Garden as Inspiration

My hostas are dying off turning from the beautiful dark green to sickly shades of yellow. Time to trim them back and place the forgotten leaves into the bin to be recycled. I have used these leaves most recently to start a new body of work, drawing charcoal on fabric. I enjoy drawing on fabric and paper. My favorite paper is vellum. I love the translucently of the material. It also reacts differently as the pencil travels across the surface. There is a different type of tension between the pencil and page, then with regular drawing paper. I also like the way that the eraser works on the surface of the vellum. You can skim many layers of graphite off the surface. Leaving whatever value you choose to leave of graphite.

From Summer to Fall

My limelight hydrangea bush is all droopy but the blooms are turning pink. The changing of the color started on the tips of the leaves and slowly moves in towards the interior as the weather gets cooler. Soon we'll be taking the AC out the window's.

Working on the exquisite corpse drawing

I did some research on torsos and drawing the human figure. It's been a while since I have been in the life drawing class. I realize with the exquisite corpse that it is a surrealist exploration but I wanted to have a beginning point in my head as I start working. The torso really encompasses much of the body. And the way the paper is folded I am limited in creating the length of a true proportional torso. The torso contains the vital organs of the body, the heart, lungs, and then it also has the arms and the back.

In my studies I found some older drawings of figures, which I think, are Rembrandts. I love the way the fabrics and body become one in a way. Also the figures shown from behind and the back and arms are very distinctive. Also the lines are very gestural which I enjoy. The head of the figure is rotated towards the viewer. Now of course when I draw this it will be completely different.

As I was doing my stretches this morning I was thinking about the repetition of moving the body. But also how the body changes shape in relationship to the viewer, myself. As each motion of a stretch is carried out. This sounds like it could be a place for taking some pictures. Because for example when it do backstretch bring my knee to my chest my knee is only a half moon shape than as it bends them comes closer it changes its form to the point I can actually touch it with my head.

Corn in the neighborhood

My neighbor is growing corn in their front yard, in the space between the sidewalk and the street. I'm not sure what that strip of greenery is called. The corn is stunted somehow, in too short. I was taking pictures of it the other day and some video. I realized that I enjoy a capturing moments of nature in my backyard so to speak. On that video I enjoyed when the wind swept through and you could hear a dog barking in the background. It was capturing a brief moment in time.

With the photography I enjoy taking macro shots of the shapes that the cornstalks make. Discovering the structures of how the plant grows. Breaking down the overall forms into individual shapes. With the macro lens on I could really see the shapes and forms and also the veining and leaves.

I think I would like to videotape other segments of my own garden and possibly other local spots.

Exquisite Corpse

Package arrived from the exquisite corpse show that the Paul Robeson gallery and Rutgers University in Newark. Very excited to get to work.

I am been researching torsos. Because that is the part of the corpse that I am drawing. I thought I would do a little homework before I started on the piece. I also want to research the history of the exquisite corpse and see what some of the other surrealists did. The gallery sent along an excellent sheet on surrealist techniques with definitions. I love stuff like that. I'm thinking of even writing a few into lesson plans. Need to start work soon though.

Envelopes As Containers

I asked myself two questions this morning. What do envelopes contain? What is the structure of an envelope?

Envelopes contain love letters, junk mail, peace offerings, strange Christmas cards, bereavement thank you's, bills, sometimes art, CDs, art entries, rejections, birthday cards, things from Amazon, presents, congratulations you've been accepted into...

I was thinking about what could be contained in an envelope conceptually and what items would hold meaning. Or does the envelope have to contain anything? Does the idea that it could contain something already hold strong in the viewer’s mind because of the shape of the envelope, that the thought is already conveyed, without containing anything?

So this leads me into another question, what would I contain within envelope as an artist? And what would that envelope look like?

What is the structure of an envelope? When I think of structure I actually think of the paper that the envelope is made. This actually conveys to the viewer many ideas. Fine linen conveys a wedding invitation or even a vellum envelope can speak of this as well. The number 10 envelope speaks of junk mail or business. A blue envelope jumps out at us denoting payment and the thinking is very similar for a yellow envelope. The hand written address label always garners attention because we think it's from our friend even when it's faked and written by computer.
Looks like I posed many more questions than I've actually answered. See what kind of answers I come up with in the future.

My left foot-movie

I watched the movie My Left Foot last night. I really enjoyed the movie as a movie. But it also makes you think that it's important to create no matter what. The movie was about the life of Christy Brown. Brown was an artist, a writer and also a poet. He wrote seven books during his lifetime. Probably the most unexpected and awe-inspiring part about this was he did everything with his left foot. He suffered from cerebral palsy.