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Old Habits

Posted in abstract, Art, Collage, J. D. Hastings, Toni Tiller, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , on May 30, 2012 by Toni Tiller

After getting all jazzed up last week about the new materials and all that color and pattern oh how exciting because boy don’t I love new challenges,  went upstairs, spread everything out, and picked…

that.

It’s so boring.  And if you add a swipe of teal in there it becomes the exact same color scheme as the Ramada Inn circa 1984.  I think I must have been terrified when I was looking down at everything, all those pieces, 87 total, and just selected the colors that were safest to me.  On the other had there were some successful elements, it was another clarification of how the white thread changes and pulls together the designs, and the actual sewing of the shapes came much ore easily.  Not sure if it is worth finishing though.

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Stick With That

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, Collage, J. D. Hastings, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , on May 23, 2012 by Toni Tiller

These colors and patterns made me uncomfortable.

But of course that was the point, right? Previous efforts in this collab have been in my color/pattern safety area, nice and neutral. Puzzling this one out was fun, working hard to keep the chaos of the free shaped forms in some harmony with the rigidness of the lines, fearing muddled results otherwise.

I don’t usually use these colors, or stripes either, and that two pages were so similar in color made an easy choice to flip one horizontally to give the forms some definition against each other.  The opposite approach seemed fitting to handle the black and white, syncing up the lines where possible so vertical structure could be created,but none of it was working until the stitching was added, giving the eye just enough of a break to navigate it all.

I think.

I mean I hope. Did it sound like I knew what I was talking about up there?

That was an honest reflection of the decisions that went into it, but it’s all new, new materials, new techniques, so it’s still pretty mysterious.  But I want to make more, so I figure it must be the right track.

 

By the way,  the title came from a random thing on the bottom of my computer, but it seemed to fitting, so I followed instructions.

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New Toys!

Posted in Art, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , on April 25, 2012 by Toni Tiller

I love my scalpel, it kicks X-acto knife ass, but I also have to admit it’s heavy, and has an awkward handle that requires a lot of medical tape wrapped around it to be comfortable for long usage. Even then I have been known to put so much pressure on my index finger that I lose feeling in it for days. I can deal but I’m still going to keep my options open for something better.

I picked up two items, the first is this odd looking thing, and the second was this, which is supposed to be designed for use on curves.

The first one is brilliant. I swapped out the X-acto blade that came with it and fitted one of my scalpel blades instead and it was wonderful.

It sits over your finger and looks like it would be uncomfortable, but outside of getting used to having to put it on and take it off, instead of just picking it up and putting it down like a regular blade or pair of scissors, it was remarkable how quickly I adapted to it. Cutting became more like drawing, and there was an instant difference in the quality of the cuts on curves. Curves are always the biggest challenge because stylus style cutters tend to get hung up at the apex, leaving awkward marks.

I’m not really surprised that I love this, I grew up on Fiskars and they still make my favorite scissors, and just a heads up to JD, they also do a version of this finger led style for rotary cutters.

Now the other one I picked up I really wanted to like, and I actually spent a few weeks trying to track down the right item based on seeing it used in a video. At last success was found in the craft store, and the X-ACTO X3253 Designer Series Craft Swivel Knife (in pink!) was purchased.

It looked good on paper, but was awful with paper.

The grip is fat and clunky, and that blade is so short that you almost can’t see it over the flared flange of the handle. I had to get my nose right down to the paper to see what was going on. In addition to that problem there is a heavy drag to the blade and it tends to pull off in directions you did not intend for it to go, so it completely lacked the precision it was supposed to deliver. It seems silly to comment on anything other than the function but I was also bothered by the lurid shade of pink, something between that and the shape of it kind of made me feel like I was drawing with an ugly pink butt plug.

Yeah I said it.

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Another Imaginary Landscape

Posted in Art, Collage, landscape, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , on April 18, 2012 by Toni Tiller

The picture is crappy, and small, I took it with my phone. It was a long night and I don’t have much to say, so let’s just get to it ok?

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Bleak Landscape

Posted in abstract, Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , on April 11, 2012 by Toni Tiller

I’ve been thinking about little stark landscapes, flat colors, and focusing on what I leave behind as much as what I cut out. This is my first attempt, and it reminds me of old sci-fi book covers for some reason. Maybe it’s the orange. I need to make some more of these.

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Itsa Small, Small World

Posted in Art, events, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , on April 4, 2012 by Toni Tiller

We thought it would be fun to do this.

While I was out in California visiting Mr. Hastings we started experimenting with combining our styles. He chose the colors, I did the drawing, and then we stitched it all together. The intention was to make three, but in the end only had time to make one, and because I liked the result so much I was hesitant to submit it to the show having been warned of the high probability of damage. A conversation or two later I put those reservations aside, remembering that it’s only art, if it gets ruined we’ll just make more.

The opening was last night, and it was the most astonishing art even I have ever attended, I’m pretty sure all of Williamsburg showed up. There were costumes, Indian food, a temporary tattoo station and a lot of atrocious fashion. My favorite part was watching some girl walk face first into a piece of paper covered in dried semen, and rather than acknowledge what it was she just threw it on the ground to be stomped by everyone bunching up in the rear. Can’t say that I blame her.

I waited for our Mr. Bennett, who also submitted a piece for the show, and then tried to squeeze my way in (this is one of those instances where being a small person is beneficial) which after a half an hour of wiggling I finally managed to do. The gallery is the size of a walk in closet with every available surface covered in work ranging from good to godawful. I found ours instantly, and was pleasantly surprised to see that we actually got a good spot, low enough to be well seen, high enough to not get damaged, took my photo and got the fuck out.

Just in time too, because not long after we left the whole scene turned into this.

photo credit @spankandblank

And if you’d like to know a little more about the man behind all this, Jayson Musson, a.k.a Hennessey Youngman, a.k.a The Pharaoh Hennessey, a.k.a The Pedagogic Pimp, check out this interview with him here.

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Spring Has Sprung

Posted in Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , on March 7, 2012 by Toni Tiller

This is another version of my static spring design.

I wish I had more to say about it but I don’t.

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Borrowed

Posted in Art on February 29, 2012 by Toni Tiller

Usually when I make one of these mini collages I don’t think a whole lot about the scribble I draw to cut out, it’s just a random thing, but recently I was looking at the work of Irit Levy, specifically this piece and it struck me. There was something about the grid I really responded to, but rather than be very specific or literal about it i just wanted to take the idea of the pattern away and so I made this.

I like the pattern, but I am not thrilled with the continuity of my cuts. I’ll be doing more of these.

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I Need Photoshop

Posted in abstract, Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , , on February 22, 2012 by Toni Tiller

On my last computer I had one of the oldest versions of Photoshop that it could possibly run, and that was fine because all I ever need to do is cropping and little color adjusting most of the time, no big deal. Unfortunately when I upgraded to my shiny new laptop it decided it wanted nothing to do with that PS7, something about incompatible bits, I don’t know, all I know is it doesn’t work so I downloaded GIMP and figured how bad could it be?

It’s bad. It sucks.

It’s clunky, unresponsive, and doing the simplest things takes forever. In short, I hate it. Scanning work is the only way to get it correctly colored, but then all the magazine dots show up, something you don’t see in person, photographing pieces is superior, but without color correction the look washed out and odd. Today the colors I am presenting are subtle in their interaction, so I chose pixely scanning.

Does anyone want to take pity on me and rip me a copy?

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With or Without?

Posted in Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , on February 15, 2012 by Toni Tiller

I like this springy swirly shape that has come up a few times, and usually I stick with a pretty simple formula, black background with two cut pieces on top in two subtly varying values. Then I thought it might be a good opportunity to deviate in color, use the set pattern to put that part of the thinking aside and focus on the color combinations. In theory this was fine, but when I applied my usual formula it looked a little…what? Too spare? I don’t know, but it just isn’t really working for me.

So I added another layer, and now wonder if it is too busy?

Any thoughts?

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A Recent Mini Magnet And A Trade

Posted in Art, Collage, Photography, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , , on February 8, 2012 by Toni Tiller

I recently sent out some pieces to my Twitter friend Tim Severson, who has photography, video, and design company he shares with his wife Melissa in Texas. I really enjoy their work and they were kind enough to send me 2 prints (it was supposed to be one, but I couldn’t decide and they surprised me with two) which I am looking forward to hanging. I have the spot already picked out.

and here is one of the mini magnets I sent them.

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F-yeah Tumblr!

Posted in Art, Toni Tiller with tags , , on February 1, 2012 by Toni Tiller

I’ve had a Tumblr account for awhile now but never really used it until a few weeks ago, because quite frankly I couldn’t figure out what the fuck it was for.

Is is a blog? I have blog. Actually I have two, so what do I need another blog for? But then in one of my late night fits of insomniatic boredom I started checking out other people’s Tumblrs and things kind of clicked. It doesn’t have to be a blog where I think about stuff, and then write it, and add images and links and whatever…I mean, it could be, it has all those options, but I found myself using it as just a straight image aggregator*. Somewhere to just grab and share images that amuse my brain with no real rhyme or reason, a place to please myself with creepy gifs, art I like, and a shit ton of cats.

*This is similar but different from Pinterest, which is another blog post in itself.

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Automatic Writing

Posted in Art, J. D. Hastings, Toni Tiller with tags , , on January 25, 2012 by Toni Tiller

This week my mind has been racing with all kinds of thoughts, usually unfriendly ones, but hey it happens from time to time and when it does one of the most soothing things to do (besides cleaning everything) is to find something repetitive that distracts through a form of monotony. I had a little side project from JD tucked away for just such an occasion, transcribing lengthy text.

What I really loved about this was it was all text I would have never really read on my own, and even better still haven’t. Even though I faithfully copied Lovecraft and Robespierre faithfully I couldn’t really tell you what either was about. I was so focused on one word at a time that they never formed any cohesive sentence in my own mind. I do remember writing the word “liberty” and “virtue” quite a bit.

As far as physical process there was a learning curve. Find a pen, it is the wrong pen, look for another, remember how to write clearly, contend with adverse paper textures, wonder about placement…all of this kept me plenty distracted from the obnoxious chatter of my own mind for awhile, but I’ll be needing more paper soon.

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Fair Use

Posted in abstract, Art, Toni Tiller with tags , , , on January 18, 2012 by Toni Tiller

It’s been a long time since I have taken any photographs of people, and when I do they are usually people I know very well, but a recent interaction made me wonder what the fair use of pictures of strangers would be. I don’t take pictures for advertisements, or to sell, so it’s not something I ever really think much about but since the question came up I threw it out to my good friends on Twitter and Matthew Best was kind enough to provide me with this very useful article which answered all of my questions and then some. Looks like as long as I am in public and not invading a private space then I am in the clear.

In the mean time you should check out some of his work here. Good stuff.

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New Camera

Posted in Art, Photography, Toni Tiller with tags , , , on January 11, 2012 by Toni Tiller

Why is it that all electronics decide to crap out at the same time? My Olympus, like my previous laptop, has been dying a slow death for the last year or so. It had gotten to the point of being so unreliable that it was essentially unusable, and now with all the problems the company is having along with my personal experience with their products I thought it would be best to go in a new direction. Lucky for me I have a few camera nerd friends and after a little consulting decided to go with this.

So far it’s great, a bit heftier than my previous ones, but it also feels more substantial. Now the only problem is that I have been without a decent camera for so long I don’t know what I want to take photos of…so here is a cat.

When in doubt always go with a cat, it is the default setting for internet communications.

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Mini Mini’s

Posted in Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , on January 4, 2012 by Toni Tiller

When I was out west visiting with Mr. Hastings I noticed a stack of unused magnets that have been sitting there for 4 years (I know this because I stuck them there 4 years ago) and I asked if I could have them. I probably could have just thrown them in my bag and they would have never been missed, but it’s always polite to ask.

These are 2 inches by 3 inches.

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Not Quite Art

Posted in Art, Toni Tiller with tags on December 28, 2011 by Toni Tiller

But I do need this to make it, my old HP P.O.S. kinda crapped out. This one is much more friendly.

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Maps

Posted in Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , on December 21, 2011 by Toni Tiller

In my search to find bigger things than magazines to cut up I came across an old map and thought I’d give that a try. I started by cutting out the perimeter of the land masses (the Netherlands were a bitch) and then started doing my interior cuts. This is essentially the exact opposite of what I would normally do because making the exterior cuts can usually weaken the structure of the paper, making interior cuts more difficult. In this case the paper was so large and of a more durable quality this has not been an issue so far.

The main thing I have learned from this so far is don’t take a photo of a complicated piece on a glass top table, with over head lighting, while using a cell phone camera.

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So I Was Hanging Out

Posted in abstract, Art, Collage, Toni Tiller with tags , , , on December 14, 2011 by Toni Tiller

Working on collages, scalpel in hand and one of my friends was telling me a story about how he used to work on his grandfathers pig farm as a kid. He said his job was to sit around and hand castrate the little boy piglets with one swift, well placed cut and sometimes he’d have to do about 600 a day assembly line style.

While he was telling me I ended up making this.

I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.

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I’m Back (And So Is The Feeling In My Index Finger)

Posted in Art, J. D. Hastings, Toni Tiller with tags , , , , , on December 7, 2011 by Toni Tiller

Every year I have the opportunity to run away to the middle of no where, take a break from daily life, weekly blogging, and any art making at all. I love making art but I love my sanctioned break from it just as much, there is a relief to being able to put it all aside and not feel it hanging over your head. That time ends up being useful to reflect and consider the previous years efforts and loosely plan what might come next.

This year I had some time to work with JD Hastings, where we thought about ways to team up using my marks and his quilting. One of the things we tried was using some of his pre-painted sheets and layering the same design repeatedly. It’s not something I can do with my usual materials because of the thinness of magazine paper, but the thickness of the painted paper means I can trace and reuse the same squiggle as many times as we like. He took over the color choices in these while I took care of the mark making and cutting. The enduring challenge in working on these came in the form of a very numb index finger, a consequence of the pressure applied to get through the materials. It took 3 days to wear off.

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