Bookcase Collages Continue

Another addition to my bookcase collage series, this one is 12”x12”.   After I paint the paper, it is cut up to resemble books. There are also a few bits of scrap paper and packaging, and maybe even a pasta box in there somewhere. I am experimenting with different paper for the shelves and trying different colors for the books. The final step is to put it back together on painted wooden boards to create a bookcase collage.

Bigger and Bigger!

The latest in my bookcase collage series, this one is 16”x20”.   I start by painting paper that is cut up to resemble the spines of books.  Mix in some craft paper for the “shelves” and add a few books using assorted bits of paper from my recycling bin.  All of it reassembled on painted wooden boards to create bookcase collages.

Bookcase Collages

My bookcase collages are going to get bigger and bigger — the latest one is 16”x16”. Hours were spent painting paper, cutting paper and finally assembling the “bookcase.”

As I was gluing, I kept thinking about how my entire life has always had walls of books in the background. When I was 5 years old, we moved into a Victorian house with a large living room with built-in bookcases. They were 16 feet wide and all the way to the top of the 10-foot ceilings. At that point my parents did not own that many books, yet. My father even bought “filler” books like old encyclopedias at the Goodwill.  When we moved to a New England house with less space and lower ceilings, the filler books got left behind, but the TV room still had a full wall of books. My San Francisco apartment is filled with more than 1,000 books. I even worked in an office for many years where every time I looked up from my desk there was a wall of books.

I imagine looking at all these books for all these years might be part of the reason for my latest art obsession.  

I am not done yet…

New Art about Books

I have been exploring variations of book-themed art for many years, including my own Chaekgeori series.  My newest mixed media series is bookcase collages. I am mostly making my own collage material that begins with painting paper. I then mix in a bit of other paper sources before cutting it all up to resemble the spines of books.  Many different colors and sizes.  One by one they are added to the “shelves.” I started out with small work and now have finished a set of three that are 8”x8” each. I am planning on bigger pieces but with the same size books — I am open to commissions if you are interested in having your own bookcase collage.

Zabriskie Point

I have been visiting Death Valley for decades, and always finding it inspiring.  Typically, I paint it in a more presentational manner.  But this latest version of Zabriskie Point is more focused on that unique palette.  

Inspiring Invasive Species

The very wet winter and spring has everything blooming and the Echium candicans, (The Pride of Madeira) are no exception.   An invasive species in California, but they sure are beautiful.   The color palette has inspired my latest work of art.

Lichen Lines

 A color palette inspired by the lichen covered trees in Golden Gate Park.

Río Cuale

Río Cuale 
7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

 

Rich Soil

Rich Soil

7”x9”, mixed media on paper

From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Rust Belt

Rust Belt

7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Flower Garden

Flower Garden
7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Wheat Fields

Wheat Fields

7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper. 

Seaside Village

Seaside Village

7”x9”, mixed media on paper

From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Painting and Mailing the Oaks

 The Oak Woodlands are one of my favorite spots in Golden Gate Park.  One of the few spots in the park that looks much like the land did before the park was developed.  There is no gift shop and no postcards, so I have made a series of my own.  I was tempted to protect these hand-painted cards by sending them in envelopes.  But part of the risk and magic of mail art is letting what may happen in postal transit happen.

A Home in Oakland

A Home in Oakland, mixed media, painted paper on board, 12”x12”

I won’t say I am too proud to make art to match the sofa, but in this example, it is much more fun to use a palette that captures the essence of my friends’ home.

Kitchen Chaekgeori

This is the newest painting in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   The books are some of the cookbooks on shelves in my small, San Francisco kitchen.  On the lowest shelf are essential coffee beans and tea bags stored in old spaghetti sauce jars (reuse and recycle), plus filters, mugs, etc.   

From the beginning, I recognized each Chaekgeori I was painting is in essence a portrait — or in this example a self-portrait.  These shelves also include art I have collected and art I have made.  There is even a shadow box I made for my grandmother as a child.  It sat on her kitchen shelf for decades.   There are souvenirs from trips going back over 40 years — to Sweden and more recently Mexico.  Some of the mugs are souvenirs as well.  On the top shelf there are some vintage ice crushers and other kitchen tools — something else I have been collecting for a long time. 
The stuff on those shelves reveals quite a lot about me.

The Professor’s House

 It would be ideal if a copy of The Professor’s House was in this bookcase from my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   But this Australian professor teaches computer science rather than American Literature.   And while he has a model rocket on his shelf, he is not a rocket scientist (though his dad is).  Like all my friends, I find commonalities when I paint their bookshelves.  For example, so many of them have Rubik’s cubes on display.  I best not make a snarky comment about nerds and Rubik’s cubes though, because you might find one on my own bookshelf.  

The Thorn Birds

It has been more than a year and I still am working on my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   

I usually do not paint the book titles in detail, yet many of the books in these paintings are still recognizable.  Viewers spot a few books they have on their own shelves and many of us read the same books.  In my latest painting you might notice a copy of The Thorn Birds — a ubiquitous title on the bookshelves of all moms of a certain generation.  Yes, these are my mom’s books and things.  And even though she has downsized (many of my parent’s books are on my shelves now), a true reader can’t help but fill a bookcase.  Also, like many of the paintings in this series, small pieces of my art appear on the shelves (look for the slice of cabbage).

Back to Museums

Yesterday was my first museum visit since before-the-Event.  It had been 15 months since I have been inside any museum.   About one year ago, I walked by the de Young Museum for the first time during the lockdown.   That moment made me profoundly sad.  Since then, I have walked by the museum many times and gotten used to the museum being closed.

I always prefer weekday afternoons for my museum visits — it is the best time to avoid the crowds.  Yesterday it was nice and mellow.  Masked up and vaccinated, with our reservations on our phone, my friend and I got to get in some museum time.   There is signage reminding us to social distance, passageway walls have had art removed to prevent visitors from lingering and some of the gallery benches have been removed.   The museum felt a little bare, but it was still good just to be inside and wandering around.   

The big change, after spending a year painting books, I am now really paying attention to paintings of books.  I have always enjoyed the de Young’s gallery filled with trompe l’oeil, yesterday it was becoming a real favorite.   John Frederick Peto’s books are so inspirational.   Although, I will never have the patience to master that level or realism in my own work.

Cat Chaekgeori

This is the newest painting of books and things in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.  One might ask, where are the books?  I believe there is a small one tucked in on the lower shelf.  But in this modern example, clearly that iPad Mini is filled with ebooks.  Does Spinerboy actually read?  He is clever, but he might prefer cat game apps over reading.  And what sort of cat has his own iPad?   There is even has a special shelf where he keeps his fancy cat dishes.  Spinerboy shares a home with Scarlett Jo, so that shelf is a necessity.  Scarlett Jo is the type of girl that thinks nothing is more charming than a dog with cat food breath.