A Small update!

Yay!  A small update!  I recently got some work in on my current painting.  I've been adding to it, and it doesn't seem as lost or as hideous as before.  I'm hoping to work on it today since I'm feeling kind of motivated actually!  I need to make it happen!

I am the best at what I do!

On Wednesday, the 14th, I had the privilege to attend a lecture by KRS-One at the University of Delaware.  The topic of the lecture was the Fundamentals of Hip Hop.  Something rarely discussed, though I felt like KRS approached it very well.  He spoke of the hip hop culture and how the history of hip hop as people know it, is more the history of rap and other byproducts of hip hop, such as graffiti, dj-ing, and breakdancing.  That hip hop is not a physical thing, but a collective consciousness; a way of looking at things.  He spoke also about perception and about changing the perception of your environment.  Not taking things for what they are, but as what you can make them be for you.  KRS brought up how people made it big in the music industry as it related to the origins of hip hop.  His main point there was validation.  Validation is what made people who they are.  Put yourself in a persona where you are the greatest, support your friends and what they're doing.  The person who validates you will then tell others about how great you are at what you do.  Someone is going to notice.

I feel really inspired to get myself and my art out in the world.  Get together with my friends and let everyone know how they are all great photographers, ceramicists, sculptors, painters, musicians, video artists, all of it, whatever medium they work with.  I am the best at what I do.  I am a great printmaker, screenprinter, painter, artist.  I just need that second person to validate me and to start telling the world about my greatness.

And when it comes down to it, can I really be the real me?  Without any consequences or regrets to my actions?

It needs something...

So I started this painting with an image in my head of what it would look like and how it would be turning out.  There's something about it that isn't right, so I paused my work on it to figure out what it needs.  I'm thinking it needs some white dots next to the bluish-teal dots.

It's a start at least!

I started work on a new painting yesterday!  I'm so excited to finally be working on something again.  After graduation and being forced out of my wonderful, awesome studio that I had, I'm back at home where there is little to no space to finish works in progress or start new pieces.  At least not until the basement gets cleaned out and divided into a sewing area for my mom and a studio space for me.  Fortunately, I have a friend that offered me some space to work, which was very awesome of him!  Watch out for some photos soon!

Now what is this?

Alexander McQueen, what are you doing? I think these colors along with their combination's are fantastic. Now I know I'm not a fashion expert, but I'm really digging a lot of the looks from Alexander McQueen's Resort 2010 collection. Here are a few images, but definitely check out the slide show over at Style.com.

Performance Art

Yes, another post containing images of work. But it's not here! The post is actually on Kerri's blog, and you can get to it here. It focuses on an interactive performance based piece we did that involved water balloons filled with slip being thrown our way. I'll admit, not the most well thought out piece we've ever done together. But I think it still went over well with everyone.

BFA Show

Ok, finally, here are the images of my pieces that were in my BFA Senior Show. The pieces here, and even a few from earlier posts, better represent where I am with my work and also where I'd like to go with it.

Installation view.

Crazy. 22"x30". 2009. Silkscreen on Rives BFK White.

Detail.

Tree. 22"x30". 2009. Woodcut and wallpaper cin cole with silkscreen on Rives BFK White.

Detail.

Untitled. 15"x41". 2009. Acrylic ink on wood.

Detail.

Detail.

Blue and Magenta. 4'x4'. 2009. Acrylic ink on wood.

Detail.

Wallpaper Ladies. 22"x30". 2009. Woodcut and wallpaper cin cole on Rives BFK White.

Detail.

Solar Plate. 15"x22". 2009. Solar plate relief and intaglio print on Rives BFK White.

Detail.

Paintings?

Paintings!

Spirographs. 18"x24". 2009. Acrylic paint and ink on canvas.

Detail.

Untitled. 18"x24". 2009. Acrylic paint and ink with tape on canvas board.

Dots. 4'x4'. 2009. Acrylic ink on wood.

Detail.

Prints!

A couple of prints. These two were actually made in a Green Ink Print Methods class I took during my last spring semester.

Potato Print. Water based ink on paper.

Detail.

Now this next print was made with a pretty crazy process. It was printed with a waterless lithography process. It involved drawing on a metal plate with a special water soluble litho pencil. Next the drawing was washed out using only water, a little rubbing, and the occasional squirt of soap when needed. Now the next step was just like more traditional lithography, the plate was rolled up with ink and printed. However, the best ink for waterless litho is rubber based ink, which is a very short, stiff ink. I believe that rubber based ink has stopped being manufactured, but UD just so happened to have what is probably the last can in existence.

Print quality was pretty unreliable and unpredictable with this process. Prints at first were very light and would fill in quickly resulting in only one or two prints with a nice black density. I managed to get five total pulls off my plate before it started filling in with ink. An interesting process to have learned, though I still prefer traditional lithography processes.

Untitled. 22"x30". 2009. Waterless Lithograph on Rives BFK White.

Detail.

Collabz!

Yes! A collaboration! With my awesome collabz partner Kerri O'Neill. We went a little crazy on this painting, going into it head on without any sort of idea or specific vision. It was pretty nice for me just to be able to let go and work on something that I hadn't meticulously planned out.

Acrylic paint, ink, and collage on canvas. 4'x5'. 2009.

Detail.
Love the fish swimming into the shark's mouth!

Detail.
One of my favorite parts!

Detail.

The MJs!!

All right now! What have we here? Some MJs!!

Now, they're not the best photos, but they're the only ones I have at the moment!
These are all 22"x30" Silkscreen on Arches 88 White. 2008.
MJs present: Smooth Criminal, The Way You Make Me Feel, Black or White, Scream, and Thriller.

With this series of prints I got really interested in Michael Jackson's music videos and his dancing in the videos. I started thinking about how iconic and recognizable he is based solely on his moves and I wanted to translate that to print. Hence the removal of his facial features all together. I believe that Smooth Criminal, The Way You Make Me Feel, and Black or White are the most successful grouping. Thriller is a bit smaller than the rest, and I feel like Scream sticks out by having no gold. But I still really love them all.

Some oldies, but goodies.

It's been a while, yes. I'm new to blogging and still trying to get used to it.

Anyway though, I'm posting a few images of older work. I know as my work changes and progresses I grow out of or grow tired of some of my older pieces. These are the lucky ones that have survived!

Untitled. 2006. Silkscreen on Rives BFK White. Four color separation.

Monoprint. 15"x22". 2006. Ink on Rives BFK White.

Untitled. 2006. Relief Print on Rives BFK White.

Crest. 2006. Lithograph on Rives BFK White.

Untitled. 2006. Lithograph on Rives BFK White.

Gun. 15"x30". 2006. Lithograph and watercolor on Rives BFK White.

Pirates. 2007. Etching and Cin Cole on Rives BFK White.

Untitled. 2008. Silkscreen Monoprint on Rives BFK White.