February's Traveling More Quickly Than I...

It seems like just a day ago it was NYE, and yet here I am staring at Feb 11. This month I've just been trying to not get in the way of my LIFE as it attempts to run me over. :) As for my art, this means that I am unable to even attempt a complete piece every single day, but I am generally aiming for 1 per week--and thus far, somewhat successful.

I started 2 paintings this week.


This is *In-Progress* "Untitled"
18x14" oil on canvas board - non-ground

This one started with an idea for something completely different, though still orange. The original plan was for solid orange with blue (small) stripes peeking through...amongst other details. I definitely still want to bring that idea to life, but I decided that it will have a much different juxtaposition of elements than originally desired. It is currently still fairly wet, especially on the thicker parts, so it will have to sit a while. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I can get moving on it again. The curse of oils....

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This is *In-Progress* "Untitled: Air-painting"
18x14" oil on canvas board - non-ground

Many times I start without an idea or thought or sketch. I just stare at the blank page, canvas or whatever & just wait for my instinct to tell me what to do. This is one of those pieces. I just knew I wanted to paint tonight. I actually thought I wanted to finish the stripes, but once I realized how wet it still was I knew I had to scrap that plan until a later time. I started out just with the intent to make a background & saw a hilly landscape developing in front of me, not unlike the Valley & her hills which trained & raised me in my youth. I accidentally discovered that when you use extremely thin oil, you can move it with air (breath). The one figure just happened to turn out looking like someone blowing breath forcefully. Sometimes, the Muse speaks through the universe & even more rarely, we are present enough to listen.

I'm excited for projects to come.

January AAD Reflections

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't *actually* do a piece of "Art a Day" like I set out to do. However, I'm happy with the fact that I did it. I'm aware that I'm not really that great of an artist, but I'm hoping that with practice I can re-hone my skills. Repetition is the mother of results...

Two very BIG things happened since the last posting...

#1: I became a Cornell University student. :) I have dreamed & fantasized about this for years. I had my 1st class on 1/25 & it's been a bit of a whirlwind ever since.

#2: On February 1st I became an Auntie!! We spent nearly 2 weeks thinking "today is the day" but he was a stubborn little dude. That being said, there was quite a lot of worry & travel & loss of sleep last week...even in our house. :)

So, all of that aside...now that we're a week into February, I suppose it's time to get the latest ones uploaded. I've actually done 2 pieces this month so far. One is a gouache piece to add to "Letting Go" & the other is another hemp piece.

I feel like I should add a side note: I'm *not* including ANY photography in this challenge. Photography is my main creative venue, however I feel like for this particular exercise I want to stretch the creative muscles that are not regularly "warmed". I actually got the idea to do this challenge from a friend's facebook album wherein she is posting a photograph every day. I kind of feel like that would be far too easy for me to cheat on, if I allowed it. Thusly, You are forced to look at mediocre "art" & can feel free to comment on it as such, should the mood move you to do so.

Until the next!

AAD 9: Bracelet 23 JAN 12

Hemp bracelet with Stone & Glass

AAD 8: Mixed Media 20 JAN 12

"untitled (waterfall)"
18x22"
oil & organic materials on canvasboard

IN PROGRESS...

AAD 7: Mixed Media 18 JAN 12

"Letting Go"
18x22"
stretched canvas

This is an IN-PROGRESS mixed media-mixed technique experimental piece. I started with a stretched canvas & used a mid-weight ground to add texture & visual interest. I've also thus far used cloth tape, acrylic & oil paint, permanent marker & thinner.

AAD 6: drawing 18 JAN 12

"Heart Doodles"
8x6"
vine charcoal on paper

This is the epitome of "I said I'd do it, not that it'd be mindblowing..." I had taken a few days off from the AAD challenge to focus on work & kids & family stress, as is customary about mid-January for some reason. I just needed to pick up the stuff & work something out.

AAD 5: sculpture 11Jan12

*IN PROGRESS!*

This is a sculpture that I'm working on. This part is done but it will be held up by two hands: one supporting it & the other force feeing the bottled love-poison to it. When it's complete, I'll comment fully on it.

AAD 4: portrait 10Jan12

Portrait of my son. Nevermind the fact that I am by no means any sort of portratist. Loosely based on the attached picture, but also done live. I don't recommend using the two references interchangibly. :}

AAD 3: drawing 9Jan12

I've been drawing a lot of castles lately for some reason. This one didn't start out to be so philogynist, but I guess it kind of is. I'm not a feminist by any means, but I cannot deny the implications of differences between the two structures.

TOP CASTLE:
The top castle is very stoic in appearance. It is what we are normally exposed to as the "standard" for castles in fairy tales, cartoons, and the like. I was vaguely aware of it while doing the sketch, although not entirely conscious of it. The cliff is eroding beneath it & its moat is filling up the pool for the castle below. It wasn't until I started drawing the second castle that I realized how fragile of a position the top castle really was in.

BOTTOM CASTLE:
The bottom castle is everything the top castle is, but more decorated for lack of a better word. AND, it is less vulnerable. It sits on solid ground & has lush hills with livestock behind it. It is full & alive & opulent, but it is being fed from the dying stream above.

Together the castles play off each other. This piece is more sexually tense than I ever set out to create. It wasn't until the tower curved that I realized the gravity of the precarious placement of such a sturdy ediface. In my life I have realized that men are exactly that way. They are chronically needy & emotionally damaged creatures who only know how to gain acceptance by creating illusions of grandiose stature. It is how they feed their naturally low self esteems. They will do just about anything for acceptance, albeit by a woman, a colleague, an audience or God, itself.

This is not to say that women are superior. Women will take anything they can get in order to position themselves into a chair of comfort, including dirty runoff water from an old man's moat.

AAD 2: cake sculpture 8Jan12

This was the cake that I did for my sister's baby shower. Her nursery theme is "turtles" & I was so honored that they'd allow me to do the cake, that I wanted to make it something special and memorable. She said she loved it, so that's good enough for me. And everyone thought it was tasty. :}

I found it interesting when my sister told me that the nursery theme was "turtles", though I'm not entirely surprised. This is the girl who fell in the mucky pond more than once while fishing, exploring or catching (& bringing home!) turtles--usually by herself. The fact that my extremely TomBoy sister ever grew up to be a beautiful girly woman is a bizarre twist of nature. And now, I get to have a nephew*, who I totally intend on calling "little turtle man" for as long as I can get away with it.

TURTLE: the great mother, home, ancient wisdom
I have an affinity for animals, though some are far more deeply ingrained in my soul. The Onandaga, which I do not have the privilege or pleasure of belonging to, refer to North America as "turtle island" because of a story wherein the ancient skychief's pregnant wife is saved from drowning because the turtle volunteered to bring earth up from the depths of the water for her to live on after her fall from the sky. For me, I have always associated turtles with my sister & our childhood, as well as a spirit of exploration & inquiry. And I'm extremely proud that she is passing on that spirit to our newest family member, even if she's not aware that it means all that. :}

*nephew - we assume based on science & intuition! ;)

AAD1: drawing 7Jan12

This one was harder to start than I had anticipated. I sat staring at a blank sheet for what seemed like an eternity. I nearly gave up, but then I just got this burst of volume from the Muse's tiny inner voice that told me to close my eyes. And so I did. In my mind's eye I could still see the blank white page, but then flashes of dark spots started showing up. No details-just block shapes. And then there was an extremely rudimentary fire ring. So I blocked it in as best I knew how.

I think this piece is very telling about my current state of affairs, right down to the quality. The elements in it seem to be contants in my life: fire, forest, owls, solitude. The person in the sketch was never meant to look like any particular person, but it ended up looking a little bit like a hybrid of myself & my Mister, more so him.

FIRE/FOREST: safety, warmth, industriousness
I often escape to the forest when life gets too fast. I am more at home & less fearful surrounded by beings/trees that have been on this planet far far longer than I. The woods at night don't worry me; People worry me. And in the primal state of...dark, woods, shadows, fire, animals...the head can clear of extraneous garbage and focus on real truth & action.

SOLITUDE: peace, learning, growing
There is nothing wrong with having a large social group around you. In fact, I cherish it & welcome even more people into my space. However, we do all our real living, creating, destruction & growing completely alone. I prefer it most of the time, but maybe that's because I'm a philosopher.

OWLS: seeking, learning, intuition
Owls are my token night animal. I have been followed by owls the entirety of my life. In times of toil, introspection &/or great quiet or change I will often have dreams of owls, be visited physically by owls or find myself bombarded with imagery of them. I think in this case, the owl represents me in a seeking role. It looks down on the solitary figure as if trying to nudge it into a state of seeking. Being that this is the first artwork I've attempted in a long time, I think this was my subliminal soul saying, "Hey good job with that first step. Let's move on now."

Art a Day...

Conceptually speaking, I'm proposing a New Year's Resolution unlike any I've ever attempted. Events of the past year have basically squashed my ability to create any artwork whatsoever, including photography. I managed to squeak out a couple paintings last year, but my heart really wasn't in it when I created them. So my aim is to remedy that.

"Art a Day" is the lofty goal of creating a single piece of artwork every day, regardless of quality. The only requirement I have for myself is that it MUST have SOUL.

So far, I have not been totally successful at creating complete pieces in a single day, nor am I able to say that I haven't missed any days. BUT...I am pretty happy with my results so far. Drawings are generally "done" but not high quality, as my drawing skills are sub-par. It's something I'm working on. Bigger pieces such as sculptures, moldings, paintings, etc I have been posting that day's progress so long as it was a true concentrated effort & my heart & soul were awakened during the process.

So, I'm going to post my mediocrity here in the hopes that maybe I'll inspire myself to never again give up on the "in progress" state.