a very good week

sometimes I can convince myself that I'm capable of mental housecleaning. Usually this happens after a long spell of stress--for me this means aimlessness, frustration, non-motivation, and the sentiment that "I haven't made anything I've liked for months" whether this is the case or not. At some point all of that frustration culminates into a moment of conviction, in which I have a memory lapse, forgetting all sense of accomplishment and happiness I've felt in the past month, and decide I need to DO something about my pathetic situation.

Whether my situation is ever dire enough to warrant such a gung-ho feeling that I am "trying to turn my life around" is questionable. However, this transformation periods always lead to better things, among them serious productiveness (I become prolific in the studio for at least a week or two before things balance out again), an extreme natural high (which takes days to turn off), and an overall confidence in any social situation in which I find myself.

Such a shift took place a couple weeks ago. Although, really, nothing has changed I just feel a bit lighter because the problems that were in the back of my head have disappeared, and I do feel more invested in my artwork. Essentially, what did this was a few good conversations with people I respect and a pleasantly cold walk home that night. Then I had my open studio (with plenty of feedback) and a relaxed weekend at home with Jake and the cats, no work.

The Monday after I threw myself at some blank 12" by 12" panels and a 6' by 4' wooden support with some gouache, markers, cut vellum, and all the energy I'd saved over the weekend. Good things happened, and I suspect that it had to do with making art because I like to make art and a complete lack of concern for what kind of art I think people would like me to make. Of course, when you do that, your teachers always like your art better.

I think making art is how I keep my head clear--it's borderline meditational. When I'm allowing my hand to do what it is compelled to do, I lose total track of time, feel exhausted when I'm finished. Things I see and feel make a little more sense as a result of thinking about them as my hands mix colors or make permanent lines on a page.

The next few posts will showcase the studio progress that has occurred since last Monday.

getting mileage out of that string

Now I'm painting from the string spaces. Which is a challenge, when I'm working in oil and refuse to use a three haired brush. I don't think I'll be painting them as forms after this one, because, to be frank, I think blown up, fat looking string in a painting looks cheesy. I may be using them as flat color in the next painting as a way to break up the composition geometrically.

But the solvent saturated paint that being thrown around in the background of this piece, SO much fun!

Line as Sculpture

here's where the lines as sculptures idea took me

Sculpture, Framed

First creative act of the fall semester, in response to a Mixed Media assignment from Frank Hyder. The only parameter for the assignment was a single word, fusion, and that it had to be mixed media.

I tried to discuss the relationship between the canvas and the third dimension, and also between 2 dimensional and 3-dimensional art. I tried to fuse each component in each of these relationships. My answer to the problem was to suspend between empty stretcher bars long vertical drawings, two in vine charcoal, one in ink. I then tried to simlulate the shape and line in each drawing with three dimensional black thread. To avoid adding another element to the excercise, I used vine charcoal, the same I'd drawn with, wrapped within the thread to add bulk in the appropriate places. The wire on which the piece hangs is visible, in an attempt to make the conversation I'm having a little more obvious. Perhaps, though, that's too literal.

My other professor Moe Brooker suggested not limiting myself to the square, flattish format, and thinking about the spatial possibilities of such a discussion (fill an entire room with sculptural and flat lines, or, if I want it in the same plane, and entire wall). I'm inspired to pursue this further now. I think this will remain a study for something grander

Beyond the Map

when i closed my eyes a few nights ago I saw this pattern on the insides of my eyelids...blue interlocking blobs with four tentacles each, and one green one. i had to make note of it, in case it turned into anything. it turned into this tree. i finished this piece before i even went back to sleep that night. it should be called something like "taking off" or "the exciting unknown" or "up and out" but without the cliche-ness. It both got me out of my dry spell from artwork and made me think of how little I've planned past the next two years, which is more appealing than scary at the moment. I think the swingless swinger agrees.

SOLD October 2009

Bright!Loud!

I was playing with the idea that pop culture can infiltrate even the most spontaneous gestures. With some books reflecting our celebrity culture (Life compendiums, fashion guides, products of fan followings, etc.) sitting in front of me, I dragged out my brightest pastels and worked on top of a torn up oil painting on paper. when I became overwhelmed, I started digging at the surface of the paper, uncovering the white, with metal clay-working tools.

postcard jazz

Here are some details of the first postcard-sized work in a series I will be working about the human act of making.








I'm not trying to pretend the subject hasn't been done, but today, playing around with a collage that wasn't working, I became very interested in art-making as a subject in itself. So I started over with that in mind.










Contained in this work: sketch called "freshly cut grass all over my feet", cut out smithsonian pages (this issue featured painted patterns from iranian architecture), oil pastel, tangled string from the floor, national geographic image (cropped) of a snake, pieces of a box of flatbread crackers, masking tape, and ballpoint pen.