Painting Series Fall 2006
Well as you can see this series is not complete. However 1/3 of it is here and the other parts will be done by Tuesday (that is when they are due). If I had to pick a title for it it would be, "The Series From Hell," because I put a little too much on my plate for this assignment. Hopefully I can get it done. I began looking at some hispanic artists for inspiration because I was thinking about studing Mexican culture/art over the summer and came upon a talented painter/sculptor by the name of Manuel Neri. His work intrigues me due to his treatment of color and integration of the background into the foreground. With my own series I was attempting to work from Neri's paintings with the intention of portraying my figure as expressive, feminine, and gestural. I wanted to play around with the concept of having blocks of color in the background leak into the boundaries of the figure. However as I began painting and after a discussion with a professor, I realized that the background and foreground were compteing and it was not obvious what the focus of the painting was. I am satisfied with the first painting, and hope that the next two continue to resemble and mimic this painting to complete the series.
Some other artists that I discovered while researching my series were Alberto Giacometti and Nathan Oliviera. Both work with both abstract, realistic, and expressive styles. I really enjoyed looking at Nathan Oliviera's work because he is also a printmaker. As I work with both medias it is interesting to see how Oliviera does as well.

My relationship with art is like no other....
it is different from relationships with friends,
family, or a lover.
Art brings me emotions that most humans cannot;
both negative and positive
Sometimes our relationship is beautiful,
and other times I want to forget about it, break up with it,
and move on.......

I completed this painting while researching Degas and his painting/drawing techniques. Degas was a superb draftsman and a wonderful colorist. I specifically studied his nude series and it was amazing. I struggle drawing figures especially with scale and position so I really admire his work. I hope to improve my figure drawing/painting skills next semester. I would like to make this a main theme for my next line of work. Not only are the realistic drawings of Dega's women accurate, but the poses are intriguing and force the viewer to feel the portrayed emotions

A new semester of paintings. I am given more direction in this class specific to the technical aspects of painting. Class readings discuss color choice, ground, application, texture, etc. I have been assigned to use these as guidelines throughout my paintings specific to various topics. "The self and other" was our first topic, which was convenient for me due to my experience and interest with self portraiture/expression. I am currently balancing painting and printmaking so many of my images relate to one another and collaborate to enhance my expression and understanding of the self. Most of the works are based off of various photographs....enjoyyy!

Conversation With Herself

A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.…And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.

the more I learn, the less it seems I know

chicago

Whats the craik?
The process of lithography is created by using a bavarian limestone. Joel always tells us that if we break the stone, we fail. Well fortunately I did not fail, and I even got a few great prints done before the terrible crack happened! On the last day of class Kate and I were trying to gracefully lift the stone to store it away for the summer, when the unthinkable happened. The upper right corner split, leaving a clean crack diagonally through the stone. Whoops! The picture on the left is of Prof. Joel giving me the "you have just FAILED miserably" stare.

NEW CAMERA!
I recently received a new digital camera for my Birthday from my wonderful parents (thanks)! I have been taking some new pictures of my work and hope to have them posted by the end of the week......so stay tuned for some artwork. In the meantime here is a quote that I find very interesting:
"I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. I come into the studio very fearfully, I creep in to see what happened the night before. And the feeling is one of, "my god, did I do that?" -Philip Guston
I am sure that other artists can identify with this quote as I have. While engaged in the creation process I become so involved that I rarely if ever step away to look at what I have done. I become so much a part of my work it is hard to notice it during the intense moment of "flow." This is why coming in the next morning can be so exciting and scary at the same time.

Purity and Virtue-A Balance of Technique and Content

I doubted the process of lithography since the first day I was introduced to it. I did not understand why I would draw an image onto a Bavarian limestone and then transfer it onto paper. It seemed to make more sense to just draw the image onto the paper. The process of litho is physically intenese and full of steps. It seemed too technical for my liking. The first two lithos that I produced turned out exactly how they looked on the rock. It was not until I rolled up this rock that I really experienced the spontaneity and unpredictability that litho has to offer. Well actually I was just pretty irate when I realized that a drawing that I had worked so hard on didnt turn out how I predicted it to(or how it looked on the stone.) Once I came to terms with the "destroyed" images that began to appear on paper I began to accept them more and more. The process of working backwards with the acid and other materials was a true learning experience. During our critique we discussed the unpredictibility of lithography and how that can be such an important component of the final result. I have had a really hard time comprehending this because I am used to using such direct mediums. The suspense of rolling any type of print through a press and unveiling an image that may look completly different from a copper plate or stone is amazing, and I am eager to continue on my printmaking journey.

More about the image...
As I reflect on this image I am reminded of a conversation that I had with a good friend/artist a couple of monthes ago at a tavern downtown in which he reminded me of some important things. The conversation was centered around the importance of relationships, how relationships are influence people, how taking risks is important, how people learn a great deal about themselves through others, and of course like many other things, how relationships can influence art. None of my art prior to this litho have been about a relationship with someone other than myself or included another figure. Art has given me the chance to learn so much about myself serving as a personal function of self discovery. This is why I feel that it was necessary to include this important figure in my print. The movement and expression that I worked with helped me to enjoy this process and feel/express the strong connection between the figures in the print.

A Good Friend
I was unsure about adding photography to a blog that was supposed to be centered around prints. However, I have decided that a lot of my photography has influenced my prints. I also think that it is interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two contrasting mediums.

Reaching for the Unknown
Here is a print that I completed last semester. I still havent worked with colored ink. However because I feel that the color helps support the content of most of my artwork I am manipulating the image with chine cole. This expressive image is a self portrait that was made using drypoint, aquatint in various stages, line etch, and varnish dabbling in the backgound. It was originally sketched from a photograph, and then transferred to a copper plate.

apathetic and out of breath

Sand Sans Le Hand
This photograph may look very familiar to those of you who have seen my prints from last semester. This photograph was taken in Martha's Vineyard a few years ago.....

"To make a fine print in the dune grass
suits me.
So long as she's along

The silver glints of our whispers
will lie on the water
as long as the moon

Stubled over
and carried off
they need only float.

If not for me then for all.

Please stay a while longer"-PH

Well, I guess I am finally going to start up this blog. I have been wanting to start one for a while, but haven't been motivated enough. I would like to make most of this about printmaking because that is the course that I am currently enrolled in. I hope to soon display some prints from intaglio and eventually get some litho's up there. I also want to put up some other art that I have worked on from paintings to photography so stay tuned. It may take a while so be patient, my digital camera is also broken, so that delays the process a bit more........but I will get to all of this eventually.