I’m practicing household surrealism as I work towards fine art exhibits later this year. Ordinary objects and plants are sources of inspiration.
Here’s a few sketchbook pages in which I’m playfully combining hats and plants.
Below are some primrose flowers a friend gave us. They sat on my table and I drew them and photographed them.
The flowers eventually became part of a hat in an acrylic painting I’ve titled “Of Sense”.
In my new series of artworks for exhibits at Burnt Bridge Cellars and Caplan Art Designs I’m using a bit of collage. The collage elements come from my old falling apart copy of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”.
I replaced that old Austen book with a newer intact copy. I’m enjoying my Austen collection. Just like a writer constructs a bibliography for a book being written I tend to have a bibliography behind my fine art exhibits. Jane Austen’s prominent in this year’s art bibliography … I plan to talk more about that in coming posts.
My sketchbooks also reveal what’s on my mind – and I’ll post pages from them too. My sketchbook pages in this post have quotes about dealing with emotions. Jane Austen’s work is about emotions and the social comedy of dealing with ones own emotions or reading the emotions of other people. So I’ve been thinking about that…
My most recent published sketchbook “Another Sketchbook” is a prequel to my current sketchbook and fine art series. You can see it here. Spoiler alert: it’s lots of drawings about books and cultivating one’s mental life.
It’s nothing new for me to be as fully my odd self as possible – in fact I’m doing this as I work towards my new fine art exhibits – but I saw this image below on Austin Kleon‘s Instagram – and I thought heck yes. So I’m going to continue to be odd with household things for a while as I contemplate emotional health and Jane Austen out loud – so to speak.
If you haven’t seen Austin Kleon’s books, blog or newsletter it’s worth a look.
My recent children’s book “This Rabbit” has been read over 11 thousand times on Storyberries.com as of this writing! Wow! Thank you! 🤗 And yes, I plan to make more kids books … as one of my followers you’ll be the first to know. But for a while there’ll be odd household surrealism from me in this space and I hope you enjoy it.
See you next Monday? Stay weird and know that you’re loved by the universe.
My coasters, small puzzles and ‘This Rabbit’ copy all arrived this week, and I’m delighted with all of them. Thanks for your lovely offerings to the world!! Fun to see your falling apart Austen book. And I love seeing the flowers and then how you incorporated them on the hat in your painting. Wishing you all the best as you get ready for your exhibit!! ~SJK
Oh Yippee!!! I’m very happy to hear that you’re delighted with my offerings!! Thank you for telling me!! Makes my day!! And I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed seeing the flowers and what I did… Thank you too for your best wishes on my exhibit and I look forward to sharing my progress with you!! ❤
I love this way of recycling a well-loved book. I have done something similar with some books that have fallen apart but not as creatively. I just slap them down on the page as a substrate. The bunny looks like she is a wise old matron in a village who always knows the details of everyone else’s business – or have I just been watching too much Miss Marple?
One can never watch too much Miss Marple!!! And yes, the wise old bunny who watches and knows (or thinks she knows) all the details is exactly what I was thinking of… in the sense of “observation and awareness of others emotions”. That’s part of why I titled my painting “of sense”… in Austen’s work and also in Agatha Christie, as you know, behavior and emotions are observed and the observer tries to make sense of it all. 😁
My selection of portions of text for collage plays with the concept of “blackout poetry”… (note to self: must remember to talk more about that!)
As always I appreciate your comment so much!!
Ah yes. I ran a creative writing club when I was a HS teacher and blackout poetry was one of the approaches we used.
Blackout poetry is such a good technique! I’m glad you’ve used it in the past!! Using the technique in collage is very similar- just selecting and cutting out chosen words to glue them into an art piece. I’m sure you know what I mean – and can probably describe it better than I can!
Btw: your comment about my rabbit matron has been enjoyed by several others! You’re just amazing and I’m honored to visit with you via social media!!
Aw! Thank you. The feeling is mutual.
I love odd. Life would be boring without. It is so much to learn when going outside your box. Good luck with your exhibit
I so totally agree with you! You stated it so very well!! And I thank you for your well wishes 😊
I hadn’t heard of “household surrealism” before so I looked it up. I love how whimsical and gentle your version is. I got a big kick out of “Of Sense.” I think Laura has our plump rabbit matron pegged just right as knowing everybody’s business in the village. Congratulations on the success of “This Rabbit”!! 11,000 reads is fantastic!!!!!!
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your kind words!! Yes, I’m trying to see if I can add whimsy and gentleness to the genre- while still being surprising. It’s a fun project anyway. And yes, Laura is so sharp – and spot on with her comment too about our rabbit matron. Thank you too for the congrats!! Congratulations to you too on the recent review of your book that you reblogged about! That was awesome!! I shared it in Twitter… Please keep up your good work!! 🤗
You’re welcome, Sue!! Thank you for sharing the review of Telling Sonny and the encouragement. Both mean a great deal to me!!