Lines and Laughs

This week has been busy with sketching and planning.  This is part of one of the sketches on an 24x18" piece of watercolor paper.

I'm making an attempt to be more expressive with the line quality than I have been in the past.  This is possibly one of the things that have lacked in prior works.  Today, developing this drawing further will be the priority, and maybe integrating layers of color/texture.  It's difficult to tell at this point, but I'm seeking some way of integrating the layer studies with figures.  I feel that once any color is added, it runs the chance of overpowering the delicate lines and unraveling the composition...or maybe that's the answer.  The year-long experiment is still underway afterall, so why not?

I hope you've all had a great week with your loved ones and those around you.  I know that I did - I laughed daily (not hard to believe), with a highlight of Matt dancing in the kitchen changing crazy faces with each wave of his hand (laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes), and coworkers who crack me up.   I hope you have a some great hightlights too and continue to by making your weekend count! 
Love to all.

Optimism, Productivity, and Dickinson

December for K&A Plasticwear's Twelve Project, 2011

Mixed media on paper, 6x12".

This is a recent work...further exploration with media, layers, and drawing.  This Twelve project was a collaborative project that Amanda Knauer Crismore and I did last year.  We took turns every month creating art based upon what the other one did the previous month.  It was like a conversation through artwork, and it was a blast!  This year we've opened it up to other artists and it's going to be so interesting to see the work throughout the year.  Since Amanda started the 2011 year, I'm kicking off the year this time around, and I've been working on it all day.  I decided to take a bit of a break and so here I am - happily writing.

So far this year, I feel really optimistic and productive.  The website is finished on wix now (go to www.wix.com/krystallbooth/art to check it out), complete with a rewritten bio, and all is well.  It felt great to get it all done, and I'm looking forward to adding more works to it as the year progresses.  The motivation for creating work hasn't been a struggle since November when I embarked on this year long experiment.  I would be lying if I said that I wasn't surprised by this.  Usually when I sign myself up for a year long anything, I lose my umpf after a few weeks...my weight-loss/health quest is a great example of this.  Yet this year feels different.  I don't know what it is, but perhaps it is the impending doom factor...?

I don't believe that the world will end at the end of this year in a sense of gloom and doom, but I do hope that perhaps it will be an global awakening of sorts throughout the year.  It feels as though we are going through some kind of philosophical wormhole and when we emerge on the other side, we will be better for having gone through it.  It's a sense of hope that has me thinking this way, especially at this time of year and on this particular day.

Hope

by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Thank you to Mrs. Powers for requiring me to memorize this poem (though of course I messed up when reciting it for the class).  It has stayed with me all of these years.

 

Once Upon A Time On Nova

Dwelling, 2012

Mixed media drawing on paper, 14x20"

Finished!  Details are below.  I hope that your 2012 is off to a good start too!



If you looked over my shoulder...

I've darkened areas with more washes of color...it's better, but still is not quite right.  Maybe I'm trying to make two works that are too different combine into one, and they are stubbornly saying, "NO!"

This is the way I had them positioned beside each other in the last post. 

And now I kind of like them like this! ha! 

The third work that will be incorporated into this is about to get underway.  I think after that I'll be at a better place to start making judgement calls on this...hopefully! 

Enjoy the beautiful sunshine for me (if it's sunny where you are)!  The sun is taunting me as it comes through the window and onto my two slumbering assistants.  I'm sure I'll sneak out for a walk at some point.  Have a good day!



Photo of the Slumbering Assistants from 2010

New Work of the Day - Will It Work?

Transition, 2011

Charcoal and graphite on Paper, 7x5"

This is how I spent my day - space traveling with the point of a charcoal pencil.  It was inspired by a texture study and the golden ratio.  The big moon type of sphere in the upper right corner was drawn using graphite so it has a sheen to it - (the sheen/values/textures turned out beautifully in person, but don't quite translate in photographs or when scanned - the shiney graphite fights against the dark areas).  After I finished it, I placed it beside the texture study to see what it would look like together as a single piece of work.

What is strange is the fact that they fit together more peacefully with these sides touching more than the way I had planned.  I can see an elipse type of shape that stretches across both of them in an almost seamless manner (squint at it and then it appears).  That is what convinced me that this is how they want to be shown...

However, the two do not quite fit because the layer study is anemic in the contrast department.  It needs darker areas in order to balance out the charcoal drawing.  I'm going to go back into the layer study and work on building some more dark and light areas.  I'm hoping that maybe they will be more unified and balanced after that.  We shall see!



From Doodle to Puzzle to Meditation

Charcoal on paper, 18x11", 2011

Detail of the above work

A week of exploration!  I have been working on the drawing above this past week and I finished it last night.  It's been a strange one full of fun compositional puzzles to figure out.  It began with just a goal of doodling bubbles one night.  I've been really attracted to circles in recent months...I blame the doodle of overlapping circles I drew on our drawing table for this obsession.  Though the pen marks have faded with cleaning, the circles remain present.  It's acting like some sort of strange reminder.

Soon the page was filled with the large circles connected by lines and I didn't quite know what was next.  It wasn't long before swirls of small circles began swooping down on the picture plane to add depth to the space.  I somewhat do not feel right in taking credit of the small circle placements - it was as if they just appeared, and I was only there to follow directions of what it wanted.  The paper texture guided my marks as well.  It was somewhat of a meditation to create this, and now I have begun a second drawing of this theme using the same materials, but on more of a close-up focus. 

I think the challenge that may be presenting itself is the illusion of space - or the ability to look into an area and feel as though the drawing goes beyond where my eyes can see.  I like that idea paired with areas of flatness.  This idea is not new to contemporary drawing, but it is a new venture to me.  It seems like an interesting direction to see what happens.  I'm still doing the layer studies as well, and perhaps these ideas will cross paths soon - or at least at some point during this year of exploration.

I also purchased a big piece of vellum-like paper for the pleasing price of 99 cents this week!  I have seen some artists use to overlay drawings and draw on the front side and back side to create more depth.  I will be experimenting with this to see if it will be a successful way to go forward.  I'm wondering if it will enhance that depth, or if it will just agitate the compositions by making it seem as though something is obstructing the view (and we'll all be looking at it while screaming in our heads, "Get that damn thing out of my way!").  ha!

Thanks for reading and love to all!  Have a great rest of the day and an excellent week!

The One Year Project

The layer studies that I've been working on lately have yet to be discussed or explained.  There are a lot of things that culminated to make me suddenly want to go this route and experiment in this way.

I recently was researching my father's ship he was on in Vietnam - the USS Higbee.  My father served as a cook on the ship and he has often told me of fun stories I adored when I was small about eggs running across the griddle while sailing the seas.  When I was older, he also would tell me about his ship being bombed by an air attack of a MIG-17.  Luckily no one was killed in this attack, though the pictures were absolutely amazing of how badly the ship was injured.  They were all truly lucky that day.  There are a lot of things that culminated to allow my father and his shipmates survive that day and be able to dock safely.

In my recent research I actually found a photo of the pilot who was flying the MIG-17 that day.  My jaw dropped, and I sent the image to my parents' email.  It was such a bizarre feeling looking at that man with a smile upon his face...the man that at one time tried to kill my father and his fellow service men back in 1972.  Upon seeing the image, my father was so intrigued to see a photo of the man that one of his friends was trying to shoot back at with a machine gun in a desperate attempt.   My father put it plainly, "He was doing his job, and we were doing ours."  My mother added to the man's defense of my confusion of seeing the pilot, "Well, it was war." 

We quickly began conversing about wondering if he was still alive.  Did he make it through the war like my father had?  Did he survive to have children?  Is he still thriving somewhere in the world today?  We would like to think so. 

The complexity of the roles we play in life and who we are in different situations for survival is so intriguing.  With time, we forgive ourselves and each other.  Old roles deteriorate like ships rusting away at the bottom of oceans. 

I began creating a drawing series based upon this event in my father's life, and the new photos I found online.  The following is the first drawing I did in this series...there are still problems with it that I need to remedy, but at the moment this is what I have so far. 

I was thinking that it would still lack something once it was in a more final, polished form. 

Then, I took a walk around Portland last week photographing texture/color/buildings.  I have been intrigued with the colors and textures of rust for a long time.  I thought that perhaps this is what was missing from this drawing.  The studies began.  I'm thinking that perhaps the studies could be a part of the piece - maybe along the sides of the drawing.  It will add a textural feel of the tangible along side the image.  I've also thought about a more direct application.  I think I will begin experimenting with that this week with an older drawing to see if it will work visually.

In addition, another idea went into the mix.  I have been researching graduate programs and actually visited one of the schools I was interested in.  The tour consisted of walking around the current students' studio spaces.  What I found to be true throughout the tour was the fact that exploration and experimentation were extremely encouraged.  Some students were gaining ground by working in a manner that they had previously ignored in their undergraduate work.  They were encouraged to stick with a certain manner of working for a year to grow in their practice and understanding of their own methods.  I left there thinking, why haven't I done more of that? 

So here it is.  I have given this much thought and have decided to explore the combination of drawing and these layer studies for one year.  I think I would have a lot to gain through this method and it would encourage me to grow in different ways.  Drawing skills would be improved, and creative problem solving would definitely be exercised in new ways. 

With that, I welcome you to my year long project of experimentation!  Are there any projects you would like to embark upon?  I would love to hear about your experiences with such projects that you have been through or ones you have in the works.  Thank you for reading!