Work-in-progress.... Recycling & Art By-products - Fibre Paintings

I know that when I did my last blog post, I said wait a bit and there will be a conclusion to the painting that I was working on....Image 1 shows a detail of this artwork below, it is almost finished- I started to stitch on this large canvas which is 5 feet wide by four feet in height, and even though the stitching is spaced it is taking a long time to finish because it is still labour intensive. You can see the stitching started below in Image 2. At the same time, I am also was working on a smaller piece approximately 16 by 20 inches and it too it taking a while to get done.... Image 3.

When I took a break from the embroidery I began to look at my studio and all the things that I save because it is a string or I think that I should be able to use it in another project....  I just don't want to throw anything out...'waste not want not' comes to mind.... because I really believe that recycling is what needs to happen and it is really difficult for me to ignore. I have this idea that I can re-use everything I bring into the studio.... so...  

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I started to go through all the storage boxes on my shelves... and the box I put all my cut threads in Image 5 below, and all the rolled up canvases too .... my studio was now a MESS which meant that creativity is in full swing. The rolled up canvases was my first project for recycling, now another work in progress...The first image below shows the quilt of paintings that is now ready to stretch....Image 4.  At this stage in the studio, I am also working on the above artworks.... so now I am working on 3 pieces at once..... this quilt is made up of all the experimental paintings that I did in university.

I feel lucky that I can also recycle the paint water that I rinse my brushes with while painting...  I save the water over the summer in a bucket and put it outside in the old garbage box until the winter. Our floors have in ground heating and the air recycles throughout the house from outside ventilation and then water evaporates when I place the paint water bucket on the studio floor on the edges of my studio.  What is left in the buckets after the evaporation are round acrylic discs in the bottom of the bucket which I wedge out. You can see the result in the 6th image in the background at the right.  I know that I will be saving each of these now - but I do think these are completed artworks/paintings already..... they are quite beautiful. In the foreground of the same image is what may be called a rag rug - but to me a fibre-painting that I started just before the quilt...... It began with all the threads that you see in image 5 below. I also used the cuttings from the quilt I just made; canvas with paint on it, to make the hand wound roping to add to the fibre painting. See Image 7 below to see the progress. I will continue to add to this, so, it too will become a byproduct of my art making. I am now thinking of adding the paint skins from my pallet and other droppings to this fibre painting, as well.

Kim Wilkie 

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Past & Present * Before & After * Work In Progress- Repost

In an effort to keep some type of audience - I feel that some people need to see the different aspects of my movement through art over the years. I received this first image above from a friend who had kept this drawing I did when I was around 12 years old - I actually remember doing the drawing... and later I did this oil pastel of my Aunt Pauline and Uncle Bill's Dogs while I was doing my degree at Western. What a difference time makes and my focus on details of each of these artworks. Below I also did my type of Landscape where I loved the close up details of the landscape and made them look like jewels of the earth (which they are) and the image beside it of my first abstracted landscaped structured with cut and ripped canvas adhered to board. This was a different way of working with the usual materials and in the way I worked but still detailed in how I approached my painting or art making.

(more info below)

In a sense my landscapes are still a jumble of objects in the landscape (the canvas to me) and I am painting each area like I painted each area above in the jewelled painting.  The before and after photos can really show the amount of work and detail that each painting has.... below the last two images show an artwork in progress - please check my website to see the final image which will show up in the Impressionist-Landscape Gallery of this website. I hope you like this throw-back and view of what I have been up to over the years. Kim Wilkie 

Showing Artwork at "The Queen's Bakery" Blyth, Ontario

Here are some photos that I took at "The Queen's Bakery" across from the Blyth Festival Theatre in Blyth Ontario. This cafe is known for it great baked goods but a nice place to meet and friend for lunch or a coffee. I am exhibiting with Goderich Artist Mona Mulhern. Our artwork in this exhibit is concentrating on Landscape, in our perspectives, of course. Her artwork is on the right in the first photograph. The second photograph shows a close up of several of my artworks for sale on the beautiful brick wall. These artworks will be up for the next few months if you would like to see them in person. There are some affordable small pieces on the wall near the door as well as over the coffee fixings..... great gifts for Christmas.  Kim Wilkie

New Landscape-type Paintings - just need to Varnish.

I have been busy with life in general but art goes on- Some artworks this past late summer seemed to just finish up nicely even though each one called for a different treatment... they are all unique and range in size...... and so now I feel that large is the way to go. I started with 3 feet by 3 feet canvases and ended up with canvases at 4 feet by 5 feet. Here is a sneak peak before I put them on the website... I need to varnish them... I have 9 out of the ten artworks completed .... 

New Material Under the Paint

New Materials Under the Paint The paintings just below this paragraph are from a workshop and a sojourn in Tuscany, Italy, June 2017. I did not have my usual materials with me, such as string and threads, but I did have the materials from the landscape itself and its impressions on me. Because the materials are new, the artwork took on a different kind of style and a new type of expression for me. Most of these canvases include raw cotton which I found at La Fratta in Sinalunga, Tuscany, Italy. The last image shows the raw cotton - which serendipity plays a part here since it is the bases for string or thread here in North America.  Each painting is approximately 11 inches by 11 inches. They are all framed.  

Expressing -As Time Goes On

Because I am away from my studio, I tend to read and do art that is easy to pack. I just wanted to show you a sketch book that I have been filling with personal abstract expressions when the mood hits me. (which can be a necessity sometimes) The book pages are about 6 inches by 6 inches. You can see the binding in the photos-- but since the book is not finished.... I guess you could call this a continuous work in progress. Enjoy!

"Dear John" Letter - A Love Letter Embroidered

My love letter does start with Dear John, but it is a true love letter to my husband John. The letter took a long time to stitch on paper but I finally finished it and framed it for my husband as a gift for our anniversary. I started it before our anniversary in August but did not finish the letter until just before Christmas. I hope this can in some way amend the memory of the standard letter of a woman terminating a personal relationship with a service man in the past. It is the detail and sentiment of the letter that may help this position but also the beauty of the letter itself stitched with metallic thread. In the past it was an art to send and receive hand written letters, in this letter it actually becomes art in itself because of my stitching and I think that the back of the letter is the best side. The threads are beautifully extended across the paper mixing all the metallic threads into a new type of abstraction. I love String! I love John.

The Details - Please Scroll

Above are small photo details of paintings that are already completed and they show a semblance of the beauty I see up close while I am in my decision making art process. I decide the compositional scene (with materials or string) I choose the colours & tones that will be depicted and whether or not I will complete the artwork with stitching, in some past artworks the stitching was beneath the paint as well.  Making art is my addiction or my secular religion, I told someone recently. When I begin an artwork what keeps me focused is the promise of creating something new and exciting to me ( and hopefully exciting to someone else) but it is the texture, colour, and feeling that I get from viewing the artwork up close that keeps me focused when the stitching becomes a long & laborious process. Enjoy the above detail photos!  Kim

KIM WILKIE FINE ART

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