More New Work!

I'v taken the advice of my mentor and focused more on abstraction rather than literal translations of the cartoons my work is based on. I have also continued my work with collage but have been experimenting with grids. I have found, with the collage, that the meaning of the text is no longer as important as the visual effect it creates as a background. 

I have been looking at the work of Sue Williams and Tim Rollins lately. 

Working with a grid  

Playing with some kinda gross color combinations

A work very much in process 

Staying Pink . . . for now.

A few things I have been working on. . . 

My mentor encouraged me to be less figurative and and more abstract. I am playing with that idea while maintaining my cartoonish lines. I am also continuing with the pink from the pink elephant drawings but here pushing it further with a neon pink paint. 

Works in progress from today 

Something I've been playing with for a few days now . . . 

detail 

detail 

detail

Studio Day . . . .

Monday in the Studio . . . 

New series based on the previous pink elephants
(better images to follow) 

Still in progress 

Different Spaces

So I officially moved into my Brand New Studio is much larger and brighter than my studio at home and has a big wonderful wall to work on! I am currently working on transforming the room from second bedroom to studio by covering the floor and walls (we are just renting.)

This is my first work at the new place, definitely different . . .

It is messy and angry, this may just be a one time aggressive outlet or it may lead to more. The only way to know is to make more work and see where it leads me.

The newest with one created several weeks ago 

One Experiment Three Ways . . .

Todays experiment three ways . . . 

Blue is the original but I like how it translated into black and white. Definitely different than my previous work but some how very similar at the same time. Possible new direction? I am unsure.

Pink Elephants on Parade

Alright, so it has been a while. August was a very crazy and exiting month. I not only got engaged (to a great guy) but will be moving in to a new apartment within the next week or so with a brand new studio in it!!!! I am very much looking forward to the new studio! My Mentor and I will be meeting there for the first time on Friday the 13th!

Studio wise my reading of feminist literature, which I mentioned in my last post has driven me to play with pink - a color strongly associated with femininity, as opposed to my usual black paint. So came the pink elephants. I enjoyed making the first one so much I decided to make another. With the second piece I drew one image and then moved the projector slightly creating which resembled watching a 3D movie with out glasses. I found this interesting and so drew another layer over it. Several dizzying layers later I stepped away and have just been living with it since. I am still unsure about which pieces if any are compete.

Whats next, I am not sure, but I have started working on some smaller piece again as well the larger work. I think I need to have the two widely differing scales going on in my studio to keep my work moving forward and avoid stagnation.

Pink Elephants 1 in progress 

Progress . . .

Last stage (possibly finished) 

Pink Elephants 2 

Turn the Lights On/Striving for Androgony

So I've continued working on large scale drawings with some success and some failure. Sunday night I was not in the right frame of mind for the studio but pushed myself to work anyways. It turns out it was not worth it, what I came up with was just a mess. A mess I later tried to fix, this of course only made it worse. So for now I have abandoned it and moved on.

On a positive note, I am finding out tricks to working with the projector, the biggest and simplest discovery is to keep turning the lights on! My big mistake with the failed drawing was I kept the lights off and just kept drawing, I did not stop and look up to see how dense the lines were becoming. I think my latest drawing is more successful because I kept turing the lights on.

Research wise, I have been reading Lucy Lippard's From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art and I am finding it fascinating. It is encouraging me, for the first time, to view my work in terms of being a woman Artist. In the past I never wanted my work to be viewed as Feminine. I guess I felt perhaps this would make my work appear weak, or that it (or I) would not be taken seriously if my work was too delicate or fragile looking. But by the same token, I never strove to make my work masculine. I strove (I believe) for androgony. This book is making me reolize that to dig into myself and to make the best most honest work I can, I need to own being a woman artist and not try to hide it. 

What does it mean to be a woman and an artist? Is there really distinct feminine imagery? How do femininity and feminism coexist in art work? Or can they? These are a few of the questions I am thinking through currently.

I am not sure yet how my research and changing interests fit in with my studio work. I am still working mailinly with childrens images although these images have changed as well. I am no longer using a "vintage estetic" but have updated the childrens cartoons. I am using those from my own childhood. I am hoping that as I continue with my work and research that the two will eventualy converge, but as of now things seem quite separate.

The drawing that taught me to turn the lights on! 

Attempt to fix said drawing 

Continued attempts to fix drawing 

Giving up on fixing drawing/ pouring paint all over it because it just can not be fixed.

The details don't look bad though . . . 

During the residency some one asked what this (then small drawing) would look like if it were BIG, how would it change? Well it is now 4ft by 4ft and it has definitely changed!

Latest drawing, and its process . . .