Bright eyes

Update on the mapping assignment. I started painting in the sections today. The papers in the picture are maps of the actual cities that I used for my line inspiration. I placed them there to help me remember what I am mapping (it gets awfully confusing with all the lines!). I'm going to connect the places I have lived with some string and create a little bit of chaos. Chaos is my middle name. Hopefully it will become a collaged map work.

Nicole and I had an awesome day in the painting studio this afternoon. We got "in the zone" with our sweet indie music. PANDORA rocks :) It was fun. Time always goes by fast when we sit there and talk. I wasn't expecting to get this much of my mapping project done but I did and it felt pretty good.

The madness has to end somewhere

Just going to throw this out there.

Thomas Kinkade is crap! I want to vomit every time someone shows off their Thomas Kinkade like they know what they are talking about. He has sweatshops full of people that paint highlights on top of reproducible prints. This is not painting people! Sure he is a genius for nailing the process of making money almost scientifically. I truly have a visceral hate for commercial art. People need to be educated for crying out loud!

The abolition of man

Alright.

Today I started working on my "mapping" piece. I decided to use a big sheet of Lenox paper and draw sections of maps of where I have lived in my life. I am going to be honest...it will be nice working on something a little smaller and not canvas. Don't get me wrong, I love working big. BUT, I need a break :/ I think this project will be good for me for a number of reasons. 1) It's different than what I have been doing all semester. 2) It will force me to reflect on myself and my life, which I have been doing as of late anyway. I have been thinking a lot about what makes me...me. I am going to incorporate some text and imagery derived from events that have impacted my life; making it really personal. It will still be abstract, hopefully, and nobody else will really understand what it all means, but it will be therapeutic for me.

I did some more work on my self portrait today too. It's coming together but I still have to spend more time on it. Most likely will be in the studio this weekend. It sounds reclusive and odd, but I really like working at night all by myself. I can spend hours just painting away. I feel like when I am by myself I can relax and open up and just focus on the painting. Throughout the day when there are people in the studio with me it gets distracting. Especially people that like to sing-a-long to their death music...BLEH. I like metal at times but I don't share it with the world when everyone is trying to do their own thing!

This semester has been really challenging for me. Thank goodness it is Thanksgiving Break next week. I need to relax and spend some time with my family. My dad is coming home and I'm really excited to see him. At least next semester won't be as bad with 4 classes instead of 5. Although, I do have BFA seminar so that will probably be as time consuming as 2 studio classes. Yay.

I'm really excited where my art is going. I feel like my ideas are really starting to come together and my concepts are starting to develop. It's kind of weird because they just surface on their own. You can't really force and idea into a painting or a drawing. It just happens. The more I work the more I realize that. If you aren't an artist and are reading this you will have no idea what the heck I am talking about. It's all good though, this is more for me anyway :P

Hearing Damage

I like to take pictures of my work as I go. It helps me overcome the wall that I always face whenever I am continually working on a piece. It's similar to writer's block. I usually will print off images of my work, glue them into my sketchbook and draw all over it with whatever ideas come to my head next. It's an easy non-committal way of moving to the next step. These pictures are the most current of my painting from when I worked on it in class on Monday. We have a new project coming up that I really need to get started on. We have to make a work using "mapping." I'm not really sure what I want yet. 

This semester has been really stressful. Though I made it into the BFA on my first try, it wasn't without a lot of work and stress. I still can't believe I made it in. I feel really accomplished because it has been something I have thought about for over two years. A lot has changed since August, like my major! I was going into Art Education, but then I decided that it wasn't for me. It seemed more like a back-up plan than what my heart was into. My heart is in making art. I want to get an MFA, and focus more on studio time. I'm not ready to teach.

[edit]
oh yeah Nicole. Hammie Appreciation!
that's all :)

Let the flames begin

Currently in my Painting II class, I am working on this self portrait. It is 5' x 5', I like working big. This painting started out as something completely different. I was going to use polymer transfers (pictures of myself working on the painting) and make the work about..working. Complicated, I know. Anyhow, that idea didn't work. The transfers were way too dark and it would have looked like crap. This project was really difficult for me for some reason. After a couple days (and some consulting with nE-coli), I decided to make a contour line drawing (using line from the pictures I took of myself) and painted in the shapes that they created. Essentially it is a self-reflexive process painting. Ta Da! It is still in progress...

I have been told that I'm a colorist...