…and they’re off!

“love is the answer,” that’s what they say.

(Listen to Wavin’ Flag by K’naan)

We are experiencing a sunny and beautiful Valentine’s Day in Davenport.  I forgot what a difference the sun can make in a mood.  It’s just absolutely wonderful.

Couple that with a GREAT discussion in Pirates class about socialist utopian societies and the fact that I have pretty much finalized my theology thesis topic, which is to be on a theology of ecology and how old agrarian religions of the uncivilized world had a respect and love for the earth that the civilized world is losing.  I am going to be looking in particular at accounts of the Jesuits interacting with the Native Americans to exemplify this.

WEE!

Also, things have really been taking off in the studio.  This weekend, I was visited by my best pal Melissa McDonald:

And let me tell you, nothing makes a person more aware of their bizarre studio behavior than an observer.  Suddenly, I was thinking about how weird it is when I sit down on the floor and start to paint with my fingers, or use a broom as a giant brush, or accidentally step on a paint tube and then pick up the rest of the paint with my hands and glop it down somewhere.  Unfortunately, since I have several canvases going at once and am really getting excited about the process, I look like somewhat of a madwoman.  Here’s some recent action shots:

(I’m getting closer and closer to finding really effective language to define this body of work- A song, a prayer, a flag flying high.  The power of imagination.  Digging through the, however attractive, rubble to be in existence with God and Nature.  Wildness.)

It has come to the point where I am going to be introducing some figures into my magical abstract landscapes.  I did some early rounds with the pictures that I took of my sister over break.

I want to make sure that the figures are painted as akin to their environment.  Also, after watching Ponyo this weekend I decided that I really want the children to be younger, as to avoid the other connotations that go along with teenagers.  I have been looking at lots of different artists, hopefully will be able to show you soon.

…

Last night, I returned from the studio looking like this:

…which isn’t that uncommon.  Except that I was confused because I had not even been using green and the entire right side of my body was covered.

After bathing, I still looked like this:

And today:

So, I’ll probably be dying from kidney failure later.  I’ll keep you updated.

 

One final note, I have an animal living in my studio walls.  I’m hoping its a squirrel, but have come to terms with the fact that it’s probably a rat.  Either way, his name is Mumford and I am beginning to like his presence.  Really, as long as he’s not a bird, I’ll probably make it.

Mumford’s home

Flying the flag of life.

First, your Oz Fail Update.  This time brought to you by Munir Sayegh.

In the process of trying to naturally dye paper using tea and onion skins (it has really been quite the adventure), we discovered that we needed to boil water to have our dye be the most effective.  Because we did not have the foresight to bring over my teapot, we scavenged our inherited house for something we could use.  Something in my head said that it is not safe to set a glass container directly onto a burner to boil water, but we tried it anyway.  AND, when Munir went down a little later to check the progress, he discovered that I was right.  Our friend Sarah Ohm was hanging out in the studio with us that day, and Sarah and I remained upstairs.  Amid our pleasant conversation we heard Munir shout a couple of profanities, and as we ran downstairs, both of us girls scolded him for touching the hot measuring cup with his bare hands.  Yeah….TURNS OUT…he was not yelling because he was burned, but because upon touching the glass, it exploded.

Lesson learned.

Chalk one up for us.

Today I have been going through some old sketchbooks and work.

I get really attached to my brainstorm pages, and thought I would dedicate this post to sharing some of those:

I’m skipping a slam poetry performance to take advantage of a good chunk of time in the studio tonight.  (If you know me, that’s dedication.)  Both Les and Kristin have been on my back to come over and I want to make sure I have something good to show.  I’m also going to updating my Portfolio Page.  Check it out, dudes.

I’m going to leave you with two images.

A picture out our front door:

And a message from the Oz walls.  (I’m always finding these quaint little notes.)

bikes, lemons, and deconstruction.

In Highschool, my Dad had us do this project where we originally drew several pictures of separate kachina dolls (I know, the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree) and then cut them up and redrew them into a new composition.  We then colored in the new abstraction using gradation.  My final product now hangs in the front hall of my parents’ house (seen above).

I was inspired by a similar idea recently, in the hopes of stirring some creativity out of my siltily settled brain.

I started making some collages with the intention of drawing them later, experimenting with themes and the collage style.  I have been thinking about drawing styles translating into a printmaking vocabulary, as a type of second media to be added into my painting, creating a kind of “digging through the material garbage to real-ness” type of thing.

The first one turned out to be kind of a jumble.

I was going back to my old idea of citrus being a good metaphor for the sun living inside humankind, and thus created my swinging citrus girl.  I have been interested in what happens when you create a translucent human form, letting the outline only indicate human-ness, and creating skin with a different texture, maps or citrus or denim or birds on telephone wires.

(There was also a little composition hidden in this one that you can expect to see later.)

However, my original intention of creating this similar to the kachina doll project was unsuccessful.  Thus, I did a second one where I stuck to just a couple of pictures.  In this one, I was noticing how bike spokes and citrus wheels echo each other, and let bikes be a symbol of freedom/hope/adventure.

Then, I got inspired by the idea of bikes further, since they are one of my favorite things.

I created this:

But of course, my wild children wouldn’t have bikes.  They have no use for that kind of machine-made tool.  I started to question the integrity of even a bike, that free-spirited, environmental friend.  I had been wondering what place things that I would imagine the wild children would love if they were available to them: bikes, converse shoes, tinker toys… had in this new world where the place for things like that, which once were cause for happiness, no longer existed.  I came to the conclusion that while they were not bad at the time where they existed, the happiness that they caused has now been surpassed.  The answer lies in that even the most congenial material things have no place in a world of complete harmonic wildness.

So, I destroyed my bike…

…and even let an onion grow out of it.

I think that I am making some really good progress with my concept.  Today my Dad and I bought wood to stretch 6 5′ by 2 1/2′ canvases (there was a lot of math for me involved in that one).  I am pleased with that format.

 

While I have been doing this, my sister has been working on her chair.  She paints and repaints it and its a very interesting process.  Here’s her in action:

Coming Soon: A Sneak Peek into the lives and world of the Wild Children.

it’s a magical world.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night all squinched (what’s a new blog entry without a new made up word?) down to the bottom of my bed, cuddled up against the open window.  My subconscious must have sensed it was raining, and it was the most refreshing and intoxicating thing to wake up to…

It’s that time of year when the air is starting to be crisp, yet the sun is still magnificent.  I spread my arms every time I go outside.  I pretend they’re wings, I balance-beam along curbs, I hope I can fly.  My walk to work has been particularly magical recently (watch for my photo-journal about that- COMING SOON!), and every time the world is miraculous, I think of Calvin and Hobbes:

While I dig this for its metaphor for a blank page and new semester of art… I thought I should find something a little more season appropriate, and came across this.

“life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” -Hellen Keller

The fall.  The possibility of waking up to rainstorms and hanging out in graveyards… The memories of riding around town on my bike as a kid… The hectic reality of triple majoring and graduating in four years… these are things that punctuate my life.

To kick off the new year in the studio, I am doing three new large mixed-media works.  I am hoping that these will be an avenue to develop some new ideas, experiment with color and create some noise that I am excited about.  I am sticking to my motif of people in environment, hoping to branch out to installations, and will eventually be painting on a larger scale.  But for now, I decided to start with the environments evoked by some of the important people in my life.  I chose my best friend from high school, Josh Wall, my cousin Whitney and my sister Jo.

Brainstorming within this idea frame was really fun.  I will give you the example of the quick list I came up for when thinking about Josh:

Painted maple leaves.  Green, green grass.  Notebook pages.  Running shoes.  Cookie Crayons.  Honey-nut cheerios.  Marble runs.  Bubbles.  Late nights in the park.  Painted red floors.  Shuffleboard.  Jeeps and Station wagons.

Here’s the original scattering that those isolated memories grew into.

Later, I taped it to the wall.

The idea evolved, as I expected it would, shifting from a specific memory of mine to a more universal idea of the shifting close friendships in our lives.  I’m still working on articulating this one.

The process…

Here’s a broader wall shot.  The middle one focused on my cousin Whitney, but is really more about stepping out of the defined into something wilder and more meaningful.  The third one deals with the paradoxical properties of the color white in a cycle of innocence to blankness to ghostliness.  My sister is going to star in that one, seen here in her white dress.

here’s the most recent look of number 2.

Some other studio scenes:

Here’s a classic set up for me, and one that commonly results in taking a big swig of acrylic water.  Yumm.

I’d like to end with a picture of my creeper bunny that my fellow Ambrose art student, regular in my studio, and good friend Adam Little gave to me.  :)

Illustration Friday- “Caged”

their tapping fingers

and ugly faces won’t stop

your dreams of the sea.

A day in the life… Part 2.

The summer is sizzling tonight, and as I walked down the sidewalk from the garage back to the house, the scent of oil paint from my skin and clothes lingered with the smell of the humidity and grass.  Reminds me of walking across campus at St. Ambrose after painting at night, mmmm, one of my favorite times.

It’s been a long time since I called a Late Night paint session.  This one turned out to be fairly productive, with the exception of getting green paint between my toes and then tracking it all over the house.  My parents’ poor shower.  I got the majority of it out, but luckily it’s a beautiful hue so that which doesn’t come out… I’m kidding.  I cleaned it entirely.

So, I mentioned last time that I was going to send a email to my painting professors about Painting #2.  I did this, but forgot that I was asking for an onslaught of “constructive criticism”.  Really, I usually thrive from this kind of tough love, these kind of suggestions, but I am out of practice, and somehow seeing it in writing makes it more depressing.  I can’t wait until I’m back at school where I can be challenged all the time, but until then, I am in Nebraska, and was once again met by a state of overwhelmsion .

So, this morning, I drew this ode to my morning tea, to shake out the kinks and just create something happy and easy before I got nose-deep into painting.

Also, last night, I was laying in my bed watching the paper cranes on my ceiling slowly twirl to the ceiling fan…

…and thinking that I needed to boost their numbers a little bit.  I also figured that this would also be a good way to place some of the anxiety that had unexpectedly snuck up on me about how busy I am going to be this next semester, and some really happy emotions that I was experiencing this morning as well.  The way I do the crane thing, in the name of a vague quest for inner peace, is that I write down something that is weighing on my heart either positively or negatively on a piece of paper (usually some sort of previously used scrap) and then meditate on that particular feeling as I fold it up.

Some examples:

I ended up with a good collection of new ceiling cranes:

In the middle of the day I got pulled into multiple games of Scrabble with my family (more on that later).

And finally, tonight, I made it out to the Garage with the goal of creating more of a “space” within Painting #2.  Because I am tired I will let the process speak for itself, but hold me to the explanation later.  What I’ll say for now is that I went in there tonight knowing that I really had to make something happen

I also worked on #3 a little tonight, but I will get to that another time.  Goodnight!  I am off to Boulder for the final time this summer in the morning, but I promise updates soon and extensive.

IF (Illustration Friday!) – Artificial

Hey everyone,

This week’s Illustration Friday topic is “artificial”. Since I missed the chance to illustrate a new piece, I am submitting this older one instead, which just happens to fit the topic poifectly.

It is a piece entitled “Poser Fruit” that I did in 2007.  It is a result of quite the process.  First, using colored pencils I closely replicated and blew up the wrappers of several fruit flavored candies- Tropical Skittles, Yogos, Icebreakers, etc.  Then, I drew out this outline of a slice o’ citrus and cut the large wrapper drawings so that they would fit into it.  The point being, of course, that fruit had been substituted by the colorful candy in the lives of a lot of modern people.  Looks pretty fun.  Really, pretty sad.

Keeping me awake at night…

The fact that I am having art ideas in the middle of the night must be subconsciously making my art professor Kristin Quinn very happy indeed.  …Which might make up for all the people who were having pains when I was watercoloring right next to my new computer shortly thereafter… Sorry Munir, Dad, Miles, Erica… *sheepish* But, you will all be happy to know that it turned out okay, and no further computers were drowned!

The Idea:

3:00 am Journal Entry:

Breakthrough!  #3 – Heads covered in scarves! Dancing out of the anonymous! Viola!

Launching into the process:

After I thought of this and how well it would work in Painting 3, I took a series of pictures with my head wrapped in various scarves.  (The cats thought this was really fun.)

Then I did some sketches, including the ones that are posted above.  I was listening to Rachel Goodrich Radio on Pandora and ran across some quotes that enrich this idea:

It’s never too late to fight for what you want.

Surrender to the music of the struggle.

Silence is sometimes the most costly of commodities.

(That last one is actually from Alan Bradley’s book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which I definitely 100% recommend to anyone who either knows or was a crazy 11-year-old girl.)

Also in the middle of the night, I ran across this artist.  Who I really dig.  (Reminds me of my Ecuadorian hero artist- Oswaldo Guayasamin.)

I’m getting ready to go out to the garage as I type this.  Trying to get some good painting into the day before the early afternoon, then I’m off on a wedding adventure.

P.S.  My drawing for Illustration Friday yesterday put me in mind of this Pick 3 that I did a couple of years back.  The words I chose were War, Portrait and Grid.  Thought it was worthy of a flashback.

Illustration Friday!

Today, as I was perusing through the lovely Meghan Hollister‘s blog, I ran across this peach of a link- http://illustrationfriday.com.  This week’s theme was “double”.  (Kinda brings me back to the days of the ole High School sketch assignment.)  I thought I would give it a whirl!

Here’s my entry.