Dabbling in the Arts

In this post, I will take you on a tour of some my projects that were developed in 2012.

I rather liked how they turned out, therefore, I will share them with my readers.

So, first stop is a little bit of graphic design that I did for fun.

This was a design of a schedule that was quickly abolished, but I was happy with the result. It was inspired by an add for Ruche's dress contest that they hosted this fall.

Okay, brace yourself for another self-portrait (CAN YOU BELIEVE ANOTHER ONE!?!) in gouache. I made the scallopped dress out of the samples of discarded Bagallini purse material and glitter...naturally. (Thanks for helping me with the material K-trix!)

The photograph in my left hand is of a 3D self portrait I made when I was 6. I find it funny I dressed my 3 dimensional portrait in blue polyester trousers AND a Jets sweatshirt (I couldn't even tell you what city the Jets are based in---San Diego Jets? Denver Jets? ...Honolulu Jets? Las Vegas Jets? ...hopeless...I could always google it, but frankly, I really don't care.)

As for the German Shepherd behind me is none other than, my Snickers.

Unfortunately, my face in this self-portrait currently looks less human, more alien...so y'all are gonna have to wait to NEVER SEE IT.

So, I call this next photograph,

"So exhausted that I poured my cereal into my coffee."

 I'm clearly not a morning person.


And here is an aerial view of Candy Corn Stonehenge, c. 2012  On the Plains of the Dining Room Table

Next is a door that a really talented artist named Erik Pearson painted in Superior, WI.

And, this is me trying to mimic his brilliance with cray-pas.

To view more of Erik's work on his site, click here.

I had a blast with the bold lines, only problem is my version just looks like Gabe from The Office.

COME ON!!!..Say you can see it!

"Here are your cheeses."

This isn't the first time that I have accidentally portrayed a character from The Office. In 2009, I had to draw one of my co-workers for a project and instead of it looking like the co-worker, it looks more like Jim Halpert.

You be the judge:

Next is scribbled sketch of the Woman from Brassempouy.

And, these are some birch logs I thought were pretty. My mom seems to really like this one...I wonder why;)

 I tried to make this drawing resemble a beautiful rock I saw at work. In the end, it looks like a map, but I enjoyed the attempt to blend mediums and experiment with organic shapes.

Okay, that's all for now.

Thanks for reading!

Hope everyone is still making progress on those New Years Resolutions!

Jandy Goldsworthy

There's this remarkable land artist, named Andy Goldsworthy. If you haven't heard of him, you need to become informed because his work is stunning. (I think his documentary is available on netflix too--"Rivers and Tides")

And, here are some of my favourite examples of his work:

 

So, I spent a few days trying to be like Andy Goldsworthy. I don't feel that my results came anywhere close to his brilliance, but I had a blast and can always try to be like Andy in the future.

 

The first two are works that I made with my cousin, Jill.

This is out of a rhubarb. I had such a great vision for this, but my rhubarb plant was in rough shape this year.

Jill and I made this pattern with pinecones too!

This was made from fish scales and as the video demonstrates, this design was ever fleeting...

Here's another pinecone maze...

And a bit of yellow peeping through some bark.

I must end with this quote, "I like Andy. He is nice to meee!" The End.

"Wakeful dreamers"

I am not sure if Notting Hill was the first time I heard of Chagall. The film represents Anna Scott and William Thacker as having the same artistic taste. She even gives him an original Chagall painting of La Mariée as a peace offering. I don't know if this is where it began, but making the connection with Marc Chagall and Notting Hill makes me love Chagall's work even more.

As with many artists, there is vast symbolism with Chagall's paintings.

I used Chagall's "I And The Village"(above) to inspire the choices in my painting below.

Early sketch (above). For the actual painting I used black paper and mixed medium which I was really pleased with. I also happen to love these colours and had a pleasant time painting this. Hours always fly by when I paint.

"And everybody says 'you can't-you can't-you can't-don't try'. Still everybody says 'If they had the chance they'd fly'...like we dooooo--oo-oo."

To view more paintings by Chagall whilst listening to a song called "Painting by Chagall," please enjoy this video featuring the musical stylings of The Weepies.

Also, if you ever find yourself in Reims, France in the near future, you could be fortunate enough to see this in person in the Reims Cathedral:

Image by Peter Lucas- Design of windows by Marc Chagall

Channelling Chuck Close-Self Portrait

Chuck Close is an artist that I am studying. I used his later work to inspire this self portrait.

For those of you who have never heard of Chuck Close, he is an artist who earned his claim to fame by being a master of the photorealist painting on a massive scale. All these years I thought these ginormous paintings were photographs, but they were actually paintings. For example, the black and white portrait on the back wall in the photo below is one of these realistic paintings. You can find it at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.

In 1988, Close suffered from a spinal artery collapse which paralyzed him. He continued to paint on a large scale, but he has since had to adapt his style. Now he paints portraits focusing on one block at a time. The result is stunning.

Here's an example of his later work featured on wikipedia:

For those of you who have heard of Chuck Close, I am sorry for the inept biography I just presented.

John Singer Sargent

I just finished reading one of the worst books I have ever read.  At least it was short and quickly over.  Gee, the television show it was based on is so good. Where did I go wrong?

New rule: Never read a book based on a television show.

This rule should apply to books based on movies inspired by an original book as well. Didn't Michael Scott read the "novelization of the movie Precious based on the book Push by Sapphire"? Or was he just listening to it on audio tape? That brings me to a WHOLE other debate...If one listens to a book on tape, can they claim that they have read that book? You can voice your opinion below.
Back to this atrocious book. It felt like it was written by an amateur who had to meet a deadline and sloppily churned it out to his/her publisher over a weekend.
The only redeeming quality of this book was that a large portion of it was about an art collection. And it led to my discovery of this:
 

"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent is mentioned as one of the protagonist's favourite paintings. And the print is later given to her as a gift. I could see why she loved it. 
 

I had not been incredibly familiar with Sargent's work, but as it turns out, I have had a postcard of one of his paintings in my room for many years now. The painting, "In the Luxembourg Gardens at Twilight" made quite the impression on me, so much so that I had to purchase its postcard form in the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts gift shop after the tour.  I don't know if I can describe why it moves me, but I think it may reside in the motion of the piece. It looks as if the subjects are still moving and the smoldering lighting drapes a romantic mood upon the scene. I really liked what this blogger had to say about it. http://artdurkee.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-singer-sargent-appreciation.html
 
Here are several other paintings by Sargent that I admire.
 
The reflected clouds are stunning.

 

And like many artists and musicians, Sargent was close friends with other talented artists like himself. Apparently he was close to Claude Monet. "He did landscapes." If you ask me,they should be featured on the Awesome People Hanging Out Together site. 

Well, there are worse things than staring at the water on a Sunday

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891)

This painting is perhaps the most iconic piece ever done by Seurat. Even though it's wildly over exposed, it holds a special place in my heart. I'm not really sure why, but I've always been drawn to this. I always thought it was because I like parasols.

It must sound absurd, but I think I have a connection to this. After all I was born on Seurat's birthday and he painted this pointillism masterpiece in 1884, exactly 100 years before I was born. But I guess that doesn't mean anything because we share a birthday with Britney Spears as well.

I had always associated it with the scene in Ferris Bueller when Cameron Frye is in a trance staring at this speckled canvas. I'll refresh your memory.

I don't know if John Hughes was responsible for the cinematography for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it leaves me wonderstruck.

That reminds me, I need to take a Bueller tour of Chicago someday. Dear Jana, Add that to your ginormous list of goals. Thank you. 

At one point you could Adopt-a-Dot  from the pointillistic painting at the Chicago Institute of Art. I believe that window of opportunity is now closed. But I know you could pick the colour of your adopted dot and they would send you a sample and let you know the location of your dot on painting. I should have splurged and adopted one then and there. Ah, that would have been grande.

Several years later, I learned that there was a Broadway musical starring Mandy Patinkin & Bernadette Peters called Sunday in the Park with George which was inspired by the life of Seurat and the characters that model for this painting. His love interest was a woman named Dot.  It was also released the year I was born and written by Steven Sondheim and James Lapine. The former also happens to be the name of my brother. I love those sort of things.

Why I haven't seen this Broadway production yet, I don't know, but I ardently adore the music that I've heard so far.

Then my favourite television show released this promotional photo. I can't get enough. Superb! Although it's missing Michael.

And a mug of mine that I have somehow acquired over the years. Where did I get this?  I guess that's a mystery.

So do you have a painting that you feel an affinity to? Also, have you seen this painting anywhere else in pop culture?

Well, I hope you had a pleasant Sunday...and maybe it was spent in a park...with someone named Georges.

After

I still have to add the uphosltery tacks, but I was too anxious to share my progress on a project that has been in the making for 2 years. Plus, I get to cross off two items on my 2011 New Years Resolution list at once. This post also signifies my 66th post of this year which was another goal (The goal was to have 30 more post than last year. The number 66 has no significance to me. 666 on the other hand...jk)

Here's the before picture:

You can view the process here. Let's just say there were 4 layers of this onion to peel away.

And here's the after:

I'll definitely post a picture once the tacks have been added, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's comfy too!

If this has placed you in a 'chairy' disposition, perhaps you would like to browse through my favourite paintings of chairs found on the web.

The prolific artist's name is Kimberly Applegate. She paints chairs in the style of classic artists and often features one of their masterpieces on the wall in the background. She even imitates their style in order create the perfect habitat for the model chair. Her blog is called joie de vivre. Please allow for yourself at least 45 minutes to peruse her work. It's phenomenal.  Here's a teaser:

I love this for more reasons than I can list.

Here's the original Edward Hopper: A Room in Brooklyn.  I don't think she could have picked a more fitting companion painting for that chair. Yet that green light is impossible to recreate. It's legendary.

 

Why do I expect to see Calvin and Hobbes everytime I see this one?

And doesn't this make you want to be part of Christina's World?

Go ahead. Take a seat.