Studio Journal Entry #7

HIHI.

SO, had a critique in painting this week and got a lot of good artists to start researching.  HERE THEY IS:

Tom McGrath

Turner

Keith Mayerson

Dana Shutz

Tomory Dodge

Dirk Screber

Richard Misrock

Edward Bertinsky

Jimmy Leslie

and.. Japanese Woodcuts

Tomory Dodge

I really like how ambiguous this painting is while still being descriptive.  I've been dealing with light a lot in my paintings and I think it is used intelligently and subtly in this particular piece.  Dodge keeps his brush strokes very gestural, but still creates a contained, sensible landscape.    

Keith Mayerson

Like with the Dodge piece, I was initially drawn to this painting because of the way Mayerson handles the light.  Everyone can relate to experiencing a fuzzy, out of focus nocturnal city scape.  The way in which Mayerson handles the light in this painting is like nothing I have ever seen before.  He is using the same traditional landscape format that I have been using.  This is proof that you can still be traditional and interesting at the same time.  There is something that I find unsettling about this painting, however.  The color choice and ambiguous flashes of light in the sky give me an uneasy feeling.  Everything appears to have a yellow tint.  Perhaps that is where the unsettling feeling is stemming from.  This reminds me very much of my boat painting.  I appreciate the manner in which Mayerson suggests forms and shapes in this painting without being too exact.

I read an interview with Dana Shutz with Peter Halley today.  I really appreciated how informal and personal it kind of was.  Dana Shutz seems like a hip chick.  Here's the link: http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/dana_schutz.shtml

I really like how Shutz says she got the idea for her paintings of the "self-cannibalizing" people from her own doodles.  Sometimes artists don't need definitive, meaningful areas in which they gather material from which to paint.  Sometimes we just paint something because we want to and not for some deeper meaning.  Sometimes the question "why" really irks me.  ARGGG

GOALS:

PAINT.

Studio Journal Entry #6

Herro....

Been working on my drawings more recently than my paintings. I want to somehow fuse the two styles and see how it works out.  My drawing somewhat resembles landscape as well.  I think that's interesting being that it was unintentional- a lot more of our artistic impulses could be subconscious.  Anyway, I think it's kind of Mehretu-esque. 

 Oh, and this is a painting I just started working on.  Boats- SURPRISE!  Gonna continue with this guy and start on a new painting simultaneously.  

I figured I'd read an article concerning Catherine Murphy since she's a hit at Mason Gross nowadays.  I find her to be EXTREMELY talented.  I used to only draw photo-realistically so I can truly appreciate her renderings.  In the article, "Art Show: Catherine Murphy" by Peter Terzian, she speaks about her super realized approach to art.  Here's the link : 

http://www.elledecor.com/decorating/articles/art-show-catherine-murphy 

I found this excerpt particularly intriguing- "people ask, aren't noses hard?  I hardly know I'm painting a nose.  If the stupid thing will stay still, noses are apples are floors are whatever.  The more precise I get, the more abstract the painting or drawing is." This quote reminds me of something my mother always says to me (something her father used to say to her)- paint what you see, not what you know.  Sometimes paintings and drawings can become unsuccessful if an artist begins to overwork something.  With me, I sometimes become stuck if something doesn't look like what the actual object is.  This year, I'm trying to become more expressive in my work in attempts to avoid nitpicking.  With Catherine Murphy, however, her ability to paint and draw so realistically has become an abstraction in itself.  She overlooks the actual landscape, body part or image and focuses on the smaller components as individual pieces.  The individual parts become abstractions on their own, and when completed, they form a highly photorealistic work of art.  Depending on how you look at it, abstraction is EVERYWHERE, even when looking at photorealism. 

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK 

Continue on with painting.  Re-gesso the painting I don't like and put that modeling medium stuff on it to create more texture.  I think working on a more textured surface will allow me to paint more freely.  I think it's a psychological thangg.  More goals will surface when I man up and start on a larger painting.  

Studio Journal Entry #5

SOOOOOOOO... Kind of slowed down with painting this week and got a lot more material to work from.  I came home and got a bunch of cool pictures.  I went to the same location as my nocturnal boat painting and took pictures throughout the day as the light changed.  Different atmospheres arose which will make for interesting paintings.  I think I want to keep painting the same location.  I am being redundant.  I took some pictures of the dock during daylight and some during dusk.  It will be interesting to see how different emotions arise when viewing the painting of this location during various times of the day.  That didn't make much sense- I think I am having trouble articulating today.  It makes sense to me though so I'll just have to execute so I can show all of you!   Here are some of the pictures I plan to work from-

We'll see how this goes.  For the thesis show I may just show boat and landscape paintings.  I still wanna try out painting pictures of my Grandmother's destroyed house but I am nervous to see how they will come out.  We shall see. 

Catherine Murphy showed a drawing she did of buttons and I was inspired.  I had a revelation, or idea rather, and want to try incorporating buttons into my paintings.  I want to start introducing collage into my work.  My future plans involve this- Button and cardboard.  Before painting on a canvas, I want to glue down these things and paint overtop.  It will create a unique texture and visual dynamism.  This is a huge project so maybe that will be what I work on all next semester.  

So I've been reading from the MOMA's, "On Line" by: Cornelia H. Butler and Cathering De Zegher.  I found some interesting reads concerning collage and the space it creates.  On page #34 of Line/Plane/Space: In Tension (1910-1960), it reads, "By now it had become clear that tearing and cutting into patterned or colored papers withdrew the line so that contour accrued instead to the paper's edge, and became increasingly coextensive with real space.  This transference directed the viewer's attention to outlining new relations; collage opposed the simple literalism of figure against ground, allowing a visual play of discrepant scales and styles.  Increasingly, the focus was on relation and on line.  The marks once used to augment representational resemblance- shading and modeling, hatching and crosshatching- all these faded in importance."  

My take: I think that relating mixed media and collage to "actual space" is interesting.  I agree.  For me, layering creates multiple dimensions that are not otherwise present.  Even if this layering or collage technique does not represent a recognizable space, it definitely creates a space with depth.  I want to start utilizing collage.  Ripped paper, cardboard, buttons etc.  It is so much more interesting to observe artwork, especially paintings, that are three dimensional due to the use of collage.  I read a few other excerpts concerning collage that I enjoyed, but other than that I found the book a bit jumbled and confusing.  The authors went off on a few too many tangents.  Oh well, can't like everything you read.

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK:  

Since I have more material to work from I can continue on with my boat paintings.  My ideas are starting to evolve and make more sense.  I like my idea of painting the same location during different times of the day.  I won't have an idea concerning the outcome until I begin.  So, I gotta get on it.  Also, I want to start making more sense of my collage idea.  I have to start collecting materials now.  Things usually take a lot longer than I expect.  I also want to paint over my painting of the dock and sunrise.  I think it sucks and is on the verge of becoming one of those corny oceanic landscape paintings.  I purchased modeling paste so I think I am going to make a textured surface over that painting and start over.  We must flunk sometimes to further succeed as artists.  I'm excited for this upcoming week.  

Studio Journal Entry #4

NEWEST PAINTING

I feel very pleased with my latest painting.  I have been taking more risks as the semester moves on-  I guess one has no choice when working from photographs, right?  I'm home in Cape May this weekend so I'm gonna go around to the local docks to take pictures for more boat material.  My research has slowed down a bit while I'm concentrating on producing more.  I'm excited to continue painting like this.  I just hope everything keeps flowing as smoothly as it has!  

CRITIQUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 7th 

Critique went really well.  Catherine Murphy stopped in to ours and had a lot of constructive criticism for each of us.  She is really open to and interested in all genres of art.  I found this great being that the majority of her work is photo-realistic.  She urged me to continue with making my paintings engaging and brooding.  She suggested I begin working larger.  I definitely want to heed this advice, but I'm terrified!  I have not worked larger than 4'x4'... It's about time to face my fear though and just dive in.  Larger paintings make more of an impact on their viewers, and that is undoubtedly what my overall goal is.  

For my next painting I want to utilize the similar techniques of Peter Doig and Egon Schiele.  Both of their styles are incredibly unique, and a fusion would be nothing short of intriguing.  I especially like the fragmented quality of Schiele's landscape paintings.  They are kind of awkward in a sense and give me an uneasy feeling.  

Egon Schiele: Autumn Trees    

       

" Art cannot be modern, art is eternal"- Egon Schiele

So I have been reading a few excerpts from "Between Ruin and Renewal" on Egon Schiele by Kimberly A. Smith.  Here's the link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=U_xpaF86M8IC&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=egon+schiele+landscape+interview&source=bl&ots=8S21rdsmmv&sig=WwMupfNnyOmA6bKMpw7w6qL_ZL0&hl=en&ei=5viVTtvIG-X10gGRnJC9Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false

One particular section focuses on the painting, Autumn Trees (pictured above ^).  The "composition remains focused on the trees' striking presence within an empty landscape".  "Aside from the trees few objects are present, adding to the sense that these organisms are as capable of transmitting important content as any human body" (pg 141).  Sometimes, less information is more.  Perhaps I can try focusing more on the object I want my viewers to pay most attention to.  I just hope the object will not seem disconnected from the ground in which it lies. I have a few photos of boats in the water with little surrounding information.  Perhaps I could take this further and put the surrounding landscape on the back burner.  My pieces could then become figurative in a sense- kind of like a silhouette painting.  I guess it all depends on the way I handle my paint and brush stroke.  This is a relatively new idea so I need to flesh it out more.

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK

*BIGGER CANVASES! 

*Collect more images of boats and docks from home

*Do sketches on site so more emotion and preciousness can become evident in my paintings- after all that is what I am aiming to do

*Keep taking risks

Studio Journal Entry #3

 PETER DOIG MODE! 

This week Marc gave me a pretty extensive list of artists to consider for my landscape paintings.  I've been looking into a few pretty specifically.  I think it is time for me to really push my approach to landscape painting.  I feel that I have been pretty cautious with the paintings I have been working on so far this semester.  I want to become more impulsive- over the years I have realized that "just going with it" can yield rewarding results.  I have taken a break from researching the concept and theme behind my thesis idea and have continued with familiarizing myself with all sorts of landscape painters.  I feel it will help me realize various techniques and styles I could possibly practice myself.  Lately, I have become especially intrigued by Peter Doig and his sort of washy approach to painting.  I particularly appreciate his use of solids to depict surrounding plants and trees.  Layering seems to be a crucial technique throughout the majority of his paintings.  Doig treats the manner in which he paints flora and architecture quite separately.  He paints trees and plants more freely with organic shape, and then buildings in a more geometric, hard-edged manner.  I think this creates an interesting dialogue when used in the same painting.  It seems Doig takes a great deal of his own personal interpretation of a certain landscape when constructing it in the form of a painting.  He takes risks.  Successful ones, at that.

I recently read an article about Peter Doig's landscape paintings by Beatrix Ruf.  Here is the link: 

http://www.postmedia.net/999/doig.htm

In the article, Ruf states that Doig takes " His own and other people's photographs, the sum total of the media image archives, the images of art history, the cinema, music, architecture, sports, landscapes- they are all realities in his studio that call forth but do not model his paintings".  This particular quote really opened my eyes.  Because I paint primarily from photos, I CAN NOT let them restrict me.  I am letting my photographs model and control too much of my paintings.  I need to take the emotional and personal aspects related to the places I paint and let them become evident in the finished product.  "In Doig's images we enter spaces that appeal to several senses at once, because they operate with the structure of our memory, because of smell, color, the accidental collision of a familiar architectural detail with a detail from a landscape can set in motion our own, individual 'films'".  This quote pretty much sums up all of what painting is about (for me)!  I want people become fully immersed in my paintings.  I want all senses to play a role when experiencing my works of art- I think this discerns how successful a piece is overall.  I need to stop being so concerned about how much my painting resembles the picture in which I am referencing. I should let my own personal experiences and feelings about the place take precedent.  After all, art is about expressing THE SELF, and not necessarily all about illustrating to a "T"!     

Egon Schiele,"Trieste Harbor"

Egon Schiele has always been my favorite figurative painter/drawer.  I came across this boat painting by him that stylistically resembles his more figurative work.  I appreciate his use of the line to depict reflection in the water.  Once again, like Doig, utilizing various techniques can draw a viewer into your piece.  

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK:

*Listen to Heather Darcy Bhandari: DON'T ALWAYS FOLLOW THE RULES!

 *Look to different landscape artists I like and reference their techniques to make my very own

*Build up my current paintings- layering is key

*Try and start a landscape painting that has nothing to do with boats to see if I take more chances 

*PAINT!