


Also I don't know why I can no longer put a link attached to text. I am only getting HTML with the option to insert image or embed media. I did let my paid account laps, but I didn't think this was a part of that. Just inserted a picture and that is all different too:( I hate new learning curves on things I thought I knew. I guess I can't play with the picture size anymore.

02:12 pm - Upstream Creations

Today I am officially launching my new etsy site.  You will find a lot of what I have up to for the last few months at UpstreamCreations.etsy.com  This new store has all upcycled plexiglas jewelry and will also have boxes, clocks and whatever my brain will concoct.  The suggestion box is open. 

Here are a few samples of what is already posted.

11:14 pm - Snails pace

Life seems to be running very fast and at the same time my progress with art and studio work is at a snails pace.  I have been working on launching a new etsy store with upcycled plexiglas earrings (and eventually other stuff).  I made a big push to get it going and then I haven't been posting the pieces or getting them out to my galleries.  I MUST motivate. 

10:28 am

Starting a new piece.  I didn't plan this in the same way I usually do which was refreshing.  I was just playing with some feathers and came up with a basic idea.   The green coming from behind it is crepe paper which I use quite frequently to assess color.  The orange stripe is from my easel. 



This is what it looks like this morning. 

04:05 pm - Retaking pictures

This weekend I am retaking pictures of some of my work so that I will have 300DPI images.  I am submitting work to the WeMoon Calendar (2010).  I have wanted to do this for years and keep missing the deadline.  The calendar is packed with woman centered art, poetry, etc.  I have bought it in the past as more of an art book than calendar. Anyway I dredged through my photos and came up with this one I have never posted it on my blog or website.  It is an oil on paper and measures 14 X 23.  After I painted it I didn't know what to do with it since it was just on gessoed paper.  Any ideas for display?  It sure is an odd duck out.  Or fish.


I was just remembering when I did this one.  I had just gotten married and my husband works in oil with Galkyd.  I got curios about the medium and this was my first oil painting since probably 15 years before.  The year was 2005. 

10:01 pm - Pieces of life

All the pieces of life have consumed me this summer.  First I got stuck working on/ fighting with a piece of art.  I think I have never had such a time finishing a piece. I would work on it for a few hours and then leave in disgust. Not want to go into the studio and when I did I would just clean and do yoga instead of working.  Anyway after a few months I deemed the piece finished before it took all my creative motivations.  Here it is.  Still not liked by me but certainly liked by a full half of the people that see it. 



This is called "Pieces too small the be saved" and the pieces used in the globe/ circle are scrapings from my pallet and bitty scraps of fabric.  I had been saving them for months for such a purpose and am still saving them as a habit now.  How about some details.





I added a great deal of texture to the front of the panel which I don't normally do.  This was to cover the screws that hold on the metal hanging bars.  I was trying to build as much difference as I could from flat (non finished or painted on the front) of the globe to very thick and rich on the edges.    I don't know if these differences transfer in the pictures. 

I have much more happening than finally finishing this and will (I promise) be posting catch up posts on a more regular basis. 

11:31 pm - 21st Century Atlas

Well this is the piece I have been dragging my feet to finish.  By some miracle my camera started working just as I was filling out the warranty information.  So, this entry is made possible in part by the small miracles in life.

As with the others in this series this is acrylic and fabric on upcycled plexiglas.  It is 25 x 24.  I had such a hard time and then fun letting go of my expectations with this piece.  The fabric on the back was very stiff requiring an excess of acrylic medium.  This led to some of the frosted look and added to the chaos of the universe (literally).  This was not my intention but I later decided that is was a happy accident. 

11:17 pm - Yikes, it seems I dropped out for awhile longer!

Wow, I just looked at my friends pages for the first time in weeks.  I keep meaning to take pics of my new works and post them.  I don't get this done because I have not really finished my last piece before moving on to the next one. 

And now tonight my camera broke  : (   When I turn it on nothing happens except a grinding whirring sound.  I just can't seem to keep a camera longer than a few months past the warranty.  I have to look it up there may be hope for this one yet.  Ah but another thing to do. 

I have to say I have been busy with life also, remodeling the bathroom.  It is actually stripped down to the bones, some of which we have removed and are replacing.  In the end it will not have a two inch drop from from one side of the room to the other.  I am also taking part in a workshop over the course of 4 weekends on building a straw bale structure.  This has been a ultra cool process.  I love building things! 

Be sure that I am still making art though along with my other creative ventures. Here is a random piece of art from my  picture  files.  It is a pastel, probably finished 10 years ago or more.

01:04 pm - Eggs in the snow

Snow, snow, means I get to spend the day working on art and studio stuff.  : )  Yeah!  It also means that the art opening tonight is postponed until next Friday.  I have been working the last few days to get photos of some eggs that I did a few years ago.  I used to do the eggs almost exclusively (for art money) and am getting rid of my inventory.  In the last few years I have only been selling them at craft shows (which I have sworn off). 

Anyway now I am listing them on Etsy for a discounted price until Easter.  I should have everything listed by Sunday.  I just didn't realize I have so many left.  Anyway here is a sampling.

Chicken eggs first.  All are  done with a wax resist dye, sort of like batik.  I think this was the start of my reverse painting phase and how I got good at thinking about a painting backwards, or in layers.  Well maybe doing silk screen design for t-shirts also.  Actually, my brain is still a mystery to me and why or how I think like I do.  (hmm, I am rambling (too much coffee), I better stop).

     

Ostrich egg shell bowls.
 

09:52 pm

I have one piece in the gallery show and two more listed online.  This is my fourth year involved with this great fund raising project.

PROJECT WOMEN PRESENTS THE FOURTH ANNUAL WOMEN OF WISDOM EXHIBIT
Artwork possessing themes of women’s struggle and empowerment will be featured in Project Women, Fourth Annual Women of Wisdom exhibit at the Mary Craik Gallery at 815 East Market Street from March 7 through April 5. The juried exhibition includes the work of 32 women artists with ties to the Louisville area.
 
An artists’ reception will be held on Friday, March 7, 5 to 7 PM at the gallery, in conjunction with the First Friday Trolley Hop held each month in the downtown arts district.

A virtual exhibit will include 56 works not displayed at the Mary Craik Gallery, plus the 32 pieces that are part of the gallery showing. The virtual exhibit can be accessed by logging onto http://egret-annex.com/womenofwisdom2008/.

A closing reception at the gallery from 5 to 7 PM on Friday, April 4 will provide an additional opportunity to attend the First Friday Trolley Hop and meet some of the artists featured in the exhibition. As with previous exhibits, the works will be for sale, with half of the proceeds going to the artist and half to Project Women.

12:05 am - Also new for Etsy

I've been experimenting with ways to use the acrylic glass.  I will be posting these to Etsy in the next few days.

  


  


My first experiment with bending the acrylic glass...and it sits so level...and my clock mechanism had a hanger perfect to let it hang on the wall too.  This is just a vintage cloth behind with a sanded surface leaving it mildly frosted. 
  

I also made two pendants but forgot to photograph them.  That leaves me with something else to do tomorrow. 

11:59 pm - Oasis

It feels like fooorreever since I posted.  I guess it's been only a month, but the gray skies of winter have extended real time.

Well here is the next installment.  It is the same size as the others, just a little different in the framing. 

05:24 pm - Altarpiece

Here is the latest.  I fully expected this to be done and photographed over last weekend.  First there was issues with the spray gun, then I got a new (flat) finish which just made it look cloudy, not finally done.  It must have 7 layers of finish on it, which means it is well protected.  I also learned a better way to photograph (lighting wise) which is good.  I eliminated the hard shadows by shining the light on the ceiling just above and in front of the camera.  I have issues with glare and always feel like I am sneaking up on a piece when I capture it's soul in the photo. 

Still haven't solidified a name.  Suggestions?  All I have so far is "Altarpiece". 

02:06 am - Finally getting back on schedule?

Just when I thought I was going to have time to blog we decided to go to Savannah for New Years.  Great fun!!!  I danced like I was 15 years younger, enjoyed the company of friends and shared many laughs.

Here finally are some pics of one of my latest finished pieces.  (just replaced the pic. with a new softer lit photo :) 1-20-08)

"Beyond Here There be Dragons"

The place in the middle behind the figure is clear so that the color of the wall comes through.  I just hung this on a peach wall and it completely changes the effect.