My meat helps compose the heavens.

Painting Update: Sept. 14, 2009. Here is where we are standing now with this painting. Also, note the detail photo so you can really get a feel for what it looks like in real life. It's gory in the perfect romantic way.




New project: Sept. 13, 2009. This is sort of a continuation of the practice with dogs, fish heads, frustration, value of self, and demonstration of the biological expression of emotion. Plus there is just something about meat that is hilarious.

Materiality, my playground!

Painting update: August 30, 2009. I think I maaaay be reaching completion! I think I am slowly accepting and appreciating the composition of the image, but I think I might need something heavier in there to anchor it... or maybe not. I guess we will see!



Painting Update: Aug. 26, 2009. The layers are really starting to contribute rather than plague the overall painting. Huh. Tea time!






Painting Update: Aug. 24, 2009. Ahhhh what a mess. I knew it had to go there before it got better, but... bah. Painting can be so cruel. I am trying to think about the horrible things cheese and wine go through before they get good. I'm going to go eat something and try to remind myself that painting cannot be trusted.





New project: August 19, 2009 (started early July). These images are a work in progress for a friend and colleague who foolishly asked me to make a painting for her! Sucker. I mean, best decision of her life! Right?

This project is getting increasingly more fun as I putter along. I have missed splashing around and making a mess and then getting anxiety attacks that I may have destroyed my wood floors. This puppy already has a gallon of house paint (1/2 interior and 1/2 exterior, latex) on it, and a bunch of heavy canvas underneath swaddling it.

I don't think looking at how paint interacts with itself will ever get old.

Don't worry, the ugly pink was mostly just to facilitate the fabric swaddling. It's already entirely gone, and we are on to actually making the painting look generally pleasing, an important step towards the flabbergasted confusion/I love it? reaction I'm looking for. It is also planned that the final work will be much lighter, I just wanted to start off dark to get some depth going on. I guess this means on to the acrylic stages.

New Prog/Proj

COMPLETE: July 04, 2009. All I know is that it's done. And the next self-propelled painting project will involve the human body and lungs. Mostly lungs. Probably.

As for this project, I think I am slowly getting a grasp of what I am exploring. The unfortunate part is that I am not sure how to effectively explain what's going on. There is obviously still some exploration of materiality. And there is some sort of psychoemotional (is that a word? probably not) expression. I think the dog is a device to distance the painting from becoming to directly personal, as the message should not only be applicable in a self-study sense. I think everyone suffers from inner conflicts, and the obvious desire to behave in different ways than is appropriate (shut up, Freud). On that note, I think I am doing the image damage by saying anything about it, but feel free to let me know what you think.



Painting Update: June 28, 2009. Hard to say if it's finished. I don't want to talk about it. *huffs off* (which means I know it's not). But I do like how the dog is now looking less angry and more afraid. Despite their being more or less the same emotion.



Drawing update: June 22, 2009. Welp. I think the drawing portion is relatively completed. So much of it is going to be covered in paint anyways. And I am still looking forward to those teeth. I'm still thinking about what I'm getting out of this, and I feel like it may be commenting on becoming what you embrace. Regardless of what you want to embrace, or regardless of if you want to embrace anything?



Drawing update: June 17, 2009. I'm thinking crusty yellow teeth. Sorta like the yellow in the fish head painting below. I think it references something biological that is a result of harm (puss). And something about being harmed by being the harmer. Ah. On with my blither blather.

Narcissism dog likes empathy? Title in progress. As is the drawing. I can't wait to make those teeth look gnar.

And...

...this is another narcissistic empathy painting. Something about being too distracted with frivolousness to notice the grotesque fishy heads. Or something. I'll elaborate later... maybe.

Grades = Art = Art = Grades

Do you remember all that complaining from way back when I was legally considered a student? Well, those complaints were stemmed from the agony of artistic growth, for the most part in drawing and painting media. I plan to slowly comment or attempt explanations about all of these past pieces to try to make some sense out of them, in hope of directing my future exploration of art. However, for the time being, I'm just going to stick them up, step numero uno to reorganization and further rationalization. And by rationalization, I mean, development of a thesis people who speak human can understand. Wish me luck. And feel free to comment away.