Jewels of the Mind

 Jewels of the Mind (01)

Ink on paper mounted on board

24x24 inches. 2010

“Jewels of the Mind,” in this series, refers to the various thoughts and actions that inspire us daily. Each little explosion has a precious, jewel-like quality, glowing on the surface of the painting.

 

Jewels of the Mind (05)

Ink and gouache on paper mounted on board

24x24 inches. 2010

Karma 03

Karma 03

Ink and gouache on paper. 26x20 inches. 2010.

This is the third piece in my Karma (Meditations on Samskara) series. Check out the first two here.

Drawing / Conclusions

 

Student: Jordan Nicholson

Perhaps a self-portrait of sorts, a geometric head filled with nostalgic memories of home. I love the detail and contrast, but would like the background to be more complete.

Today was the last day of drawing class for the semester. These are a few of the best final drawings that were presented. The assignment was initiated before Thanksgiving. In honor of the holiday, I asked students to take photographs, while they were at home with their families (or where ever they went), that illustrated their ideas of “gratitude.”

Student: Melissa Vargas

Appreciation of natural landscapes in her home state of Colorado and her Native American heritage. I want to see more contrast, as this drawing feels a little flat at the moment. More detail in the foreground would help bring the ruins forward three-dimensionally.

From their photo collection, the students were asked to create an entirely new image to convey their personal concept of “gratitude” and to feature the technical skills they practiced over the semester. There were many interpretations of gratitude amongst the class, but most of them focused on ideas of “home” and “family.”

Student: Brenden Nelson

Acknowledging the emptiness of material consumer goods, and the importance of human connection. I would like to see more people together (perhaps a family or group of friends) on the right to contrast against the “lonely” figure with the packages.

The class was as much a learning experience for me as I’m sure it was for the students. Teaching freshmen is a whole different ballgame than teaching the upper division students that I’ve gotten used to over the years. I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of the transition students would be making from high school to college. Many of the students struggled with discipline (attendance and self-motivation). Others really focused and took their work to the next level.

Student: Sarah Heaps

Grateful for the relationship shared by her parents and their contribution to cultivating a positive atmosphere for their family. I would like to see more natural shading in the hands to make them appear more voluminous.

I definitely have some ideas for how to revise the course next semester. I hope to find ways to help students improve their time-management skills and maintain a disciplined work ethic during their first experiences away from home and on their own.

Moments of Clarity / New Collages

 

Moments of Clarity 04 / Landscape 01 (under water)

10x13 inches. Ink on paper, collage. 2010.

Sometimes after a sustained wave of productivity, I like to look around the studio to see what kinds of scraps are lying around. These two small collages are the result of recombining some of them into new compositions.

 

Moments of Clarity 05 / Landscape 02 (growth spurt)

10x13 inches. Mixed media on paper. 2010.

See some earlier works in this series here and here.

Intertwining Strands of Something . . . / No.2

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (2a). 6x6 inches. 2010

This is the second piece in a new series I’ve been working on (see the first one here)... As I’ve said before, I’m really interested in the spiritual inner-workings of our minds. Perhaps a reflection of the (im)balance of the intuitive brain and the analytical brain, my work tends to swing back and forth on the continuum between uncontrolled (chance-based) application of pigment and very precise layering of graphic elements.

Sometimes the two begin to overlap, as in this series...

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (2b). 6x6 inches. 2010

According to Yoga philosophy, there are thousands of nadis, or energy channels, that govern the subtle body. Of these, the Ida, Pingala, and Shushumna are the three most influential. The intuitive/right brain and parasympathetic nervous system are governed by Ida. The analytic/left brain and sympathetic nervous system are governed by Pingala. When these two channels of energy become balanced, then Shushumna begins to take over, offering a more direct energetic path to clarity and enlightenment.

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (2c). 6x6 inches. 2010

 Below is the entire triptych as one piece:

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (02/Triptych).
6x18 inches. 2010

Click on this image to see the whole triptych up close.

Georgia O’Keefe: Favorite Famous Artists / Part 4

 

I’ve loved the work of Georgia O’Keefe for so long, I don’t even remember now how I first discovered her. I had posters of her flower paintings on my bedroom wall when I was in high school. Back then, I think I was mostly drawn to the formal qualities of the colors and organic forms... I don’t think I really understood the broader implications of her work.

 

Poppies

Later, I came to love the flowers’ visceral suggestion of human (particularly female) flesh. I’ve always been fascinated by aggressive art by strong women—never wanting to be a “wilting flower” myself.

 

Ram’s Head

After she made a name for herself as an artist in New York City, O’Keefe moved to New Mexico where her work shifted to new subjects. Now that I’ve been living in the American West for a while myself, I’ve come to understand O’Keefe’s desert and skull paintings more clearly. I think one of the toughest challenges is to fully convey the beauty, spirituality, vastness, and harshness of western American desert landscapes.

 

Gerald’s Tree

Her skull and desert images share the aggressive qualities of the flower paintings, but there's something more contemplative about them, too... It is easy to infer that with age and wisdom, O’Keefe was forced to confront the idea of death and individual insignificance head-on, acknowledging the power of mother nature and her lack of sentimentality. Living in the New Mexico landscape probably heightened her awareness of these things.

O’Keefe’s painting of the dead desert juniper (above) reminds me of an idea I’ve been contemplating for some time now:

 Skeleton Study #2 (Danielle Foushée)

Xerox transfer, ink, and gouache on paper. 

10x13 inches. 2010.

I’ve been photographing numerous juniper skeletons in the Colorado and Utah deserts, knowing that there is something profound about them (yet, I can’t quite put my finger on it). The negative spaces left by the branches are so graphic and majestic, a relic of a life lived in the harshest of environments. I want to find a way to visually celebrate that sense of life and death and passing time in my own works of art.

Happy Hand-Drawn Meditations

When I have a few minutes here or there, I like to doodle in my sketchbook with some tracing paper. Some of the doodles turn into nice little drawings that make me happy!

 

These patterns were drawn in layers and then reconstructed in Photoshop, allowing me to adjust and recombine colors on a whim...

 

My friend Tony Toven at Clear Image Printing Company in Los Angeles generously printed my handmade patterns onto blank note cards. I packaged them up into sets so I can give them away to clients and friends.

 

I find that drawing these patterns is meditative and soothing, giving my brain something repetitive to focus on (like a visual mantra). It helps clear my mind and make room for (hopefully) new creative revelations!

Taking it Too Far

 Untitled (Dead Painting)

When I’m working on a new idea, I tend to push things too far. This painting is an example of that. About halfway through creating this piece, I took a photo of it (what you see here). Then I kept painting on top of it, and eventually I killed it. Now it is in the “dud” pile in the corner of my studio... I should have stopped while I was ahead!

Alternative Materials for Creating Self Portraits

Zack

I wanted to take the pressure off my drawing students before the Thanksgiving holiday. I asked them to bring in a variety of alternative materials with which they could create mixed-media self portraits. They brought tape, fabric, cotton balls, string, popcorn, sunflower seeds, aluminum foil, peanut butter, and so much more.

 

Sylvia

The students piled all their materials in the middle of the room. It was a free-for-all as they vied for materials they wanted for their collages. I told them the self portraits could be as abstract as they wanted—they didn’t need to be a realistic representation of their faces... I’m much more interested in the inventive use of the available materials. I hope they enjoyed this opportunity to just play, without worrying about making things look “perfect.”

Me

I was so inspired by the materials everyone brought in that I decided to make my own self portrait (above). My favorite part is the spaghetti hair and the knot for the nose. It turned out a little bit scary, but I had fun letting go for a day!

The Art of the Still Life

In-class drawing by Brenden Nelson

My drawing students have been focusing on still life drawing for the past couple weeks. We have spent quite a bit of time talking about symbolism, narrative, and meaning that is wrapped up in the selection and placement of objects.

Paul Cezanne’s Still Life with Skull

I showed them examples of still life art (both painting and sculpture) that gave me pause, then asked them to find their own examples to analyze. I never really appreciated still life art until I began to research it for this class/assignment. I felt that the work was usually a bit static... But when I looked closer I was able to see beauty in the layers of meaning, the open-ended storytelling, and the moral themes that are often conveyed.

 Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Christine Wertheim & Margaret Wertheim

Intertwining Strands of Something . . . / No. 1

 

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (1a). 6x6 inches. 2010

I’ve been working on a new series of paintings using these intertwining pearl-like strands that weave and curl around each other over an atmospheric background. I think there’s a meditative quality about them, something peaceful, contemplative.

 

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (1b). 6x6 inches. 2010

My yoga practice is often a strong inspiration for my artwork, even though the specific connection isn’t always planned out ahead of time. Yoga allows its practitioners to connect with and gain knowledge about the innermost (and interconnected) workings of their minds and bodies.

“The central doctrine of Yoga philosophy is that nothing exists beyond the mind and its consciousness, which is the only ultimate reality. The objective of this philosophy is to uproot misconceptions about the existence of external `realities` from the minds of men. It believes that it is possible to reach this stage of self realization through regular practice of certain yogic meditative processes that bring a complete withdrawal or detachment from all false sources of knowledge and inculcates an inner sense of balanced calm and tranquility.” —Life Positive magazine

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (1c). 6x6 inches. 2010

These three little paintings work as individual pieces, but they seem to embody a little more meaning when seen as a triptych. The intertwining strands connect when the pieces are placed side by side, perhaps implying an abstract narrative of a moving spirit transported through time.

Intertwining Strands of Something ... (01/Triptych).
6x18 inches. 2010

Click on this image to see the whole triptych up close.

More images in this series to come...

Deborah Jane Batt’s Abstract Communities

 

I just came across these paintings by Deborah Jane Batt today. I love the colors and compositions. They connote the idea of aerial landscapes (which I’ve mentioned before here, here, and here). I’m drawn to the graphic quality of maps and aerial photographs, and these paintings add another layer of whimsy and color to the subject.

Ms. Batt says of her work: “Although my paintings have become increasingly non-objective over the years, all my work still originates from the idea of community, the towns we build, and the way we shape and destroy the rural landscape.”

I love that the shapes in these paintings are slightly off, imperfect rectangles. In my own work I struggle with never being able to achieve the level of precision that I want. But when I see how beautiful flaws can be (in art and in life), I’m reminded that it is in those moments of imperfection that we find the humanity in our work.

I wonder if the quiet beauty of the rural landscapes Ms. Batt depicts is too harmonious to clearly convey the destruction she points out in her statement—or maybe I have latched too tightly onto this conflict. I do love to see strong contrast within works of art. These contradictions are what makes some artists’ work so memorable, and I know from experience that it’s not an easy balance to achieve.

Fresh Out of the Studio: Meditations on Samskara

Samskara (study 01). 13x10 inches. 2010.

Lately I’ve been exploring the idea of chance encounters and controlled responses... I’m fascinated by the way in which the human condition (both on the macro level of a larger culture and at the micro level of the individual) is basically characterized by habitual responses to various unpredictable situations. We tend to live in a state of inertia until some cathartic event causes us to change our path, usually for only a short time. At some point when we’re not paying attention, we tend to revert to our old way of doing things.

According to yogic philosophy, this repetitious cycle of behaviors (called samskara) is caused by the karma we’ve created for ourselves. We must necessarily continue in this Groundhog Day scenario until we finally learn the lessons that bring about lasting positive change.

Samskara (study 02). 13x10 inches. 2010.

These new paintings are my first attempt to convey the process of releasing karma — not from a judgmental point of view — but more from an observational standpoint. Perhaps it is an illustration of the constant trial and error we all experience through the waves of life and the occasional breakthrough to something more free, more creative, and more aware.

These paintings are the small sketches (the ones that fit on my scanner)... I have some bigger ones in process that I’ll post eventually... when I finally get my stuff over to the photographer. (He gives me a discount when I have a bigger batch of stuff to shoot, so I need to keep making more stuff!)

More Student Drawings

I think perhaps the only way to improve your drawing skills is to keep practicing, so that’s what my beginning drawing class does (in one way or another) each week — exploring various techniques and adjusting in areas of weakness after a critique.

One week the students practiced drawing each others’ hands in different positions. Another week the students practiced figurative gesture drawings as an initial sketch (see their first attempts at gesture drawing here). Then they came back in on top of these quick gesture drawings to add shading and detail.

 

I’m still dumbfounded at how quickly the students’ work has changed and improved over the course of the semester. Many of these students had never taken a drawing class (or any kind of art class) before now.

 

I’m scheduled to teach drawing again next semester, and I already have a number of ideas on how to improve the sequencing and hierarchy of the assignments. I appreciate having the opportunity to teach the same class over several semesters because then I have a chance to incorporate the things I’ve learned through each unique experience with students.

Josef Albers: Favorite Famous Artists / Part 3

Homage to the Square

I was first introduced to artist Josef Albers as a design student studying color theory. His book Interaction of Color influenced the way I’ve understood color ever since. A couple of quotes from the book’s introduction seem particularly poignant, at least for my own art-making practice. The quotes reproduced below use the same line breaks found in the book.

Homage to the Square

“In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is

—as it physically is.

This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.”

This image from Interaction of Color illustrates the illusions that occur when the same color is placed on different backgrounds.

Albers also says: 

“First, it should be learned that one and the same color evokes

innumerable readings.

Instead of mechanically applying or merely implying laws and rules

of color harmony, distinct color effects are produced

—through recognition of the interaction of color—

by making, for instance,

2 very different colors look alike, or nearly alike.”

Native American Ruins in Road Canyon on Cedar Mesa, Utah

The Citadel is out this finger in Road Cyn

Matt and I spent another weekend exploring Cedar Mesa before winter sets in. We spent the night on the rim of Road Canyon, and then hiked out to The Citadel under a royal blue sky and perfect temps. The Citadel is perfectly situated at the end of this skinny ridge in a defensive position. Residents could see 360° from their location, and would have known if any visitors were approaching.

The Citadel, exterior view

According to scholars Jonathan Till and Winston Hurst, the Anasazi (ancestral Pueblo) lived in the canyons around Cedar Mesa in southeast Utah for over 2,000 years. They finally left for good around 1200 A.D. Today, visitors can still find cliff dwellings, artifacts, rock drawings, and granaries left by the people of the past. We left everything exactly as we found it (and kept our dog away from the ruins) to protect these amazing resources for future visitors.

The Citadel, interior view 

(I didn’t go inside, just stuck my arm inside the door with my camera.)

Mojo taking a drink from a slick rock puddle.