New Concept!

From the feedback I got in critique I have decided to go a different route with the paintings I have been working on. The biggest response I got in critique was to work more narrative and to incorporate figures. I definitely want to use chalk and crayons to give a more childlike feel to the work. I’m also going to work with very specific childhood memories. This will be a good direction for me because it relates to the work I want to do for Graduate school. I want to be an Art Therapist who mostly works with woman and children who have been mentally and physically abused. Through art I want to help them heal and move on from their pain. In this painting project I will play the role of the patient and the Art Therapist for myself. I want to capture very specific childhood memories of mine—good times with pleasant connotations, funny moments, and heart-wrenching memories that have held me back and therefore only continue to hurt me. In this project I will use art to help myself heal from certain negative memories from my childhood. I will be my own Art Therapist. I’m going to start with drawing on paper with paint and slowly work towards developing a painting.

Lagging

Wow, it's already been over a month since I updated. I've been so busy lately. It's been hard to put time aside for my blog. But I have a lot I'm working in and I'll update with images soon! Get excited!

Wise Words FromTwo Wise Men

On Sunday I went to Hillel with my good friend Zahara to hear a Rabbi speak about the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. Now, no, I'm not Jewish, but I actually got a great deal out of his speech. One thing that stood out to me was "Inspiration is temporary, we have to learn to make it more permanent." As an artist that really spoke to me. What inspires me is constantly changing, just as I am always changing. I've gone through many long phases of having no inspiration at all, and phases where everything seems to inspire me at once and pulls me in all different directions. Already this year I've really had to narrow down and hold on to my inspirations. It hasn't been easy, but hopefully it will get easier.

Yesterday I went to a Postsecret Event that was held at the University. I've been a fan of PS for some time now, but was very surprised to see how intelligent the creator, Frank Warren, was. He really left an impact on me. He was such a caring, strong, interesting man, who made jokes, and kept the audience completely captivated. Something he said that almost brought me to tears was that, and I'm not going to quote it because I don't remember his exact words, the children who grow up abused, who have struggled and known true pain, grow up to be the adults who change the world. I just thought that was so beautiful. It's a realization I made only a few days ago. That all of the negativity I've know in my life is so important because it is going to bring me close to True happiness and peace. I think that's a very powerful thing to know.

Chickpeas & Onions

So one beautiful night my room mates (David Tarafa and Ryan Gillis), our friend Sam and I filmed a video. Ryan edited all of it and this is the amazing final product. Get ready to be blown away!

Chickpeas & Onions

Recent work--Bug Series

Here are a few pieces I have been working on the past three weeks:

This is the first painting I did this semester. It's of a South African beetle called the Dicrnorhiha Derbyana. I tried to create some interesting beetle-like texture.


This is a detail of the wing on a Phaon Crescent Butterfly. In this one I tried to create a texture that mimics the dust found on butterfly wings.



This is a painting of a Thornbug. It's the most recent one I have done. It's more abstract than the other two. I'm not sure if this is the direction I want to head towards or stick with what I've been doing. I want to start incorporating the full insect body into the paintings though. This one does that in the under-painting. You can see it coming through in the bottom middle of the painting.

Stu Stu Studio!

Hello! I know it's been a while since I updated, but I've got some exciting stuff for you now. Here are some pictures of my fabulous Studio! I've made it very nice and cozy. It should be since I'm spending 12 hours + a week here. :)

Figure Painting Quick Studies

Here are a few quick studies I did in my figure painting class this last week. I have definitely improved from the last time I had to paint figures. Yay for improvement!

First painting and Bill Jensen

I started my first painting in advanced last week (Images to come soon!). In this painting I’m working with complimentary colors, and trying to be more painterly. I’m really trying to layer paint, and use short brush strokes. I’m working with symmetry, but not perfectly. Jerry showed us an artist named Bill Jensen on Monday. He is an abstract artist who layers paint and then squeegees it off creating this amazing depth and layering where some colors show through and others don’t. I think he is an amazing colorist! I really want to experiment with that this semester in my bug paintings. I think it could be really interesting.

Some of Bill Jensen's work:



He has some pieces I like more, but I couldn't find them online.

New Semester

So, I'm a Senior Painting major now. I have my own studio all set up with Rachelle as my studio partner. so far so good. For this semester I have decided to do paintings of bugs! Lately I have been really inspired by nature. I have been researching bugs and insects as part of my inspiration. There are so many different species of insects and so many different colors and forms. It’s really quite amazing. I want to do paintings of details of various beetles and insects to the point where they are abstracted. I will use colors and forms inspired by these bugs. I will play around with composition and work with ideas I learned in Structure and Transformation, like points, color relationships, and use of brush stroke. There will be a lot of symmetry due to the natural symmetry found in nature and a sense of texture. I want to possibly incorporate sewing into my work this semester. I would like to use different colored threads and different stitches to create patterns and images while incorporating paint. My goal is to have at least two or three paintings completed by each critique. I would like to work with a canvas size of about 2-3 ft by 3-4ft, and a little bigger.

So all in all, I'm pretty excited for this semester. Also, I decided as of today not to get the Minor in Art History that I was planning on getting. it will just make this semester so much easier, and with getting a job and all, I'm going to need all the time I can get!

Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan is a sculpturist who uses small, everyday objects to create large scale, beautifully intricate installations. She installs her work on floors, walls, and hanging from the ceiling. Her color palette is limited for each piece because she only uses one object in varying lengths and widths. He work is amazing. I was very inspired by her for my last sculpture piece with the wax and plaster peppers. Here are a few images of her work:





































































More images of her work can be found at http://www.acegallery.net/artistmenu.php?pageNum_ACE=0&totalRows_ACE=58&Artist=8

Sewing projects

I made this sweet clutch with pockets inside for Taylor last year for her birthday. I have yet to make another one, which is really stupid because this one turned out so cool. It was the first clutch I ever attempted. I really like the fabric. I've actually used this same fabric to make a headboard and some curtains for another friend.




I really want to work on making more bags, headbands and such. It's so easy, I've just gotten lazy. I recently made myself a head board too. It turned out pretty well, but needs a few minor adjustments. I'll upload pictures when it's done.

Projects like these are so nice because they are creative, but a break from all the conceptual nonsense the school forces on us. With these I can just be creative and do what feels right without having to worry about how I'm going to have to explain it all. Unfortunately though, with all that school demands I don't get much time to work on these kinds of things. Hopefully I can manage to put some time aside this year to do more fun things like this.

The End of Summer

Summer classes have finally ended and now I'll have two weeks of relaxing before I get back to the daily grind of classes. This school year is going to be a great one though. I can just tell. My last sculpture project turned out to be amazing! I ended up only using Bell Peppers and I filled them with wax and Plaster. I really like the contrast of the different materials.

The textures left behind in the wax/plaster are absolutely beautiful. They look like teeth or icebergs. Here are a few images for your viewing pleasure:
(Click images to see larger)

I really want to make more, but this was an expensive project for the twenty-six I did make. Maybe sometime in the future. I would also like to try different vegetables, and figure out different ways of installation. But for now I am very pleased with my last project.

Conceptual Exploration

I know it has been quite a while since my last post, and I apologize for that. It has been a busy few weeks with summer classes winding down this week. In Photography I am working on my final portfolio, which includes images from the Capturing Community project and from the Constructed image project.

In Sculpture, my final project is going to be about bringing the inside out. I am going to carve out various fruits and vegetables, pour hot wax into them, then remove the outer fruit/vegetable and just have the inner wax with the texture of the inside on the outside. In this sculpture class I've really been trying to improve my concept lately. I've really been trying to reach out and try new concepts that I have never thought of or worked with before. It's been really interesting. I definitely want to go back to several of these concepts in my paintings for Advanced this year.

My concepts so far have been dealing with my circular thought process and how destructive it can be; How thinking the same thoughts over and over isn't getting me anywhere positive. I also worked with anger and how people express their anger, and how people cope with living with a person who has issues with controlling their anger. People living with them often feel like they must walk on eggshells and not upset them. It can be very taxing. My last project was about the bad joints in my body and how I have to rely on vitamins and Tylenol for joint pain.

Anyway, Just a few things for me to think about. Fall semester is rapidly approaching. I'm excited to have all of my friends back together again, but extremely nervous for advanced painting to start.

I'll leave you with a new artist I just discovered. Her name is Beatriz Milhazes. She is a modernist painter known for her bright colors and juxtaposing Western and Brazilian themes. Her work has an amazing sense of movement and excitement. She uses many different forms of patterns. Many artists I have been coming across lately use patterning in very interesting ways. I think I'm going to try to incorporate it into my own work and see where it takes me.

I love white people, too.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

This is a really great blog. Follow it. Love it. And love me for letting you in on it.

Seriously.

Favorite Artist

So as an artist, we get asked a lot, Who is your favorite artist?

My favorite, Quint Buchholz, is someone no one ever knows. He is a German painter and illustrator. He has illustrated about 30 books. I think he's amazing. I absolutely love his artwork. It's very dreamlike and psychological. He is the kind of painter I strive to be. He is an excellent draftsman and colorist. His work is lighthearted and almost child-like, but heavy and thoughtful at the same time. Here are a few of my favorite pieces by him:
You Can find more of his work on his website at http://www.quintbuchholz.de/ But you'll need to use Google Translator. Enjoy.

Concept

So, I had promises to paint for myself this summer, and I haven’t done anything artistic that wasn’t for class so far. That’s kind of a bummer. But I’ve been thinking about concept a lot lately, and trying to strengthen the concepts in my artwork.

I’ve really been interested in the connections people share with each other, and themselves. I want to work with how people relate to each other, and the different types of relationships that exist amongst us. I also want to try to convey the issues people face when they lose certain connections and ties with people. But how to convey all that through paintings?

Ahh, so much to think about.

Book Art

Some sweet book art. You really need to check these out!

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/bittersweet-art-of-cutting-up-books.html

Edith Zimmerman's Unique Creations

Cabbage Bra by Edith Zimmerman. More works on her website: http://www.edithzimmerman.com/blog/

Dan Funderburgh's Wallpaper

Dan Funderburgh makes really sweet wallpaper as well as other awesome stuff. Website: http://www.danfunderburgh.com/contact.php. Check it out.

Artist A Day on Twitter

http://www.artistaday.com/

Follow on Twitter! See an artist a day to be inspired by.

Susan Carr

A Susan Carr Photograph from her series titled “Personal Spaces.” She photgraphs in houses who have been lived in by the same people for over forty years. How cool is that?

A Blog?

It has come to my attention that Blogs are the new thing for writers and artists to promote their creative outlets and people who just love to hear themselves talk. And, well, I’m going to do both on here! Get ready, get Excited!

I always love to find new ways to waste my time on the internet! So here begins our adventure together!