A Fresh Palette

So I went to begin drawing on my paper quilts this week, when I realized I wasn't quite ready for them. I needed to do some experiments first, to see what extra depth I could add to my drawings, and decided to have some fun painting paper with tea, wine, and lemon juice. I spent about 3 hours on these experiments, and the results were quite intriguing.

My paint palette: red wine, raspberry flavored tea, and black tea.

Above is some finished product, hanging to dry on my makeshift laundry line. The purple on the left is red wine, the brown is lemon juice (ironed so the heat would brown it), and the right most piece is a combination of all four paints.

This piece above particularly intrigued me: it is a combination of black tea and lemon juice. The piece was originally just black tea, but when I accidentally dripped some lemon juice on the tea, I noticed it was acting as a natural bleach. I couldn't resist playing with that to see what would happen. I really need to start drawing on these scraps now to see what happens. This weekend/next week, for sure.

In addition to my experiments and preparing for the review next week, I spent a good 6 hours on this drawing. Slow going, but yesterday, after much frustration, I think I broke some ground. There is still a lot of work to do, which I intend to continue this week and into break, but I feel there is progress being made.

As for this coming week, preparation for critique all around! And some drawing, if I can find the time. Finals week, you know? Fingers crossed I survive!

Needles and Pins

My fingers are sore after this past week, but contrary to what you might think, I am quite enjoying the itty bit of pain on account of all the productivity it represents. I completed sewing two large paper quilts of sorts on which I will be drawing all of next week (hence the sore fingers...handsewing is brutal!). If I were to tally the hours, I'd say it would be at least 10 spent sewing. Yeah. Who's the smart one who thought hand-sewn paper would be a good idea? Oh wait, that's me.

But enough complaining, I quite like the effect. I'm interested to see how some drawing will work on/with/against the sewing, and to see whether I prefer the more organic, unplanned piece or the more map-like, gridded, though still somewhat loose piece. Or maybe both will be in order. It's hard to say at this point.

I also spent a couple of hours working on the following drawing, here are some snapshots of the progress:

But once again, the upcoming week will be busy, busy, busy. Much time will be dedicated to drawing, in addition to preparations for Midterm Consultations. I'm thinking it will be a powerpoint making, outline memorizing, speech practicing bonanza. Talk about a party.

Sewing

So, turns out Thanksgiving break is not the best week for productivity. But I did work on my sewing on Monday for a good four or five hours:

Basically, I'm hoping to finish this up this coming week, in addition to another one with a pattern a bit less organic, and get to drawing. Larger scale, I like. Also, need to do some major preparations for midterm review. It's going to be a busy week.

Experimentation

Experimenting was the theme of this week. I bought a supply of lokta paper from Hollander’s, learned how to sew on the new sewing machines in the fibers studios, and practiced several different types of hand stitching.

I really like the subtlety of the white thread, and the organic qualities of hand stitching. At this point hand stitching is winning out as the stitch of choice, but the time it takes to hand stitch is a slight issue...more experiments need to happen before a final decision is made.

All in all, supply collecting and sewing machine learning was couple hours, and I practiced and experimented with different hand stitches for about 5 hours. (Took way longer than I anticipated, something to keep in mind when putting together the final larger pieces). But the time was worth it, cause I have a much better idea now about what I want the stitching in the piece to look like. I intend to do some sample drawings in the stitched paper next week, just some small studies, to see if the stitching I like best right now meshes well with the actual drawing.

I also continued to draw, for a good three hours or so. This drawing was frustrating me quite a bit. Actually, it’s frustrating me still, but I did feel I had made progress in the right direction after the three hours. I'm at least learning a lot about what does and doesn't work in these drawings, and what direction I want to take in future drawings.

Lastly, I read this great essay entitled "Boundaries/Networks" by William J. Mitchell. Bits and pieces of the essay really got me thinking of how I can push my drawings even further, and I am looking forward to seeing the influence this will have on my future work. We shall see!

Preparations

This week. This week, was a long week. Grant preparations were far more time consuming that anticipated (although isn’t that how everything always goes?) and with All Student Exhibition pieces also do, it meant a lot of writing and a lot of drawing. The grant application took me a good 4 or 5 hours, and the time I spent finishing my drawing, which I then proceeded to submit to the All-Student Show, was a good 10 hours or more. I lost track after so many, but I think it was worth it. It’s nice having a finished product, even if its only a study of sorts. But you can at least check out the final thing here:

To be honest, this isn’t even all the final work. Silly me didn’t take pictures of the framed piece, and there was a definite darkening of certain areas, other areas with details added, etc…but I like it. It has me intrigued to try new stuff on the other drawings. It also has me hyped to start experimenting with the paper from Hollander’s, which is what I plan to do this coming week. I bought paper and lemon juice and coffee and I’ll be calling an artist about coffee staining techniques this week (I got the go ahead from Joe Trumpey) and overall I’m pretty pumped. I’m kicking it into high gear these next few weeks, cause I know next semester will fly by and I want to feel like I’m standing solid ground by the time January rolls around.

For the grant application, I also did a sketch of a final display plan (at least what it is at the current moment, lord knows how these things change…). Here is the diagram:

Here are my thoughts: I am definitely doing one large-scale drawing. I would like to do more, but I am trying to be reasonable here. If I want to devote the proper amount of care and attention to detail that I cherish so much in my work, I will reasonably only have time for one drawing. But, I would like to supplement that with multiple other drawings, a network of drawings, systems, and thoughts. I figure the frame, made from reclaimed wood as illustrated above, will add one last dimension to the networking/system theme. Plus it would look super cool (but that’s an added bonus). The number of drawings will also allow for interpretation of process, and an overall feeling of complexity. The goal number right now is 15, and I’d like to the largest drawing to be about 10 feet long by 5 feet high. Ideally, that is.

Needless to say, I have some work ahead of me.

Progress and Patterns

So this week, I spent a lot of time drawing. Lots and lots of drawing. All my class studio time (so about 6 hours) and then at least 3 hours more, and let me tell you, these drawings are taking for.ev.er. But it's completely worth it, check out the progress:

Outside of drawing, though, I spoke with Sadashi and Peter about going large scale, and after that discussion and seeing some artwork from Mike and Doug Starn (Thanks Pete!), I'm going to experiment with sewing pieces of paper to the size and scale of my choosing. I'd like to look at maps as patterns for this sewing, which I would like to do by hand. This idea seems not only the more economic route (large rolls of paper are expensive!) but in line with the theme of my work as a whole. It also will be very time consuming, but I think I will feel more connected to the work this way and much more aware of what I am doing and for what purpose.

I also spoke with Professor Joe Trumpey this week, and he is trying to get me in touch with an artist who uses coffee stains for much of his illustrations work. Seeing as I've been doing research myself in this area, I am thrilled at the possibility. Hopefully this will pan out, we shall see!

Projections

So this past week was really just a continuation of drawing, I spent about 6 hours or so working on those, in addition to several hours of browsing and subsequent reading that stemmed from our visit to the Fine Arts library (foolishly I forgot to take pictures of my progress, they will be added to this blog when I am up at my studio tomorrow!)

I have to say I really enjoyed our visit to the library, if only because the artist I was suggested on my notecard led me to some fascinating discoveries. First off, the work of Lee Bontecou has been a favorite of mine since I saw the Frankel's personal collection of some of her work for a field trip in my freshman year drawing class. She's is most well known for her sculpture, which is incredible, but while I was at the Frankel's I saw some abstract drawings of hers that simply enchanted me. It was strange for me at the time, because her work is so abstract and that experience gave me an appreciation for that type of artwork that I didn't really have before. Now, I don't know how, but somehow these drawings fell away from the forefront of my mind, only to surface again this past week as I looked through books of her work as suggested. What I found amazed me. The similarities of her work to mine were uncanny, and I found one drawing in particular, one that I had never seen, that resembled one of my drawings so much my jaw dropped! A few years back I may have been irked by this, probably taking it as a cue that my work is unoriginal and therefore no good. This time around though, I felt amazed and inspired and connected to an artistic mindset that I want to be a part of, that I am becoming a part of. I can't help but think it is an indicator of my progress as an artist, thinker, and citizen of the art community.

I adore these. Lee Bontecou, you amaze me.

Julie Mehretu's work is wonderful on a number of levels. It is lively and complicated and reminds me a lot of my own drawings, but she intersects drawing and painting in a way that truly intrigues me. In addition, her work has me thinking about the possible use of color in my drawings, and its something I'd like to explore as soon as I finish the pieces I am currently working on (which will be this week, if I have anything to say about it!)

piece by Julie Mehretu

As for this coming week, I have a visit to Hollander's penciled in for this Tuesday evening. It was suggested that I talk to them about getting large rolls of paper, and I am sure they have better resources than the ones I managed to rustle up on Google, so fingers crossed! My fingers are really itching to get something large scale out, and after a suggestion from Collin I'd really like to try projecting my smaller drawings onto some larger paper and use the projection to start a loose compositional skeleton. I like the idea of having a starting place and then letting the greater details of the drawing. So getting a hold of a projector in addition to the paper will be another assignment for this coming week. Lastly, I'd like to experiment with some color. It's an avenue I haven't explored in these drawings much yet, and I'd like to see if the road might lead to anything interesting. You never know!

Large-Scale Thoughts

So this week, in addition to continuing work on my current drawing (for about an hour or so), I decided to start two more (that was another four hours or so, in addition to doing some reading and research for another two hours or so, you'd think I would have gotten more done with fall break and all but alas, my entire family was sick. You know how that goes. Thanks a lot, Cleveland!). I figure with multiple drawings happening, whenever one gets a bit frustrating or tense, whenever the flow is just off, or when I just get a little ADD (which happens way more often than I like to admit), I can switch over to the next project and voila! More productivity.

new drawings

The bit on the right looks a bit like a dragon wing. Totally unintentional.

I'm continuing to work on the lokta paper that I used for the first drawing. I like where it comes from and how its made, it has such a great, sustainable story behind it, but also the texture is fantastic. When I draw on it, it feels like, I'm pulling up the fibers from its depth and showing all the layers of complexity beneath its surface.

I've also been contemplating how, if I want a surface such as this, I will be able to make my drawings large-scale. I keep envisioning them at a grand size; I suppose I want them to be as overwhelming as the topics that inspire them are to me, but how I can go about this and use materials that I prefer will be an experiment. I did a couple hours of research this week on the topic of paper. Large scale rolls are available, but I'm not quite sure if its the type of paper I want to use. Though I did find rolls of paper 10 yards long, that would be daunting, but fun enough that it is hard to resist. A drawing 10 yards long, I think I'd have to call it 'First Down'...

Anyways, this coming week I have a lot of work ahead of me (who knew?). I need to have multiple finished drawings to better see where I am heading, to better understand how this will translate into a large, finished body of work. I keep wanting to work large, so I think I should make that leap in the coming week, at least get the material for it, in addition to continuing drawing and thinking/reading/researching as per usual. And to think this coming weekend will be Halloween, this semester is moving way too fast for my liking.

One last side note: this week I am getting a papyrus plant! Experiments with my own handmade papyrus? I think yes!

Productivity

What a busy week! Proposal is finally in, but even more exciting, I feel like I'm starting to carve out a real path in my work.

So I must admit, I spent quite a bit of time writing the proposal for IP, probably over six hours, and of course I couldn't resist spending an hour or two researching and digging up material sources (I might be getting a papyrus plant for free! Can you say paper-making?!), but I spent about 4 hours or so this week on this drawing:

It is an abstract piece, drawing from all of my sources of inspiration, especially organic influences like wood grain and walnuts. The high level of detail in the process is intensely satisfying, and the drawing itself was a process of constant action and reaction; every line paved the way for the next. But it wasn't overly thoughtful, which is what I have been striving to do this entire semester. It only took me until fall break to find that! Oh well, I plan on starting another one or two this weekend in addition to continuing this drawing throughout next week. I don't have any solid goal in mind, just seeing where the process leads me in my exploration of nature and systems. So a little less writing than usual in this blog post means more time to gather materials, more time to draw. I am very excited at the prospect of drawing, drawing and drawing... It's time to get productive!

Cartography

The review of our finished project we had to write for this week, along with some group discussion, really helped define some new thoughts I have about the direction of my work. My focus on networks, and mapping those networks as I see them, is definitely becoming more apparent. I'd like to start illustrating patterns, using drawing to better understand how I view all these systems, how they function, where I feel I fit in them, where my viewers fit in them, etc... I spent about 4 or 5 hours drawing, sketching, making thought maps, and another 3 or so reading and researching (maybe more, sometimes I get lost in internet articles and lose track of time...)

loose sketches and thoughts on my whiteboard...these are also continued on paper in my sketchbook

a photo I took in Madagascar and the beginnings of a drawing, experiments on surface

I'm trying to understand what separates systems we openly recognize and construct, and others that remain underground and work much more silently but are still vastly important, so in this unfinished illustration I flipped a tree on its side, what's that space between the branches and the roots' significance?

This week I read an article written by Francis Moore Lappe, in discussion of the Global Food Movement. This quote really struck a cord with me:

"At its best, this movement ecnourages us to 'think like an ecosystem,' enabling us to see place for ourselves connected to all other, for in ecological systems 'there are no parts, only participants'"...

So even that space in that tree illustration above is participating. How is each aspect of my project participating, what is the significance?

After small group discussions during studio time this week, the idea of maps, especially of thought maps, has been pushed to the forefront of my mind. It was suggested that I make some word illustrations of my own, my own thought systems, and this is what I would like to pursue next week. Artist Simon Evans makes just that, he is a cartographer of his personal universe, and while I am not quite as interested in mapping as personal a singular perspective as he is, I like this idea of thought maps to chart the territories of my incessant inner ramblings.

Creator of the Week
Simon Evans

Simon Evans' version of a world map: all his own thoughts and perceptions

Evans use of his many thoughts to make drawings, incredibly detailed and intricate drawings, eases my own thought-filled mind. They are quite absorbing, even if you cannot fully follow his contemplation. I want to try my own take on this, incorporating my own interests, of course, and see how they are all participating in the world and in the realm of my project. Hopefully I'll chart previously unknown territory, find some connections I wasn't aware of, and make some drawings of my new discoveries like some pencil-and-paper wielding pirate. Funny, I never thought piracy would end up in my senior project...

Networking

A little bit of drawing done this week, but as always mostly more researching, more looking and thinking that always seems to dominate my life.

Above are some samples of the sketching I did this week. They are all very rough and unfinished, but they got some ideas on the table that I'm really hoping to stamp out this weekend during some serious studio time.

I did attend a lecture Tuesday evening in the Dana building on campus, given by landscape architect and artist Martha Schwartz on the subject of sustainability and landscape architecture. Her projects were as innovative and inspiring as they were thought-provoking. What was most interesting to me though, was that she had been an artist before she became a landscape architect, (she even showed some of her art works and installations), a path I myself am considering. After the lecture I was able ask her several questions, mostly regarding her experience as an artist in the field of landscape architecture. She repeatedly emphasized to me that as an artist I will inherently consider the cultural, aesthetic, and social effects of my work over those who are trained in the sciences or any other field. (for this reason she insisted that I need to go to Harvard's MLA program...but she teaches there so I think there's some bias...). No matter, the encounter got me thinking about how my place in the world as an artist is a little different than other people's and how I can and should use that perspective to my advantage.

Furthermore, after some several productive discussions with professors and students this week, I've really begun to think about networks and ecology, the interconnectedness of everything and how this concept of interconnectedness is evident in nearly all of my interests. Seriously look at this: tree branches and roots, food systems, maps, train systems, cells (they form the most exquisite patterns!), material life cycles...the list goes on. I think this is what inspired my train ticket map of Europe on my studio walls (see picture below). So now I'm thinking of this concept, and issues of spread, woven qualities of life, both physical and conceptual, the idea of above ground systems and below ground systems and how they can influence and feed each other, how there are hidden connections below the surface level of systems, or simply in places we cannot see for whatever reason (think rhizomes...how what appears to be several different plants can actually be the same exact plant, genetics and all)... Now the only question is where to run with this new found revelation...oh how I am ready to explore!

Anyways, an estimate of this week's totals is:

2 hours of drawing/sketching,
2-3 hours mapping out my thoughts, writing down ideas,
2 hours attending a lecture on sustainability and landscape architecture,
1 hour reading an all-food issue of The Nation (Thanks Janie!)
1 1/2 creating a map of europe on my studio wall out of all my study abroad train tickets
and quite a fair amount of time setting up my studio and organizing my thoughts and inspiration on my freshly painted yellow walls.

Look at that proportion of thinking/researching to doing. Not pleased. (One a side note: Damn you Stats 250 for pervading my every thought.)

So a lot to think about, but not as much accomplished as I would have liked. C'est la vie, I suppose. Just need to work harder this coming week. This weekend especially. Janie suggested that I read some and then draw what I'm feeling or thinking immediately after that reading. My goal this weekend is to do that at least 5 times, in addition to experimenting with lemon juice as a drawing material (I learned this week that it can be used on paper and heated to appear brown, but it also works as a bleaching agent..this duality intrigues me. Must explore further...)

Last thoughts:

Creator of the Week
Two for One Special!

1. El Anatsui

This stunning piece by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui makes me believe in love at first site. My first encounter with Anatsui's work was in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and I was in awe from the moment I caught first gleam. It is an exquisite tapestry of old, discarded aluminum wrappers, bottle tops, scrap metal - things that had originally been tossed aside with no consideration, transformed into this intricate work of woven royalty. Each fragment of trash was pieced together by hand with thin wire, so that it is difficult to imagine just how long the entire process took, considering the large scale of the piece. There are so many aspects of this piece that I hope to exhibit in my own work, the hand-made process, the recycled material, the woven qualities - both physical and conceptual, the intricate detail, the underlying cultural and environmental undertones, not to mention the raw aesthetic power.

2. Marvin Bileck



Thank you, Janie, for introducing me to this wonderful artist's collection of tree drawings and etchings. His exploration of the nature of Cranberry island speaks to the spirit of the place and to the trees that inhabit it. Just exquisite.