Transcending Time;Time pauses while I am thrown down under a foaming wave scurrying to figure out which way is up;Not only was I perfectly interested in the moment that I was experiencing, I became that moment;I thought if there is a heaven, this has to be what it’s like.

Intaglio multiplate print by Heather Neff

While this print seems to serve a personal function, I hope that my viewers find personal meaning by looking into themselves and thinking about how time is relevant to their lives. In our society a vast majority of people let time control them so much that they are never fully present. Many doctors and therapists recommend that patients forget about time for parts of their day and lose themselves in an activity which creates flow, or completely living in the moment. Studies have proven the health benefits of people who engage in activities or events which focus on parts of this eastern philosophy. During my moments of transcending time I have felt more alive, loved, relaxed, and connected with a higher power. I hope that people can relate my print and make a connection to a moment in their life when they had felt that way. I think that our world would be a little more peaceful and happier if people took time to forget about the past and the future and become fully engulfed in the present.

I tell you the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. -Vincent Van Gogh

We are half way through the fall semester, my creativity and drive is at a high, but I want to keep my focus on the figure. We have been fortunate enough to have models every week, which gives me more practice and confidence with my work. I have been looking at Rodin and Egon Schieles works for inspiration, both were great draftsmen. I found a great book of Rodin's drawings a few weeks ago and had a difficult time putting it down. I am also working on a multi-color print built on personal content dealing with identity, nature, and questions. This print has been a bit of a challenge because I usually don't work so indirectly with intaglio. However, after reading about Marc Chagall on our UWL printmaking blog.... http://printfever.blogspot.com/
I learn more about the intaglio process and feel more comfortable "attacking my plates," BPJ.
Chagall worked extensively on his plates, and his prints display evidence of considerable change over the previous one. Sometimes Chagall would let entire compositions fall into the background or into deep etches. He seems to have no fear and trust the work of the acid. A great inspiration.

The beginning of a new semester!
This is a photo that was taken of me at a tapas bar in Triana. Triana is village in Sevilla that is well known for their bonita ceramicas! The use of ceramic tiles could be seen throughout the many restaurants and houses. The background of this image is made out of colorful ceramic tiles. Anyway this semester I will be focusing specifically on printmaking with continuing emphasis on the human figure, experiment with organic patterning and color, with the possibility of some Spanish influence. I am also brainstorming some ideas for a print dealing with artistic social responsibility. Some thoughts include....health care in our country, prescription medications, natural healing vs western medicine.....any ideas or comments are always welcome! More to come soon!

Monoprints!
The following images were produced at the end of the spring semester. They are a series of figure
prints (and one painting)/self-portraits done to experiment with color and learn more about the human form.

Work in progress

Monoprints! My new found love in life......
Inspired by Manuel Neri and Eric Fischl, with the help of BPJ, I have learned that monoprinting might possible be my calling. Unlike painting it is still a very indirect approach to creating images, however Ithe application is more controlled. I am able to see the ink and the image along with color displays before it is printed. But then as the print leaves the press adjustments can be made.

Morning Routine-
This was a painting that I did last semester, however
I made a lot of changes to it before I entered into the
juried show, unfortunately it was rejected. Oh well,
there is always next year!

Annie Leibovitz-
After receiving and reading Leibovitz's book A Photographer's Life I find myself inspired and motivated to keep my artwork relevant to my life. I fell upon a great quote from her while reading where she states; "I don't have two lives, this is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it." After reading about Annie and her life and viewing a documentary about her I have come to further realize the connections between art and life. I can only hope that my work forms a personal narrative as complete and intriguing as Annie's.

Self- Portrait
This print was created last semester, but I am still working with the image. I have not experimented too much with text in any of my artwork, so this was something that really changed the way I expressed my messages to myself and others. In my eyes text seems like a more direct approach to communicate. It is strong and literally asking to be read. This was my first color print and the ink appears to be very thick. I was not really satisfied with the colors but after a critique I learned that the hard/raw feeling of the ink enhanced the overall image, so here it is! I am getting more instruction to color intaglio and am currently working on a multi-plate print. Cant wait to learn more about color as the semester progresses!

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.