Gnôthi Seauton

Gnôthi seauton, latin for " know thyself "...This seems an appropriate way to start my blogging in 2012, a year for which I have chosen ' transformation ' as my theme. One of the many aspects I would like to transform is my blogging habit...Let me reword that, I'd like to make blogging a habit! So this is my plan - I will blog once a week for a grand total of 52 new posts by December 31 2012. Hmmmm, okay I think I ' know myself ' well enough to state that if I post a mere 26 times I'll consider that a resounding success and transformation.

Gnôthi Seauton
Mixed media 3ft x 3ft

The mixed media painting "Gnôthi Seauton" is a bit of a reflection of who I am. My fingerprint, the shadows, the darkness, the light passages - all held together with wire; my life story written between each ridge of my print, sometimes a little smudged but mostly pretty evident.

My fingerprints can often be found in my work, even as a signature when I sign as Curio. As an adoptee from many years ago, there isn't much I know about my genetics. All I have is my DNA and my fingerprints. As a matter of fact, the only two people I know I am connected to by blood in this world are my two children. This is why identity often surfaces as a theme in my work and fingerprints have naturally become evidence of my identity.

As for holding it all together, so often it is only with a thread. The problem with thread is that with time it often becomes weak and is easily broken which is why wire is the binder I chose. It's not fail proof because it can rust and break down, but if you have enough layers it should see you through to the end.

A couple of examples of past works using my fingerprints.

Identidy
(You can read more about this painting in the post for July 16, 2009)

Entre la vie et la mort
(Between birth and death)
Monotype Chine Collé

All blogging aside, I think it worth mentionning, the time not posting will be devoted to ' knowing myself ' a little better and knowing my blogging friends better as well. I'm grateful for each and everyone of you and the inspiration you bring into my life.

The Divining World-Part II

The cards I created below may well hold the key to your Destiny. Have a peek...

The Destiny Package

Inside you find 11 Destiny Numbers

Instructions are handprinted on the envelope itself.

(For the sake of clarity in this photograph I played around with colour and contrast.)

On each card is a Destiny Number and 6 attributes.

Sample cards

Outer Envelope

This Destiny Set was a first for me and will serve as a template for future sets. A couple of changes I intend to make are to go a little lighter on the backgrounds and to use a transfer method for the written information. The latter will cut down on the amount of time needed to produce a complete package, yet each will remain unique because of different backgrounds.

(For more on this project, check out the post

dated December 12, 2009)

Alpha Omega

I thought it would take me a lot longer than it did to get through the second phase of my project especially as I had no preconceived notion to begin with, only a monotype which I had stored away for the last five years. I always felt it was incomplete, however my professor at the time was very much the purist...you never enhance a print! In fact, because of his words I was extremely hesitant to touch , let alone recycle, my old print. Now that I've done it, consider me hooked.

As a total control freak, just letting things happen is not so easy but I think I'm getting the hang of it. My project, which eventually evolved into Alpha Omega, began with thoughts of the how small a connected world is. I thought of the continents, the people, the common threads and the different languages. And that is where the project took on a life of it's own. Using signs and symbols, each of the eight pages looks to promote a sense of well being.

The writings and symbols include Greek, Hebrew, Sikh, Hindu, Chinese, Alchemy, and Runes. The mediums I used include pen and ink, conte crayons and acrylic paint.

The next phase is an envelope for which I have already tea-stained a piece of canvas. Not quite sure of how it will end up...Stay tuned!

This Disordered Life Challenge

I love a challenge so when This Disordered Life aka notmassproduced posted a creation challenge how could I refuse?

All Roads Lead To...

digital collage using photos & prints

And this is what I started with...

...A master piece in it's own right!

Be sure to check out This Disordered Life for links to other artist who have taken up the challenge and see what they have created.

Connections

This repost is part of the "Buried Treasures" project initiated by Seth at The Altered Page. I am relatively new at blogging and therefore did not have a lot to choose from. That being said this post seemed appropriate because I was musing on the wonders of blogging.

These past few days I have been reading the blog entries of many visual artists. It amazes me that we are from all over the globe, have completely different backgrounds, live completely different lives and yet our thoughts are so often similar. For instance, in a recent entry in Beyond Words, insanity was the topic of choice. Days earlier I found myself writing about sanity and insanity and how thinly veiled the latter was. Another topic was asemic writing, something I've done without realizing it had a name. In Identity I began writing a story about how our unique identity can be found in our fingerprints and our DNA. I was weaving this story through the ridges of my fingerprint but it eventually became asemic writing. It is a truly meditative process.

In the same vein, a few days ago I was reading Art Propelled where the weather was noted as an impedement to creating. The author is from South Africa where heat is the problem. Here in Canada winter has taken it's grip and -30 degree temperatures are paralyzing my creative mind. Opposites I know, but weather is weather.

I guess the point I'd like to make is that in some odd way the similarities really make me feel connected to something larger than I can imagine and I am finding that to be so beneficial. The most notable of the benefits for me is that being exposed to so much creativity is very stimulating. The images grab my attention, but it is the musings that captivate. I feel like I've come upon this great resource that is propelling me to create once again.

Worm - A Story about the Environment

Worm, The Story©

The precarious state of the earth soon became evident to the worm as it tried repeatedly to tunnel through an unrecognized dark mass which had been buried just below the surface.

Unable to break through, it turned its attention upwards.

Soon it found itself in the hot, glaring sun. As it felt the drying effects of the sun's rays it struggled to reach a small puddle that gleamed in the bright light.

The worm had to overcome what must have seemed like an insurmountable number of obstacles.

There were twigs and stones and many objects the worm had never seen before. There was a large rock and the trunk of a tree that was recently felled. There was even an anthill which the worm was determined to avoid.

It never occurred to the worm to give up the journey.

And when at last the destination was reached, the worm, slightering with the satisfaction of a job well done, soon suffered no more as the black oil which had dripped onto the driveway envelopped it and sealed its fate.

The End

©AtelierCurioStudio

I chose the royalty-free music for this video at: PacDv Free Sound Effects ( http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html )

This is the latest storybox book. I began with a trinket box that I picked up for 25 cents at a second hand shop. I painted it burnt sienna, then added crackle finish and a raw umber contrast. The storybox books are helping me recycle lithographs and photo etchings I did while a student in a four year visual arts program. These prints, of which there are many, are going to supply my backgrounds for many projects to come. All my work generally has some form of social or environmental statement, be it in the subject or in recycling the materials used to create.