One Hundred Paintings Part XIII

Trying to think of clever witticisms for this week's paintings, but I got nothing. The printer is running a couple hundred catalogs and the smell of toner is giving me a pounding headache. Plus, it's Monday, which means absolutely nothing, seeing as things like time and days of the week are all made at the hands of men and they don't really exist (oh boy, whatever does that mean-- too much for a Monday morning?), but people use that as an excuse for things. SO... when in Rome or in this case--the elaborate fabrication we call "reality"-- do as the dreamers do. If you really want my opinion, I'd much rather endure a Monday than a thursday. Plus we have the "Monday Morning Meetings," which aren't as whimsical as the catchy alliteration might have you believe, but it does break up the day considerably. In conclusion that is why I'm not the least bit funny or heartfelt this morning (or so I lie), etc, etc, Here's a painting.

PAINTING XXXVIII

"Cold Shoulders"

Unfortunately the first two paintings you see here would not scan well. I always forget when I have large areas of "light colors" or white they tend to get blown out. I've done my best to color correct it and bring some of the information back but I will probably have to resort to using a good camera to reproduce it when the time comes.

Sometimes the weight of the world can make you a sad, cold bear... Or bearer.

PAINTING XXIX
"Stomping Ground for the Young Believers"

Again, a fairly ambiguous sort of painting to everyone but me and the truly analytical. One of those call it as you see it types. But I will leave you with this, "stomping ground" is a double entendre-- with both meanings being the subtle ones. Wink.

PAINTING XL

"The Box of You Is Bottomless"

This painting was actually based on a poem I wrote last year. A close friend and I started a weekly poetry club, since we both had a fondness for the written word and wanted to become better acquainted with creative writing. The amount of poems I walked away with that I didn't actually hate could be counted on a finger. You're looking at my visual interpretation of it. I'd like to post the poem with it, but I don't have it memorized and it's at home somewhere stuffed in some desk drawer. I like to think of my desk as an airplane or hotel. Overbooked and then they tell you once you get there that they can't fit you in. My ideas being the sad nobodies that have to wait for the next plane but are probably forgotten about. I have a lot of nobody thoughts in the dark precipice of my desk drawers (and mind, really) waiting to be rediscovered. By then I'll have grown a year older, a year wiser and think they are too naive, no doubt, and stuff them back in the drawer from whence they came and the end begets the beginning. I myself could go for being stuffed in a desk drawer right about now, nevertheless... I have no internet at home, ergo, I could not post this post from the comfort of my digs.

The poem was about losing a person (applicable to whatever form that may be) and being surrounded by their things, their life of possessions (or lack thereof in some instances) that made them who they were, and how those things can sometimes take on a life of their own and become that person. It's the reason collectors collect things and the reason sad girls burn boxes of their ex's mementos. It can be painful to hold onto and therapeutic to let it go--therapeutic to hold onto, and painful to let it go. In summation, I believe the last line of the poem is "The box of you is bottomless." Hence, hence and stuff.

Huzzah, yet another mile stone. I shake my own hand in congratulations. Now having completed 40 paintings and realizing I am almost  half way through the project. Whatever will I do when this project is over? Probably start the "Two Hundred Painting Project." Stay tuned--gonna be a doozy.

One Hundred Paintings Part XII

Dusting off the 'ol blog here. It's been a couple months now since I've given an update. A lot has happened in the past few months--good, bad, and good-bad. But it wouldn't be life it weren't inconsistent and you certainly can't fully come to appreciate the moments of true joy and repose until you've been dragged through Hell and back at least a smoldering handful of times. I've actually been in Utica, which is very far from Hell, so far in fact that I may hereafter call it the right place for me right now. After sort of floundering for the past year or so and not knowing what to do or where to go (or truthfully, where to run away to), I very serendipitously ended up in Utica again, and overall it's been a very inspiring and encouraging time of my life. It's brought new light to a city I used to find inescapable. I feel contented to be around what I consider a heartening slew of hard working, creative types.

In short, the recap since August is this: I drove down Florida--my longest car trip where I have driven to date, moved to Rome (not Italy sadly), started a new job as a graphic designer, fulfilled some duties as a maid of honor for one of my best friend's forthcoming wedding, holidays, freelance, car trouble, business trips, endured a horrendous bout of the flu, played shows, took up yoga, made some friends--tried to be a less reclusive person in general, and moved to my own apartment in Utica with my cat. This is all a small fraction of the iceberg that you can actually see, the rest of it is below the icy surface gouging holes in the Titanic of my life. As such, I accidentally forgot about stuff I care about and in truth maybe the only "things" that really matter right now. Like painting, and the way grass smells, writing chord progressions that make me want to "do the dance"-- (as my good friend Lucas would say). Winter has been a cold-hearted, fickle, cussing nightmare this year. I need some good old fashioned sunshine to put things right inside my heart and mind again.

With that said, as concisely as possible, it's not so much that I forgot about the "One Hundred Paintings Project" as I've become imbibed by a dark cloud of jarring and yet illuminating life truths. In reality, the problem was (and always has been) that I remember too much. And have felt nothing but guilt and shame for the past couple months having put off this project. I feel like I neglected a sad puppy. And I just don't like to see a sad puppy-- nor do I like to be one.

So here is to starting anew. I have begun painting again and my goal is to finish the project by the end of Spring. Overreaching? Maybe. I've done crazier things though.

I think the summation of my life from August to present will suffice for explanation and dissection of this week's paintings. I'm going to keep the interpretation up to everyone else, no need to go into too much detail.

PAINTING XXXV
"Renovations"

This first painting I've also submitted for Illustration Friday's topic this week, which is "wings".

PAINTING XXXVI
"The Edge"

I like this one I think.

PAINTING XXXVII

"Let Sleeping Beasts Lie"

Sometimes people really shouldn't poke a sleeping animal that can tear your face off. I'm just saying. Maybe some questions are best left unanswered. There are worse things than curiosity left unsatisfied. 

I'm starting to find my use of roman numerals obnoxious. I originally thought it was a good idea because in the process I could teach myself how to read and write roman numerals, but now I feel like it's pretentious. 

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday; I was painting on my lunch break yesterday in the Cafeteria here at work (I take my lunches at 2 pm lately to avoid gawking while I paint) and a woman whom I've never met comes up and asks me:

"Are you painting that for your birthday?" Thought: Yes... I'm painting a picture to give myself on my birthday. 

Which I thought was humorous at the time, because people ask the most absurd questions when they are confronted with art. Like, 

"Did you paint that whole thing?!" Thought: No, in fact I found it and decided to complete it with the watercolor paints, china nests and paintbrushes I just happen to bring to work today.

I can't even handle my own sass sometimes. I don't know where I learned to be such a smart aleck but luckily I've developed a sass filter and I try not to be condescending in any way. There is so much I myself know nothing about. In fact, I'd encourage even the most stupid questions. At least it means people have a pulse and care about anything. The fact that a complete stranger knew it was about to be my birthday was thoughtful enough. I know what people actually mean when they say these things is "Wow that's really nice!" -- and we all need a little bit more of that in the world.

Herein lies the truth. As I sit here today, I've come to regret even thinking it was a dumb question at all, on the contrary...quite perceptive. In many ways I do feel like completing these paintings was a gift to myself. They are really so much more than paintings to me right now. This project represents something, metaphorically that I've been trying to do for a long time. To not have given up on it means a great deal to me, and reminds me that I'm not a person to simply give up on things I've invested in. In hindsight it might have been the most insightful question I've received all week, so thanks lady from work. And Happy Birthday to me. Whew.

Ciao

I Will Miss This Someday

Salutations!

I have so many things to post and update on. I feel like I haven't been home in a month. There's about a million things demanding my attention. I've been doing a lot on the musical front too. Currently working on songs for two albums (one which is sort of conceptual). Tonight's songful excursion lead me to write a fairly depressing ballad. So this is my 1 a.m. demo (I say demo like there is a mystical time in the future I'll actually record a version of it when I'm not really tired and using my computer mic--laughable... I probably won't. Ever). It's really unfortunate I can't be inspired or productive at reasonably convenient hours of the day. I have a theory on that, but I will elaborate another time. For now you could just listen to this sad song and stuff.

Here's a song! (It's the topmost song)

I Will Miss This Someday (demo)


Here's some lyrics!

"I Will Miss This Someday" (I know, not very clever, I'm tired)

Winter is over

But you don't smile still

And I miss it like

The sweetgrass

Of spring

Winter is over

But you don't look so well

As your vigor and life

Start to melt

Carpet beetles topple and play

Through a patchwork quilt of tousled hay

Citrine and pressed

Where the snow once lay

You look up at me and say

"You know, I will miss this someday"

Winter is over

And all that grows

Is a crushing sense

It all comes to a close

Winter is over

And you're not the one

That is telling yourself

What to do anymore

Your eyes go kind of empty and crossed

You look past the dew, tears crystallize to frost

And you tug my hem gently

As if to say

"You know, I will miss this someday"

"You know, I will miss this someday"

Winter is over

I still walk by our house

As the roof and my heart

Slowly sinks

Winter is over

A skeleton of beams remain

Like a cage

'Round this ghost of a place

And my eyes go kind of empty and crossed

As I look past the wreckage of something I lost

When I turn away, what I mean to say is

"You know, I still miss you some days"

You know, I still miss you some days

You know, I still miss you some days

You know, I still miss you some days

Makin' Stuff.

I've been really wanting to do some graphic design and typography lately. It's hard to self-assign projects though. But I'm feeling a bit rusty and I need to fill my portfolio with more up-to-date design work. I can design if I have to... but most companies don't just take your word for it, ha. 

I was thinking I would play with some song lyrics or poems I liked, but it was taking so long to find something and I really just wanted to start something. So I rummaged through my art studio and found lots of stuff I use to create, and I do create with a lot of different things. I used to be really into collaging (again, not a real word, but using it anyway). Everyone always told me I was really onto something with that kind of work but I kind of abandoned it anyway. I don't really know why, probably for convenience. It's a lot harder to create that kind of stuff without a lot of materials at my disposal. Anyway, I used to go into classes, cafes, through my apartment/house, etc, carrying, fabric, yarn, construction paper, pieces of wood, sewing materials, glitter, you name it. Dirt, I even carried around a cup of dirt for a while. I used to always get the same response from most people.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I've gotten tired of explaining myself, so these days I just say something to the effect of "makin' stuff". This little phrase can actually get you out of a lot of trouble. I used to get away with trespassing just by saying... "this is for an art project" or "Can I record a song in your bathroom? It has excellent acoustics..." I once got to ride the carousel at the mall in syracuse all night because I said it was for a photography project (it was actually for a project, I didn't lie). People are surprisingly lenient when it comes to art. Or maybe people just don't argue because artists are notorious rule breakers anyway. Or if you're a glass half full kind person, maybe they just want the world to be a little more colorful too.

So I decided that would be my phrase and I would make something with that. I spent about 20 minutes scanning and photographing stuff and then about another 30 minutes making the image in photoshop. I used to physically make the words out of various materials back in the day, but I wanted to try something different and quicker this time. It's really hard to encompass all the things I like to do, artistically speaking. I don't know how some artists use the same medium and paint the same way for 30 years. I'd go insane. I think there are a lot of ways to approach a creative problem, and it's okay to employ different tools. 

And funny story, as I was walking downstairs with a tangle of yarn in my arms heading for the scanner my mother said "Uhh what are you doing?"

I think my response was actually "scannin' stuff." but close enough anyway...

The Rodent Hour Returns

Greetings!

A while back I did some radio show posters for my friend Matt and his radio show "The Rodent Hour." Since then our friend Rachel has also joined the radio show. They now host the show together and invite musicians to come onto their weekly show and play some of their tunes and talk a bit about the music! When they aren't interviewing, they are playing a lot of high-voltage rock and songs from their upcoming artists.

This past spring, I made a new poster in the same vein as the original four posters I had done a year previously. This time adding the new information. I also updated and corrected the old copies, and made some bookmarks, for a book give away that Matt and his wife Khris were giving away at the Pratt Campus for World Book Night. The new poster features a blind chipmunk playing the keys, a nice tie in with the guitar playing beaver, the beat poet rat, the playwright chinchilla, and the painting gopher (or at least I think it is, I can't remember anymore, might have been a prairie dog).

Also if you click on the posters here on the blog and they are very saturated... well I'm just not sure what that's about, so I apologize.

So please make sure you tune into pratt radio on Tuesday nights from 8:00 - 10:00 pm, to hear the show, and become a part of their mailing list or follow them on Facebook to receive upcoming news!

https://www.facebook.com/TheRodentHour

Cumulus Book Cover

This is still being tweaked a bit, but this is the general idea of the cover I've been working on. It's starting to look like a real book. Hopefully I can hold it like a real book soon too!

One Hundred Paintings Part XI

Good day! I'm updating once again on my "One Hundred Painting's Project." I aimed to have six paintings done by Tuesday but I was only able to paint four with others in progress. Maybe it's overreaching but I think it's good to try and push myself to do more than I think I'm capable of.

The first painting this week is kind of a reprise of painting number nine, "Don't Let The Night In". There were some problems with this painting at first. For example, one of these sheep had three front legs at one time. Fortunately, I was able to intercept my error and promptly rectify it before posting it to the internet and shaming myself. I'm pretty bad at math, but I'm not that bad. 

That wasn't my only mistake though...I'm like the infamous Alice, who gives herself very good advice but very seldom follows it. I often stray from the path and make the bold decision to try something new. Though, I didn't chase a frustrating and elusive white rabbit down a wormhole into another dimension. My curiosity luckily, has been curbed by lesser evils such as trying daring painting techniques. I'm so mischievous.

I tried this clever trick that Sargent used to do in his watercolor paintings (example here). He used these ultramarine blues for highlights, and siennas for shadows. It's completely counter-intuitive as most things get colder in color as they recede into the distance or are cast in shadow, but his paintings seem to have even more life somehow. Sargent does it way better than I do though and it looked awful when I tried the technique (especially in the context of a non-naturalistic painting). So I repainted the mountains these quirky gumdrop colors. I took out these heinous pine trees too. I think it worked better in the end because it made a greater contrast between the innocently sweet and the deviously sinister.

PAINTING XXXI

"Quiet As Snow"

I can't actually recall why I painted this painting. I think I thought to paint a wood pecker and that it made sense to put something inside of the tree that was unexpected. I knew immediately I wanted to compare the inside/outside and make that a metaphor for someone who might have a hard exterior. I meant to give the tree a more grotesque periphery but it ended up being too nice looking. I wanted it to have more of a contrast than it did. I think that was a flaw I should consider for the future.

PAINTING XXXII

"Inner Beauty"

This next painting was inspired by a conversation with friend and fellow illustrator, Heather Sisson. I told her how I had been meaning to paint a wolf or jumping spider (because they're just so darn cute) and it turned into a challenge for each other and some of our other illustrator friends to create an illustration with a spider in it. Heather also collaged a picture of my face, which is pretty awesome. (Apparently collage can not be used as a verb, by the way. I'm breaking the rules though, and if at this very moment the grammar swat team swings into my bedroom, then so be it. Let 'em riot!) My fellow friends and participators include Alexa Bosy and Chris Harrington (whose illustration isn't posted yet). I'm quite enjoying everyone's interpretations. It was really fun.

Anyway, I didn't paint a wolf and or jumping spider, but instead made a very peculiar illustration based on a poem I wrote last fall. We called them "nonsense poems" because the objective was to take a list of words that had no visible connection and make them connect in a way, or write a poem that was complete nonsense but became about the language rather than the content. Much like an abstract painter might make a painting more about color, line, contrast, ect, rather than an actual subject. In this case I wrote a poem about these avian spiders who come out of the woodwork, steal lemons and make off with them in the night. I could have made an avian wolf spider, but I always pictured them as more leggy, for lack of a better term. I'd been wanting to paint this scene for a while, so I seized the opportunity. 

There is a secret subtext that actually reveals how these spiders have scurvy and that's why they are compelled to steal the all healing-bitter-vitamin C saturated-citrus fruit. Obviously.

PAINTING XXXIII

"Scurvy"

This last painting was born out of a desire to re-paint a screen print I did my last semester of college with Johnny Appleseed as a raccoon. Instead I decided to make said raccoon a bandit (which really isn't far off in appearance or demeanor) who steals fruit. Like a raccoon-fruit stealing Robin Hood... but you know...bad. I could see a fun story coming out of this. I had fun with the title too. I'm all about alliteration. It just makes things so silly and catchy. 

PAINTING XXXIV

"The Fruit Filch"

That's all I have for now. I'm hoping to have a few more paintings up within the week, if life allows and fate dictates. Until next time.