Thursday, January 19, 2012

creative purging

hello world. class started today. i'm taking painting for the fourth semester in a row. i might just keep going. i really don't care about anything else at this point, any other art class i need to take to reach my degree. i know it's good to add variety to my skill set, and necessary. but i'm too fixed on painting to want to try anything else. i'm too fixed. i don't want to leave it. i want to keep it close. i'm afraid to let go of it. so i'm sticking with it.

in related news ( i feel like a news anchor when i say that), i went to the wadsworth atheneum in hartford yesterday. IT WAS AWESOME. i went specifically to see patti smith's exhibit of her polaroid photos. i just read her book which was amazing. and that's a whole story in itself. i basically knew almost nothing about patti smith. but there was this strange occurance that involved synchronicity and "coincidences" that aren't really coincidences and shite. this book started popping up in my life when it came out, as it would in many people's lives of course.  but for some reason it spoke to me. it wanted me to read it. or so it seemed. this lasted for months. finally the apex of it all occurred when i was in a used book store in new haven one day right before thanksgiving. i wanted to look for something in particular, but i couldn't think of what. i texted my friend jessie, "what's a good book?" immediately after i sent the text, i remembered the patti smith book, so i went to go look for it. wasn't there. (but this book the art spirit was there which was amazing.) jessie called back about an hour later, long after i had left the book store. she said, "DUDE." then proceeded to tell me that she was reading this book the whole day, thinking of me in particular the whole time because it reminded her of me. of course she says it's just kids by patti smith. so then i respond "DUDE!" and told her my end of the story.

aaaaaanyway, that was a tangent and a half. my point is that i have photos. photos of many things. and that reminds me of something else i wanted to say about my museum trip: THERE'S AN ALICE NEEL THERE. it's a "new acquisition" so it wasn't there before. in case you don't know, alice neel IS MY FAVORITE PAINTER. i've never seen any of her paintings in person. i stood in front of it for a good 15 minutes, moved near to tears. i felt such awe and joy that i wanted to take it off the wall and hug it. instead i hugged it with my eyes (HA!).

the alice neel painting. siiiiiiigh


this was in the "comments" section of the museum.  there was a table and chairs and some colored pencils and you could make a comment. i LOVED this one on the bottom that some kid named noemie did. so i tried to emulate it above. ever since, i've come to the realization that i want badly to draw like a child.


so i went home and this is what happened.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Two Recent Commissions



Studio Space

view from our studio
So, I have been a busy bee. I work full-time and I take two classes at the Community College, which I love. And on top of that, Sky and I have decided to rent an art studio, really a dream come true. A few months ago, having a studio was nothing but a beautiful daydream that I would summon when I thought about my ideal future. Today, having an art studio is real and I couldn't be more grateful.

Luckily, Sky and I utilize it VERY often. In fact I feel bad and guilty when I spend too much time away from it. Sometimes I even find I have to drag myself there. But then, when I have my headphones on and I'm in the zone, I'm the most content version of myself.

getting things set up

a little more put together

Monday, October 24, 2011

Waking Up Series

For my next painting project, I've decided to do a series of portraits of people just waking up.  Having this idea has subsequently lead me to ask people via facebook and real life (obviously) to send me photos of themselves when they first wake up. It's been really interesting actually.  I've received quite a few really great photos that people have taken of themselves when they first roll out of bed, and it's fascinating to me because I get to see these really intimate, personal moments of their lives and they are perfectly ok with that. So here are 3 so far that I've started on (neither of them are finished).  Ideally I'd have 16 of them, so that when hung on a wall they are laid out 4x4.



Monday, August 22, 2011

james

i'm sorta surprised by how quickly i banged this out.
i wanted to submit something in the bridgewater fair art exhibit.
excluding the years i lived in california, i've gone to the bridegwater fair almost every single year with my family for my birthday. each year when we go, i always really end up wishing i'd put something in the exhibit, and this year i finally did. ironically though, i couldn't actually MAKE it to the fair because i was working, so i didn't get to see it displayed. but that's ok, because a piece of me was there.
i had about a week to finish this between the time i got home from europe and the submission date. i sort of wonder if it could've been better if i had more time.