My Love Affair with Blocks

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Sophia Tise_Wood Block Paintings

I have always had a love for the feel of wood.  I made assemblage pieces when at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, from scraps at the local lumbar yard.  I had a friend there called Art, yes Art, who saved them for me.  He inhaled too much sawdust and cigarette smoke, and sadly died of lung cancer, but he always let me crawl around the yard for hours.  

A few years ago I started painting and collaging my little blocks of wood - any excuse to get me away from the dilemma of finishing one of my "large" canvasses.  Pieces of wood...smoothed down with fine sandpaper...so the finish was perfect...measuring approximately 3.25" x 2.5" x 1.5".  People loved them, and chose them for Christmas gifts. They mention them every time they see me, and "wouldn't it be great to have one a little bigger...?" In my dreams, huge blocks of polished wood, sanded and fine-tuned with ocean imagery.  I am working on larger blocks, wonderful to sit on a shelf, large ocean blocks for a house by the ocean.  

And then I started incorporating my sewn leaves into blocks...but that is another story...

Sophia Tise - Painting on Wood Blocks II