Push and Pull

In the Life Drawing studio, we have been focusing on capturing the "push and pull" of the body. Push and Pull has to do with the movement of the body as a round figure that both drifts into space (creating valleys or pits) and becomes prominent in space (being the forward or most vivid figure). Push and pull goes beyond just drawing the outlines of the body, but demands a closer look to show what it is the body does and how it interacts with space.
I have discovered that I love this practice of capturing the human form, because not only am I practicing effort in skill that I already have, but effort in the knowledge of what is really happening. It challenges me to go beyond what I know and experience what I see with truth and patient seeking. If I go too fast I will miss something; I have to clinch the process knowing speed isn't the point... destination is.

Leave It In Neutral

Today, cropping a still life painting and "leaving it in neutral" was the challenge proposed in the studio. I found joy in setting up a simple still life, and I found it to be hard work to stay in neutral (primary color mixed with secondary) throughout an entire painting. I love the colors formed out of the mixtures — the heaps of different colors and pigments, tones and temperatures you can get out of three simple colors (red, blue, yellow with the help of white and black) just amazes me. There were moments I wanted to stay true to the sight in front of me, but it was adventurous and exciting to step out of my comfort zone and be pulled into a new way of seeing. 

Know, See, Feel

Still Life painting is rather interesting. Complimentary to Still Life Drawing... only colorfully strategic in the placement of brush strokes. In the four hours I was fully immersed into this artwork, I learned something about the order of things. Knowing; Insight into something is known as Knowledge, Educating, or Understanding, which then leads to having the ability to See. When you know what something is doing—how objects are interacting—you then have a heightened sense of Sight. When you see more clearly, you begin to Feel the Impact of it on a real level and can therefore Express it. I couldn't properly display the way these fruit interacted with each other and the cloth they sat on without fixing my attention on them and learning what it was they were doing with my eyes. Leaning into a vision wholeheartedly and thoughtfully helped me experience the shifting of colors the light gave off the fruit and onto the cloth while also allowing me to interact with the way they moved throughout my canvas.

Feeling It Out

Painting has always been a desire of mine. The thought of having paint all over my hands and getting brushes and surfaces messy has always brought delight to me. Drawing has been my dominant practice as an artist, so when I paint, "feeling it out" is quite a beautiful process. I've been told painting and drawing are completely different, but I reckon you need to know one in order to know the other. When I say know, I mean understand. Art, for me, is an exploration into a subject. I want my understanding... my findings... to speak for the artwork, through the artwork. Today, I grew in my understanding of colorfully portraying a white still life.

Spontaneous Strategy

The most recent color theory exploration led to a portrait painting by Matisse of his wife with a green stripe down the middle of her face. Before diving into creating my own version of his painting, I got to admire the strokes he took to create her and even more-so the beautiful, thought out color theory he presented. When I got to dive in to the actual painting process, I found I was even more mesmorized than before when I was actually mixing the colors myself and applying them. "Spontaneous strategy"is how I would define this painting's theory of color.

Life Drawing

Term 2 at C3 College has brought to surface a desire to draw the human figure that has been brewing inside of me for quite some time now. I have been challenged to draw what I see, not just what I know. So far, this challenge has helped me appreciate the ways that our skin drapes perfectly over our muscles while still revealing the depth of where our bones lie. I have seen the uniqueness and gotten a glimpse at the many different, intricate ways in which people are made and I only yearn to study further in the beauty of things, or in this case people, that we have for so long seen as just ordinary. Humans are not ordinary, each one of us is extraordinarily made and I want to continue to capture that in my drawings.

Tranquility

Being an artist isn't just an occupation, nor is it a hobby. It is a beautiful experience. Calm at all the right moments and wild in the rest. Each attempt at documenting a moment—whether it be a real one, an imagined one, or a wishful one—leaves a mark that can't simply be erased or washed out. Art can be as intimate as pen is to paper and it can be as clear as looking through the glass of a camera's lens. Art can be vibrant and colorful, full of extravagant pigments mixed into wondrous harmony; and it can be black and white—a perfect balance of being boldly soft. Most of all, art can just be—it can have individuality and authenticity because whether it is a tracing of a masterpiece or an absolute original it will always hold the strokes of it's creator—the fingerprint of it's maker.