Measure Twice

You know that phrase, "measure twice, cut once"? Yeah... I think I need that framed above my sewing table. Unlike painting, you can't just get it close enough or paint over a mistake. On a related subject, I was looking for my seam ripper, but it is no where to be found! I even looked in the places where my cats usually fling small objects I leave unattended, but no luck. So, needing to get my fix of creativity, I looked around and remembered a painting I'm doing for a friend. I've put this painting off for some reason, and my friend has been incredibly patient in waiting for it. Plus he lives in India, so he can't do much about it ;) I kid... seriously it's really late.

Pencil on canvas board 14" x 18" 

I thought I'd do thin layers of acrylic paint to build up the colors.....

Acrylics on canvas board

.... but then I realized that since I didn't erase the grid lines, I'll need thick paint to cover those up. Whoops. Another example of measure twice? Actually, I think it will look better with more opaque paint in the end, so no big deal. I'll keep you updated as the painting progresses!

Are you free or are you tied up?

"Tied Up" mixed media on paper

My dear friend Kerri runs an art group for therapists- it's basically where a couple of us from our grad school cohort meet at her office and take a couple hours to chat about our lives, being a therapist, and whatever else we want while we make art. Kerri always has a prompt of some sort to get us going, and provides the materials for it, too (because, you know, she's awesome). We usually end up doing some sort of art therapy type thing- we try to incorporate what we're thinking and feeling, and what's been occupying our energy at the time, thus helping to release that energy into our art and out of our brains and bodies.

The prompt this time was not a topic, but a method of creating - she has a cup full of strips of paper that say things like "write," "draw," "paint," "3-D," "pattern," "text," "photo," etc., and you have to do something using that method, and once you're done you pick another one at random and add that to your photo. The topic, in this case, was completely open-ended.

I did a piece about what was going on in my life and what had been on my mind. I had also been listening to Miike Snow in anticipation of seeing him live the following day (great show) and the song that was stuck in my head- "Animal," has a line that just happened to fit the theme perfectly. I'm not going to tell you what it's about because really, that's none 'o yo dayyyy-umn business, so let your imagination go wild.

What I really like about this activity and, in this case, the result of it, is that I'm not able to really plan my piece out very accurately, because I might have a great idea using paint and inevitably, I pull "write," out of the cup so then I'm stuck having to write something out or make a pattern or do whatever it says. I actually think it turned out well, but the evolution and end point of the piece was a surprise to me. It's almost like the art itself, paired with my own thoughts and feelings, take me on a journey- like it has something to show me rather than me controlling where it goes.

P.S. If anyone ever tries an art therapy kind of technique I talk about here and feel like sharing it, I'd love to see it and/or post it on the blog. Same goes for any non-prompted piece of art you've done and you're proud of... or not proud of for that matter!!

Kosara

Kosara. colored pencils on paper, 11"x14"

 This is a commission piece I did for my uncle to give to my aunt of their granddaughter (what does that make her- my cousin once removed? They're also on my step-dad's side, so riddle me that) for their anniversary. Sadly, I have never met Kosara, but she's good looking, apparently! I took some photos during the process to show the progression if the drawing.

My work desk, i.e. kitchen counter.

Swamp

"Swamp". acrylics on canvas board, 14"x18"

Searching for inspiration, I turned to Illustration Friday, a site that posts weekly one-word prompts for art-making. This week's prompt was "swamp," so this is what I came up with. In the process of doing this I (or one of my cats, I can't remember who) spilled a my paint water all over the counter. I have two laptops and a clock/radio/speakers thing on the counter, so I checked where the water went and it appeared to have spilled on the carpet. I didn't think much of this and went back to painting. Shortly after my (brand new, beloved) laptop shorted out. This confused me (I still didn't make the connection) so I just went to bed. Then the next morning I tried to turn it on to no avail. I then picked up the laptop to discover it was literally sitting in a puddle of water. Wow. Not so smart on me. Since it's new it's still under warranty and hopefully can be repaired. We'll see. I have my little Asus Eeeeeee PC as back-up.

As you can see from the above picture, I'm having a lot of difficulty photographing my art. I've been taking photos with a Canon Elph or... (don't laugh) my camera phone. Then I put it in Picasa and touch it up a bit before posting it. Usually it looks borderline acceptable, but not this time. The shiny acrylics made it hard to take a photo without glare from the surrounding light. Any tips out there for taking decent photographs of your art? I'm not going to buy a new camera or special lights, I just want it to look decent enough for the blog, and eventually my website/portfolio.

*Update: I messed with it a little bit in Gimp and used the burn tool to take out the uneven lighting, so it looks a little better now.

After my last post I got a couple of requests for commission portraits- one involving a certain family member, and it's looking great so far! Hopefully I don't mess it up before it's finished;) So I'm excited about that, and I will share it with you as soon as it's done and delivered to the appropriate parties (it's a gift, hence the vagueness, but I wanted to give you a little teaser anyway)!

Updated Self-Portrait?

Scary freaky big-eyed me

I decided that since my self-portrait is about 8 years old or so, I should do an updated one. So I grabbed a random photo and some colored pencils. Then I decided, why not give myself the features I'd like to have- a smaller nose, bigger lips, and then (since it was clearly not going to look anything like me) I decided to give myself giant anime eyes. It doesn't resemble the original photo (below), and I think it actually looks really weird and creepy. Next time I'll just try and make it look like me, flaws and all ;)

The real me!

If anyone would like me to do a portrait of them or a loved one- a realistic drawing or something else altogether, I am available for commission work. Since most of my visitors are friends, I'll give you all a good deal:) Just need something to draw and someone else might value my work more than I do. Personalized art can make good gifts 'n stuff. Ok, marketing ploy over, although I may do another one in the future;)

Cockatoo

Cockatoo. 9"x12", colored pencils on paper.

Usually I sketch drawings out before beforehand, but this time I put the photo (taken from an old calendar, which, by the way, are great sources for pictures) on a light box and just began the drawing with the colored pencils right off the bat. Light boxes, much like graphing the drawing, feels like cheating to me, but I guess drawing is not a contest, at least not in this case;).

Kittens!

Jasper (close up- he's actually a lot cuter in real life)

Jasper. Acrylics on canvas board

...inspired by Kittens! Draw what you know- or what you have at hand; in my case, kittens! This is an acrylic painting of my cat Jasper, peeking through the covers in the morning (encouraging me to get up and feed him I'm sure). Acrylics is not really my jam, but it is quick and easy (just like your mom!!!....sorry).

Jasper II. Soft pastels on paper.

Originally I did these because my mom was making art based on their beautiful new (to them) greyhound Stell, and challenged me to do the same with my furry friends. June is a bit shy, plus it's really hard to photograph an all-black cat, so I used a couple of pictures of Jasper. Nothing I'm really proud of but, hey, I said I'd post everything here!

Jasper Crap Abstract Painting. Acrylics on canvas board.

Remember how I said I'm bad at abstract art? Yep, here's the proof! I used metallic acrylics for this one. It looked ridiculous so I painted over it with this...

Hopeful Hearts. Acrylics on canvas board.

The heart was for a friend of mine. I strongly dislike this one too, but when he saw it he said he liked it and took it, refusing to let me paint over it again. At least the unlucky canvas board is out of my life!

Jasper, checking out the progress on his portrait.

Just to explain my extended absence from the blogging world, I've had the bubonic plague or something for the last month or more. It's been horrible! Not being much of a believer of Western medicine, I tried nearly every herbal tea and tincture, homeopathic remedy I could get my hands on and nothing worked. Finally I embraced the evil empire and went on antibiotics and am now healing. Yeesh!

Currently, I'm working on updating my self-portrait, so stay tuned!

CoLoR!

 I'm really bad at abstract art. I mean, really bad. I'll show you the horrors that is my abstract are in an upcoming post. One time my mom asked for a piece of abstract art and I warned her that abstract isn't my thing, and she should be specific about what she wants. She refused and, well, she got what was coming to her. Even she couldn't convincingly say she liked it (I'll be sure and find a photo of it for your entertainment). Honesty runs in the family I guess. In college I learned how Piet Mondrian came up his with abstract art- he started with a tree or a beach scene and then progressed into increasingly abstract art until it became nothing but squares of color. The step where it is still almost recognizable but starts to become more a study on color, composition, and shape, as in Mondrian's Grey Tree, is my favorite. That's usually what I try to create when I try to do abstract art and fail. I'm not a huge fan of abstract art in general, although once I sat in front of what I'm pretty sure was about a 6'x6' Rothko (or something similar) of a gigantic indigo blue square and it was incredible. I can't explain why exactly, just the purity of such a beautiful color evoked emotion in me. Speaking of which, this post was supposed to be about color, not abstract art! Below is a little painting I did in about 10 minutes while chatting with friends.

Untitled. 4"x12", acrylics on canvas.

 Although I suppose this could be classified as abstract art I'm not counting this as abstract art because its doesn't fit the purist textbook definition of something that was abstracted from actual imagery. Maybe it doesn't have to be. I'm really not sure.

Detail of above.

But when I just paint color and lines it turns out a lot better than when I try for true abstraction.

Detail of above.

I find the color and shape of pieces like this to be really interesting to look at and very relaxing to paint.

Rainbow. 5"x7". Acrylics on Canvas Board.

This is another mini one I did on the same day in just a few minutes. I think I'm going to try to do a big one soon. Stay tuned, viewers!

Using Art as Therapy

"Shame Box" Front. Mixed Media- box, acrylics, pincushion, pins, and paper.

 I haven't posted in a couple of weeks due to an unprecedented amount of work stress, however, I plan to do more posts over the next few days. Actually work stress, or any stress really, leads nicely into today's topic. Art can be not only relaxing and stress relieving, but therapeutic as well. Similar to journaling, it is a way to explore your thoughts and feelings, delve into them, or help get them out. I often feel that when I am ruminating over something, writing, painting, or drawing about it almost has the effect of removing the nasty, circular thoughts from my head and transferring them onto the paper or canvas I'm working on. It can be very relieving. Here is one example of a piece of work that combines 3-D art and writing, and can be continually modified to be used for whatever you need it to be at the time.

Back

This is my "Shame Box"- I purchased a cheap little jewelry or gift box from good will (a cigar box also
works great for this) and painted it with acrylics. The outside was originally supposed to represent the way I want the world to see me, with the inside being the way I see myself (also an interesting project), but instead it ended up being more of a study on shame and negative self-talk. I used magazine clippings to add text- "uncensored" in big letters over the top, and a bunch of little phrases like "secret revealed," "delves into her dark side," "intricate, though painful," "trouble at heart," "broken," and on the front, where the lock would be, simply, "beware," as if to warn the viewer that what they may see inside will not be pretty.

Inside

 The inside is painted in muddy browns and blacks to represent the "ugliness" of what it contains. Yet, contrasting from the implied ugliness of the words on the outside, the words on the inside are encouraging ones. In one corner of the lid it says "expect brilliance". The other side says "ask the tough questions." The questions in the box are from The Work of Byron Katie, which I cut from an Oprah magazine article about her. The four questions from her book Loving What Is are designed to challenge destructive thought patterns and negative self-talk.

Inside detail

Three of the four questions are inside ("who would you be without the thought?" is the text on the side in the lower part of the picture below). The object inside is a home-made pincushion (my sewing skills are not stellar), and on it I pinned thoughts or beliefs about myself that I either believed at the time or have believed over the years and am still trying to overcome. 

Inside detail

Thus the box both presents the ugliness and self-criticism that exists within me, and in doing so, challenges it. It's sort of "shrine" format gives the thoughts the weight of importance they can have on me, and shows that, by putting them on paper, they are only thoughts. They are no longer truths- they are only words on a paper. To be honest, I made this a few months ago and I don't even know what I wrote on them. I think I'll open them now!

I just read them and two of them still hit me emotionally, so I know those are things I need to still work on. However, three just made me feel sort of curious and thoughtful. I don't feel that I need to keep those in there because they don't have the emotional weight of a harmful negative belief.

I recommend doing projects like this as therapy (I'll post more!) and definitely recommend Byron Katie's book for learning how to question and challenge negative beliefs. She has a whole system, and you can find worksheet and such on her website. Her personal story is an interesting one as well.

I have to give a shout out to Kerri, a fellow therapist who uses art as therapy (yeah I know there's an easier way to say that but we wouldn't want to anger the Art Therapists, who get to put their titles in capitals). Kerri often uses boxes in her art, usually to represent the feelings, beliefs, and emotions one tries to hide. This project was partially her idea, and I'll totally post some of her stuff if she'll let me!

Sketchbook

Untitled. Pencil on Paper, 1-23-12

I think this blog is the pressure I needed to produce. Knowing that someone will see what I'm doing, that my art will actually get somewhere past my living room, even if it's not to a lot of eyes, is very exciting and motivating. I had too much caffeine yesterday, and I have today off for being on call all weekend. That combo+motivation to do art = staying up until 4:30 in the morning watching Breaking Bad (really good show!) and drawing. I opened up a sketchbook that has been blank and waiting for.... I don't know, years? I began doing sketches like these in junior high- I would pick faces out of a magazine and just draw them, one by one. I filled a couple of sketchbooks with those. The amazing thing is that you could see the progression of quality just through one sketchbook.

I think it was on   Radiolab that they said that to be really good at something- to be a Clapton or a Mozart or a Picasso or [insert respected artist here] it was less about natural talent and more about just DOING IT over and over- and that to master a skill you had to spend 1000 hours or more on it. That is nearly 42 days. Straight. Just doing that thing. So you better like that thing. And you can't be afraid to suck at that thing for the first 200 hundred hours or so. That's just a reality. We aren't born knowing how to paint or play the guitar. It's just about finding the thing you enjoy and find fulfilling and just doing it while trying to keep your expectations and judgments at bay. Guess Nike had something there.

Since starting this blog, I've already had a couple of interesting conversations with friends about what art means to them and how they perceive their ability to do it. More on this to come!

Pet Shop

Where to begin? I'll keep you in the past for now... 

"Pet Shop". Watercolors on paper, circa 2000?

This was painted in my high school art class during my Freshman year*. This is probably my favorite thing I produced from that class because it most exemplifies my style, and I enjoyed making it the most. Sort of illustration-y, bright colors, precise and detailed. It looks as though there's a story behind it and it (hopefully) makes you wonder what that story is. This is the direction I'm going (or should be) and this was the first time I took a step in that direction. When I painted this I felt excited. I knew there was more to this, and that this is where I belonged. When you see my current "big" project, you'll see the ties in the style.

*Excuse the blurriness and shine- my mom had it framed and it was sealed in or something, so I took a picture of it through the glass:)