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What Bigleaf Maples Do At Night
May 25, 2009
What Bigleaf Maples Do At Night, 57H x 20W x 4D inches muslin, glue, acrylics on canvas wrapped over custom-built stretcher frame. LED light system in back.
Alain, my husband, signed his name on this also, because he spent the entire week designing, soldering and wiring a system of 30 LED lights for the back. He was not impressed with the eight inadequate push-lights I was initially going to use to create this Day- Night Art. The electric source is a rechargeable 12 volt battery placed neatly in the back, with an easily accessible on-off switch in the lower left corner. He’s not thrilled to ever create another, so it looks like I’ll be learning a little about soldering and electronics, because there are plans to transform the other two canvases exactly the same size as this one. Originally l hoped it could hang in any of four orientations, but that was revised due the battery pack in the back. Thank you Alain for making this piece what it is!
______________________The original blog posts; process:___________________
Nov. 17th, 2008: While finishing the final stages of Sun Shower #4, at this point more study than stroke, I’ve started on the next piece… a bit of mystery thrown into this one just for fun. Hint: Step 1 – Unbleached muslin is painted with glue; place over top parchment paper and turn or lift frequently so it doesn’t stick. Nov. 18th: Step 2– When dry the muslin becomes stiff and can be crumpled, pinched and maneuvered to create 3D textures.
Nov 18th, aft. Step 3 – OK, enough guessing. I have three beautiful sturdy 36 x 12 x 3 inch canvases, hung vertically or horizontally. Each one will have a 3D design of life-sized leaves created with the stiff muslin. This one is of Large Leaf Maples seen on salt Spring Island, B.C. when we were there last summer. They are really this big – about 15 inches across! On these canvases, all dimensional surfaces will be considered; the front, the sides, and possibly some sticking out from the back. Everything will be primed before painting and I love Virginia’s idea to use glue as a resist for the leaf veins. In the above three images the design is still in planning stages.
Nov. 19th – A few thoughts before continuing work: this could be as simple as a sillhouette or painted realistically, still haven’t decided..maybe a compromise of the two, on the abstract side of things. Putting lights in the back could be interesting too, as in the recent Zen Garden #8 but would like to come up with something that does not have a distracting cord.
Nov.21st – Seen here, the leaves have a splotchy base coat of Hansa Yellow Deep, a color chosen because when it is so vibrant when it peeks through built up layers of other colors. Now that the entire piece has color though, I think I prefer the sculptural purity of the unpainted sillhouettes better – something to remember for similar work in the future.
The weight of tinted primer and each application of acrylics makes the fabric limp from of the paint, meaning the creasing process needs to be done all over again once it dries, even on successive layers. Because of this I need to slow down and be more gentle with the painting process also. It’s funny how you can overlook things like that when you are ten steps ahead with anticipation for a new project; things always take much longer than you imagine. There is going to be a lot of stopping and starting with this one, which is exactly how overlapping projects occurs.
Also: looking forward to a day-long workshop tomorrow, learning about Encaustic painting with Deanna Wood. Encaustics is an ancient process of painting with beeswax and natural resins. Not usually a “workshop” kind of Artist because I’m too greedy with my work-time, but this is one of those things that’s best learned from an expert. Am bringing a fabric leaf to the class to see how it could be incorporated and if this entire. Large Leaf Maples piece could benefit.
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All posts and comments for this piece are now combined.
Submitted on 2008/11/18 at 11:48am
If you don’t want to see the seed bits in the muslin, you can get unbleached muslin without the seeds.
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Submitted on 2008/11/18 at 1:03pm
OK Lynda, thanks for offering this valuable tip. With regard to what’s in mind for this project, the rawness of the fabric will provide extra texture, but others may want to know that finer quality muslin is available.
Nikki
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Submitted on 2008/11/18 at 1:53pm
Hmmm…looks like a resist process to me. Is it a mask? You are a very adventurous soul!
Virginia Wieringa
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Submitted on 2008/11/18 at 2:06pm
Nope, not a mask or resist…at least the glue wasn’t initially going to be used as a resist, but once again I owe thanks for the tip via a viewer’s comment – thanks Virginia! It’s true, glue can be used on anything as a paint resist, usually on wood it works similar to crackle glaze (ask me how if anyone is interested). I haven’t tried that technique on raw fabric yet though and for what I have in mind, painting extra glue in strategic places could produce some interesting effects. Let’s see…
Nikki
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Submitted on 2008/11/19 at 1:16am
This is great Nikki. I’ll be back tomorrow to see how this project is coming along.
Jim Drury
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Submitted on 2008/11/19 at 4:12pm
Hi Nikki
This is getting really interesting, can’t wait to see the finish project
Elizabeth
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Submitted on 2008/11/19 at 7:07pm
Thanks for staying tuned Dad and Elizabeth, I also can’t wait to see the finished project – it’s always a mystery even if I think I know what I’m doing.
Nikki
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Nov.27: What Large Leaf Maples Do At Night, detail images of 12 x 36 x 3 inches Muslin, glue, acrylics on wrapped canvas. As seen here I imagined the leaves glowing in the moonlight, which took me to the idea of turning it into a piece that can be viewed differently in a dark corner or at night so the sculptural sillhouette shows best.
Since Saturday’s Encaustics workshop I’d like to try another sculptural piece doing the whole thing with 
Encaustics tecniques, see right sample. Beeswax doesn’t adhere to acrylics though, so another will need to be planned with that medium in mind right from the start.
Categories: 3D, acrylic painting, B.C., Canada, contemporary, Dancing With Trees Collection, design, Encaustic, experimental, innovation, leaves, Seasonal, summer, The Majesty of Trees Collection, trees | 9 Comments »
9 Responses to “What Bigleaf Maples Do At Night”
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November 27th, 2008 at 11:06
Looks great Nikki and it looks like you enjoyed the project.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:06
Hi Dad, yes I did, thanks.. I really liked the look of the pure muslin and canvas before painting though too, so may pick up on that idea again sometime. It will be interesting to see how this turns out with the encaustics process. When – within the next couple of months.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:06
Good to see you take a little of your time to experiment.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:06
Funny you mention that, because some people think of it as play…which it is, but play with sincere intentions. If we see work as play then we can’t possibly be disappointed with the results, no?
November 29th, 2008 at 11:06
Play or experimenting is incredibly important for an artist . Don’t you think? After all it’s your job to show us something new or at least show us something from a different perspective about what we’re familiar with. How could you do this without play? Following the rules all the time would produce more of what’s already been done.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:06
Yes! Thanks, I agree, all artists working in any medium need to remember this, it’s a pretty important part of continually trying to learn and improve..
December 1st, 2008 at 11:06
Nikki,
I love the pure muslin look behind the leaf as it adds to the organic nature of the work (in progress).
May 29th, 2009 at 11:06
Hey Nikki:
That is so cool! Ironically, I was just telling a client about your “backlit” work two days ago! Not that it’s nearly as technically sophisticated, but would those tiny white Xmas lights do the job?
May 29th, 2009 at 11:06
Chris: I agree – will definitely do another piece and leave the raw natural look.
Karen: No, a string of lights was woven into the back of Zen Garden #8 (May 15th, 2008 post). It looked nice at home here, especially the little rays coming out around the edges and onto the wall, but when it hung in a gallery it looked like a kite! I was embarrassed to see it like that. It was partly because of the orientation being on the diagonal, but the cord hanging down was so obvious and not attractive at all. I tried ways to disguise it, like canvas glued around a straw, then slid over the cord to make it straight..things like that, but nothing made it look the way I hoped.I’m defintiely going to use Alain’s light system, but peices do need to have frames sturdy enough to hold the 12 volt battery which is about 6L x 4H x 3D and weighs a couple of pounds.