Out of the Box 2012

Vezina Out of the Box Entry 2012

I love a challenge and with the North River Arts Society's annual event, "OTB," (Out of the Box) it is as much fun to create something as it is to see what other artists come up with.   Back in the day when I had no time to paint, I would see art I liked and think, "I could do that."   The truth of the matter is, I couldn't do "that" (another person's art) then, and I can't do it now.   Every decision and every stroke is personal and no two paintings or painters are alike.   With age I have come to appreciate the uniqueness of efforts and results of other painters.

As for OTB, the challenge of shaking off the tried and true, venturing into an aspect of art that is not typical for a person, is just the kind of exercise that brings out an intuitive response and result. 

I'm writing this blog in mid-July and not publishing until September because part of the fun of this event is the anonymous silent auction.   The 8X8 inch squares are the only common thread from artist to artist. These are numbered and bidding takes place during August without the bidder who did which piece.   Trying to guess which artist did what creation is so much fun and I can't wait to see the names revealed.

I always enjoyed tiling and have my own tile cutter.   I have tiled kitchens and floors and I love the tile section at the hardware store.   That's where I got the idea for my OTB entry.   I picked out a neutral 6x6" tile and some 1x8" trim with a plan to fit the tiles together onto the 8x8" gatorboard surface.   I chose a watery theme - water lilies - and commenced my painting.   I really liked the hard surface of the tile, although the paint was sliding off on the first session.   Since the paint was not getting absorbed into a porous material, my impression was that it looked brighter and lighter.   I'd say that I came back to the tile painting about four times in total.   I also dabbed a few pink and green highlight dots on the trim tile.

For assembly I decided on the direction of the trim tile pattern and measured.  Each needed to be 1x7".   That measurement allowed a herringbone pattern along the edge. I traced the 6x6 tile onto the gatorboard for a nice, centered placement.   The pieces were then glued to the gatorboard and the tile.

The bidding now over and we get to see if we won the pieces we bid on, and the artwork's creators will be revealed.   I plan to get back to the NRAS to check it all out!