Sunday, February 14, 2016

The Wandering Eye

It's hard to be stuck at work in a cubicle when all you want to do is create. Often while I'm in a meeting I'll be sketching something amongst my notes. As a young artist I had trouble creating anything from memory. Eyes, ears, and mouths were flat and lifeless. As I've developed as an artist and continued my practice, I've found that I'm now able to draw lifelike items from memory. My pencil always surprises me when it reveals something deeper than the page.

I once read that being an artist was a struggle between moments of sheer brilliance and crippling uncertainty. I struggle with that regularly, it's what pushes me to continue to learn, practice, and study. I don't let the uncertainty shut me down, I work through it, turn it into motivation, and continue to create.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Work In Progress: Life Grows from All Places

Giving a title to one of my pieces is always a struggle. I shuffle back and forth trying to decide what each piece wants to be called. No matter how many times I ask the women in my pieces, they always insist that giving them a name will minimize their impact. So I settle for vague descriptions of them, because for me, naming a piece "Untitled" stops the audience from thinking about the piece.

There is something so beautifully complex about mushrooms. I love how they pop-up over night, as if by magic. They show up like a family on vacation, peeking their heads out of their home, and presenting themselves to the universe. Mushrooms can be edible, decorative, or deadly. It's hard to trust a mushroom . . . they're like people in that way.