January Sketches

As some of you may know, one of my New Year's resolutions was to sketch or draw everyday. My goal was to create a visual journal, a final collection of ideas for myself. However, retrospectively I began to struggle with the task. I credited that to the fact that I was busy, and sadly was just not making time for myself.

However, I seem to have found the solution for myself by making things harder. Well, maybe not harder, but at least more involved. See, I had been making my sketches with a standard ink pen. Strictly black and white. I did this mostly for availability, but retrospectively I realize it has been hurting me. I don't paint in black and white, and I certainly don't dream in black and white, so why was I doing this to myself?

Starting this afternoon, my sketchbook is now going to be presented in technicolor. Until then, enjoy a selection of my sketches from January.

So long, 2012.

Feeling introspective today. I know, I know, I have been horribly slack with my sketchbook, I've been slack with my blog. Truthfully, I've probably been slack with my thoughts.

2012, you've been a busy one. It started out with a bang, as 2011 ended I graduated college and entered what I consider a sort-of-adult world. Finally finding a job, followed by losing a job, struggling to begin my career as an artist.

If anything, 2012 was a year of explorations. An old relationship was rekindled, which then blossomed into something more beautiful than I could have imagined. I watched one of my best friends get married, I experienced another friend become a mother.

But, with all of these explorations, my art has suffered. Through juggling work, love, and art, something gets neglected. Unfortunately, it has often seemed painting. I have wondered quite a few times if by pursuing a career in education if I am actually hurting myself as an artist, if I can't have my cake and eat it too.

I have to say, thank you to everyone who has supported me, who has challenged me, who has encouraged me. Without you, I doubt I would be making this resolution.

I've never been one for taking big leaps, but, 2013, this is my chance. Here comes my chance to recommit myself to my passion. I'm excited to see how this new year will begin with a bang, but I think I'm more excited to see what 2013 will bring for me.

So here it is. A drawing a day, 365 drawings in one year. Time to make it happen, folks.

Emotionally scientific.

It's been a while. Time really starts to slip away from you between work, graduate school, painting here and there, and just plain living. So, truthfully, I have neglected this blog. Honestly, I wasn't sketching much of anything, and retrospectively I can see the decline in the quality of my work. So after my (brief?) hiatus, I am back, with new sketchbook entries.

My current series of work is focusing on the emotional realm versus scientific thought, which was ignited by finding this little gem from my freshman days in college in my bookshelf, A Photographic Atlas for the Biology Laboratory.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Artist Feature: Constance Bachman

I just stumbled upon this series of paintings by Constance Bachman via Artsy Forager. Constance discusses the idea of approaching her "'living’ subjects like a still life… placing them deliberately surrounded by an abstracted field that allows the dog itself to be the sole attraction." Personally, I am loving the way she combines form and abstraction (plus bonus points for painting dogs!).

The more I look at them, the more I am in love with the color palettes of her paintings. It is even more remarkable to me that these are painted using a palette knife (a technique I have found to be frustrating).

Discovering Bachman's paintings really could not have come with better timing. I have been looking for a way to combine my love for animals and abstractions, and these are definitely an inspiration.

See more of her work here: Sopa Fine Arts

Abstractions in Progress

I tend to work on multiple paintings at a time - to give you an idea, the count right now is seven. In addition to revisiting my naturalistic paintings, I have been simultaneously working on a series of abstract paintings based on cell imagery and the way things work. As a long-time sufferer of migraines, I have grown very familiar with the idea of neurology. Not only that, but experiencing an aura with a migraine (read more about that here) has made me painfully (literally) aware of how much I value both the beauty of the natural world and also the images my mind dreams about. 


Sometimes I struggle with finding the right words to fit exactly what I am trying to say, but I feel like I can deftly communicate with color. My abstract images hold a special place in my heart, for they are truly creatures of my own mind, and not a direct representation of something. My goal (one of them anyway) is to develop paintings that can convey themes of friendship and human relationships in a way that is open ended and slightly more ambiguous. These are not relationships that I would convey through portraiture, to me they are more enduring than that, and the feelings I want to share span those boundaries.

 

Just the beginnings of a painting from yesterday's session in the studio. One of my dreams from the previous night was filled with pale windows.

Another painting in the very early stages. Also from yesterday in the studio.

Still working out the dragonfly.

A Change

I may have fallen into a bit of a bad habit. While I love my artistic paintings, I am starting to realize I have been neglecting other artistic loves, abstracted animals and landscapes, and even the dreaded portraiture. A good friend of mine reminded me that Salvador Dali would visit works by the old masters, and would not leave the museum until you couldn’t tell the difference between the two artist’s works. Not that I am after that level of reproduction (maybe he could have followed his career with one in restoration?)

I’m planning on using this blog as a method for keeping myself in touch with my thoughts, and therefore in touch with my art. I do not sketch or plan nearly enough. Often, I let the paint have a mind of its own and just intuitively play with colors and compositions, but that is a dangerous path if I do not keep challenging myself. I don’t want to let myself fall into an artistic rut.

 

Plans I've been working on today, maybe these paintings will turn into a series. The question I was asking myself though, was why am I painting a wasp?