a single man

A Single Man
I saw this movie Friday...it was GREAT. Really great. I always appreciate a movie where there's more to enjoy than just the acting/writing/story...this is one that's just a total joy to see. What would you call that...cinematography? I usually call it the movie's "aesthetic"...It's something that's true of many of my favorite movies, like Lost in Translation, and The Royal Tenenbaums.
This isn't really my usual style. I'm not sure how I feel about this...I mean, I could make one billion of these, and I think it's a pretty popular sort of style, but it doesn't feel very unique, and I'm certainly not pulling it off as well as a lot of great illustrators with a similar style. I need to give this more thought and do more experimenting.
Also, I've been working mostly on Illustrator recently, but I did this one totally in Photoshop. That means giving up a lot of things I've been doing in Illustrator with texture, but it means a whole host of other great things, like getting to keep pencil-y-ness without pulling out all of my hair. Always a good thing, right?

portfolio coming soon!

I'm hard at work on portfolio-related activities. I made the self-portrait above to put on my contact page. Yay! It's very exciting/scary.

happy new year!

An illustration inspired by a recent article in the New York Times about a collection of essays all about The Big Lebowski. (Look! A background!)

As it's New Years Day, some goal-writing for the new year is in order...
1. Take more risks - ie, start working freelance.
2. Get more organized - particularly when it comes to finances.
3. Make more thoughtful purchases - no more clothes hanging around for months in the closet with the tags still on!
4. Have my artwork displayed somewhere...A coffee shop, a gallery, a book store, whatever.
5. De-clutter - I have a move coming up in the summer, my first in 4 years, and I've amassed waaay too many belongings. Some things will be donated, some will be sold, but I need to start moving on that, because the clutter is weighing me down!

And I am not calling these "resolutions." The word makes me shudder. I don't resolve to do these things. I aim to do them. It's an important difference!

Playing with Textures

Playing with texture = tons of fun. Today I had a bit of an epiphany in Illustrator, realizing the enormous potential of the Brush tool. Somehow, though, adding these textures makes my computer/Illustrator enormously tired...I mean, not that that will stop me or anything, but it sure is a pain!

Meanwhile, in life, I have a big break coming up and plan on going all out producing illustrations so I have enough that I'm proud of to put together an online portfolio in January. I currently own cleverviolet.com, but it forwards to my etsy site...I wonder - should I use that as my portfolio site, or look into buying my full name? Or both??? What do you think?

illustration progress

Taking a class makes producing artwork a necessity, rather than an added luxury, every day. I love it. I am totally accomplishing things - and not just stuff for class, but personal projects - on a regular basis. I've been forced to figure out all sorts of tools on Illustrator and Photoshop that I usually try to get around, because "getting around" these issues would normally hinder my progress or take away from the quality of the work. Which is not to say my work's quality is improving dramatically...at the very least, being so productive means getting closer to finalizing my style, and hasn't that been the goal all along?

And today! I have been painting. For fun. Which I haven't done in ages (weeks). Hurray!

getting things done

I had a huge to do list to work through this weekend and surprisingly, I've made a lot of progress. Yesterday I did schoolwork, then in the evening I tried to do some illustrating, and it was a TRAINWRECK. I was miserable. But I woke up with some fresh ideas, and completed three different illustrations that I'm very happy with. And started one other one that may or may not get finished, depending on how much time I want to spend learning about textures on photoshop. But today...Today. I have made some new buddies. One of them I will call Illustrator, one I will call Cut Out McFilter, and one I will call My Printer. I am getting them to help me in new exciting ways and I couldn't be happier about it!

Above: The first illustration assignment for my class, based on an article from the New York Times about parents letting their children run around without clothes on, and other adults finding it inappropriate. Well, something to that effect I believe. 5x10" acrylic/pencil on wood.

Richard and Leonard have the same favorite color

Acrylic on wood, 10x10"

It's so nice to be able to do a teeny bit of painting while school is in full swing and super crazed. It's also soooo nice that my illustration class is happening, and starting Tuesday!!!

is this an illustration?

It must be, right? It's illustrative. Right?

It's been extremely challenging to find time to paint/create now that the school year has started up again. I've been a bit disappointed by it. I've found a little time over the past week or so though - there's a weekly meeting where my drawing little pictures isn't yet frowned upon, and a few days ago I started trying to create little silly illustrations like the one above, on a hopefully daily basis. I hope to paint a bit over the coming three day weekend. Also, I'm signed up for an Editorial Illustration class in Manhattan that starts in a few weeks - here's hoping it doesn't get cancelled! (Currently I'm the only person registered. Whoops.)

Ted

Ted, acylic/pencil on wood, 6x6"

This is my first self-driven "assignment" - a portrait of the dear departed Ted Kennedy. So many well-known figures have died this summer, and often after reading news of another death, I am temporarily fixated. Do other people do this? After Michael Jackson's death I spent way too much time on the internet reading up on him, not to mention watching all the youtube music videos - including Thriller, multiple times. Something similar has happened in the past few days with Ted Kennedy. Obviously, there are way fewer music videos to watch on youtube, but I'm so intrigued by everything I've read about him. I don't know a lot about politics, but I've watched enough news parody programs/Saturday Night Live skits to know a few things. I read through Kennedy's obituary on nytimes.com last night, though, trying to get a sense of why people speak so fondly of him, and I found out quite a lot! Here is my favorite quote they posted of his, from after he lost the 1980 Democratic presidential primary.

“For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

zebras and going back to school

"Jason and Peanut dress alike on Wednesdays"

I finished this one a week ago. Now I have four kids + animals paintings! It's very exciting to see them all together. It's also confusing...I want the paintings to all have a similar "look" but I don't think they really do. They all have a child, and an unusual pet, and that's all well and good, but the way they're painted isn't similar enough for me. I'm not sure.

Meanwhile, I start teaching again in two weeks, and I need to start strategizing about how I'm going to keep myself motivated to create when I'm not at school. Last year I did pretty well painting on week nights, but I didn't complete anything too big or exciting...mostly it was just little exercises at abstract stuff, which is still so hard for me. I plan on taking an Editorial Illustration class starting in October, that meets once a week for two months, which will help.

natural history museum inspiration

A few months ago I started craving a visit to the Museum of Natural History here in New York. I wanted to see those lush, old, retro-colored dioramas filled with stuffed animals. After many failed attempts to organize a trip, the big day arrived yesterday.

What's not to love about these dioramas? (Except for the depressing part about the dead animals/taxidermy, and seeing baby animals and wondering how those were collected...Let's ignore that part.) The aesthetic is fantastic! And there are so many different hallways and exhibits to walk through! The bears will always be my favorite, but the African Mammals exhibit was amazing as well. Two floors of all sorts of familiar and unfamiliar creatures, like elephants and ostrichs and greater and lesser koodoos and elands (a word I know only from crossword puzzles) and so many more.



The highlight of the visit, besides the diaromas, was seeing a special exhibit called Extreme Mammals. We learned about the biggest and smallest mammals, yes, but the best part was seeing lots of creepy weird mammals that went extinct thousands of years ago...beavers with horns, whales with four legs, and a wooly mammoth-type monster with a long silly gonzo nose, to name a few. We watched sugar gliders hop around a little mini-environment, and discussed the pros and cons of having baleen instead of teeth. Just fyi: humans are apparently the only two-legged mammals who "walk" - I think all the others hop? Or most of the others hop, and some do other things? Still. We are unique!

Meanwhile, I'm still working on finding a local place to show some art. I have organized the results, but there is a bit more fact-finding to do before I narrow it down to a few places to actually approach. I started working on my artist statement, and am varnishing a few pieces that I want to move out of here. More information to come!

Game on!

Today I go on my first fact-finding mission throughout the area, looking for potential venues for showing/hanging/selling artwork. Coffee shops, diners, small stores...Game on!

Normally I'd make a nice template that I could fill out for each location, just so I could stay super organized. Unfortunately, my computer and printer are no longer speaking so I am going to have to take notes in a little notebook with no formatting whatsoever. Still, exciting, no?

Things I will consider:
1. Does the venue already have artwork on its walls? If so, what kind?
2. Does it seem like my artwork would fit with the venue's vibe?
3. How crowded is the venue? How many people will be seeing my artwork?
4. What kind of customers come to this venue? Families/yuppies/hipsters?

After I've gathered the information, I plan on choosing my top 3 venues and organizing everything I need to approach them about my artwork. I might have some brochures/flyers made. It's very exciting! And I need to work on an artist statement so I can join the local artist group here.

hank

I met Hank while in Denver for the past two weeks and needless to say, fell desperately in love. This portrait is one of two Hank-related paintings I created while there. I have many other Denver pictures uploaded to my flickr so more Denver paintings should be coming soon. Oh, Hank.

back in the saddle again

After a particularly rough week at work, I am feeling newly inspired to return to painting every day. We'll see how long it lasts.

Here is what I "finished" last week - my series of travelers. I'm calling them "Where have you been?"



I also just finished three little mini-paintings that feel Finally! Original! Sort of. No! I refuse to be a downer. They look like my own. I can see shadows of the many many artists I admire, but these are Truly My Own. I'm super happy with them. Pictures to come!

back to work!

I went by school today to meet with another teacher. Suddenly all I can think about is planning and students and advising and meetings. I was planning on stopping by utrecht on the way home, but decided against it. Will returning to work completely end my creative streak?? I certainly hope not!

Last night I made some gocco prints to touch up with acrylic paint. I think using acrylic paint on paper might be some sort of no-no, but I am not concerned. It doesn't make the paper buckle like gouache or watercolor would.


These are printed on some nice cover weight papers I got from a cute store in Manhattan whose name escapes me at the moment. I also have them on white paper, but I think I prefer the brown. I hope to get them up on etsy soon!

keep doing it!

Two big things have inspired me in the past few weeks.

1. Matte Stephen's interview at Grain Edit. In the interview, he talks about how he got into painting. I expected a background full of art awards, MFAs, and success. Instead, he talked about how he decided he'd be a painter, did a ton of research and experimenting, talked to lots of people and read lots of books, and finally found success. I mean, I'm sure he's always been talented, but to hear that there can be success from hard work, rather than just success from general awesomeness...that's amazing. (Also, check out his etsy shop. I love his style.)

2. I have been painting consistently for the past few weeks. I recently whined to my roommate that I'm going to be a painter, except that perhaps I can't be a painter because I'm not good enough. She replied, "Keep practicing!" Again! Apparently, awesomeness can come from practice. I cannot be reminded of that enough.

Finished triptych:

Why I Am Doing This

1. For as long as I can remember, I have been a lover of the visual arts. For almost as long, though, and probably like many people, my artistic endeavors have filled me with as much anxiety as happiness. There is invariably someone else doing what I'm doing, and comparisons have to be made. I'm not sure when that point comes in life when drawing stops being awesome and starts being borderline misery. Luckily, I've always been a bit arrogant about my artistic skills, so I was not affected as much as most. Still, why do we want our drawings to look good? And if we want them to look "good", why is it that so many of my current inspirations draw in a very youthful style? What is it that makes some less accurate drawings "good" while others just look like chicken scratch?

2. How do people find their creative voice? Can you have a voice without seeing it? When does it come out, and what makes it original?

3. I spend many of my waking hours consumed by a need to CREATE! something, RIGHT! NOW! There are lots of exclamation points involved.

4. I have a lot of crafty hobbies. I'm probably not alone. How do some people maintain their creative voice across different mediums? Not like, drawing and painting. More like, printmaking/sewing/design. And can you have too many hobbies? Is it like too many cooks spoiling the broth?