fish

A Readers World

A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, artistic inspirations, Books In Art, Dogs in Art, drinks in art, fine art, food in art, magic realism, public art, visual story

For your amusement here is a collection of a few artworks in “A Readers World”, my one-person fine art exhibit opening Thursday, Sept 5 at Caplan Art Designs. http://www.caplanartdesigns.com/

I’m playing with the interconnectedness of life; the ways imaginative stories flow out into the readers world. And vice versa of course. Art can stir life. And life can stir art.

As I created these artworks, I thought of how a story is actions mixer. For example, each of these pieces contain ingredients from my experiences, the “actions” I’ve seen as I’ve lived my life, put into the cocktail shaker of my imagination.

Enjoy!

“Immortal Good Fortune” by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – gouache and ink on board
“Pie In The Sky” – by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – ink and gouache on board
“It’s Magic” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – ink and gouache on paper
“Suspense” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – ink and gouache on paper
“Daily News” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – ink and gouache on paper
“Sea Stories” by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – ink and gouache on board
“100 Things To Do On A Rainy Day” by Clancy – 11 x 14 inches – ink and gouache on board

And yes, if you recognize aspects of a person, a pet, a place or a thing and wonder if…. the answer is probably “yes”! (It’s sort of like the “Easter Eggs” that can be found in some films.)

Anyway, if you look at some of my recent blog posts you can see more details of the ingredients of life that I mixed together to make each particular visual story.

Thanks for reading and (ahem) “reading”!

sea stories

A Creative Life, animals in art, artistic inspirations, Books In Art, Cats in art, fine art, magic realism, reading in art, story, visual story

I live now within a 2 hour drive from the Pacific Ocean. I also live near a river that feeds directly into the sea. So it’s been fun to read and think about stories, both fiction and non-fiction, that have to do with water.  Books like: “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, “2000 Leagues Under The Sea” by Jules Verne, “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, tales about pirates, books about the Lewis And Clark expedition and of course the writings of Mark Twain.

And I often see people reading printed books in town and on beaches along the coast. Their facial expressions make me wish I could see what story they were reading. What if a book being read leaked out from the readers mind and into the world beside them?

These musings led to my gouache painting titled “Sea Stories”:

SeaStories300

“Sea Stories” by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – ink and gouache on board

absurd things on rainy days

A Creative Life, animals in art, art techniques, artistic inspirations, Books In Art, Cats in art, Dogs in Art, magic realism, mundane and magical moments, pattern design, reading in art, sketchbook, travelogue, visual story, visual thinking

For this new painting I’ve combined several thoughts together: rainy day activities, the contrast between rainy Pacific Northwest and the Southwestern (USA) desert region (Arizona), and the Bonneville Dam’s fish ladder. I’ve found the fish ladder fascinating – here’s a video of it – and have done some fun sketching at the Bonneville Dam  trying to capture the patterns I see.

I enjoy the patterns the fish form as they flow by.  I also enjoy the patterns of the needles/leaves on cactus and succulents which seem visually similar, in my eyes, to the “flow” of the fish as seen from various angles.

Yes, I spend a lot of time thinking about visual fractals in general and specifically fractals in nature

Plus the absurdity of comparing fish with cactus tickled my funny bone. At any rate those were some of my thoughts as I created this gouache painting I’ve titled “100 Things To Do On A Rainy Day”.

100ThingsToDoOnRainyDay300

“100 Things To Do On A Rainy Day” by Clancy – 11 x 14 inches – ink and gouache on board

fish school

A Creative Life, animals in art, illustration, poetry, words and pictures, writing

Here’s a new “story poem” with an illustration – both by me.  A little silliness to brighten your day. And yes, I’m thinking “Wouldn’t it be fun someday to make a book full of my short silly somethings and artwork?” So here’s my latest effort toward my dream. Please comment, share or buy me a pizza. (just kidding about that last one) Thanks in advance!

Fish School  By Sue Clancy

“In a few days it’s back to school.”

sighed Tiny Tuna O’Toole

“To learn reeling and writhing,

nosing and diving,

with tests in Fisherman’s Fool.”

FishSchool72

 

Finally A Fish Story

A Creative Life, animals in art, art gallery, artist book, books, handmade books, handmade papers, visual story, words and pictures

Here is the long awaited video of my artist book “A Fish Story” – first I had to catch it (make the video), then I had to grill it (edit it down to one minute – the gallery wants all videos at a minute or less) then I had to de-bone it (remove the sound) after a next-door friend said he could hear his electric sander in the background of the video. (Q: How does a deaf person edit sound on a video? A: Verrry carefully with help from spouse and friends!)  But finally… here is A Fish Story!

a fish story progressing dangerously

artist book, books, handmade books, handmade papers, visual story, words and pictures, writing

As I’ve been sharing on my blog today – www.sueclancy.com – I’m working on a pop-up book titled “A Fish Story”. In the photos below I’m living dangerously; I’m taking my now-dry pages and binding them carefully so that the parts that make the movable pop-up parts will be hidden – but will still allow for movement. In one of the photos you can see some of the hidden works before it’s hidden. I call the binding “living dangerously” because I’ve spent months at hand making each page so one slip of my knife now, or a mistake with the binding, and a page is dead! Some people sky dive or bungee cord jump or visit with elderly relatives… me, I bind a pop-up book. Whew!

Living dangerously and binding a pop-up book titled "A Fish Story" by Sue Clancy

Living dangerously and binding a pop-up book titled “A Fish Story” by Sue Clancy

A few of the dry pages from the pop-up book "A Fish Story" by Sue Clancy

A few of the dry pages from the pop-up book “A Fish Story” by Sue Clancy

 

 

more fish story progress

art techniques, artist book, books, handmade books, handmade papers, visual story, words and pictures, writing

As I posted to my http://www.sueclancy.com blog a bit ago I’m working on a pop-up book titled “A Fish Story”. Here is another photo of some freshly made (caught?) page spreads; the page at the top has a fishing line that moves, the page at the bottom has a fish that moves. In the photo I’m checking to see that the movable parts still move even after swimming in all that glue!

Two page spreads from an in-progress pop-up book "A Fish Story" by Sue Clancy

Two page spreads from an in-progress pop-up book “A Fish Story” by Sue Clancy

a fish story in progress

A Creative Life, art techniques, artist book, books, handmade books, handmade papers, visual story, words and pictures, writing

For several months now I’ve been working on a pop-up artist book titled “A Fish Story”. Here are a few pages with freshly glued down cut paper shapes. In the photo I’m checking to see if the pop-up movable parts still move. The page spread at the top of the photo has an actual fishing-line that moves. The page spread at the bottom has a map that folds out. Not pictured are the months I’ve spent writing the story, designing the book layout, sketching the illustration/artwork, dyeing the handmade papers then cutting (out of that dyed paper) all of the various shapes that make up the book’s story.

Two page spreads from an in-progress pop-up book "A Fish Story" by Sue Clancy

Two page spreads from an in-progress pop-up book “A Fish Story” by Sue Clancy

 

 

time music art

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, fine art

Here is my first piece off my new easel: “Out Of The Blues” – it was easier to move my easel up and down as I needed to and even though this is a small piece (10 x 8 x 2 inches) the easel was unbelievably comfortable to work on! Watch out world – I’ll be popping my art out now like a creative eye-candy factory!

Out Of The Blues by Sue Clancy, 10 x 8 x 2 inches hand dyed paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board

Out Of The Blues by Sue Clancy, 10 x 8 x 2 inches hand dyed paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board

And yes, “Out Of The Blues” is yet another new artwork destined for exhibit via Caplan Art Designs www.caplanartdesigns.com in the coming months.  As you’ve probably already guessed “…Blues” is about surprising delightful musical melodies that arise from within creative constraints.

Alright, back to work; I’m going to do another art piece, write an exhibit statement… there’s a lot to do before an exhibit happens! Fun times!

If you’re just joining this regular programing – the last blog episode about my new easel is here: https://sueclancy.com/2016/05/05/the-easel-has-landed/