Recently in art Category

I wanted to take a continuing studies class at MCAD this fall, something like print making or the like.  Sadly the idea came to me to late and registration for fall was closed so I think I will start going to the open drawing co-op that they hold on Mondays.  I think it will be good to start to draw from life every week and redevelop some of those skills that I know have gotten rusty.  It is on Monday nights and is open to the public but it has no "instruction" however there is a faculty member on site to help pose the model and set time frames and stuff.  

This weekend I will buy a new news print sketch pad for the gesture drawings and a heavier sketch pad for longer poses.  I should also get a few different types of charcoal sticks and some pastels to experiment a little too! 

Not sure if there will be a major goal in mind for the co-op besides going out, drawing on a regular basis, improving skills and having fun.  What more is there at the moment?  It will help get back into a working mind set for this winter when I will pick up a formal class.

It's been to long since I made it into the studio even though I have a few projects in mid creation I also have an exciting concept for a series that I need to start on soon, I should flush out the ideas a bit more and maybe start working on some studies. So his weekend I am planning on hitting some of these projects with the goal of finishing the small nude I am working on, flush out and start the studies that I just mentioned. This means I will have to prep today so everything is clean and I can just jump into these projects, I get way to distracted when there is a mess.

I am also hoping to get some artsy illustrations done for my food blog www.fromthefryingpan.com. Some of the thought behind doing the illustration work is A. getting some nice custom art on my site B. to hone some of my illo skills while developing a working style that I like and that I can start to market into the publishing world. Killing more than a few birds with one stone is a good thing!

Big picture will be to get back into good studio practices and work creatively more often. Create a solid portfolio within the context of my other projects and maybe take a few continuing study classes to enhance and drive the creative end game. I am thinking of a print class and a multi-media (maybe something with Photoshop and Illustrator) class to start off with. Then I could move into some classes about art/design marketing and other classes that I never got to take when at art school.

Oh, I also have to restock my studio. Not that I do a ton of acrylic stuff but what I have is all old and some of it is dried up, hard to work with a limited pallet, it is good to do as an exercise once and a while but not all the time. Also need to restock my oils and some brushes. I would also like to get some gauche and play around with them too. Ok, maybe I will do a little at a time, not I need to (what have I said about focus before?)
All over the place~

Could this be a part of the "play" concept of an earlier post?  Yes, however, with a different focus and purpose behind it.  It seems more formal form of play perhaps.  For the artist it is the use of new tools to archive your goal perhaps?  Or better yet, use of old tools in new ways.

 I have been looking at the world and wondering how to translate what I see and feel into the exploriment concept.  I am quickly finding out that it cannot be just one thing, idea, goal, work, event but a clan of ideas and techniques.  In other words, it's not just line or shape or word, but a combination of all of these and more at the same time or in conjunction with one and other, maybe even in different places and times but all tied back to the central concept. 

In relation to the concept, I feel there should be a "public" aspect of this.  How so?  I have ideas, will have to exploriment about it! 

Free form writing/ doodling/ creating might be a good starting place to start.

</exploriment>

I got a call a few weeks ago from MCAD, my alma-meter, I naturally thought they were doing some fund raising since I have gotten many calls for donations from them in the past.  Well, the conversation got a bit strange quite quickly, the dude said, "I wanted to call you before I sent out the invitation to you" I am like, invitation?  "Wanted to give you a heads up so you know what this is all about" interest piqued at this point...  The long and short of it, MCAD holds an art sale every November for sale of art from students and recent alumni as a fund raiser for both the college and students.  There are a bunch of people that support the art sale and go every year and buy lots of art aka. spend a lot of dough.  Well the college is throwing these dedicated and well off supporters a thank you event at a major art collector's house to say thanks.  This collector who is hosting this event has bought a lot of art from the art sales, and MCAD was inviting a hand full of artist that is in his collection from the art sale to be present, and I am one of them.  Fuck, I am one of them.  I feel honored first that I am a part of his collection and even more honored that I was invited to this event, fuck that is cool!  I am a bit freaked out and I have no idea which piece he has but I am vary exited to go and rub elbows with art lovers from around the cities and see a long ago sold piece of art!  I think I will live tweet this event so if you are interested follow me at twitter (user name pexa link http://twitter.com/#!/pexa ) if nothing else I will be posting another post with more details! 

After weekends like the last few, I have come to the conclusion that I NEED to funnel all my frustrations into my art work, nothing new to art and artist I know but I need to refocus this energy that has been holding me back to create more relative and interesting art.  Life has thrown a lot at me in the last half decade, fodder for inspiration (good and bad) to focus on. Words to describe what I am talking about are not important at the moment.  They will be, I have a feeling, soon as I contemplate the direction and strategy that I am going to take.  There a growing need, verging on a desperate need in me to get these emotions out that is positive for me.  Positive may also mean painful as these issues are not simple to deal with. 

Is there a genre of memoir art?  The liking of the novel but memoir through the use of art alone, believe me I know art has a lot of personal reflection of the individual artist but what about really looking at the creation of art as memoir in itself?  This might be a concept I explore within the greater context of this new project. 

My goal is to write up a more detailed concept within the next few weeks detailing the scope and concepts that will be explored, subject matters and what outcomes may be expected, and what to do with the unexpected outcomes.  Where will this be shown?  All that jazz.  Studies and prep-work shall be an ongoing activity from here on out as well. 

Some themes that will surely come up are disease, alcohol and alcoholism, dyeing, coping with abuse (inflicted by self and others), social awkwardness, self esteem, love, obsession, other stuff and a combination there of. 

(mind is flowing with ideas at the moment, excuse me as brain starts to explode over everything, god what a mess)

quote credit banksy

I think there is no better thing in art then the accident or happy accident if you will.  Let me define what I really mean by accident here, what I am meaning is an act of surprise and unintentional consequences, whether intended to be introduced or caused unintentionally by other actions.  It is an element of surprise and should be embraced as part of where the work of art is going.  It is the "ah ha" moment that an open mind can find new meaning, direction or whys of seeing a new. 

I work with the intent of creating these accidents.  I like using drips and splattering paint as a vehicle to achieve randomness and unintended patterns, layers, color combinations.  I use it as a way to build up, mute back and alter areas of a painting that is not quite working for me.  It lets me see things differently, where I can improve and where I might need to fix things.

Other things I like to do is to turn the canvas around and work on it from a different view point.  It is amazing all the mistakes you can see when the painting is upside down or you are looking at it in a mirror.  They just jump out at you!

Now not every accident is happy, so be open to accidents causing grief sometimes, but you can always go back and fix it, after all its only art!

I did some quick drawing over the last few weeks.  The first one is a portrait, one of the eyes are off but i am not to worried about it.  the second is a conceptual piece that was inspired by sol de wit show at the walker art center.  the last is just and abstract charcoal drawing...

let me know what you think!

This is my creation of David Lynch's "Eraser Head" on my pumpkin last year, not sure what I will be doing this year, I have a few ideas but am holding out for the time being...

if you want a custom jack o lantern for your self, I could be talked into doing some extra!

I bought some apples at the downtown farmers market from a guy who has an orchard close to my home town.  His last name was obviously Czeck so I said "how are you" in Czech (jak se maš), in which he replied "dobrỳ, dobrỳ" ("good, good") that is about all I know.  I felt like painting some of them before I ate them. 

The composition is not the best but I am loving the colors. 

oil on paper - 100$

I was cleaning at my mom's house a few weeks ago and found a painting in an old sketchbook that I totally forgot about.  I rather like it and the style of it. 

It is acrylic on paper and found book page, and has some nice luminosity to it.