Procrastination + Fear

procrastination |prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən, prō-|

noun

the action of delaying or postponing something: your first tip is to avoid procrastination.

 I love dictionaries, I start looking up a word to spell and end up spending more time just reading definitions. This word has been important lately and I realized that what was happening was fear. That was at the bottom of all the procrastination. With that realization I could move . A few months ago Tamar sent me her domino for me to complete and start another to send to Martin [see link here and here] I had a zillion sketches but I never finished them until a few days ago when I could finally move beyond the fear of having to work on the same surface, actually beside Tamar's work and not mess it up. Plus, I wanted a conversation with her work, a dance where she takes the first step and I respond, then I take the next step and Martin responds. This is where I have ended up. And I can mail it off to Martin today. Yea!

Tamar Zinn to Liz Davidson, mixed media on paper, 6 x 12 in, 2014

Liz Davidson to Martin Scholte, mixed media on paper, 6 x 6 [12] in 2014

What is It About Blue?

So I am intrigued. What is it about the color blue that makes it so loved and admired?  I've been noticing on the blog and FB that everytime I post something blue it gets more likes and comments; and every time I see something blue I'm more inclined to "Like" it. What is it's magic? The frequency of the wavelength; the association with heaven, peace, calm.? Here is a work of a friend, Martin Scholte [link here] who works with a minimalistic approach, where the power of the work defies it's apparent simplicity.

Martin Scholte [Link here to see more of Martin's work]

International Klein Blue (or IKB as it is known in art circles) was developed by French artist Yves Klein as part of his search for colors which best represented the concepts he wished to convey as an artist. [He was fascinated by mystical ideas, by notions of the infinite, the undefinable, the absolute.] He patented this color in 1960. IKB was developed by Klein and chemists to have the same color brightness and intensity as dry pigments, which it achieves by suspending dry pigment in polyvinyl acetate, a synthetic resin.

Yves Klien

In 2008, the artist Roger Hiorns filled an abandoned waterproofed council flat in London with 75,000 liters of copper sulfate solution. The solution was left to crystallize for several weeks before the flat was drained, leaving crystal-covered walls, floors and ceilings. The work is titled Seizure. He went on to win the Turner prize that year.

 Roger Hiorns, Seizure, 2009

Copper sulfate is also used to test blood for anemia; it is is also used to etch zinc plates for intaglio printmaking.

Copper Sulphate

Maybe our love affair with blue is as easy to understand as our love for the blue skies of day light and the deep blue of a starlit night. Bayer's Uranometria, is one of the most important celestial atlases of the 17th Century.

Johann Bayer: [ Pegasus ]

On Wednesday night, at dusk, the light on the pond was a soft, deep, immense blue; which started this conversation in my head.

The pond at dusk

And the next day I found this. About to put it in the garbage, I looked and saw, Rothko meets Diebenkorn. It's now on my wall.