House No. 169: Grey Tree House

House No. 169: Grey Tree House
collage, pencil, and ink on matboard
7 in. x 6 in.
169/365; 06/18/11

Today’s house is an homage to Misha at 365 Trees. (What up, Misha? Shout out to a fellow 365er!) I have made a couple other tree houses already, and I am certain this is not my last of the year.

I started with a photo of a tree that I had clipped aeons ago and glued it to yet another piece of scavenged stock. (Again saved from my classroom’s trash.) This one was a thick piece of mat board with a lovely creamy texture. There is some vellum collaged on there as well. There are a few types of graphite and inks on the surface.

House No. 126: Achromatic Trio

House No. 126: Achromatic Trio

ink, pencil, and collage on repurposed matboard

8.75 in. x 6.5 in.
126/365; 05/06/11

The process that I used to make this piece started with a piece of vellum. It is very similar to a thick piece of tracing paper. It is actually used to diffuse light for photography, and I had a piece of it that had been damaged on a photo shoot that I was on. I had been holding on to it in my collections for awhile. 

I worked on both sides of the translucent paper before adhering to the matboard, which was another classroom salvage.

The white is correction tape that I pull out and transfer with a pencil to make varied lines. Again, I like that the process is indirect and makes me give up some control of the drawing. (This is something that I do a lot in class with my students, removing them from the direct process of mark making. It really frees up the artist to lose complete control.) The process is similar to printing and transferring.

I made the white, transferred marks with the correction tape on both sides of the vellum, and I colored with graphite to the point of going through the paper. I love how shiny the pencil gets on the smooth surface of the paper and how the marker soaks up the light almost completely, making the surface a very flat black.

The texture and quality of the surface, along with the change in tonality, indicates depth in a mostly flat drawing.

House No. 125: White on White House

 

House No. 125: White on White House

collage on matboard

8 in. x 8 in.
125/365; 05/05/11

Today's house relies on texture rather than color, line, or contrast. And it was rather difficult to photograph because of it.

The matboard that I used as a background for this house was salvaged from my classroom, and the paper and strings were also upcycled. The paper is from the same source as House No. 121: Spring Cottage. The strings were left over from the tags from House Number 71: Tagged Houses.

House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

 

House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

collage and encaustic on chipboard

18 in. x 12 in.
124/365; 05/04/11

Those of you who know me in life outside of the innerwebs know that I am super Safety First Girl. Somehow, I threw that caution and conscientiousness to the wind whilst working on today's house.

I was not exactly thinking about what I was getting hot, and I had glue and packing tape on this piece that probably should not have been heated and inhaled. 

That customer card is from the late Minerva Books in Petersburg that closed down a couple years ago. I loved that bookstore. Sigh.

I just love the way the wax pooled and beaded-up on surfaces, especially the metallic paper that is most likely toxic when heated but oh, so pretty.

Below, you can see the packing tape that shriveled up from the heat. I ended up getting a headache and feeling light headed and nauseous. I'm not sure how much of that was from toxic fumes and how much is from working over a hot pizza stone and oven

Update! New, natural light photo of House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

The Dresden Walls

Follow the above link to see the photo on its original post page.

House No. 107: Foil House

House No. 107: Foil House
collage of repurposed card stock and foiled paper
3.5 in. x 3.75 in.
107/365; 04/17/11

It’s not apparent in this photo, but this house is very thick and sturdy and has a bit of dimension. It's quite satisfying, really. Once again, the metallic scrap is from my bottomless magpie nest, and everything but the glue is upcycled.
I pulled out the colors that I used on this house because when I saw them next to one another they looked very seventies color palette. I thought I would have a go. I especially like the maroon foil and thought it would make lovely shutters.

House No. 102: Metallic Colonial

House No. 102: Metallic Colonial

collage of repurposed card stock and foiled paper
3.5 in. x 2.85 in.
102/365; 04/12/11

Some more shiny paper and other scraps fished from my magpie nest were the materials for this simplified colonial style house. I often like to do very detailed work, but I also like to occasionally break a houses down to its barest elements, an icon or symbol for “house.” And today, I also broke down “tree.” Or green lollipop. It can go either way.

House No. 101: Silver House

House No. 101: Silver House

watercolor on repurposed paper, card stock, and foiled paper
8.25 in. x 5.85 in.
101/365; 04/11/11

I dove back into my magpie collection and fished out most of the silver foiled paper to make today's house. It took forever to dry because the foiled paper is largely not porous and did not let air get to the adhesive.

I like the contrast of the painted matte paper against the shiny silver and the movement created by all the scraps and angles of cut paper. This house felt like play.

House No. 97: House of Blues

House No. 97: House of Blues

repurposed cardstock, scraps
3.75 in. x 4 in. x 3 in.
097/365; 04/07/11

The witch houses put me in a collage mind set, and I kept scrounging through my cigar box of scrap paper.

I like the color of this house and how it is wrapped like a present.

I think the angles make a sense of order of the chaotic materials. 

  

Even though this house is three-dimensional, it is really more of a two-dimensional design study on a surface. I like the way the pattern continues over the edges of the house, pulling together each side's composition into a whole.

The 2-D/3-D conversation is one that I am having a lot these days with my two-dimensional design students. I explain to them my thoughts about designing dimensions: 3-D must work in the space of all three planes. It is about the interaction of the space. 2D is about surface, and it is very possible for something that takes up the space of depth to be working primarily in height and width.

This house is an example of this idea. It is about surface, not the interaction of a piece within its space.

House No. 71: Tagged Houses

House No. 71: Tagged Houses
repurposed tags, ink, and colored pencil on card stock

8 in. x 10 in.
071/365; 03/12/11

A collaged neighborhood.

House No. 47: City Living

House No. 47: City Living

collage, ink, and colored pencil on upcycled cardstock
6 in. x 4 in.
047/365; 02/16/11

Yesterday, I received a mail art piece from my friend Mim. I was so excited! I was even more excited when I found out that Mim is also doing an alphabet series for her 365 project and started on nearly the same day that I did. So cool.

I so enjoyed receiving art in the mail. I decided that my house today would be mail art to send back to Mim. Well, I decided to make mail art for Mim, and it took so much time that I had to use it as today's house. I was just so into it.

And I cannot believe that I had not used collage yet for a house. It's one of my favorite things to do.

This card is made from a reused manila folder, a page from a Mexican calendar that I received with an order from Rancho Gordo, and lots of scribbling.

So, I have been detouring a bit from my alphabet, but I will be getting back to it soon. I just have a million ideas, and I cannot seem to stick to just one concept.