I didn't need my altitude sickness pills. Landing in Quito (9,000 feet above sea level) has yet to cause my body any kind of stress. It's just a lovely piece of land in the clouds. Day 2 and I'm already rolling my r's with the sweet satisfaction of having improved my Spanish by 100% since my arrival. Although, this percentage is still pretty weak as it hasn't yet brought me into the world of subjunctives. It's all still very much in concept. So don't get the wrong idea: I'm still a rookie.
To make things even more exciting, my room is on the top floor of a house with a huge private terrace. I have full access to this and the view is killer. The city is surrounded by mountains and scatters of forest covered by Eucalyptus trees--I can almost smell them from the terrace. I think I may have found my artsy spot. Let's hope the work rolls out just as smoothly as my rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's.
Some unfinished pieces to remind me of where I left off before my South America sojourn. I will be traveling for a month, and have deliberately started work on some canvasses that will remain in my San Francisco studio, and will serve as foundations for when I return. I've got a plan to keep my artistic momentum up while traveling. My tools have been packed, my mind at ease, and my spirits high for what's to come my way--both physically and creatively. Next post will be from my bedroom in Quito, Ecuador :)
concrete feet 9"x12" acrylic, water color, indian ink on paper
spin cycle 9"x12" acrylic, gouache, indian ink, water color on paper
I have been running amok with my inks--in a very good way. I've been letting go of whatever primordial mark-making compulsions I have lurking within, and the result has been an interesting cornucopia of lines, patterns and layers of color. This is all still very much part of the new series I began in February, and I am only just beginning to make sense of it as it evolves into a coherent body of work. This new series can be found on my website here.
Here's a new illustration I created over the weekend and added to my online ETSY store. The trees are from an ink study for my painting series currently underway.
Sleepy Trees 8.5"x11" giclee print
Part of working differently for me is delving into the practice of creating more studies before hitting the larger canvasses. My work so far has been largely based on plant life and organic structures, which I am experimenting with on paper using inks and water color. The studies themselves end up becoming complex compositions that can stand on their own. Here's one in progress....it will eventually be filled with color and even more line work.
As much as I'd like to turn myself into a machine and plough through each canvas à la assembly line mode, it just isn't the way I work right now. This may change. I think it all depends on what you're working on--different projects may require different systems. But for now, the only system I can think of which I am utilizing is the "wait-for-paint-to-dry" system. The rest is game, and subject to my on and off inner light bulb. You know when you turn a light switch on, and instead of bright lights, you get a dancing sort of glow from the bulb's filament? That's what's going on in my head. A back and forth kind of tango torture.
I have one whole week left before I leave for Ecuador for a month. I've left this week to focus on establishing solid foundations on each canvas, to build on when I get back. I have ten canvasses, and I'm not sure this is going to happen realistically. But I'm going to try!
While in Ecuador, I plan to work on paper with my pens and inks. I cannot afford a holiday from my work right now, especially since I've been working rather slow in my quest to forge an entirely new direction. It's a fragile time, and I refuse to get distracted. My hope is that being somewhere new and exotic will bring out a side to me that can't be stimulated from a place of comfort and the all-too-familiar setting of home.
I thought I'd share the mess that is my studio currently. Messy is good, as long as it's purposeful. I'm trying to push myself to experiment even more. I feel like I am still in the safe zone. I worry about time and my lack of resources.....but these are just superficial traps. It is only I who will get in my way.
New painting in progress..... soooooooooooooo not done yet. Waiting for that eureka moment; the cherry on top, if you will. Until that moment arrives, I continue to labor away....
My Photoshop class final project: a photograph collage to represent the city you're from.
Since February of this year I've been taking this outstanding Photoshop class that has broadened my horizons to unprecedented proportions. Sounds dramatic, but, honestly, the improvements I've made in the span of a semester can be compared to a jump from 1st grade to 5th grade reading comprehension. It's a little sad that all these years of having Photoshop CS4 I never attempted to understand even the simplest of its tools. I really couldn't be bothered. It takes a real push for me to self learn anything technologically based.
But now, I've come to realize that it doesn't have to be seen as something to replace your freehand creative skills. For me, I see it as a way to enhance or compliment them. My instructor Hugh D'Andrade (check out his website) is an illustrator by trade--a really awesome one. He's been generous enough to even show us how he goes about creating his illustrations--a process that begins with an original drawing/painting/sketch and ends up either colored in digitally or just ever so slightly tweaked on Photoshop. The drawing is what makes the entire composition however--despite the capabilities that Photoshop has to offer, the original drawing or painting is still the secret ingredient. He wouldn't have such great illustration if he didn't have his freehand drawing skills and his natural artistic talent. Photoshop cannot make you an artist if you weren't one to begin with. I know this comes out a little fascist, but it's true! It's just a tool, nothing more. If you have great ideas and a natural flair for style, composition, color, anything artistic--then it will help you realize them. It's an aid--an incredible one at that; not an end all be all.
Above is a work in progress for our final project in this class. It does not have any original drawings in it but the project parameters have more to do with testing what we've learned by creating a collage using photographs only (and only those we've taken ourselves): a collage to represent the city we're from. Compositionally, it's a little heavy for me, but since the point was to go all out with what we've learned, I wanted to apply almost ever major technique I've picked up on. Et voila!
I didn't need my altitude sickness pills. Landing in Quito (9,000 feet above sea level) has yet to cause my body any kind of stress. It's just a lovely piece of land in the clouds. Day 2 and I'm already rolling my r's with the sweet satisfaction of having improved my Spanish by 100% since my arrival. Although, this percentage is still pretty weak as it hasn't yet brought me into the world of subjunctives. It's all still very much in concept. So don't get the wrong idea: I'm still a rookie.
