JJ Worden

An artist friend on Facebook posted asking what our favourite creations of 2014 were.
I paused, pondered, and realized that I was, once again, not as productive as I want to be.

I started with a flourish, preparing for first, the invitational Fables & Fairytales show in Bear River, followed by my first solo show "Angels" at The Biscuit Eater. And then .... sporadic flights of creativity for the remainder of the year.


In 2015 I'm determined to be a bit more consistent. Not simply creating everyday. Although that is part of it. But an attempt to have a body of work by the end of the year. And because I have a tendency to flit from medium to medium, I've decided to hone in on the subject matter.

So.

2015 will be themed ... Houses and Crows.
And when I'm asked what my favourite creation of 2015 has been, I hope next year at this time, I will have many many many pieces to choose from!

As we roll up the last vestiges of 2014, I'd like to wish you and your's a Happy Solstice ... here comes the sun... and thank you for hanging out with me here in this space. I hope to see you again in 2015!

Let's review shall we? I received Chris's stuff in person back in June. The first time I'd been challenged to come up with a return box of challenge stuff. How exciting to have the shoe on the other foot!

This is what Chris's stuff looked like before:

And this is what I came up with ... while I don't generally come up with titles for these challenge pieces, if I was pressed, this would be called "Don't Judge A Box By Its Cover".





But it was my returned challenge stuff that totally floored me. Unfortunately, I never took a photo of the junk I gave Chris but trust me when I say it was a hefty box filled to the brim. She took my challenge seriously and attempted to use every. little. thing. on her piece.

She calls it "Hell on Wheels".
I call it astounding!!






A reminder how the Assemblage Challenge works.

As I continue down this plaster road, I started making a mental list realizing that I should probably write'em down lest ... a) I forget as I move beyond the neophyte stage and ... b) should anyone else attempt the path, it might make their life a bit easier.

Notes To Self On Plaster

1. Plaster dust gets. EVERYWHERE. A mat at the studio door will at least stop its migration down the stairs and across the kitchen floor.
2. Don't bother attempting finished projects while still learning the ropes. Be satisfied that with each new creation you will learn new things. 
3. You CAN thin almost thickened plaster. But there IS a time limit. After that? Gritty Ick!
4. Dry is really really REALLY dry. Paint really doesn't stick to really really dry. (yah. that was a lot of reallys!)
5. You can get a really nice slick smooth finish by pouring plaster into the bottom of a bowl and sloshing around, pouring out the remainder. 
6. Soaking that reallyx3 piece in water helps new plaster stick better. (Stephanie did mention this. I'm including as a +1)
7. Don't even attempt painting until all the plaster is put away.
8. Multiple thin coats is sometimes better than trying to rush an entire piece.
9. Adding white glue to the plaster/water mixture works as a more pliable, less brittle application. Drying time is a bit more. Natch.
10. Facial wipes make short work of any dried plaster AND it moisturizes hands. Win-win.

... so little time! I've been busy since we last chatted. There have been kitchen renovations and house viewings and apartment procurements and studio revamps and... and... taking this crazy hand-formed sculpting class from the lovely Miss Stephanie Lee. It's all kinds of awesome and has jump started my muse in all kinds of ways.

My brain is spewing forth inspiration.
And houses. (and meercats apparently!)
In overdrive I tell you.
Here, let me show you!


The heart was the first piece I made ... it's too big and painted waaaay too much. Live and learn. The bird head was made with the idea it will be added to an assemblage. It needs to be toned down. A. Lot.
I've made a bunch of these wee little houses.


This is what happens when you don't have the required supplies on hand. I can't easily get to a craft store and when I researched the Supply List, figured I'd make my own paper clay. Then I discovered I had some air dry clay already opened. Hey! Let's give THAT a whirl, shall we? Yah. Okay. So not a great product mesh. (the clay didn't stick to the plaster. at. all.) but nothing that some glue can't handle. and if the clay doesn't dry white (which the package said it does and frankly, I can't for the LIFE of me remember what I used it for ...the package being OPEN... I can't tell if it in fact DOES dry white) well then it'll be getting more than less paint.


Yah. Okay. So don't ask me where my brain was going when I made this. Vertebrate bones as neck and mickey mouse ears and a meercat-ish face? Sure. Let's go with that! And yep. Face falling off. Nothing a little glue can't fix. Like that's the WORST of this poor guy's problems. HA!


So here's a sampling of what I've made so far. The bird, heart and wee house you've seen. Then there are a couple of stars that have already been smoothed, some plaster casts that may or may not end up on those wood rounds and one of my house niches. Fun huh?

Love these wee houses! Okay. Letting everything dry and on to my armature tomorrow. Weeeeee!!

Do you like seeing what others are working on? I do.
I find seeing photos of works in progress (wips) highly inspiring ... a glimpse into an artist's process; their brain I guess. Making them more accessible somehow. Like they might struggle with everyday stuff we all do ... confusion, doubt, failure, overdoing, underdoing. Y'know. That bare, soft underbelly we all desperately attempt to cover up and protect but which really links us all.

And since I really don't have anything FINISHED to show, I thought I'd post some photos of wips I've taken over the years. I hope you enjoy them!

For a Nervousness LMAO (Land Mail Art Object) , 12 years ago! How is that even possible!!

Another one...


An altered book for Mother's Day ... I had the opportunity to see this one firsthand again as I cleaned out my mom's apartment. The inside is a little too ..erm.. busy? for my liking but the outside? yah. love that. still!

... so the procrastinating reading worked! And I've been making meaningful progress on a couple of outstanding projects ... two remaining Assemblage Challenges.

This one from my friend Chris:




Chris's stuff was quite difficult to decide how to approach other than the box which, obviously, begged to be the containing portion of the piece. And what about all those little water bomb "grenades"? And the copious amount of  safety pins?!?

Well I didn't come up with anything for the balloons ... that rubber/plastic would definitely degrade over time. But the safety pins ...oh. yah... they worked out quite nicely!



Chris's piece has since been finished but as I have yet to give it to her you'll just have to wait for photos of the finished product. I think (I hope!) she'll like it!

Now on to Denise's pile o'stuff:

And what a delicious pile, n'est ce pas?! So many choices. So little time. The hearts were definitely speaking to me. And that little china body sadly lacking arms and legs but allow me to come up with replacements from the myriad of items. Some bones perhaps? Well sure they'd work only there were these knitting needle ends that remind me of D's background, being Sydney's premier yarn bomber from back in the day and all. Couldn't let that just fly by, now could I?!

So. Cute!

Now I'm in the process of making her housing which is progressing a lot slower than the little dolly above. But. I'm simply happy to be back in the studio with lots of ideas and detritus floating around so all's right with the world.

Back to it then!

Don't know about you but I find it hard ... really really hard... to get back into a making groove after being gone for awhile. I know the answer is to Just Do It.
Show up.
Get hands dirty.
Make marks.
Act as if.

And I've been trying ...tidying, putting things back where they belong, doing small bits on works in progress but it seems that unless that brain switch has been tripped I tend toward big fat messes rather than making magic happen.

So I read. I look. I browse. (I putz with web stuff) I continue to move things around in the studio, hoping against hope that THIS day will be the day that pieces begin to fit back into the puzzle.

Things I've been looking at ... reading... browsing... (you may have already seen the web putzing!)

• Nicholas Wilton is a smart man. I rarely read his posts without nodding vehemently.
  This piece does not disappoint: When Your Art Doesn't Sell
• Darryl Joel Berger is one of those rare people who tell it like it is.
  He also just happens to make phenomenal art as well.
  You should buy something from him.
• Images I stuffed in my computer Inspiration folder. Sadly I don't know who they belong to (well the first one is my NZ friend Azirca who no longer makes/updates) If you recognize any of these, let me know please!

... insert flu here ...

And I'm back. The second week of our Road Trip - Southwest Style featured Napa and San Francisco and Yosemite and Death Valley and Las Vegas and Zion. Yup. Whirlwind tour a la "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belguim". So many places. So little time.

I'm not sure why I didn't take any photos of Napa other than I was totally underwhelmed. If other wine growing regions aspire to that over-hype? I suggest they rethink the whole idea. And while I did take an obligatory crossing the Golden Gate Bridge photo I was less than impressed with San Francisco as well. Musta been the day!

As we left our overnight in Hayward CA I was taken with what I would consider this "quintessentially Californian" scene. I see those hills (sans windmills) so often in our advertising it has become part of my visual lexicon.

Go figure!


And as we headed into Yosemite we witnessed the aftermath of all the forest fires that ripped up so many acres ... so dry. so much destruction. It went on and on. And on. Though as we learned certain species of pine can only regenerate through fire. So there's that.

Yosemite was pretty. And busy. We didn't realize we'd chosen to drive through on a National Park free fee day. (uhm. dudes! it's only $20!!) And even though the understory was different from our West Coast (and East Coast) I felt like I might have seen the topography before.

We did get to see a small black bear run across the road. Bonus points!


And then ... Death Valley.

I'd kinda sorta anticipated the nothingness but was wholly unprepared for its vastness. I felt as if all of earth's predecessors were reverberating through my body. It was a visceral, spiritual experience.

 And as we headed out the other side of Furnace Creek ... this (above), Furnace Creek Resort. uhm. wtf?!?


Which kinda led into our evening in Las Vegas and I couldn't help thinking that Las Vegas just might be the sum of all that is wrong with our world.  I know. I know. Lighten the fuck up Jen, right? eesh!


 And then there was Zion. And the planets aligned and the world came into focus. In some bizarre part of me I felt I'd arrived "home". Maybe because I've been waiting so. long. to see big skies and red rocks. Or maybe in some previous life I was a warrior indian crossing the plains bareback, wind in my hair.

 Part of our rationale for covering so much ground in so little time was to get a glimpse of where we might want to spend more time. And Zion, for both of us, definitely filled that bill. We were completely enamoured with the topography. Springdale UT in particular but I'm sure other towns in northern AZ & NM would work too. Smitten!

And there you have it, our 2 week southwestern zippididoodah road trip ... Sayonara from Zion, yo!

For the longest time I've wanted to visit southwestern USA and this fall finally had the opportunity. Once we finished supporting our son for his Xterra Championship Race in Snow Basin, Utah, we headed out on a two week road trip which went from Salt Lake City across to Oregon, south to San Francisco and back to Utah via Las Vegas, NV.

In between we visited the Bonneville Salt Flats ...

Thunder Mountain Monument alongside I-80 near Imlay, NV (weird and bizarre but well worth the stop!) ...

Reno, NV (such a melancholy vibe) ...

lovely Stephanie and husband Vince in Rogue River (no photos! what was I thinking?!?) ...
long time online friend Corinne and husband Larry in Medford, OR  (bonus: I got to see her Altered Book show!)...
experienced a big sky rainstorm outside of Williams, CA...

And that was just the first week!