Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
12:58 AM | 
Posted by
Rebecca Aragon
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas MertonI just began reading a book called Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, and even as little as I've read so far, I've really enjoyed it. It has already made some very good points. For instance, it talked about the struggle in continuing in art, and not quitting. They rightly recognize the fear behind most instances of quitting. Basically, it's a fear of failure. That's common. It's human. But it's also dangerous.
We allow fear to stop us from accomplishing anything. We let ourselves get distracted by what's going on around us. We become discouraged when other people are doing better than we are. We call it an inability to comply with deadlines or to work under certain conditions, or sometimes we simply contribute it to laziness, but what it boils down to is a fear of failure. The book makes a very good point about this -- one which I've recently come to realize myself as well: that when we label ourselves as artists, we identify ourselves with our art, and therefore, a bad piece of art translates to mean that we are bad artists. We become so closely identified with what we are creating that if once we fail, it instantly means we are a failure. But that's not true!
As a young artist, still trying to figure out what I have to say and where I'm going with all of this, I am right there in the middle of a lot of what this book is saying so far. Basically, art is scary. It makes you vulnerable. Creating art is like opening up a bit of your soul for people to look at, examine and criticize. It's a bit unnerving sometimes if you are still figuring things out. But that's part of what makes it so exciting. It really is an adventure!
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Labels:
art,
art and fear,
Artist,
Beatriz Milhaze,
Continuing,
Don't quit,
Painting,
Rob Hefferan,
Roi James,
Victor Wang
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Artists don't get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working. - Stephen DeStaebler
I did warn you that my "sketch of the day" was not likely to be a daily thing, and you can't say I didn't tell the truth. But I'm not giving it up completely! I have a sketch for you today, and I also have some clay projects to share as well.
These are just some scans of pages from my sketchbook where I was sketching people unawares. I have a friend who calls this "Ninja sketching." I think that pretty much sums it up. They're just loose, gestural drawings, trying to catch the impression of someone before they move -- or worse, discover that you're drawing them. *Gasp*
But as I mentioned, I'd also like to share a few of my current clay projects. They're still in the works, because they are all unglazed currently. I'll just give you a little peak into the in-progress works, and hopefully by the end of this semester, they will all be nicely glazed and I can show you the finished product.
As usual, click to enlarge.
I'm enjoying clay. It's a fun medium. Messy, and a very fast-paced class, but fun.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Hello there! Happy Tuesday. I hope your day was pleasant. Mine was pretty good. Less productive than it should have been, but oh well, it happens. I was struggling with ideas (or rather, the lack of any idea at all) for my drawing project during class today and didn't get much work done as a result, but I think I've come up with something interesting now. Stay tuned to see if it pans out. I'll wind up posting about it in a week or so when it's done, I'm sure.
Ok, well time to continue from the last post. There are still several more paintings in the series!
Let's jump right in.
Ok, well time to continue from the last post. There are still several more paintings in the series!
Let's jump right in.
NUMBER FIVE:
For this one, I took the idea of roses from the last one, and combined it with the rectangular shape of the cards, but in a very different way. I used splatters and broad strokes of watered down paint first, letting it drip down the canvas as it would, then collaged on rectangles torn from some scrap fabric I had lying around to create the background. Then, using the flexible modelling paste mixed with some red paint, I created little roundish, rose-shaped dollops, which I highlighted with white paint to add some needed clarity to them. I then dragged some green (mixed with modelling paste) down from them with the palette knife for emphasis on the stems. That flexible modelling paste stuff is quite fun.
NUMBER SIX:
Well, after looking at the rectangles from the last one, I felt like it looked kind of like a skyline, so I decided to paint this one about a city -- lots of rectangular building shapes. To continue with the rose theme, I stretched some faintly floral-patterned fabric onto the canvas first, then painted a very rough, loose impression of a city (Venice) from a picture on an old postcard. I used some thicker paint and modelling paste with a palette knife to finish off the parts I wanted to come forward a little.
NUMBER SEVEN:
After that, I decided to use the post card from which I had taken the scene of the last painting. I also had some other post cards, most of them somewhat antiqued, which I had gotten from another student who had brought a huge box full of them to share. I liked this idea of travel and communication, so I collaged on the post cards, used pouring medium over them, and floated some old stamps (from left over post cards) and some antiqued lace into the surface.
NUMBER EIGHT:
Well, the whole time I was working with the post cards, I kept wondering about the relationships between the senders and recipients of the cards. Invariably, I wondered if there was any romantic connection between them, or if there had once been. Maybe I've just seen too many romantic movies or something, but it just seemed like such a beautiful idea. So I started thinking about love letters, and this is what came of it. The background is made up of some printouts of antique letters (in French, I believe, though the words are now so obscured that they are illegible) in lovely, sweeping calligraphy. I thought they were quite elegant. Then I painted this lovely figure over them. She was quite difficult for me, actually, as the reference I was using was very small and indistinct, and I struggled against my urge to want to make her very precise and realistic. I wanted her to be left somewhat loose and indistinct, a little painterly, yet at the same time clear. I felt it added to the "romance" of the picture. I'm...at least decently pleased with her in the end. Finally, I tied a bow with twine around the canvas, like a package to be sent to someone.
NUMBER NINE:
The final, and my least favorite, this one came from the idea of communication, and how it has changed over time. Letter writing is kind of a lost art these days. Unfortunately, I was kind of in a hurry by the time I got to this one, and I had really struggled for a decent idea for it. So I just collaged on logos and images from popular communication methods of today -- internet, phone, etcetera. Then over the top, I placed an antique letter, similar to the one in the background of the previous painting. Over that, I sketched an inkwell and pen in charcoal. Like I said, it's my least favorite, but it's acceptable, I suppose.
So there you have it!
On another, totally random note, I cut my hair! (I know that seems really mundane, but I cut it super short, and it's a rather drastic change, so I felt the need to say something about it.) It's a pixie cut now! I'm loving it.
Labels:
art,
communication,
correspondence,
haircut,
Love,
love letters,
Painting,
post cards,
romantic,
small paintings
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Friday, March 11, 2011
First off, let me take this moment to say....
IT'S SPRING BREAK! YAY!!! I have a whole week of no classes to look forward to! Though I do still have a lot of work to get done for classes....But oh well. It's still a break!
Ok, now that I've gotten that out, we can resume. I'm keeping my word and I have some sketches to post!
I started playing with a white conte crayon the other night, and then I found some gray pastel paper to work with it on. I've never used a white conte before, and started having a lot of fun with it! I got a little carried away, too....I was up till like 2:30 AM playing with doing figure drawings and such with it, knowing that I had an early class the next morning. Not the smartest move...but sometimes I get started and I just can't stop. Anyway, now I have two sheets used up front and back with figure sketches and such. I thought about spreading them out over several days of daily sketches, but I decided I'd just post them as a group, and they can count for yesterday, today, and tomorrow...and maybe the next day too, depending on when I can get more up!
Anyway, here they are, in the order in which I drew them. Some are more finished than others, but eh, they're sketches:
IT'S SPRING BREAK! YAY!!! I have a whole week of no classes to look forward to! Though I do still have a lot of work to get done for classes....But oh well. It's still a break!
Ok, now that I've gotten that out, we can resume. I'm keeping my word and I have some sketches to post!
I started playing with a white conte crayon the other night, and then I found some gray pastel paper to work with it on. I've never used a white conte before, and started having a lot of fun with it! I got a little carried away, too....I was up till like 2:30 AM playing with doing figure drawings and such with it, knowing that I had an early class the next morning. Not the smartest move...but sometimes I get started and I just can't stop. Anyway, now I have two sheets used up front and back with figure sketches and such. I thought about spreading them out over several days of daily sketches, but I decided I'd just post them as a group, and they can count for yesterday, today, and tomorrow...and maybe the next day too, depending on when I can get more up!
Anyway, here they are, in the order in which I drew them. Some are more finished than others, but eh, they're sketches:
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Happy Tuesday! How are you today?
I'm doing well, and especially so since spring break starts this weekend! I'm so excited.
Anyways...
I wanted to post some of my recent artwork and sketches. I'd like to start doing a sort of "sketch of the day" sort of thing. I don't know that it will really be an every-day thing, honestly...but I'll do my best. Maybe I'll try to start with a "sketch of the week" thing first, and then slowly progress to daily sketches. I don't know. We'll just have to see how it goes! Anyway, I'll start by posting some more finished pieces.
If you read the entry just below this one, you'll remember that I was talking about my Janet Fish project in my painting class. Well, I'm pleased to say that it's done!
The difficulty I had with it was that Fish tended to use glass and reflective objects in her still life to create the patterns and colors that she used in her works, but the still life in my class was made up of opaque objects, and few that were even slightly reflective. My solution was just to do my best to imitate her color use, and, where possible, try to incorporate a little bit of her patterning as well. I tried to really look for colors that objects were picking up and to exaggerate them and bring them out, making everything very vivid and bold. I tried to imitate the way she used color relationships as well. I'm pretty pleased with the result, though it by no means fully captures the intricacy and busy brilliance of Fish's paintings.
I painted it on a canvas I built for the assignment. It's 4'x3', which is about as large as I've ever worked. It was fun, frustrating, and very time consuming. I spent about fifteen hours outside of class over the weekend working on it, plus the six or so that I spent in class, for a grand total of somewhere around 21 hours. Not terrible, but definitely enough to make me ready to be done with it!
Here are some of the other pieces that have been occupying my time lately:
Abstract from Beginning Painting
Oil on Canvas, 30"x40"
Self Portrait, from Drawing Concepts
Watercolor and graphite on paper
19"x24"
Experimental media project from Drawing Concepts
Watercolor on wood panel
18"x18"
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Welcome!
About Me
- Rebecca Aragon
- Hi! I'm a college student from Texas, getting an undergrad in painting. I'm enjoying life and discovering who I am in my art as I go along. I'm a painter and a graphic artist and I dabble in all sorts of other mediums as well.
