Tag: longhaired dachshund calendar

Darby Calendar: August

Butterfly Darby by Moira McLaughlin, 2012

For August's image of my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar tribute to Darby I wanted to experiment with:

1.) a limited palette
2.) drawing
3.) my Darby stamp from Lush Prints

Here's where I started…

I made several Darby images. Here are a few…

I kept looking at Matisse's work…

Harmony in Red by Henri Matisse, 1908

But it had too many colors. So I moved on to Mark Rothko's Orange and Yellow…

Orange and Yellow by Mark Rothko, 1956

Drawing Darby hurt. He felt more elusive than ever. I am having trouble pushing through. Maybe I don't want to finish this project. Maybe that's why I like the unfinished quality to Butterfly Darby. I'll leave it at that…

Butterfly Darby

See previous images of my Darby Calendar here. It is a tribute to my 17-year-old Longhaired Dachshund who passed away in December of 2011.

July 9, 2012
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: July

Darby:July by Moira McLaughlin

The July collage of Darby for my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar didn't start out this way. The original concept was a nod to Magritte. This was the sketch I made last year…

original sketch

Son of a Man by René Magritte, 1964

I was going to make the apple a tomato. The leaves in the corner were going to be basil. The stripes in the background were going to be red and white, and Darby's tag was going to be blue with a white star. Get it? July 4th. I was inspired by this Georgia O'Keeffe painting…

Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1931

But, I wasn't thrilled with this idea. It's kind of kitschy. And Darby wasn't kitschy or overly patriotic. He didn't really like tomatoes that much either.

Then, I saw this painting by Helen Frankenthaler…

Untitled, 1995 by Helen Frankenthaler

"That's July," I thought. I see those colors in my garden and windowsill in the summer…

July Flowers

Then, last month I had this book on Tantra on my table…

Tantra: The Indian Cult of Ecstacy by Philip Rawson

I kept thinking it looked familiar…

Darby: Hope by Moira McLaughlin, 2008

Would that be weird to make a collage of my dog inspired by an Indian sex cult?

I did a little research and found out that Tantra is not a religion or a "way of thought." In fact, according to Philip Rawson, "Tantra sees thought as one of the chief causes for people gradually becoming disillusioned and miserable in what they believe to be their world."

Well, that spoke to me in my misery, still grieving Darby's death, and worried that the tears weren't stopping. Also, the word tantra means "to weave" or "web" and that "all is one and interconnected." Tantra is all about action and intrinsic goodness, not just sex. So, I thought, it wouldn't be so creepy to make a Tantric Darby.

I gathered some ideas…

my studio

I'm not going to lie. Tantirc Darby was creepy at first…

Tantric Darby

I didn't know what to do with it. So I shut the door to my studio and didn't look at it for about three weeks. Then, this Monday I woke up, went into the studio, and reworked it. I did it all, except for a few green leaves.

Here it is again…

I think Darby looks a little bit like Frida Kahlo, too…

Frida Kahlo

Next up, August. I'm thinking sunflowers…

I started my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar in January 2011. I am hoping to publish it by September 2012. Prints of each month will be available too. It is inspired by my muse, Darby, who passed away at age 17 on December 3, 2011. See the Darby collages I have already finished here.

March 9, 2012
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June Final

Darby Calendar: June by Moira McLaughlin

I finished the June college of my Longhaired Dachshund calendar this morning. I have lots to tell you about how it came together, but not today.

Wishing you all the best in 2012.

December 30, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June Collage Prep

This is from October 2011 when I started the June collage for my Longhaired Dachshund calendar. I can't remember why I did this in the kitchen and not the studio. I know I wanted to lay out the materials I would use and work on the color palette before I started. As you can see, I had forgotten to place Darby's pillow in his spot by the French doors. He is waiting there for me to do so.

December 20, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June

I drew this sketch last January when I decided to make the Darby calendar. I started working on it two months ago, combining it with this sketch…

I've been looking a lot at this print…

New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857

And this one…

Fireworks Over Ryogoku Bridge by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1856

I'm incorporating the stars from the above print. And today dog artist and author Kim Niles of KiniArt sent me this quote:

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in the heavens, where the love of our lost ones shines down to let us know they are with us." – author unknown.

I still start my day with tears. I still appreciate hearing that it will get better, but I miss him so much. It's hard to believe.

December 19, 2011
April Collage: Love Chakra Darby

About 30 minutes from Grass Valley is a place called Ananda Village.   According to its website it is "a cooperative spiritual community dedicated to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, founded by his direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda."   I've heard it referred to as a commune and a former cult.   Today, 250 people live there on 900 acres and devote themselves following the advice from the Swami's book How to Be Happy All the Time through "simple living and high thinking."

I've been fascinated by this place for a while. In fact, the truth is Ananda Village is one of the reasons I moved to Grass Valley. No, I didn't want to join the commune. Although the yoga, the lack of one true religion, and the people-are-more-important-than-things-philosophy appeal to me, it was the tulips that drew me here. When my sister, Sheila, who moved here first, started sending me photos of the tulips I was in awe. When she explained that the photos were nothing, and there was no way to describe the beauty of this terraced garden overlooking the gorge of the South Yuba River, and that the gardens were open to the public only once a year in April, something sparked in me. I had to see this place that sounded like a cross between Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz.   Shortly after that, I decided to move.

Surprisingly, I didn't see the tulips the first year I moved here.    April got filled up and I missed the window. This year, I didn't let that happen and I went twice, once with friends and kids on the opening weekend and once with Sheila and her mother-in-law on a weekday. Both visits were powerful; the first for the unbridled energy we all felt with the kids running around (and the special maple-glazed scones one of the member's bakes for the visitors), and the second for the feeling of being in the garden alone. It was just us and two other people

I still don't exactly know what goes on there year-round. But the people I met at Ananda Village did seem happy, really happy, in a way I couldn't get a bead on. They weren't hippie-ish. They looked like suburbanites who shopped the Lands' End catalog yearly — crisp, colorful, and pressed. Ok, the second time I went, there was a guy in a belted pantsuit with a groovy badge. But mostly the members just seemed sincere. What was their angle?   The prices in the gift shop didn't seem to have the standard retail markup. I'm not even sure if there was any markup. And the tulips! Sheila was right, there really is no way to describe them. Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz are technical illusions caught on film. This is real, with a blossomy breeze and the sound of the river echoing up with a gurgling roar. The photos here, and all the photos I've ever seen can't capture it. But know that the members plant 9,000 bulbs every year for five months. Then, they pull them up, sketch a new garden plan, and start over, like a living mandala.

So, as I've been making my way through the months for my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar starring my dog, Darby, I knew I wanted the April collage to be about the Ananda tulips. Both times, before we went, I asked my sister Sheila to take photos for me. And I brought my camera too and tried my best…

Between us we had some great shots. But I felt defeated. Anything layered or intricate would pale in comparison. So I decided to go in the opposite direction. I went for concentration instead of intricasy. As I mentioned, in the Ed Ruscha post on Friday, I decided to make a silhouette. When I completed it, I flashed on something someone said on our second visit. It was a woman who was with the pantsuit-guy. She entered the garden and looked out over the view and said, "It really opens up your love chakra, doesn't it?" So that inspired the name for the April collage…

Open Up Your Love Chakra

I did a little research after the piece was finished and was happy to find the colors that represent the love chakra are green and pink. Also, I think it's interesting that one of the most beloved books, and now movies, about dog-love is J.R. Ackerley's My Dog Tulip . Anyone who has one knows that nothing opens up your love chakra like a dog, but every April in Nevada County 9,000 tulips come close.

On to May. It's still freezing up here. Got to get more firewood.

June 1, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: February Collage

Here is my Darby calendar collage for the month of February. This one was less of a struggle than January's collage. It helped to sketch an idea first…

It also helped to look at a masterpiece. I printed out Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, 1888, and referred to it often…

I also discovered that Van Gogh was much more methodical than is often assumed. Here are two sketches of Bedroom in Arles. One sent to his brother Theo…

And this one sent to his friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin…

The other piece I printed out was this Romare Bearden collage. I don't know the name of it. I kept coming back to his blocks of color…

Now, on to March. I think it's going to be about Darby in the miner's lettuce…

March 8, 2011
Sketching Solutions and a Quickfire Challenge

I received so much insightful feedback from many of you artists about my ongoing Darby calendar project. Superheidi of The Swing of Things was especially helpful when she advised “Just keep going on creating, don’t evaluate just yet. Somehow you’ll notice in which direction you are heading and then it’s easier to make choices and you can set some boundaries. I freak out when I think I want to create a ‘master piece,’ because the subject matters. It won’t work that way.”

She is right. I was freaking myself out. And it wasn’t working. So I found an old notebook and started sketching loose ideas. The first one (above) helped me put the pieces in place for the final January collage (below).

Then, I started playing around with ideas for February. The Narcissus is blooming in my yard, but instead of going outside, I’d like to include the interior too. That’s February here in Northern California — a cozy fire and spring flowers coming up. Also, I want to use this photograph I took…

Here’s my first idea…

Then, I did some close up sketches of Darby, trying to figure out where he puts his paws when he sits like this…

Finally, I went back to the pieces I didn’t end up using in my January collage and gave myself a “Quickfire Challenge” — a concept from the Bravo TV show Top Chef where the contestants are given limited time and ingredients to cook something delicious. Don’t think. Just cut and paste, I told myself. I made this in about 30 minutes with the January leftovers…

It felt very liberating.

February 18, 2011
Done…almost

My January collage of Darby is almost finished. I'm stepping away from it today and tomorrow I will disassemble it and glue it back together, the trickiest part, imo. As you can see, I scrapped everything from my first iteration except for the idea of Darby sleeping in the nest and the speckled paper.

This has been the most challenging collage I have ever worked on. I don't know if that's because I haven't made one in a while or if I am too close to the subject. I think the pressure I put on myself to memorialize my dog undid me a bit. Maybe I should just spend time with my dog. Enjoy his reality instead of trying to capture his essence. I still don't know. I might do some "throw away" pieces before I begin on February. Stay tuned.

P.S. The nest includes strips of the Peaceful Valley seed catalog. The bird brings another strip in his beak. Graphic designer Milton Glaser says it's ok to explain one's work.

P.P.S. Thanks, Rebecca Collins of ArtPaw, for sending me this link to images of The Eight Dog Chronicles, 18th century Japanese books that fired my imagination in a new way.

February 11, 2011
My Collage Process

Actually, I am still discovering my collage process. Especially since, as I’ve mentioned, this year I am creating a series of Darby collages to include in a 2012 Longhaired Dachshund calendar. I’ve never worked on a series before. These are some photos of my first steps.

I spent a significant amount of time cutting out silhouettes of Darby sleeping. Then, decided I wanted to use the actual photograph instead. This is an important decision for a collage artist. Are you going to use the photo or deconstruct the photo and build the shape out of other materials? I wanted to use natural and/or Japanese paper in each collage and I liked the idea of Darby made out of the speckled paper, like an eggshell in the nest. And I wanted to use the feather paper beneath the nest. But both didn’t feel right. So I’ve put these attempts aside. For now.

Every time we go for a walk, I spend time looking at the colors I see, and the natural world my dog interacts with. Brown, green, and a hint of purple are January this year. Here are some images I intend to work with, including photos I took of succulents in my yard.

Here’s my work table. Yes, those are real deer antlers hanging on my fence…

One of the challenges I discovered was that I kept finding images I wanted to use for other months. I considered buying another table, but knew I would lose the saved images under piles of more saved images. So I decided to put everything up on the wall. I used Scotch Reusable Tabs. They work well, secure but easy to remove without damaging the paper.

I’ve also been working on compositions for future months and posted them on the wall too…

Here’s the direction I’m headed. I placed a lighter version of speckled paper behind the nest…

P.S. When I was finishing up yesterday, I noticed a scrap of paper on the window sill. I put some pine cones behind it (I’ve become obsessed with the artistic and engineering genius of the pine cone since I moved here — I used to think they were corny) and took a picture. It was a nice reminder about simplicity and the happy accidents that occur in the studio.

I’m so glad to be back.

January 28, 2011