Tag: color
Where Does It Hurt?
My final paper/project for my Writing as Art class last semester… I was going to make some edits before sharing it, but I decided to post it the way it was submitted first. I’m very attached to this work and will continue to develop it over the next few months. Creating this project was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. The thought of sharing it publicly gives me a lot of anxiety, but I am interested to see how others receive it. Please feel free to leave comments! xoxo
WIP: Yes II
I’m working large again! Last summer I created a large mixed media painting in Chicago and it was kind of a turning point for me so I wanted to try out a similar process. This time around I’m playing with different images/symbols/icons and I’m trying to remain open to text. Here are some photos from the process:
Thanks for visiting! Stay tuned for more progress. xoxo
Fall Semester Work
Last semester was intense. Along with working a couple part-time jobs and working on side projects, I took my first online MFA class and attempted to maintain a regular studio practice for school. Read more
Everything Else from Summer
I don’t mean to imply that the following pieces are unimportant compared to the pieces that I’ve already shared on here. I tried to somewhat categorize the body of work I created in Chicago (sugar, medicine, small, etc.) and these are the pieces that didn’t really fit into those categories. Enjoy!
Untitled (Organs)
Mixed Media
18″ x 24″
Bodily
Mixed Media
11″ x 14″
I also wanted to include some of the pieces that aren’t done yet.
Untitled (Finger)
Ink + Watercolor
9″ x 12″
Untitled (Bars)
Acrylic
9″ x 12″
Untitled (Help Wanted)
Spackle
11″ x 14″
Don’t Give Her Cake
Mixed Media
11″ x 14″
Untitled (Cross)
Mixed Media
11″ x 14″
Untitled (Bubbles)
Ink
9″ x 12″
More Summer Pieces
Tender
9″ x 12″
Ink + Oil pastel on brown craft paper
Untitled (Shape)
11″ x 14″
Watercolor + Gouache on watercolor paper
Subtle Cry
9″ x 12″
Acrylic + Oil stick on brown craft paper
Nope
11″ x 14″
Watercolor + Oil stick + Oil pastel on watercolor paper
Community
9″ x 12″
Ink on brown craft paper
Untitled (Scrambled 2)
11″ x 14″
Acrylic on canvas paper
Untitled (Shape 2)
11″ x 14″
Acrylic + Oil pastel on canvas paper
Yes.
While I was in Chicago, I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of feedback I received and consequently the number of ideas I had for my work. I wasn’t sure which path to go down and which method best suited my goals. This is how I was feeling when I had a studio visit with Gregg Bordowitz, the program director. I discussed my struggles with him, as well as my goals. He gave me tons of great advice, including one piece that became a major turning point for me.
About a week or two earlier, I had gone to a fabric shop and picked up this piece of bright red-orange polyester material from a clearance bin. I wasn’t sure what I would do with it, I was just drawn to the color. I hung it up in my studio like this for a while and didn’t touch it. During my meeting with Gregg, we looked at the material as we discussed creating a “yes” wall. His instructions were as follows: 1) For 3 or 4 days, say “yes” to everything. 2) The next day, say “no.” Cover things up and make conscious decisions about what you want to include. I was really excited to try it out and decided to use the red-orange material since it was already something I’ve never used before.
I had a lot of fun at first. I drew a large figure without worrying about proportions. I didn’t plan, I just painted. The fabric absorbed the paint quickly so I had to change the way I usually paint. The process was quick and pretty crude. I was happy with the piece so far and didn’t really want to add anything else, but it was my “yes” wall, so I forced myself to do more.
I added more things and started to like it less and feel stuck. I started becoming concerned with the composition and I thought that I had already put too many colors so I stepped away from it for a few days and worked on other things. I guess at this point I wasn’t following the directions anymore.
When I did come back to it, I was in the zone. I used different materials and added text, numbers, shapes, images, and texture. By the time I “finished”, it had become my favorite piece from the whole summer. I’m really proud of it.
Here is a list of the materials I used: acrylic paint (liquid, heavy bodied, and soft bodied), ink, oil pastel, oil stick, clear plastic, liquid watercolor, diabetic socks, medical tape, and thumbtacks.
I’m not sure what’s going to happen with this piece. Right now it’s folded up in a bag until I find somewhere to hang it up. I might add more to it, but it’s more likely that I’ll make a new one using a similar process.
Thanks for reading!
June + July Inspiration
1. Maria Lassnig’s paintings–especially the ones with pink
“I was tired of pretending for the sake of others that I would survive. I became preoccupied with the burdens that sick people bear on behalf of those around them who are well.”
2. Interviews with Gregg Bordowitz
3. Pepto Bismol pink
4. Pinky Bass’ embroidered photographs
5. Sugar
6. Joseph Grigely’s Conversation pieces
Inspiration: Biology
Ever since I started making artwork about diabetes, I have found myself inspired by things in science–namely biology, and within that, cellular structures. I think this stems from my love for color, repetition, and organic shapes in art. I never attempt to accurately render a cell in a painting or drawing, instead I just gather ideas from images of them.
This process evolved quite a bit when I was taking an advanced figure drawing class. My final project involved using symbolism to create patterns that would represent “body armor”. I wanted to come up with symbols for protection, and one of the symbols that I designed represented the womb of a mother. I wanted the symbols to be very simple since I would have to draw hundreds of them, so this symbol merely consisted of 2 irregular rings, one inside the other, and a dot in the middle. It looked more like a cell to me, but this was actually still fitting for my project since different kinds of cells protect the body.
I fell in love with the look of this symbol in a pattern, so I continued to play around with it in my other work:
What inspires you?
Matisse/Preschool-Inspired Collages
A few weeks ago, I started a new body of work exclusively for my Etsy shop. The artwork, which is a series of paper collages, was actually inspired by my time spent student teaching at an elementary school this year. My cooperating teacher and I were doing a lesson with the pre-k and kindergarten students based on flowers in the springtime (it was April at the time). We read Eric Carle’s book, The Tiny Seed, and then the kids were free to create big flower pictures using shapes cut out of paper. I cut endless flower petals, leaves, stems, and circles, but it was worth it because the results were awesome!
It was really interesting to do this lesson with both preschool and kindergarten. The kindergarten students were mostly very concerned with making their flower look like a generic daisy while the preschool students were much more free with their compositions. The latter reminded both my cooperating teacher and I of Henri Matisse‘s bold paper cut-outs. I loved the way they looked and several months later, I was still thinking about them.
I have a pretty large collection of paper, so I decided to put it to use. I cut out lots of circles, leaves, and petals and mixed them up in a box. When I create a collage, I pick out a few shapes and arrange them based on the best way I think the colors, patterns, and textures go together. Then I just glue it all down and give it some kind of outline in black ink as a finishing touch.
I’m really happy with the way these are turning out. These pieces are very different from the other work that I’m doing right now, which is very personal and has a lot of symbolism and meaning. The collages, on the other hand, are simply labeled as a series of compositions because I want the viewer to decide what they are looking at. I create them purely from an aesthetic point of view and leave the meaning up to the viewer.
The collages come in a variety of small sizes with the smallest being 8″ x 10″ and the largest being 14″ x 17″. They will go on sale in the next two weeks! Thanks for reading :]