Arthouse Sketchbook Pages 1-9
I recently discovered www.arthousecoop.com and signed up for their sketchbook project.
Everybody who signs up is sent a moleskine sketchbook and a theme.
We have until the beginning of January to fill it up however we please and then we have to send it back to be part of the sketchbook library.
My theme is ‘its not easy being green’.
So far there is no trace of kermit the frog.
I have a few goals I want to achieve with this project.
a. I want to be consistent throughout the entire sketchbook.
Thats why I am using only 1 green micron.
b. Sharing the artistic process of evolution.
I want to illustrate the development of forms from one page to the next.
These sketches will also be layers in a small series of paintings, so that the viewer will be able to follow the process from the sketchbook to the finished product.
c. I am exploring the process of consciously arranging organic forms (DNA, chromosomes, cells) into accidental / natural looking formations. I am very interested in the evolution of life as it becomes more and more artificial, controlled by man rather than nature.
Note *To see a bigger image of the sketch click on it once. You will be directed to my DA page where can click on that image to enlarge it.* I’m not sure why I can’t do this in wordpress, so if anybody knows please do tell!
The cover of my sketchbook is going to be a work in progress throughout the entire time I am working on the sketchbook.
Here I start to gather up the desirable information.
I think this one should have come before page 6.
More to come!
My Journey, Am I There Yet?
I am on the e-mail list for http://www.SUBvertMagazine.com . It is run by two people who’s goals are to help us creatives succeed! What a concept huh? This morning I opened up an e-mail from them with a link to their journey to where they are now in their careers/lives, and it inspired me to write up mine. Its a rough unedited version, but so is the journey, rough and unedited!
I went to school for fine-art at a state university. I knew I was an artist, but I realized very early on that I had no clue how to have a career as an artist. There are no jobs to apply for when you graduate with a BFA. Even though I was in the art department I also had to do general education, which is why I went to a state university instead of an art school like Pratt or The Art Institute. In my english classes we were given very loose topics to write essays about so I found myself researching how to make a career as an artist. I focused on artists in many different arenas to figure out what the possibilities are and where I wanted to land. I discovered there were the art festival artists, the commercial artists, and the gallery artists. I know there are many more ‘categories’, but that is what I focused on. I wanted to focus on how to be a gallery artist. Throughout my college career I sought out opportunities and got my work in some great spaces. I sold paintings and approached my general education teachers to get commissions. Towards the end of college, I took this class that all BFA students at the University of South Florida are required to take. Its called “The Real World”. It was taught by a great guy by the name of Richard Olinger.
We were taught how to ‘do the dance’ of going to art galleries and networking, how to properly document our work, write up artist statements, and the business of art. After this class I spent a lot of time researching opportunities to show my work online. As a result of that I had a chance to have my painting in the Smithsonian as part of a traveling exhibition, and another piece in the Kennedy Center which was sold. When I was on my way to DC for the opening of the show I stopped in NY for a few days. I decided to bring my little portfolio that I carried around with me everywhere around Soho, Chelsea, and as many art galleries as my feet could carry me to in 2 days. Nobody cared to give a girl who looked like she was 16, but was actually around 21 or so even a first glance. I was pretty persistent and most people told me to go to White Columns in Brooklyn. One instance I vividly remember is going into a gallery called The Martin Lawrence gallery and asking the owner how artists are shown in his gallery. He was very mean at first and asked me “You think you are worth 100,000 dollars?”. Really he did! I responded saying, not now, but I will be. I flipped open my portfolio without asking if I could show it to him. I was showing him my piece that was about to be hung in the Smithsonian. Once he saw it he started giving me the goods! He told me to get this book “The Complete Guide to New York Art Galleries”. It has every gallery in New York listed in it, how to contact them, what they are looking for, who they cater to, ect. He told me about the rent of the gallery and how they need to make sure the art on the walls can pay the rent and so on. I eventually went to this White Columns everybody was directing me to. I told the lady where I have been and what I was doing and she was very nice. She asked me if I was OK, because of course those other galleries could care less about me or my questions. Apparently walking around NYC with your portfolio is NOT the way to do it!
In between all this school, life was really tough. I was homeless for 3 months after a break for freedom from my possessive boyfriend. I had friends so I couch surfed and slept on my studio floor while in school. I had no help from family while I was away from home and I am also a severe asthmatic, which prevented me from finishing school at one point because I got so sick living in this off campus dorm that I was hospitalized twice and had to take a semester off to go home and recover. I returned to school the next semester and graduated with distinction because of the drive my art advisor and the dean had seen in me despite all the struggle my advisor also saw me deal with.
After graduation I moved to NY because thats where all the ambitious artists go. Turns out it was so dog eat dog and so overwhelming that I knew I wouldn’t be able to thrive in that atmosphere. During the six months I was there I felt like a little fish writhing for a new place to go and a way to survive and still be able to make art my priority. My thoughts quickly whirled around many ideas and I chose to apply for a job as a flight attendant thinking I could be on call and paint whenever I wasn’t working and that it would be a great way to meet new people from all over. I got the first job I applied for in NY, but didn’t want to live in NY. My second interview was in Chicago and I was flown out there to interview with United. I took the blue line from O’hare downtown for the very first time ever and popped up above ground at Dearborn and Monroe, and I was shocked by the expanse, cleanliness, and beauty of downtown Chicago. I just felt ‘right’ here. The interview was going great until they asked me to take off my shoes and reach the letter ‘A’ on the back of the office door. The interviewer said that my personality was great for the job but that I wasn’t tall enough. I was a little upset, but I found my new home. I came back a month and a half later to visit and figure out a new plan and moved here two and a half months after that in the thick of winter!
This was my first winter ever having lived in Florida most of my life and originally being from South America. I decided to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to make new friends and network. I took classes I didn’t have access to at my former University. A few months into school I found myself running very low on money that I had saved from a few commissions I did in NY. I had to get a part time job, but had a very hard time finding one since I was new to Chicago and in the winter job opportunities are low. Everybody told me to come back in the spring. I eventually stumbled upon an interior paint store in my neighborhood on the way to go get groceries. There were no girls working there and I went up to the counter to ask if they were hiring. The guy at the counter told me the wallpaper department was not hiring, and I corrected him politely stating that I wanted to work in the paint department. He got me an application I filled it out and had an interview with the GM of this small independent business owned by the great grandson of the gentleman who started it in 1886. I was down to $400 dollars when I got the job, but the catch was that I had to be full time. That meant I had to drop a few of my classes at school and waste loan money! AHHHH Long long story short, I worked for 9 months full time while going to school on my days off and then convinced the owner of the store to let me go part time because the GM would never allow it. I showed him my art and told him about my goals and he was happy to oblige. I now work weekends only and I am in the process of firing up my art career for good!
Thanks so very much for sharing your story and helping others! I am also really into helping others. I have a handful of people that I have helped push themselves back into their love of creating. I have also helped artists sell their first paintings and just recently I helped an artist get into a huuuuge show at the Merchandise Mart here in Chicago.
You can find their story here: http://www.subvertmagazine.com/blog/about-us-the-unedited-story/
and I suggest signing up for their e-mails and reading their interviews, its all very genuine, and thats hard to come by!
Art is Keeping Me Busy!
So maybe this post is more for me then for you, but I need to keep track of everything I am involved in and post a new blog at the same time. Two birds with one stone-like blog.
Andersonville Art Festival is coming up and I’m going to be at two locations this year. Is that allowed?
I’m going to have art up where I work, but since they won’t stay open for the late night Friday I am also going to have work up at the Monkey Gallery. Its not really a gallery though, it is a bead store. In exchange for showing my work I am going to draw the owner a Monkey Robot. Should be interesting.
The Monkey Gallery
5238 North Clark Street Chicago, IL
Next up, I am designing a Ketubah for a Jewish wedding.
Currently I am working with two clients on painting murals in their homes.
I finished the texture for one 128 sq. ft. wall today.
Next week I will go put a few layers of paint and glaze on the wall. The finishing touches will include gold metallic paint! Turns out she loves the texture so much I am going to be doing it in her bedroom too.
There will also be a mural in her bedroom and kitchen. Oh and we can’t forget the crown molding that I will be faux finishing.
*Edit* Here are some more pictures further into the process.
Bedroom Texture and Faux Finish.
The other house, which is like a fantasy world, will involve me painting a realistic face of a sun on the ceiling with the beams flowing onto the rest of the walls. I am also going to embellish a very detailed staircase to look enchanted and magical. Next comes a mushroom painted on a barrel ceiling in the kitchen. I will post pictures!
I am also working on opening a jewelry shop on etsy.
I just need to develop a good look for the photographs of the necklaces I have for sale.
I have also donated a print to an America SCORES Chicago charity event.
100% of the proceeds from the project to go support America SCORES Chicago: an afterschool nonprofit providing sport-based (soccer), arts-based (poetry), and service learning programming free to low-income Chicago communities. Learn more at www.americascoreschicago.org
Today I joined http://www.arthousecoop.com/ and signed up to participate in two of their projects.
The sketchbook project and The Spaces Between Us.
http://www.arthousecoop.com/sketchbookproject
My idea is to come up with a theme and dedicate the sketchbook to it.
I better get started with everything!
Every Medium is a Happy Medium.
My biggest hurdle is that I am into almost every facet of the art world.
I love working in many styles and many mediums, but I really admire artists that stick to one style/discipline/medium and master it. I know thats where I need to be eventually, and I feel I am approaching the end of my super experimental stage. I hope!
How did you narrow down and solidify your working style?
Here is a little sampling of all the honey pots I have my little hands in:
oil
acrylics
and watercolors.
I also use inks, and almost any other painting medium you could possibly think of and I combine them all a lot too. Fun fun fun!
Recently, I started getting into digital painting.
I love it, but I still have this pull to use my tangible materials.
Besides painting, I like to do more sculptural installation based work,
resin work,
and performance or collaborative experimental work.
Photography is another facet of art I love to explore. My Canon DSLR was actually bought for me by the first family to ever buy one of my paintings. People can really be amazing!
macro food
figurative
landscape
and other nature related photography
I also do murals and faux finishing. I got started when I asked a muralist if they needed help. A few weeks later they got a big job, and I ended up painting mostly all of the main subjects in every scene.
Here is a detail of one of the lion’s faces from the Daniel and the Lion’s Den room.
Here is the second mural I designed and painted by myself. The first one came out great too!
I did the faux finish under the stairs, and on the wall. The stairs took 3 layers, and it looked amazing.
When I was working in this 7 million dollar mansion I was working for who I believe to be the best decorative designer in the world. Look her up, her name is Jinse Moran.
So as you can see, I need to narrow it down, but its so hard! I love everything. I need a plan!
This winter I am going into hibernate and make mode. I am going to come up with a firm concept before the first glint of white snow hits the ground and cuddle up with my colorful art supplies all winter long.
I have subject matter, I just need to commit to a way of manifesting it.
I have to pick the mediums. (paint, photography, sculpture, mixed media)
I have to pick the surface. (wood, paper, digital)
I have to pick the style. I have a style that is my own, but I need to narrow it down.
Do I want it to be realistic, abstract, surreal, minimalist, or a good combo of tow of those?
Making art is making hundreds of decisions, and I’m going to make them!
Hello world!
Here I will post my many ideas that are swirling around my head, because there are waaay to many to keep to myself.
