#blalilja

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 10: Basalt, pen on layers of vellum, 11 x 14 in., 2019. In addition to studying plants, I also spent a lot of time looking at rocks. Bær is situated near basalt cliffs that I loved to climb down and around and sketch.

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 12: My studio, sketchbook, and work table, and what things become...

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 9: Low Plane (Lichen), watercolor, pen, 9 x 12 in., 2019

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 14: The Lake, the Mountain, Oil pastels, gesso, and pencil on canvas, 36 x 54 in., 2019. 

Inspired by the mountain and the lake that were the backdrop for the residency, this drawing is the largest, most time consuming piece I made at Bær. I didn’t finish it there but had posted an early version toward the end of the residency. I’ve been working on it every Sunday since my return and it has changed--now the forms touch and blend into one another and there are more layers of material. 

This piece was (is) definitely a learning experience for me. I had never really worked with oil pastels before and I found them to be very challenging. I needed help so I watched YouTube videos for basic techniques and pointers. I also talked to the other residents and consulted with a friend in SF via text. Blending and muting tones with white and gray was a big thing for me. I used this technique along with turpentine and a wash of gesso thinned with water to blend each layer. Of all the techniques I touched on, this is the one I really loved and one that provided results that felt like me. It softened the colors, allowed for accumulation, and added that layer of translucency that I have used in many other pieces I have made. I plan to keep working with this material and I would love to go even bigger. I also feel like there is more work to do on this piece... 

This is my last Blálilja/ Blue lily post. It’s been great to share my residency with you and it’s been so helpful to me. I’ve gotten a chance to process what I worked during those two very special weeks and now feel like I have a list of departure points for forthcoming works. 

Wreaths, watercolor and pen, 9 x 12 in., 2019

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 3: Thinking about the memory of color… Looking North-Northeast and Looking South, watercolor, 9 x 12 in. each. Also pictured: my watercolor kit.

I went to Bær to study color and brought a watercolor set to work with. This set had been the party favor from a bridal shower I had attended months before. To my absolute surprise and delight, it became indispensable during my residency. I loved blending those 18 pans to match the colors I had in my mind. The limited palatte made me really think about what the colors around me were actually made up of... sometimes I needed to add yellow or a touch of red to recreate what I had seen. I also loved that I could leave these custom colors and reuse them after they had dried on the plastic surface I was mixing on. That kit was the perfect starter and watercolor a new favorite material... 

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 8: All the Plants I Know, pen on graph paper, 8 x 12in., 2019.

During my walks I took photos of the plants I saw and then identified them using a field guide to Icelandic flora written in Icelandic. I wrote the names down and tried to memorize each. When I would see them again while walking, I would try to remember their names and say them out loud. At the end of the residency I had identified more than 80 flowers, grasses, and shrubs. This drawing reflects those names all written on top of each other chronologically, and how it feels in the beginning to learn something new.

Also pictured here: Geldingahnappur, Kirtilaugnfró, and Holurt, as well as a picture of my guide.

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 13: The Word for Remembering, Paint sample cards from Iceland, oil pastels, pencil, 9 x 12 in., 2019. 

As I wind down “Blálilja/ Blue lily,” I want to mention two things: the forget-me-not, Engjamunablóm in Icelandic, a variety of forget-me-not that thrives close to the sea, and inflorescence, a plant characteristic that describes the structure of many flowering plants. It refers to the grouping or clustering of flowers arranged on the stem. The word inflorescence grabbed my attention when I was learning about flora during my residency because when I first read it, I thought it had something to do with light. Even now, despite knowing its true definition, I am unable to separate it from ideas of light, or auras. In my mind it is layered or paralleled with pathways of light, the speed of light, and so on. This plant is also special to me because it reminds me of my childhood (I loved picking them for my mom.) and its name references memory and the act of remembering, or not forgetting, which so much of my work is about. Those tiny blue flowers now also remind me of Iceland.

P.S. I found this particular plant impossible to photograph—not one of my pictures is in focus! However, I like to think of that blurriness as an example of my version of inflorescence.