Statement for new work

My current work can be put into two categories. Work with backgrounds, and work without. I have begun to see the pieces with backgrounds as reflections of waking life. They are about the individual in relation to her environment, and her experience in a physical space. Neither the figure nor the background can be separated in this instance, and the two are given equal weight. My figures are always based on the way they feel, not the way they look, and the backgrounds in these paintings are similarly created from the emotional quality of the space.

The second group of paintings I have worked on, void of backgrounds, are based on one's life in dreams. In this world the individual begins to lose her sense of boundaries, and her emotions begin to spill out into the empty space. She fills this environment with her presence, and has nothing to respond to but this overflow of herself.

I make these paintings to uncover something honest about my personal experience as a human being in modern society. They are my gut feelings manifested. Like dreams themselves, everything in my work comes from an emotional core, and the deeper meaning will depend on what the viewer brings with him.

Backgrounds

 

 Today I had my art student over, and we talked about why he likes art.. mostly in attempts to get him ready for some sort of art institute interview, and some interesting things came up. One of the things he said was "I like art because it has no limits." I think this is one of the reasons I like art too. A figure in a painting can be realistic, flat, misshapen, have missing parts, be drawn from memory, or be drawn from observation. I don't have to show things the way they look, and I don't have to keep the rules consistent. It's all about the intent. If you do it knowingly, there can be no mistakes in art. This is also one of the things that make drawing and painting so difficult. You don't have to follow any rules, and you are allowed to(and will) make a bad drawing sometimes. This is a crucial part of figuring out what does work and what is actually interesting to look at.

Something new that has emerged recently for me is the use of backgrounds. If you've noticed in the past, I kept the background pretty sparse and abstract. It has been a long run of figures squirming in their own emotional filth, which is fine, but it was time for a divergence. There is something very satisfying about this kind of structured, pretty painting, and I'm hoping it will bring something new to the figures.

The first painting here is also loosely inspired by a piece of writing by my friend and writer, Josh Amses. More collaborations between us to come!

'Hello at the Beach'  22x30" gouache on paper

'Forget-Me-Not' 22x30" gouache on paper

'London Bridge' 22x30" gouache and acrylic on paper

'The Sun' 20x30" gouache on paper

Telling Secrets

http://www.projekt30.com/telling_secrets.php

My work is featured in this online show "Telling Secrets"

I love telling keeping secrets and I love telling secrets. I love how the secrets find a way to seep out.

Plateau

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 10x12"

Before I get better at anything, it seems I have to get worse. I've had some artist's block recently.. in a way. What I mean by that is that I've been doing some really ugly drawings. It's weird to to go work for 10 hours, clean the bathroom, make food, and then do a terrible drawing while listening to my Peggy Lee radio station. 

It seems like for the last 5 years or so my work has focused on the glorification of negative feelings. Turning something bad into something beautiful and different. That has been my process anyway, but it does requires a certain amount of self-disgust (which I've had plenty of). 

I'm starting to feel tired. I actually want to feel good things, not just make the bad things pretty. How does that effect the art? Maybe it's time to draw someone else. 

Old Work Inspiring New Work

I just had my hard drive from my old broken laptop transferred to a brand new machine, and as a result, I got all my old pictures back. In looking at some of my older work, I realized that there is a lot there that I want to get back to. Something about the reality and straightforwardness in some of the figures made me really excited, and I'm hoping to make some new work inspired by my older work.

soft ground etching 22x30"

ink and pastel on paper 22x30"

charcoal and acrylic on masonite

linoleum print

gouache and paint from tibet

It's a little known fact that I did learn how to do paintings of deities in Tibet from Monks who didn't speak very much English. It's not really my usual thing, but they were lovely to work with and it was a lot of fun to learn.

I also used to assist a biological illustration class for kids, and almost went into medical illustration. I still have the urge to become a tattoo artist sometimes, and this work seems to relate to that desire more.

Ariel

My princesses are slowly all finding their homes.
"Ariel" has just sold.

Ariel, oil on wood panel, 3x4'

Love and Resentment

                                                 (new painting in progress)

I've been thinking a lot about where I keep my emotions in my body, and how crazy it is that we can bury resentments in our organs and connective tissues. I've been realizing just how much a quiet angry child can store in there, and how is seeps out in unexplained discomfort and uneasiness. I've been thinking about defenses, and how it feels when something has gotten in and realized you were just a sack full of organs; realized that there was no magic or mystery there. Like rotting inside, like worms in your guts, like someone getting too close and trying to open you up for the world to see. Like having a camera snaked through your bellybutton, and having your inflamed appendix removed. Like being examined in front of a room full of family members and strangers. Like being 15 and unconscious on an operating table you'll never remember. There is an anger in me that requires extreme reserve or extreme gluttony. It makes me feel like Saturn devouring his children. I think Goya showed it best-

                                                    Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son (1819)