Yet another reason to love winter

When it's 0 degrees out, it's perfectly acceptable for me to throw my long winter coat over my studio clothes and go shopping. Never mind that those studio clothes are really paint-stained sweats with holes in them. A nice long coat makes it all ok. Yay winter!

The February Plan

I'm still experimenting with my work patterns and habits to see how I can do my best, most prolific painting. To that end, I've decided to start giving myself various art-oriented goals each month to get me to try new things.

For February I just wanted to get going again - the long, drawn-out move got me very out of practice with my daily art habit. To that end, I gave myself a simple task: start at least two canvases a week. They can be any size, any subject, any medium.

Since I already had a couple canvases in progress from January, that means I'll finish February with at least 10 in-progress canvases (at the rate I'm going, I probably won't end up finishing many of them this month, but that's fine). I like this challenge because it's making me get past that fear of the blank canvas and just get painting. And on days when I just don't feel like dealing with a blank page, I have plenty of in-progress works to choose to work on.

I think March's plan will be to require a certain number of painting hours per week, plus some other aspect which is yet to be decided.

I needed something to decorate the walls in our new apartment

While I am in Zurich right now, I swear I had nothing to do with the big art heist that went down Sunday.

I am, however, kicking myself that in two years of living in Zurich I never once made it to the Buehrle Collection. What was I thinking? I hereby promise to not be so negligent in my examination of Munich's art.

White board walls

How much fun would it be to paint the walls of my studio with this stuff and just make them giant dry-erase boards?

I am an artist.

Wanted to put that out there today. Thanks, Linda.

Too Old

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with myself when we decided to move to Munich. I had a hunch I wanted to more aggressively pursue my career as an artist, and so I investigated going back to art school as an option. I found the website of the Akademie der bildenden Künste München and eagerly read through the information presented for those hoping to be admitted for an art degree course. I got so excited thinking about life as a full-time art student - how much I would enjoy the various challenges in each course, how much I could grow as an artist with all that new knowledge.

And then I started reading through the admissions requirements. And then I came to this bit: (Section 6.1.a.)

Minimum Age: Eighteen years at last birthday
Age Limit: Thirtieth birthday

Fabulous. My over-30-year-old-brain just isn't worth their time. Too shriveled and useless to benefit from art school!

Studio!

The single most exciting thing about our new apartment is that it contains a room which I get to use as my studio. A whole room just for my art! I've never had that before. It's thrilling. I love this room. It is big and bright and has a big window with a lovely view.

Except for my easel and art supplies, my studio is still pretty empty - I want to get to know the room a little bit before I decide what additional items I want to acquire for it. Plus I love how much floor space is available for me to spread out in.

Speaking of the floor, it is brand new - the landlord had it re-done right before we moved in. While it looks fabulous, the pristine surface has me terrified. What if I stain it? Get paint on it? Ruin it? For now I'm using a couple rolls of the fabric floor covering the movers left here (at my request) to keep myself sane, but I'd like to come up with a better (and more attractive) long-term solution.

The walls create a similar stress point: they are newly painted and hole-free. But the good news is that here in Germany we are required to re-paint them when we move out anyway, so in theory I can go ahead and mess them up as much as I want. Still, it's hard to make that first mark...

Getting back into things

I spent the last month and a half of 2007 traveling without a single art supply; so far 2008 has mostly been occupied with settling in in our new apartment in our new city (Munich). One of the most exciting things about this new apartment is that I have a studio in it. I'm still figuring out how I want everything arranged (and what additional furniture I'd like for the room), but I have managed to get the easel set up and have started a new painting. I'm very excited to get back into the rhythm of painting daily. I also plan to start updating this blog more regularly.

I have a few commissions that I need to get to work on. I also need to find a good local source of art supplies. I went to check out a couple shops in my new neighborhood, but their offerings are limited. So much to do...

It's up!

We put up my show this morning. It was crazy seeing all my paintings somewhere besides in a pile in the corner of my bedroom.



I'm very excited and nervous for the opening tomorrow. Wish me luck...

New subject

I'm still working on a few portraits, but I decided it was high time to start on a new body of work, as well. So I've started on a series of cityscape paintings. The first ones were inspired by the canals of Milan's Navigli neighborhood. Here's one of the works in progress.

I will be painting furiously for the next month, as I have an exhibit opening in Zurich in November. So much to do!

I want an art allowance!

Small Collectors - wealthy kids buy fancy art

Collage play

This month's art projects are all about playing around. I don't really care what the final products look like - just so long as I experiment and enjoy it.

This collage is made up of images from college alumni magazines and Italian food magazines. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep working on it, or just move on to something else. That's part of the fun of playing - if I don't feel like finishing a project, I don't have to. Just the process has given me some ideas for future projects.

Just play

I've hit a big lull in my artistic production these days. It kind of feeds on itself, this lack of production, until it becomes really difficult to jump back in. So this month, I've decided to up my output by lowering my standards. It doesn't really matter what I create, as long as I'm creating. No pressure, just play.

As a start, I played around with some new water-soluble crayons this weekend. Next I think I'm going to cut up some magazines and make some silly collages.

Photo Friday: Unfinished

Unfortunately I have way too many 'unfinished' ones lying around.

Progress

I have taken much too long of a hiatus from my painting. I have four canvases in progress, all of which were started months ago. This one, Tomoko, which I was most afraid of ruining, is finally coming along. I basically destroyed the face and started it again, but without changing the layout. I am happy with the progress I'm making on it. I think it's time to leave it for a bit and move onto one of the other works in progress.

An interesting little tour of women in art

Work in Progress: Tomoko

I often reach a point in a painting where I really love something about it, even though I don't love it as a whole and I know it's not finished. I get kind of panicky at this point, because I'm afraid that if I work on the painting too much more, I'll ruin whatever it is that I love about it.

Take this demo done by another artist, for example. I like several of the early drafts of his work - how did he know to keep going? Perhaps because he had a clear image of the goal, perhaps because he was following a certain technique. I'm still experimenting with my techniques, and don't know what my finished paintings will look like when I start them. This painting has gone through many iterations already to get to where it is now.

Realism isn't the goal, although I do strive to make my subjects recognizable. I like it when paintings are a little rough around the edges, and I try to resist over-polishing my works. But I also don't want to quit before they're really done.

What I probably need to do is learn to get over it. Just plow ahead, and not be so afraid of ruining a half-finished painting. I can learn from mistakes. To take away this feeling of 'preciousness' that I start to associate with my works, I should start making more of them. Work on multiple canvases simultaneously, and hold myself to more of a schedule. It's too easy to put painting on the back burner when things get busy around here.

I'm going to be traveling for most of the next two weeks, but when I come back I will start a new painting schedule. Start at least one new painting each week. Also, at least one new art blog post per week, to help me reflect on my progress.

The Apple Escapes

30 x 30 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2007.

My dad asked if this was based on an actual escape attempt that occurred in my kitchen. Answer: nope, this scene is totally staged. Sorry to disappoint.

I am donating this painting to the silent auction that will be held as part of the Hands On Switzerland Valentine's Day Gala.

Apples and their reflections

30 x 45 cm, oil on canvas, 1992.

In high school I took two years of AP Art. One year my theme was portraits, and the other year it was fruit. I can't remember exactly why I chose fruit. Probably as much for its ease as anything. You don't need much space to set up a still life. Fruit offers an array of colors, textures, and shapes for the artist to play with. And except for the inevitable decomposition that occurs if you drag out the work too long, fruit proves to be a rather static and obedient subject matter.

This particular painting is the only piece of my early work that I have here in Zurich. For some reason it traveled here with me, stowed away in my portfolio case full of otherwise blank and unused art supplies. I'm not really sure why - this isn't my best painting from that time, or even my favorite.

I have started on another portrait, but I have also been looking around for another subject matter to try out. This painting reminded me of my earlier fruit period, and once again drawn in by the ease and simplicity of this subject matter, I decided to set up a new still life. I'll let you know if it proves fruitful. :)

Yoshiko

40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006-2007.

I'm not sure this one is finished (which is how I feel about most of my paintings when I post them here). I do at least need a break from it - I've stared at it too much. I'm looking forward to starting something new. Perhaps this time I'll get several canvases going at once.