Cardboard Nautical Flags

Last year I made a set of 'Nautical Flags' out of recycled cardboard. I took awhile for the entire set to sell, it went in bits and pieces. But recently there was a request for more. I think they are fun, and the motif of each flag is a great matrix on which to let the cardboard, natural and stained with India ink, express its inherent material qualities. And the colors are nice too!

Not much of an explanation in regard to the photos, only to say there is a bit of my process contained in the following sequence.

A recent 'Nautical Flag' commission. 

The specifically requested letters. 

The work table with materials and tools.

Last years almost complete set of nautical flags. 

Nautical flags in color and in black and white. 

Nautical Flag J-Juliet. 'On Fire Keep Clear'. 

Detail

A new idea in the cardboard collage series. 

Union Jack

Union Jack - Recycled Cardboard on Arches Watercolor Paper - 45 x 68 inches

The Next Show at Las Manos Gallery

Las Manos Gallery is planning it's next show, it will open on June 5, 2014 and we are calling it 'X Marks The Spot'. The idea came from a the 'X' shape Michelle Peterson Albandoz has  recently been using in some of her work. See photos. We were noticing that Tricia Rumbolz and myself also often have the underlying structure of an x evident in our work, and that seemed like a good thesis for a small show.  One of my contributions to the show will be a 'Union Jack' constructed out of recycled cardboard washed with India Ink. I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and intend to finish it, but I am enjoying it at this stage.

See the Las Manos blog for the invite and pictures of what Michelle and Tricia will be showing.

Unfinished 'Union Jack' - Recycled Cardboard, India Ink, Watercolor Paper - 45 x 65 inches

Cardboard Nautical Flags

This week I have been working on a series of cardboard pieces derived from nautical flags motifs. Translating the designs to cardboard transforms them into small minimalist collages. Hope to make about twenty. The overall dimensions are 20 x 28 inches - materials: recycled cardboard, india ink, watercolor paper.

Art-Making Changes My Eating Habits

I finally broke down and purchased breakfast cereals for their cardboard boxes alone. I'm working on a second 'color' cardboard flag piece and have been looking at cereal boxes for their color value. When I noticed 'Crispix' was on sale a few weeks ago I thought I'd give it a try, and the box was nice with it's one predominating color. Later, the 'Product 19' box caught my eye with it's clean, contemporary design. I'd buy that cereal just to have the box in my kitchen. Neither box yielded as much color as I would have hoped, but both contributed nicely to my latest 'flag'. Pictured is the 'flag' collage in process, no stars yet, but the commercial and branding aspects of the various cardboard pieces make a humorous point.

One Last Flag

My conception of these flag pieces evolves through the course of the series. As I stated in an earlier post, the 'flag' iconography is a template on which to work out ideas around perception, materials, process... Any implied meaning that might come with such a loaded symbol is a bonus.

This is an image of the latest flag still attached to my work surface, to illustrate how these collages are constructed. Pictured in the photo is much work related paraphernalia. Up along the top portion of the photo on my window ledge you can see; the India Ink I use to color the cardboard, a bowl with pre-cut stars, the strips of pre-cut cardboard. On my work surface there are the glass weights and a heavy book I use to hold down the cardboard as it dries, the glue (PVA), and the various tools to trim and adhere the individual pieces.

More Recycled Cardboard Flag Collages

It has been cold, snowy and generally wintery here in Chicago this last week. This time of year has always been a good time for me to work diligently and plow through a large project, and I was moderately hard working this week. I finished three American Flag constructions in the last six days. I can finish one in a full day of work if all the cardboard pieces are precut and dyed. I often run out of energy come the star field portion of the flag. But on the other hand, cutting out fifty cardboard five pointed stars is made less dull while watching (mostly listening to) nighttime TV. I finally collected enough red, white and blue pieces to assemble a collage in the traditional American Flag colors. I ended up relying on graham crackers and Corn Flakes disproportionately to finish the thing, and thank you to all who are still collection cereal boxes for me.

I'm mostly working on varied combinations of plain and India Ink washed cardboard. I've refined the palette somewhat and I'm still trying to narrow the tonal range.

And the last flag I made just yesterday in a marathon of Public Radio (I do like the shows on Saturday morning and early afternoon in Chicago) involves reversing the tones. What was originally dark is now light... In the photo the piece is still taped to my work surface and you can see the cut strips of cardboard and the glass weights I use to hold thing in place as the glue dries.

And here I will close with a quote from Jasper Johns who in a iconic series of paintings employed the American Flag. I suspect these pieces will often be compared to his work and I have to agree with his thoughts on subject matter. "I make what it pleases me to make.. ..I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don’t think that’s a painter’s business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason. I intuitively paint flags." Trend to the Anti-Art: Targets and Flags, Newsweek 51 no. 13, March 1958, p. 96

Cardboard Flag

I'm working on a series of cardboard flags, this is the third in what I hope will be at least six. The paper size is 28 x 40 inches and the materials include recycled cardboard, (mostly cereal boxes), India Ink and Arches watercolor paper. Below is a photo of the boxes as they dry after a wash of India Ink to give you and idea of the process. They still need to be trimmed and sorted. I'm attempting to narrow the tonal range in the flags but it is often difficult to discern the differences in cardboard color, both raw and washed with ink.