ART PROJECT COMMITMENT!

Some changes are about to make their way through my life in the next two weeks: I begin teaching at a new school, and I am moving(not far away though, within Winnipeg limits). With the beginning of these new things, and the end of summer, I feel the need to make a change or a commitment to my artmaking. Since drawing in London, and feeling renewed about how and what I'm drawing pictures of, I decided that I don't want this newfound inspriation to fade. My solution to not getting lost in the working world and having art energy fade is that I am commiting to making AT LEAST ONE IMAGE A DAY. I have been inspired by art-a-day artists and their blogs such as Don Nace who makes a drawing a day as a type of journalling, Kal Barteski a Designer who sought making art as a form of creative renewal, and Somsara Rielly who, to mark her 35th year began a collage a day for a year(And recently finished in July!).

I have decided to set a few rules for myself for this commitment:
-Images can be drawn, painted, collaged, sewn, etc, however a photograph doesn't count unless I put some time into editing, or if it requires a major amount of arranging to take the photo.
-If I miss a day and don't make an image I can make up for it the next day, or can make a bunch of images one day and be off the hook for days following. Either way, by the end of the week I should still have 7 images, one for each day.
-Images must be at last 4 by 6 inches, but one large piece does not count towards multiple images.
-Images can be made anywhere, on anything.
-This commitment begins at 12 AM August 30, 2010 and ends at 12 AM August 30th 2011. In one year's time I should have accumulated 365 images. If I am unsuccessful in achieving this deadline extensions may be permitted, but with a penalty of one extra image for each week it is overdue.
-I can terminate this commitment in the event of: personal tragedies, loss of limb, very major commissions, or extreme hatred of being committed to an image-a-day.
-I do not need to blog each image made.
-Images can include any theme, HOWEVER at least one image a week is to report on a current event in the news.
-Images made for Illustration Friday count.
-Images should feel finished.
-Projects started before this commitment began can count towards a finished image, upon completion of the project.
-Images made prior to August 30th can not be counted, unless reworked and refinished.

Illustration Friday-Immovable

For this week's Illustration Friday drawing I decided to make it into a word map after I first scribbled down some words that I associate with Immovable.

Atmosphere- Illustration Friday

An Illustration Friday Drawing/painting. Made with markers, water, and ink.

A Peek at My Sketchbook

This one is part collage, part marker, part ink, and part fun.


This one is a quote by the French writer Voltaire.

I bought a new sketchbook while in London, and feel much more drive to fill this sketchbook with ideas, and images. I suddenly have a different attitude towards sketchbooks which makes it really satisfying to fill blank pages with drawings. Here are a couple of recent drawings that were inspired or partially derived from an old book I bought at an MCC store on "the Age of Enlightenment."

Bridezilla or just misunderstood?

I was sitting around talking with my good friend Sarah, and after a comment she made about a Ginormous veil, I felt the immediate need to draw one. Sarah by the way is soon to be married herself, but is still deciding about getting a veil. I'm not sure if this drawing will sway her for or against one. We both instantly fell in love with this drawing before I even finished it.

Illustration Friday- Star Gazing

A sketch I did with ink, marker, and water for Illustration Friday.

Inspired in London; Newsworthy Winnipeg Events

I am back from my trip overseas, and am now contemplating what the next step is for me in my art production. The course I took in London at Central St. Martins was honestly almost exactly what I was looking for in a course. It had been several years since the last time I took a drawing course, and found it really refreshing to go back to school after being away for a long time and suddenly I felt more confident in my own style, in what interests me, and in ways of working. Most people in my small class had either completed or were in the process of completing a degree in either fine arts or graphic design. And there were a few who had backgrounds in other academic areas. The class was very multi-cultural, with everyone from different country, except for one fellow Canadian. It was also really great to be surrounded by talented artists.

I feel like I was reminded of the value of sketching, of getting ideas down and actually observing my surroundings as something valuable to record on paper. For so long I have only been creating things out of my imagination and actually rarely use reference photos, and I think that shows in my work. I usually ignore backgrounds, don't use cropping to my advantage, only sometimes mix media together, and usually don't put a lot of value on anything I make that has a "sketch-y" feel to it, I usually prefer if my lines are more accurate. This course helped me to rediscover the fun in drawing and drawing quickly. I always enjoy drawing, but this brought a new light to it, as we would nearly each day go out to an area of London and sketch it- maybe a museum, maybe a public place, but the idea was to get inspiration from where we were and then go back to the studio to rework some ideas or to use that perspective in a more focused work. The course was titled "Graphic Witness: The art of Reportage." We even went to the law courts building one day and drew what was going on with the court proceedings. These were brand new experiences for me, and I found that I really loosened up and was able to sketch fairly quickly to record things. It was rather refreshing. I sent an email to myself on the last day of classes reminding myself of the things I thought that I had learned, so that in case I got home and felt uninspired I could read the list and hopefully assess what I could do to add a little more mojo into what I was making.

A challenge for myself that I am thinking of doing is to create ongoing images based on what's happening in the news, as this idea of reportage has really grabbed a hold of me. My first such image is this one that I created today, pictured above. The Bodies exhibit is coming to Winnipeg,and is something that holds quite a bit of controversy. The display includes actual human bodies that have been changed, exposed and essentially converted into rubber to preserve the human form. Much of the controversy surrounding the exhibit is whether or not is respectable, honourable, right, or deplorable to display human bodies who likely were executed prisoners from China. Under Chinese law the bodies were lawfully obtained,as their bodies were not claimed, however the whole exhibit brings up human rights issues. I am undecided on the issue, as I am personally really excited to see the Bodies exhibit, but I may change my mind upon actually viewing it.

Here is a link to a free press article about the display: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/bodies-coming-downtown-100513534.html