Traveling Light

Those who've been following this blog for a while know that my friend Kathy and I have a standing date to meet once a week to make art. One week she comes to my studio, the next week I go to hers. We've been doing this for 12 years, ever since our first painting class where we met and became friends.

My good friend and longtime painting buddy, Kathy Woodworth, in my studio.

When Kathy travels to my studio for a day of painting, she brings every supply she anticipates needing, and then some. She freely admits she over-packs, but says she'd rather do that than discover she has left an essential something behind. Kathy line dances about 20 times a week and can out-exercise Richard Simmons so hauling enough paint to stock an art supply store doesn't faze her.

Me? The very thought of all that exertion wears me out. I tend to travel as light as possible. When I'm heading to Kathy's studio I pack small, portable projects like artist trading cards, greeting cards and 6x6 canvases. These are almost always collages. Collage papers are feather light compared to paints! Everything fits nicely into a super sturdy canvas tote I bought on Harbor Freight's web site. (The best $14 I ever spent, BTW.)

This week, I challenged myself to pare down even more. I allowed myself just one piece of black card stock and a few painted and stamped papers. The latter had been painted in shades of Prussian Blue and Quinacridone Crimson, overstamped with Iridescent Pearl, Titanium White, and Titan Buff. My aim was to design a series of small abstracts using this limited color palette, just to see how far I could take it.

Here are the three pieces I completed while at Kathy's this week:

"True Friends" 6x6 collage on paper   ©2015 Lynn Edwards

"Growth"  6x6 collage on paper   ©2015 Lynn Edwards

"Balance" 6x6 collage on paper   ©2015 Lynn Edwards

Doing small pieces like this is a good way to experiment with colors and design concepts. Working on a small scale enables you to explore creative options and hone your skills at little if any expense. The resulting pieces can be stand alone works of art, or they can serve as inspirations for larger pieces. Either way, they're great fun to create -- and no heavy lifting is required!

Text and images ©2015 Lynn Edwards