musings from the studio and beyond ~
dawn chandler’s reflections on art and life. . . .
04.17.2012 ~ new painting series kick off: stowe, vermont, i
 |
| ~ stowe, vermont, i ~ oil and mixed media on panel ~ 12 x 24 inches ~ copyright dawn chandler 2012 ~ |
Starting this week I’ll be posting the beginnings of a new paintings series. The ultimate goal of this project is to unite my two painting passions: landscape with mixed media ‘abstraction’.
The first phase of my process is to create a series of “traditional” landscape paintings (see the first one of the series, above: stowe, vermont, i). Once I’ve created these, the next phase will be to start abstracting the landscape in a second round of panels. I’m anticipating that the third phase will be to take what I’ve learned from the first two steps and work much larger. I have other ideas, too, for that phase, but I’ll articulate them when I get there.
For now I am working on Phase One. A few simple parameters have developed as I’ve been working:
— Each painting is long on the horizontal, measuring 12 x 24 inches (proportion of height:width = 1:2). The support for each painting is a hard thin Ampersand Gessoboard panel, stained a warm brownish:
 |
| Ampersand gessoboard panel stained brown. |
— The painting starts with a very loose underpainting also in warm browns, and writing — or scribing, as I like to think of it — across the surface:
 |
| Loose underpainting and scribing for stowe, vermont, i by Dawn Chandler. Copyright Dawn Chandler 2012. |
What am I scribing? Really, anything that’s on my mind at the time…. thoughts…. dreams…
ambitions…
observations…
memories…
hopes…
prayers….
Why do it?
Because I like it.
The act of writing my thoughts out clears my head before commencing to paint. And I like the idea of imbuing my paintings with this soulful, confessional act.
And then when I paint, sometimes my words bleed through. Landscape traditionalists may balk at that, but I love it. It’s a little “surprise” in the surface of the painting, creating a tension with the depth of realisim.
 |
| Detail of scribing across the underpainting of stowe, vermont, i by Dawn Chandler. Copyright Dawn Chandler 2012 |
Below, details of the finished Phase One painting, stowe, vermont, i. No scribing is bleeding through much on this first painting; it’s more prevalent in some of the others.
 |
| Detail of stowe, vermont, i by Dawn Chandler. Copyright Dawn Chandler 2012. |
 |
| Another detail of stowe, vermont, i by Dawn Chandler. Copyright Dawn Chandler 2012. |
04.09.2012 ~ still tethered
I love the chunky ribbon of yarn in her hair, and the delicate way she is holding the flower stem.
To the right of her…the woman in white grew out of a photo of an anonymous woman from the turn of the last century. The photo happened to crop out her head, as the photographer was more focused on other things going on in the picture frame, her figure being secondary. I’ve made her prominent, elongating her white dress making it larger than life.
I didn’t premeditate this painting, it just grew as the painting evolved, first with the image of the white dress, I think, and then the photo of me. The figure in the white dress reminds me of two art historical images:
That of Edith Minturn Stokes as portrayed by John Singer Sargent in his portrait Mr. & Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes:
The string tethering the little girl to the woman in the white gown in my painting is from a tea bag. Ghosted in the background are fragments of Barbara Rockman’s poem, per the theme of this series of paintings.
04.07.2012 ~ one more
 |
| ~ one more ~ by dawn chandler ~ mixed media on panel ~ 8 x 8 inches ~ copyright dawn chandler 2012 ~ |
I don’t know who that woman is. People give me things from time to time, and one day a neighbor gave me a box of photographs. Among the staid portraits of stern anonymous people and pictures of Midwestern farm equipment was this image of this lovely woman full of quiet expression. I felt an immediate kinship to her
The coy little girl with the apron and sagging white tights is myself, c. 1968 or so.* Over her head floats an image of a nest with two eggs. Between the woman and the girl, a single, unlit match.
The text down the right-hand side of the panel was torn out of an 18th century book of sermons — a deteriorating book I found in a book-barn in New Hampshire a couple of decades ago. Passages of text from this book appears frequently in my collages. The panel behind the figure of the girl is a dried and pressed tea bag. Across is it is Barbara Rockman’s poem scribed with a quill pen and sepia ink in my own hand.
This is the fourth of my small works for the the Odes & Offerings deconstructed show, on exhibit at the GVG Contemproary gallery at 202 Canyon Road here in Santa Fe.
* For the record, the apron is white, the dress is green; the shoes are red. Surely there’s something telling in my early fashion sense?
04.04.2012 ~ in dream
 |
| ~ in dream ~ by dawn chandler ~ mixed media on panel ~ 2012 ~ copyright dawn chandler 2012 ~ |
The third of my smaller works for Odes & Offerings. Here the image of my mother — young, newly wed, in a pensive moment in the Cloisters — captured by my father’s camera. (I’ve used this image before, in my original painting for this series, “I Am a Plain Woman.”) Above her sepia image, a weighty, rusted piece of metal, nearly black. Fragments of poetry paper her edges...
04.03.2012 ~ at the improbable
 |
| ~ at the improbable ~ by dawn chandler ~ mixed media on panel ~ 8 x 8 inches ~ copyright dawn chandler 2012 ~ |
The second of my smaller works to come out of the Odes & Offerings project. Here I’ve incorporated a photo of a favorite sculpture I took in Italy last autumn. On the left, a scan of an ink sketch I had done of aspens; ghosted in the back, some of the poetic text of Barbara Rockman that first inspired these works.