Upcycled Dancer moves to Forever Home in Colorado

Sometimes the painting process goes haywire, taking with it expensive art supplies. Not one to throw out materials, I prefer to recycle them into new pieces. Case in point, the collage piece, Dancer.

Dancer started as a large watercolor with big ambitions of being lively and vibrant; however, this concept soon descended into a complicated and haphazard blur of tones and textured hues on a beautiful piece of Arches 140 lb. paper. 

What to do? I tore and cut into the bedraggled painting, making small shapes that individually have their own charm. 

What I'm left with is a big, heaping pile of possibilities.

I put these shapes onto a page, moving them around until they began to 'talk' to each other. Swiftly gluing them in place and producing a batch before I stopped, I put the collages aside for a couple of days.

When I return to them, I see them in a new way. I notice different things and accentuate them with with pen or paint. No one is more surprised than me with the resulting images. It’s almost like I’m chasing glimpses of them in the shadows, trying to cajole them out with line and color.

This is how Dancer came to life, salvaged from a recycled watercolor painting, and is now living with a collector in Colorado.

Elephant Finds Home

I am pleased to announce, that “Stolen Innocence” has been sold to a collector in Los Angeles.

The Big Projection Project

“In The Garden” Mixed Media, Nathalie Tierce 2019

Over the moon to have my artwork included in these events. Stephen Levey is featuring local Los Angeles artist’s work and projecting images of their work two and three stories high in a series titled Stephen Levey’s “Big Projection Project”.

My paintings and drawings were projected on buildings in the West Hollywood area, it was a thrill to see the art this way and a lot of fun to watch people’s reaction.

You can see all the artists included by following Stephen on Facebook @Stephen Levey or on Instagram @leveyangeles

“Stolen Innocence” Mixed Media, 2019 Nathalie Tierce

“Uh Oh” Acrylic on Canvas, 2019 Nathalie Tierce

“Beside and Behind You” Mixed Media on Canvas, 2019 Nathalie Tierce

Nude Art L.A. Event at Cooper Design Space

I am very pleased to have paintings from my “Bodies in Motion” series included in this year’s Nude Art L.A. Event at the Cooper Design Space in downtown Los Angeles.

There will be painting, sculpture, performance and fashion on two days, March 29th and 30th. Tickets are available through the link below.

Hope to see you there!

https://bit.ly/2HZ7se0

Paintings Find Home with Family

Sometimes things just fall into place. A wonderful Spanish style home in Los Angeles owned by a family coming to the end of a tough renovation were ready to put the finishing touches on their home.        

    They made a visit to my studio in search of a painting to be the focal point of their living room. Initially, they choose the painting "Interior" for that spot.

Once we got "Interior" into their home we realized that it was meant to live at the head of the dining table. Everything about it melded with the feel, colors, and texture of the space. Even the weave of the placemats casually placed on the table seemed to have a rapport with the brushwork.

They wanted to see "Wild Thing" for their living room which worked perfectly. An eclectic mix of contemporary and classic furnishings, the wild texture of the art piece complemented the metallic surface of the industrial coffee table. The hot orange spoke to the tones of the wood floor.

It's the best of the two worlds. My personal search for the combination shapes, shadows, and lines that give outward expression thoughts to the in my head finds its place in an environment that seems like it was waiting for it.

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"Interior" Painting in Dining room

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"Wild Thing" in Living Room

Whispering Buildings

Tall monsters quietly conferring with each other. Their skeletons are made of fire escapes, pipes, wires. I don't hear what they're saying just the wind whistling in between them.

Collage from "The Visit" series titled "Whispering Buildings"

Standing amongst tall apartment buildings that have a bullish, utilitarian presence. Once inside I feel like there should be some connection but it feels raw and hollow.

Painting "Whispering Buildings" in first phase

Strangely, by merit of their clumsiness, I still get a sense of character. Like awkward monsters that try to comfort each other, I paint them from the inside out. Their stairwells and heavy fire doors that go "swish, clunk"  sound like a labored breath.

Painting "Whispering Buildings" second phase

Scraping around their insides trying to find the shapes of their souls; I bump into what holds them together and what they're made of but haven't a clue who they are.

Scraping an Image Together From Memory

Being in or around an architectural environment, certain things leave an impression on me. It can be the grand scale of a building or the small moments in surface detail of the concrete.

In a painting, I recreate that mood with the texture, light and shapes associated with memory.    

During the process of searching for that combination of colors forms and edges that deliver a representation of that sensation, I use many tools. Sketches and collage help clarify the overall direction when I start. Once I jump in, I'm improvising, trying different things that give me and knee jerk reaction as to whether they work.

 

Why Paint This?

My work is profoundly affected by architectural memories. Recreating feelings of having been in or next to a building. The way their presence has resonated within me.

Getting back to the mood a place has left me with is not a  straightforward path. One of the techniques I use is collage.

Rebuilding the atmosphere of an experience from the impressions left in the mind's eye is like chasing the details out of vapors. I go after it until the edges, surfaces and textures appear.

What I hope to share with viewers is a very intimate fleeting moment of sensory perception.