On a high...

Two of my works got into the student exhibition today! I'm super excited and surprised that two out of three made it. I am even more surprised that Nicole didn't get any of her works in. I definitely think hers should have been in over a bunch of stuff that I saw. Keep your chin up Nicole! There are plenty of more shows to get into :)


This is one of the paintings I worked on today. The camera doesn't really do it justice, it looked better in person. Anyway, just wanted to show the flow I'm going through...

Today was a really good day. I went to school and painted for three hours and got about 3 small paintings kind of finished. Then I went to Lowes and got some masonite and got it cut in 3 panels to paint on for some of my seminar pieces. Hopefully I can start on those by the end of the week. Then I came home and cleaned and cooked a delicious meal. I went shopping and then I went to Pilates, and now I'm sitting here on the couch drinking a glass of wine and updating my bloggy. I love days off of everything!

I have been getting back on an "art high." It's becoming fun to paint again and I enjoy going to the studio even when I don't have to be there just to paint the day away. I have been reading about some artists and playing in my sketchbook. It's good to be an artist!

Round and round it goes

I've been looking at some artists and found a couple that I really enjoy. I don't know much about them besides that I like their style. Jorge reminds me of Egon Schiele, a modern artist that is controversial but has some really interesting subject matter and style.

Hurvin Anderson

Jorge Queiroz

LOVE IT!

No school this week on Monday and Tuesday, but Nicole and I are going to paint tomorrow (monday). I am really loving this semester so far...My painting classes are awesome, Seminar is going smoother than I anticipated (It's only the third week, but trying to remain optimistic). I feel like I have more time for myself and more time to get back into art and what I enjoy. It's going to be a semester of fun painting, not painting assignments! 

Seminar

Alright, so in Seminar we didn't have time to get to everybody's proposals, myself included. After class I met with K and Angelika personally to get some feedback on my idea, and I think that they really liked it. I got really good responses from both of them and it made me really excited about my idea.

Basically over the next few weeks I will need to get started on a bunch of different works at once. I am going to get a 4' x 8' masonite panel and cut it in half to get to 4' x 4' sheets to work on as my "larger works." I have 7/20 small paintings for Matt's class, and continue to reinforce my abstraction ideas through these smaller works.

One thing they told me to do was to not get to analytical with this kind of stuff, they also don't want me to read to much on abstraction so my natural thought process isn't altered. Angelika also suggested that I record my thoughts as I'm creating work and try not to think consciously about my sub-conscious. This will be a pretty odd task..

They encouraged me to keep looking at artists that I like (for example: maria lassnig), and read their artist statements about their own work.

I'm can't wait to start working, I think this project will be really fun for me.

.....OH YEAH. And I submitted 3 works to the Student Exhibition and to Metaphor. Hope they get in! Woot Woot!

Robbers and Cowards...today is 1.11.11!

I lost my groove. Not painting over 3 weeks really screws you up.

I was talking to Matt yesterday and he told me a story about one of his professors that went home over a christmas break while all the other artists stayed and worked, and he still felt like he was behind because of it 30 something years later.

I hope I don't feel that way in 30 years. I was sick for two weeks and my grandfather passed away, I think that may be a legit excuse.

Nevertheless, I have a proposal due tomorrow for BFA Seminar. I'm a little mad at myself because I had such good momentum last semester and everything just stopped. I was exploring the self portrait idea and kind of want to experiment with that some more but on a different level. I'm really fascinated with how our minds work and how all ideas come out abstracted from original thought, and vice-versa. I want to expand on that idea. I think my semester proposal will be more like a series of questions than an actual plan of action. Abstraction to me is not just about funky shapes and strange design, it's about how things actually become abstracted and transform into something surreal through a natural process...such as writing a novel or painting a picture.

I'm working on 20 small paintings in Painting III right now, and I'm working to reinforce this abstracted though process idea. I know what I want to accomplish I just don't know how to get there. I like paintings that are complex and chaotic and I want them to somehow represent me. I want to get something concrete down on paper (canvas) about the realm of thought and idea. A thought is not something tangible yet when we have one we feel as if it's a real thing and something that is forever cemented into our brain. Only when we try to break the thoughts free from our head is when it transforms into something more...I'm just rambling, trying to get the words down. It probably doesn't make sense, but I need to explore.

There is an artist that I read about in ArtForum that I am really fascinated by. I like her style. Her name is Maria Lassnig and she is an Austrian artist who is in her 90's!!! Matt and I also talked about her and he said something to the nature of her working her whole life to get to where she is. I would totally agree, but she is still amazing. She likes to explore the body and I would like to incorporate the figure into my own work. The Self, body and mind are all connected. Thoughts are connected to a brain, which are connected to a body....yada yada yah.

Alright, got that out of my system.

 Now it's time to paint and work through this mess. Here is some Lassnig that I thoroughly enjoy...

"Photography over Painting"

"Self with Guinea Pig"
So amazing I can barely stand it...