Today is a Lazy Day

On my day off, I am just sitting around my house being lazy instead of working on things that I should be working on, like homework. In this "spare time" when I'm not in the midst of working, I'm constantly faced with the realization that I'm going to have to figure out my life eventually. Every day I ask my self the same question, "What am I going to do about my life?". It just feels like I'm in a giant pile of junk that I can't sort through; I don't know where to start. I know it's an even worse day when someone else asks me "What are you planning to do after you're done school?". Frankly, I don't have a fucking clue.

Right now I'm reading this great book, "Art & Fear- Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles and Ted Orlando. It's about what it's like being an artist today and how making art is not easy, but you should do it anyway. I really love the book because it makes me feel at ease with what I'm doing right now, but I can't help thinking that it may be a little too idealistic. But as I get closer to the end of the book, it gets a little more realistic.

One thing people always ask me concerning my "career" in art is if I'm planning to be a teacher. I would like to quote a neat little passage (one of many) from this book: "...if you study art with the goal of teaching it, you'll end up with a career in sales. You study artmaking to learn something about artmaking".

Abstraction

So apparently I'm terrible at updating my blog. In the midst of posting all of the figurative work I've done, I've completely ignored one of the main aspects of my art making- abstraction. I don't think I have any abstract work on here except for a piece or two at the beginning of my blog. So I guess I will post some work! I'll upload one piece for now. This is a painting that's 30x 40, acrylic on canvas. It hangs in my room b.c it goes well with the colour scheme. I used a pumice gel on most parts of the painting to give it a rough texture to contrast the smooth shiny brown squares. And I also collaged some brown pieces of paper in it as well. I really enjoy working this way, with roughly explained geometric shapes. It makes them less harsh, I suppose.