OK, maybe not. The pen is not one of my favorite drawing tools. I’ve been playing around with it some. Now I’m in a class where we had to do a project in pen.  The first drawing are just copies, meaning I just copied another drawing. I felt stifled because I just had to recreate it following someone else’s  pen strokes.

I realize this was part of the learning process, and giving me a chance to practice my technique.

The last one is of my own hand. I got to pick the subject and how I did the pen strokes. I enjoyed it more, but I still prefer drawing with pencils.

In addition to the many other things I do, I coordinate the gallery space at my church, University Baptist. As part of my blog this year, I am going to feature the month’s artist or photographer.

This month is Rod Hunter. Here is what he says about himself:

I picked up my first real camera in Spain while serving on the aircraft carrier USS America, (almost 25 years ago!), the beautiful scenery of the Mediterranean and the aviation action onboard made me want to capture my perspective on film. Today I am always learning and experimenting with the amazement that is the digital photo age.

I prefer to shoot in natural settings and do not utilize a studio. I believe that taking a photograph is merely the first step in creating a piece of art, but it’s not all about that. It’s also about having a natural eye behind the camera, it’s about knowing the light, the location, the subject. It’s about treating each client like a friend.

Check out more of Rod’s work at his website, http://www.rodhunterphotography.com/

Repetition Nineteen III 1968

Untitled, 1966

I first discovered Eva Hesse in a issue of Vogue. Talk about art and fashion meeting. I was intrigued by her organic sculptures.  They were unlike anything I had ever seen before.  I loved her use of industrial materials like latex, fiberglass, and polyester resin to create sensual and organic forms.   I have only ever seen one of her pieces in person. I went to the Sol LeWitt x2 at the Austin Museum of Art in 2008. I came across this piece and loved it before I even knew it was Eva Hesse.

Accession-V-1968

She was born in Germany in 1936, and was able to escape to New York with her family in 1939. She was creating art in New York in the late 1960s. She died in 1970 from brain tumors, believed to be caused by the chemicals she was working with.

Untitled 1970

Studiowork-1968

Drawing

Contingent, polymer, 1968

Accession II, 1969,

Eva Hesse

Here is a post about her painting:

http://structureandimagery.blogspot.com/2011/10/painter-eva-hesse.html

Goals

I admit I have trouble with goals. I have trouble making meaningful goals and keeping them. But today I decided I need them if I want to get things accomplished. So today after journaling, I wrote a list of things I want to do this year.

I am continuing in school, but I want to spend more time on other creative pursuits.  Some  of the goals are ones I started last spring but lost focus  on.  A facebook friend posted a link to a book called Start to Draw Your Life by Michael Nobbs, a fulltime artist, blogger and tea drinker. ­­­­­­­­­( http://www.sustainablycreative.com/stdyl-download/ ).  In his book, Michael encourages you to draw every day.  I had already be thinking of this because I have slacked off.  I was trying to draw daily during the summer, and then had to do it for a class in the fall. For the class, I felt pressured to produce quality, where previously I was drawing to experiment and practice.

This morning I also came across this quote, “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day” by  Edith Lovejoy Pierce. When I posted  it I added ,”In my case, it’s a sketch book.”  So yes a goal of mine is to create 356 drawings this year. Some will be good, some will be bad, and some, hopefully, will teach me something.

Helen Frankenthaler,

Abstract Painter

Who Shaped a Movement,

Dies at 83

“I don’t resent being a female painter. I don’t exploit it. I paint.”

Mountains and Sea

Snow Pines

East and Beyond

I am fascinated with this period of art.  Read more about her here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/arts/helen-frankenthaler-abstract-painter-dies-at-83.html?_r=2&hp

I have a show going on at Hyde Park Bar & Grill now through January 16th. I decided I wanted to create some new work for it based on my Self Portrait series.  I managed to create  6 small pieces. I photographed the process of two of them.

Here I have put wood icing on two prepared 12 in x 12 in   panels. These are Ambersand panels from Jerry’s. Since they were out of the encaustic ones,  I got two gessoed ones and covered them with encaustic gesso. Better safe than sorry.

I have added some color with pastels. I  have colored wax, but wanted a softer effect so I played with the pastels.

Here I have added the collage pieces, all various paper cut outs that mean some thing to me in context with the piece. I added color with the ink for two reasons. One I wanted to see how it would work, adding in a little more color, and two, I ran out of black ink and didn’t want to leave my studio that day at all.

The finished pieces. I covered each with several layers of wax medium, which, instead of being clear, was a warm natural beeswax color. I then rubbed metallic oil paint sticks lightly into the surface. The piece on the left in titled “The Artist”, and the right one,  “The Outcast”.  I will take pictures of all six pieces when they come down from the show,  and post them here.

Our final project in this class was to make a city for a game with a Blade Runner/ Dark City feel.  The top image is what it started as, and the bottom image is the final. I used 3DS Max and Photoshop CS5 for everything. I did make all the textures on the building. I started with an image, then used Photoshop to make it how I wanted. I like modeling, but my favorite is the texturing part. I guess that is the costume designer in me. The most challenges part was when I had to start over because I was having  glitches in the program. I had to copy everything into a new file. Nail biting, but luckily, I didn’t lose everything. The other challenge was the second week of class we found out to get everything into the engine , we had to lower the polygon count. I started with about 40,000, and got it down to 14,000. Talk about a learning experience from the real world. Some of my class mates grumbled but after working n retail for almost 10 years, I am use to things like that. Below is more images from my building. Our instructor actually put all our buildings and assets  into a game engine that we got a copy of and can play around in like (or almost like) a real game.  Pretty cool for a beginner class. I can’t wait to learn more.

Reaping 8.5 x 11

Pleasure 11 x 8.5

Bearing Fruit 8.5 x 11

These pieces are part of the series I titled “What Lies Beneath”.  The series is about layers and how things are always  different beneath the surface from what they seem.  The backgrounds I actually created several years ago at a workshop, but felt they needed more. Since much of this series is images of fruit, I have been drawn to fruit. Then I noticed on several art journaling site that using stamps on book pages has become the new thing. I loved the way it looked. I thought the image of a fruit drawn on old book pages would  work really well with the existing collages. I am happy with the results, and will play with this idea more in the future. I am glad I decided not to get rid of these collages.

Harvest 8.5 x 11

Death 11 x 8.5

Temptation 8.5 x 11

Sensual 11 x 8.5

Sunny 8.5 x 11

This series I titled “What Lies Beneath”.  The series is about layers and how things are always  different beneath the surface from what they seem.    I incorporated word and symbols. Each piece has several layers, and I tried to remove the top layers to reveal small glimpses of the bottom layers. It was an interesting process on deciding what to reveal and what to hide.

For example, an apple is a simple piece of fruit, but it has some much history and symbolism tied to it that it is no longer just an apple. Much of this history and symbolism is contradictory.  The apple symbolizes temptation from the Bible, but also health, as in “A apple a day keeps the doctor away”.  So what does a painting of an apple mean? That is for you, Dear Viewer, to decide.

The Mother 8.5 x 11

The Paramour 11 x 8.5

The Outcast 8.5 x 11

Here is the rest of the series, do you recognize yourself  in any of these?