Monday, April 12, 2010

Art Show Opening

In a few words, since I am tired and really just want to go to bed and read Dear Theo:
The opening of the juried student art show was yesterday from 3:00 - 5:30, and it was very well-attended. I wasn't expecting so many people to show up and support the student artists, but they did (which I think is great!! :]) Awards were given to several pieces, including my triptych painting! And "Hank" sold!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

I have spent the day thus far...

...weight-lifting, constructing canvases with my dad, and doing dirty jobs (ie. banking, putting away laundry, figuring out my class schedule for next semester etc.) I just finished slathering on the first coat of gesso - boy does the canvas suck that stuff up - and I figured that I might as well post another post while I'm waiting.

Two bits of (good!) news since last time:
1. My cell-inspired abstract paintings died after the birth of something new and much better.
2. Two of my pieces were accepted in my college's juried student art show: My big "Hank" on cardboard (Drawing I final) and my triptych assignment :D The show is running from April 5th - 26th, and the opening is this Sunday!!

Goodbye, my little cell friends. Hello, Interstices I, II, & III.
>>in·ter·stice: A space, especially a small or narrow one, between things or parts.

Interstice I


Interstice II



Interstice III




They just sort of happened, dragging me far away from where I thought I was headed. After the initial "blast-paint-onto-canvas-and-don't- think-too-much-stage," they made it pretty obvious to me where and how I should continue to paint them (more thoughtfully.) For some reason I was strangely dedicated to them, and as I articulated each tiny but fascinating area I felt as though I was doing something of supreme importance to me. What I'm the most excited about though is that I have found a way to work in paint which feels special to me. I think the technique I used to create these paintings deserves a lot more exploration.

So these are kind of an offshoot of my abstract painting assignment. The going-to-be second part of my assignment is that I'm going to take some especially interesting shapes from these paintings and then using those make several compositions with flat color. Like Ingrid Calame's work, only instead of using tracings of stains and skid marks and such, I'll use my interstices. I'm thinking that I'll do one composition for each Interstice painting, using the same palette so they'll be little sets :] That's what the newly stretched canvases are for. I'll let you know how they go.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Something crawled into the chimney and died.

Something crawled into the chimney and died. This is my explanation for the reason that our entire basement (which happens to double as my current painting area) has stunk like a rotting corpse being turned on a spit. This also explains the unidentifiable slime that is dripping from the pipes onto the top of the stove, thus contributing to the mouth-watering aroma of a rancid flesh barbecue. What else would that goop be? Melting months-old chipmunk fat, that's what. To make matters worse, the last few days have been rainy rainy rain rain. So not only is it a decomposing little critter body which is burning, but it is a damp, decomposing little critter body. Think rotting wet-dog smell.

What a horrible way to die. What a horrible thing TO HAPPEN TO MY PAINTING AREA!!

Nevertheless, I have not let this predicament (or the fact that my painting teacher is going to be out for the next 2 weeks because he torn his Achilles tendon) come between me and my abstract painting project.

Here's a close up of my second painting. It's not finished yet, but I kind of like it as it is and am not quite ready to add another element. I think it could use some thin lines and the circles need inhabitants...when the time is right.


Here's my third. Not sure if it's done or not...It has a lot more texture than the first two, which is new to my painting. I used acrylic medium to build up transparent layers with opaque pieces, and slathered it on with the pallet knife so it was nice and thick. This thing went through a TON of non-successful stages. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it, but the more I look at it the more I like it.

What has really been working for me on these paintings is to blast a whole bunch of crazy onto the canvas, and then carefully edit out the pieces that I don't what and add others in. That way, I haven't killed the energy of the initial strokes, which has been a problem for me in the past. I'm having fun, despite battling the headaches brought on by my little friend in the chimney. Lovely. <3

I also finished my first series of ATCs recently. If you've never heard of them and want to know what they are, learn more here. I'm so excited to find out about these and start making and trading them!!! I made them using Adobe Illustrator and turned them in for one of my Digital Imaging assignments, which was to make a set of ten cards (not necessarily ATCs, but I did mine those dimensions.)