"Chief's Road", "Vineyard Road" , Journal and Studio Update

Things are getting busy around here.  I am preparing some new pieces for a show at the PAF Gallery in Siler City, NC, after having been invited to exhibit and to teach a class.  The dates will be March 15 and 16 with the exhibit opening Friday night and the class Saturday morning.  

    "Chief's Road"  10 X 10  Lori LaBerge  2012

The piece above came about as I studied photos of chief blankets.  Since my Nomadic Series has mainly focused on roadways, I decided to bring my own version of a chief blanket into the series.  The old jewelry piece attached to the top is reminiscent of a dream catcher and fit perfect with the work.

"Vineyard Road"  10 X 10  Lori LaBerge  2012

I finished framing and adding metal to this piece which was hooked earlier.  The purple and green remind me of rows of grapes in a vineyard setting.  I am hoping to complete a few more of these size pieces for the exhibit.

My journal activity this week was to tackle a boring subject.  Everyone has a different idea of what bores them in art and mine is pears.  I have seen more pear paintings than I can mention.  It just seems they are always shown the same way, in the same setting.  I would like to see something different done with them.  Here is what I did:

I searched my collection of photos and found the one above of the side of an old deserted warehouse a few towns over from where I live.  The thought came to place a giant pear in the warehouse.  This came from the great "What if?" question. Through photoshop, I created the piece below by adjusting the photo above and drawing a pear into the photo.

"The Giant Red Pear Warehouse"  Lori LaBerge  2012

I really enjoyed this activity as it led me down a different road playing with neutrals and bright color combined.  I don't often use black and white or other neutrals as a backdrop and may try it in my hooking.  I would actually not mind hooking the above piece and testing out if I could make the various grays work in the piece.

Here are a few links to paintings of pears which I really love.  Each artist created something different with the pear as the subject.  They took what could be a boring subject and created something for the viewer to think about.

Jacob Pfeiffer--This painting is wonderful.  I love the way the artist depicts nature and technology side by side.  Notice the small butterfly on top of the light bulbs.

Sara Jane Doberstein--I love the way the crates the pears are on are worn and the artist also portrays pears that are not perfect.  I also like the couple of pears on top, the group below them and the odd pear out on the bottom.  It reminds me of a family grouping.

John Whalley--This is intriguing.  The pear who wants to be a shell, but as the understudy is capable, but not the star.  A very creative take on the subject matter.

What is your idea of a boring subject?  Experiment, try to come up with a different way to approach that subject and have a great day.

Studio update-- No work was done this week as the weather was rain, rain and more rain.  I did, however, receive the new sign for the studio.  It will go in storage until the building is ready for it.