Birth of an Artist

Long time, no blog. I know. I think I'm going to use this for my art thoughts about different things I hope to accomplish and later on start weekly/monthly blogs about my art life after college.

I have decided to get a BFA in graphic arts which means 4 more semesters of school Spr 09-Fall 10. It's ok tho, I'm gonna make it through.

So the reason for the post:

It has occurred to me more and more recently I have no real thought to my art. I have been put in this system and the system has carried me to now, where I am doing whatever it is that I need to do to pass the system. While I have become an expert at applying my skills to the system, I have not found something that makes me want to create art.

I have created art for the Naughti Gras in 08, and now am working on finishing a piece for the NG 09 (hope I get in!) but it's nothing that makes me want to explore art more.

So, I have decided I am going to start a journal on what makes me passionate and what direction I can take my art in. It's time for me to finally embrase my inner artist and start developing ideas that I can explore and bring into my academic life. I might go back to school early for a few days of silence in my own life while I try to find my artistic self. Being at Asher's house is wonderful, but I think I might go back to school just for a few days of working out and art peace.

btw - I now am a proud worker at LaMar's Donuts :) weekends only - perfect for this emerging artist.

Photos [Part 1]

Yey! Finally a new post! I've been having some difficulties with my computer recently. Luckily I know an IT guy who saved my computer, and now it's as good as new!

The following are photographs I worked on as a photo 1 student and we not clean when I scanned them.... or the scanner wasn't clean when they were scanned. oops >.< So if you blow them up they will be beyond disgusting. I'm working on taking care of that as we speak. I don't have photo shop anymore (due to the computer cleaning) but I'm talking to another tech nerd who can help me out with that problem as well.

Please enjoy what I have here for you and stay tuned for a new post!

Abstraction 1: Sea Urchin

This is one photo that didn't make it into my final portfolio for Spring 08. It's a bit over exposed on the paper, so when I get a negative scanner I will correct the dark area and post the revised copy.


Abstraction 2: Hindsight Light

I don't believe this one made it into my finals either, but I really like the reflective qualities and the shallow depth of focus in this photo.

Abstraction 3: Closed

This one also doesn't have a lot of depth to the shadows and didn't make it into my final portfolio. But plan on correcting it as well


Abstraction 4: Dark into Light

There are two other pictures I took like this one that I didn't print due to lack of time, however I like this one the best. I feel it provokes all of the space to interact and I love the detail on the rusty chain.

More to come at a later date!!!

The Next Step

Today was the first official day of the summer! 3।5 months to do absolutely nothing.... kind of.

I cleaned up the mess my charcoal had made from all the work I had been doing at home. I cleaned up the paint from the last 3D Design project, and sucessfully clogged the sink. yey for acrylics. *tiny flag wave*

I haven't decided yet if over the summer I'm going to try to produce works that I can potentially sell, or if I should just get another job like a normal person. I already work one job and I'm picking up an internship for Lotus Arts Studio. The owner (who also happens to be my mom) needs help with maintaining her webpage, creating and getting fliers circulated about her next dance session and bookkeeping. But I have no doubt that she will keep me busy doing graphic work for her all summer with enough to allow me to make a decent portfolio!

As far as the job/artwork goes, I will attempt to get another job, as well as sell my artwork. The art will most likely be posted here as well as on Etsy.com. I may even enter a show or two over the summer. My goal this year was to be in 4 shows. so far I have 0/4. But the year will go on! I am definately putting some of my photo work in a student show when i get back for the Fall semester.

Just so you know (for the few of you who stumble upon my blog), I am going to be posting more artwork as I get it photographed and scanned. A lot of what I have right now is photographs. The 3D design class I took wasn't very productive as far as getting works I can be proud of. However, I learned a great deal from the class and will take what I learned on to the next level with me.

Stay tuned for Photo 1 extravaganzas from my design table

JD

Endings Bring Beginnings

Over the past month, my schoolwork became overwhelming!! I created three selfportrait pieces, the third of which containing three self portraits!!! I haven't really slept for the past week and now that the semester is over I feel like I need to continue producing at rapid high detail speeds!

I'm showing all the stuff I've done Spring semester. My artist statement for this drawing class was about self exploration, and finding out new things about myself. At first it started with things I already knew about myself, and it slowly started to morph into things that I see in other people, but then came back around to depression. Seeing how each piece fit in with my origional artist statement, it would seem that I had a bout of depression this past semester.

I was under a great deal of stress this past semester, pushing myself to my limits and then beyond them. I rarely saw my friends as the semester swept by; I barely had a family who knew me as I dove deeper and deeper into the art world; I guess I was depressed. But it made my art that much better! yey! go depression... only not so much....


These two peices were toward the beginning of the semester. Of the diptic, the top shows a close up of me. Me just being me in my own world, content but restrained and manipulated into a feminine shape and held behind glass. In the second is the big picture of what was going on. I was behind all these confinements and still trying to control my own life. Mostly I controlled my relationships like a yo-yo. Up one day then down the next; rejecting and accepting boys at whatever interval I chose, so long as I chose it.

These next two are two parts to a tryptic, however I forgot to take a picture of that one. The first is showing how when you first meet someone they have cloaked themselves to hide their true identity. The second is one shows a bit more of what's under the cloth, showing time revealing it's true identity. The third is the individual opening up and revealing all. This idea came from my Inerpersonal Communication class. At the time we were talking about self disclosure and I do much more disclosing than most normal people so I wanted to take a look at how other people operate.

That's all I have time to post - Hope you enjoyed it!

First Time Blog on Blogger!

Woohoo!! I've been meaning to create a blogspot for quite some time now. I see many artists have one, and I hope to integrate myself into the art-blog community! I also plan on using this blog quite a bit over the summer to post new work and get feedback. It's my summer resolution!
My name is JD and I'm currently a 1st year art student, however I am a junior in college. I don't go to a big art school or even a school that's well known for creating fine artists - I'm not even getting a BFA. But the degree shouldn't matter as long as I can run with the big dogs. My concentration will be in Photography and if there were such a thing as a minor concentration it would be graphic design.

My mother designed, edited, published, and sold her own magazine for 8 years so I know quite a bit about graphic design already. Sadly I am not up to date on the latest Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and other graphic software that's out there. So next semester I will be taking my first graphic design class, another photography class, textiles, and my first art history class.

now.... ON TO ART!

This is the most recent piece I've finished and am proud to say is mine. It's a study of satin-like cloth wrapped around a conch shell. If I still had the still life set up I would post it as well.

I like how the fabric feels smooth, but I don't fee like it's really flowing into itself. Are there any suggestions on how to make it feel more real? It's in vine and compressed charcoal.

I have also started dabbling into oil pastels, however I don't feel that I can get the same soft feel that I can get with pastels or with charcoal. Here are my attemps, and if there are any tutorials written by artists online I would love the comments and links!

My school doesn't have a color comp class - you're just supposed to understand and experiment in different projects as you move through the basic level classes - so I have no clue how to truely use the color wheel to my advantage. I stick to a monochromatic color scheme so I don't make large mistakes, but I want to create realistic shaddows and maybe someday paint a good deal. If there are any suggestions or links you might offer I would love to check them out.

And just so there's an understanding of where my color comprehension is, here's the only piece of color work I've done so far.

Please, any comments or suggestions I would love to hear them all!

JD