Once again, I have had the pleasure of attending a fantastic "Draw!" session at Lowe Mill. . . and as usual, the model was full of personality and distinctive style. The first drawing of the day [above] has become a personal favorite of mine-- it is not merely a nice drawing of a girl but a composition in its own right. I found the second pose [below] somewhat harder to draw (our model's features were very subtle, and the slight change in angle was difficult to capture), but I think the result still has a very nice bit of defiant energy.
I often stumble upon beautiful loose sketches tagged #Draw365 on Twitter. The idea behind the tag is simple-- do a sketch each day, share it, and see where the sketching takes. While I work on some manner of art every day already, I certainly do not sketch as much as I would like, so I thought it might be an interesting way to start. I am using one of the smaller Moleskine blank books so that it will be easy to carry in my pocket or purse, and I have given myself a few rules to guide the endeavor along--
1) Try to do as many of the sketches as possible on-the-go.
2) Use a portable, abundant, convenient, and yet unforgiving "medium" (in my case, that seems to be a ballpoint pen).
3) Find something worth sketching even in unlikely places.
4) Never spend more than a few minutes on each sketch.
Here are my first three scribbles. . . rough perhaps, but lively, oddly liberating, and I am already enjoying the idea of having a tiny sketchbook with me wherever I go. It seems appropriate to include the brief thoughts I have been jotting beside each sketch as well. . .
#1 The Courtyard, 18. April 2011
#2
Convivium Flowers, 19. April 2011
#3
The Credit Union, 20. April 2011
To view the latest additions to my #Draw365 adventure, please visit my Twitpic Gallery.
The Art of Conversation [above] is, in a sense, a direct offshoot of Life in the 60's. It was my mother's fondness for that painting, after all, that inspired her to bring me a grainy Holiday Inn postcard [below] one day and ask cheerfully that I "do something with it".
Of course, not wishing to simply copy a commercial postcard (however charming), I placed it on one of my shelves and observed it for a month before making any plans for a painting. The scene with the women gathered around the table was probably meant to mimic the feel of a neighborhood grill-out or afternoon tea, as if the hotel were just like home. . . yet the car-centric sprawl of America hardly seems homey anymore, certainly not in 2011-- merely cluttered and disconnected.
In re-positioning the women in the composition, I wanted to capture a hint of the crowded, busy feel of a Berlin street scene of the Brücke style, all the while retaining a sense of retro-Americana and the overall appeal of well-dressed women enjoying a day or evening out. The contrast and comparison may seem slightly contradictory at first, but it does have all of the Old World/New World connotations that I tend to continually revisit in art. I also liked the idea of portraying the two women at the front as if they had just finished discussing something and were perhaps quietly expressing agreement, as if they were in cahoots. I left the woman at the back in solitary contemplation of the still life upon her table, as if she were lovingly gazing at a work of art, deeply engaged in her own inner dialogues.
While waiting for a larger piece to dry before continuing with it, I embarked upon a mixed media "Disasterpiece" this morning (by which I mean a work created mostly from materials that would have otherwise been in somebody's trash bin). Using pieces of wood found at the curb as a base, I created a collage with used packaging from coffee and tea I have purchased at the Kaffeeklatsch over the past months, then did a loose acrylic painting over all of it. Pin-Up Drinking Coffee [above] may be a fairly simple piece, but it does begin to hint ever so vaguely at my current thoughts on "mediation" in the arts.
I have long been fascinated not merely by the glamour of Classic Hollywood, but by the dignity and poise of the characters onscreen (regardless of what the actors themselves may have been like in person, of course) in comparison to the trend in current films. It is hard to picture Greta Garbo or Gregory Peck in a post-modern neurotic fit of shouting and yelling; the "pretty girl" of the classic film era could be a sophisticated aristocrat or a fast-talking factory-worker's daughter, but she generally spoke with wit and sparkling intelligence. Perhaps many call this unrealistic, forgetting that any "realism" the arts aspire to is still mediated and going through subjective filters so to speak, and that reality, to a certain extent, is malleable at that. Not every film is anything close to high art, but comparisons of dramatic/acting style, aesthetics, and how plots move along across decades and cultures highlight many questions pertaining to any form of art.
By using an Expressionistic style, I make it very clear that the above piece is an act of mediation, a painting, not attempting to be a convincing illusion of an object, person, et cetera. How I shall develop these thoughts, of course, remains to be seen, but for now, a small abstract sketch of a girl sipping coffee continues to spark countless meanderings of my mind. . .
The past two days have been quite eventful at Artisans Cove; the first Second Saturdays art festival of the year took place as planned on the 9th, followed by a Sunday afternoon reception at Reflectives Frame and Art Gallery for the local Ascribing Artists group. Though mere minutes from the city of Huntsville, Artisans Cove seems so pleasantly rural-- an excellent place for a morning or afternoon outing to view art, eat BBQ, breathe fresh air, and stroll in the countryside. The Ascribing Artists exhibit will be on display until the end of the month. The next Second Saturdays event will be held (due to the unpleasant heat of Alabama summers) from 4pm-8pm on May 14th.
[Above, canopies scattered across the grounds of Artisans Cove early Saturday morning.]
[Above, dear Nik keeps watch over my paintings, including Longhorn, Showers Over University Drive, and The Wanderer.]
[Above, with Kochel am See and Emerging Red at Sunday's reception.]
For the most part, oils are my favorite medium. Watercolors are not quite "solid" enough for my tastes, and until now, the dull, glue-like texture of acrylics has never seemed to showcase my brushwork properly. I enjoy beautiful art by others in any medium; as for my own work, I can be very finicky about textures and consistencies, and therefore slow to take on new media. Yet this is exactly why I convince myself to experiment-- so that I do not halt my artistic development on the basis of some rudimentary aversion, and so that I learn to bring out the good in any medium I wield. Therefore, The Dark Side of the Moon [above], like my previous painting, was done in acrylic, though this time varnished. I also worked on a canvas no bigger than a sheet of notebook paper. Sometimes, smaller surfaces are ideal for refining one's brush control, attention to relevant detail, and sense of composition as a whole. The image itself is meant as a simple expression of mystery, and a nod to the exploration of the cosmos, which is, in a sense, an exploration of our own being as well.
As summer arrives, many new art events are scheduled to take place at Artists Cove. An Ascribing Artists exhibit will begin on the 7th of April, including my own paintings and the works of local artists Johanna Littleton, Joe Fikes, Jackie Segars, Jessica Oden, Gina Hurst, Paul LaBathe, Linda Morton, Kathryn Depew, S. Renee Prasil, Jane Blevins, Cynthia Parsons, Amanda Brown, and
Jennifer Martin.
T
he first of the Second Saturdays summer events I have been helping to coordinate begin at 11AM on the 9th. At these festivals there will be artists and craftsman of all sorts, food, refreshments, and activities for children-- I hope many people will be able to enjoy a beautiful day out at this wonderful location in Hampton Cove, Alabama!
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