Diana Trout's blog

Megan Grugan, Artist Profile

Megan Grugan is a painter, educator and MamaCITA member (plus a lot of other wonderful things). Here is some of her recent encaustic work. 

Bee Balm (detail), Encaustic, Megan Grugan

From Megan's artist statement

"I have always seen the world in vibrant colors. I have tried to paint the world that I see and in which I live. This allows me to honor the environment around me while exploring it.

 

Echinacia (detail), Encaustic, Megan Grugan

Putting color next to color to create form and shape is what really drives my work. The textures of a surface combined with the fluidity of the paint helps guide and define my images.

 

 

Storm, Encaustic, Megan Grugan

 

To me, the negative space around an object is just as important as the object.”

See more of Megan's work right here.

Outside of the amazing color and detail in this encaustic work, I really respond to the motion in Megan's artwork. It swirls me in right in and is a wondrous tactile ride.

Can you pick a favorite (I can't). Though I REALLY love the shadows and light in Storm. 

I'll be back with some posts about NYC on Wednesday(ish).

WIP with Helen Frankenthaler

Painted & Stitched

Spending some time looking at Helen Frankenthaler in preparation for a MamaCITA show in March reminded me of why I got into this crazy art business in the first place: color. Fields and streams of color. 

Sketching, pouring paint, printing and then stitching. With only an idea in mind. Sunny doorways in a lane in Italy. Of course, the hours I spent looking, sketching and painting all led to this. 

and a mountain and sunset and wee houses in the foreground. I'm not sure where all of this is going but since sitting and stitching is reliably the only thing I can do right now (ortho pillow on my back, ankle elevated) I'm feeling rather grateful that I love to stitch and very grateful for Helen. 

And a note ... Helen Frankenthaler was discussed in my art history classes with a bit of disdain because she pour her color onto raw canvas. Not very ARCHIVAL! How come it was OK for Jackson Pollack? It all seemed so perfect to me at the time and now with the idea of treating raw canvas as a textile or using muslin or vintage linen, it is even more delicious. 

Women x 3 = Inspiration

Doing some research lately on women artists who inspired me and here they are:

Candy Jernigan. Elegant, raw and honest. There are no barriers or borders. 

There is a wonderful book full of Jernigan's Art called Evidence. I have a copy of it from a few years ago and it is quite pricey now. But you can always stalk it on Amazon to see if it comes down in price.

Eva Hesse: Her minimalistic abstract drawings and scupltures and installations are breathtaking

and then

Helen Frankenthaler, the Mother of Color Field work. Color starring itself.

and Floods of color. 

My tastes are tending to the minimalist these days and abstraction. There is something consuming about abstraction. It seems so pure to me right now.

Dreaming

A painting done more than 10 years ago is being featured today on Seth Apter's TheAlteredPage with his most recent edition of Playing Favorites. A big thanks to Seth for including me and so many other artists in his blog. 

Dreaming

This work has been named and renamed so many times. Is it mother earth dreaming? Will she awaken? Dreaming is a triptych and here are close ups of each piece. Maybe you could help me by naming this piece. What does it say to you?

Uffizi in Florence

Susan and I sure did get our money's worth out of our Uffizi gallery ticket. Big Tip: Call in advance to reserve your tickets to both the Uffizi and the Academia. I was particularly interested in Gentile da Fabriano's Adoration. Good Gawd, the red! The faces, the figures, the pattern, the color, the composition. Really transfixed.

Sitting in art history classes looking at crummy slides and tiny reproductions did nothing to prepare me for this visual feast. Fra Lippi was astonishing. I could have spent hours looking at the different facial expressions: best angels EVER!

Have I mentioned that we were pretty footsore and hot by the time we arrived in Firenze? Yes? *wink*. 

We were able to grab a bench seat right in front of Primavera. The gallery was crammed so SCORE! Susan pulled out her Badger Creme foot ointment and we sat there staring at this magical piece of art while massaging the ointment into our feet. 

Ooo ... feet-sy :) but I don't think that is what they had in mind when they named it.

 

Paint

Daisy, DianaTrout 2012, 4x4 Acrylic/Canvas

Still officially on a break, will pop in. This painting will be going into the Shop when I am back to full speed. I am a bit burnt out on the business end of things at the moment. 

White Flowers

A bit of watercolor on Yupo paper. I love the way the colors ebb and flow with a life of their own on this paper. It is also very easy to erase. You can wipe color off very easily to get back to the white. It isn't really paper but slick and kind of plastic-y. Yupo is actually polypropelene.   

White, Diana Trout

Drawing with pencil on it is thrilling. It reminded me of drawing on a litho stone all those years ago. That alone was ridculously satisfying. I used the Derwent watersoluble sketch pencils. Yupo and watercolor is a fragile marriage. The paint rubs off even when completely dry. 

I'll play around and see what it can do. Maybe try some varnish that would make it work in bookarts.

Naming Colors

Inktense Pencils

I am working with a limited palette on this new series. Just a few colors based on the muted, earthy colors in Italy: sun, field, sea, poppies. 

It seems like enough. Playing with mixing some watercolors. Wet in wet: the poppy/black and sun/field on the top right is making me drool a little. The poppy/field rectangle: yeah. That is good.

Watercolor Palette

A sketch ...

Sketch, RowHomes, Diana Trout

About Kokeshi

Last night ... 

Smelling the Flowers, Diana Trout, sold

The painting from the other day, Green Purple, is one of the paintings in the Citizens series. These are the inhabitants from the larger NorthEast Kingdom series, which is on-going. 

Green Purple, Diana Trout

I was looking at traditional dress and patterns from different parts of the world for this series. Maybe more about the textiles and how I think my Citizens would dress if there were no restrictions. I was greatly influenced by the Kokeshi dolls of Japan for some of these paintings.

This series is mostly Sold, except for Green Purple. 100 bucks. They are pretty small. 5x7? 4x6? I am feeling too lazy at the moment to go and look at it. Yes, I am a terrible salesperson. Green Purple has some gold leaf in the background. 

I just got back from the first ArtEscape program at Abington Free Library. I've been doing these programs for I-don't-know-how-many years. It is a children's art-literature program. 30 kids, 6-10. They are simply amazing. A tonic, really. 

Today ... I will paint, draw, drink tea,  and continue on with mulling. Many new house shapes to consider. It occured to me while I was in Fabriano that vessels (containers) are larger than I originally thought. Sorry to be cryptic. Things are floating in my mind. 

Traveling Artist, Italy

Oh joy: counting down the days till I hop on that plane, Fabriano bound. I haven't been so excited for ages. I feel like a kid,  can't sleep and am eating soft foods and Milanos (cookies) and V-8 and pineapple juice.

My preparation for my students is finished: all reservations and fine details attended to. Maps and bookbinding directions designed and printed. Travel tips up to the minute.

It is time to consider what I will bring for my art making. Since I designed the list of materials for my students, this shouldn't be too difficult. 

What is in my sketch kit?

Watercolor Moleskine
Black pens, microns, sizes ,5 to .03
A handful of inktense pencils
Caren d'ache both the wax crayons and regular
Water brushes, Pencils, 3 derwent sketch (water soluble) and a 3B 
Kneaded eraser
Pencil sharpener

 

We'll be doing some stamp carving: tools and blocks. tools.
There are plans for 4 books: binding tools and materials.
I'd like to experiment with Golden Open in making monoprints so will bring that set to share
Ingredients for Fabric paper
There is more, I think

Luckily, we can get all paper, many supplies and leather for book covers in Fabriano. 

For the plane ride:  my sewing kit and a project to work on, my sketch kit and my book. Susan told me she is making a "journal scarf" ala Rice Zachary Freeman. I jumped right on that bandwagon! Perfect to be able to wear your stitching project. 

I have a few expressions I'd like to carve out. Capisco Niente (I understand nothing) and a new one from one of my dear readers: Niente senza gioia (nothing without joy).

A word about the paintings at the top of this post. Do you  know about yupo paper? It is plastic paper with a slick surface. Some watercolorists swear by it. I purchased a pad of it for our group to experiment with and had a go with it last night. More on that when I return.

In the meantime, Arrividerci, mia caras. 

I will blog from Italy to share the love! Expect some Tuesday.

Oh DARN! I wish you could all come with me! We could populate a village. Hey! We could move into an Italian village and just make art for a month! 

Dreams ...