Skip to main content

Upcycling Sketches


Learned the meaning of a new word that I’ve seen kicking around—upcycling.  Apparently, it is taking something that is ready for the rubbish heap and turning it into something more valuable than it originally was.  Since I starting this blog old sketchbooks have been turning up in my life and I have been studying my older work.  The most recent sketchbook contains blind contour, vine charcoal sketches of my garden, which are 9” x 12”.  I usually do them as exercises to increase my hand eye coordination and as a right brain exercise—leaving it at that, hoping it will prove useful in terms of increasing my skills as I develop on my journey.  I found one of these drawings that were fleshed out in color and it gave me the idea to turn them all into mixed media full color abstractions.  This image I am posting today is an upcycled drawing that began as vine charcoal on paper, in black and white.  It is now done with vine charcoal, pastel pencils and oil pastels.  It remains landscape-like in orientation and overall effect but now it delights in organic shape and expressive line as well as expressive color. Just as these drawings are in a state of transition so too is my art generally.  I’m going from very precise renderings for mandala art to much more free-styled, expressive abstractions. It feels like sweet release!  Looking forward to making these sketches larger and finishing them on canvas.  Meanwhile, I plan to go through this entire found sketchbook of blind contours and upcycle each one instead of having them languish in nothingness and dust.
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 5, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    love that you are upcycling old sketches! I enjoy revisiting old work and seeing how I can use it to further my work today. Have fun and enjoy the free flowing process. ~ Kristen visiting from CED

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie BirdMarch 5, 2012 at 12:41 PM

    Thank Kristen! Glad we share the adventure of rediscovering old work. You're right, it is free flowing and I'm having fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. paulineMarch 5, 2012 at 4:07 PM

    "Upcycle"... what a great idea! It's always so interesting to look at old work with new eyes. I so love your expressive abstracts Stephanie. Actually i love everything you do. Eye candy. :-) xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stephanie BirdMarch 6, 2012 at 3:32 AM

    Pauline: I think I've found some sustaining power in expressive abstraction so I'll be doing a lot more. I always love hearing your comments as well as visiting your lovely blog!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead. Make my day by leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Gran Bwa

Gran Bwa is a lwa that helps you connect to ancestral roots or the spiritual home of Vodou. A friend of mine, who is an expert on Haitian Vodou, who has spent a lot of time in Haiti with the artists there, told me I had painted Gran Bwa when I made this spontaneous work out of walnut ink and sumi-ink on handmade paper. I had considered this painting a self-portrait. She now holds this piece in her private collection: Quite a few people are afraid of Vodou but it is an awe-inspiring tradition of bringing together plant energy with divinity, spiritual and personal energy. My friend who is very involved with Vodou, especially the art that surrounds it, is from European ancestry. She is light in spirit and bubbly, with a close relationship to nature and her garden.  Vodou affirms the relationships between cycles of life, trees of knowledge and spirit.  The Vodou vision of lwa , understands them as the intelligence of energy present in humans, nature and thoughts.  ...
5 comments
Read more

Tree Whispers

Tree Whispers Shinrin-yoku is a complementary medicine modality, designed to up-lift sub-par health conditions, through lifestyle changes that involve immersion in nature, specifically the wildness, we call a forest, where the senses, including our intuitive sense and ability to heal ourselves through it, is ignited. Forest bathing, as Shinrin-yoku is popularly called, has come to our attention, at a time when the scientific community is abuzz about the ability of trees - be it in stands, groves, or forests, to build community. This, at a time, when we as humans, struggle hard to build and sustain healthy in-person communities, in the face of Online communications. Books like “The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate Discoveries from a Secret World,” (Wohlleben 2016) by Peter Wohlleben is a Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. It makes readers privy to trees’ communication skills and social networks, that is, it helps us entertain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Xochitl--Flower

                                     (Winter Poinsettia by Stephanie Rose Bird, oil on wood) One of my Facebook friends does daily posts and shares called "I love Flowers." I love flowers too, in real life, in my garden, in paintings and as they are related to the gods and goddesses, in healing, as well as their use in folklore like Hoodoo. Not long ago I posted about Xochipelli (Sho-CHEE-pee-lee) prince of flowers and Xochiquetzal (Sho-CHEE-ket-zul) goddess of flowers in anticipation of April's blooming season.  The Goddess and Prince of Flowers post  is here. Today, I want to focus in on the root word of their names and it's symbolism. This word is Xochitl (Show-CHEE-tul) in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. This word means flower.                                         ...
20 comments
Read more