Third Year Work

I've been enjoying the time off from school and work, so I havn't posted anything in a bit. This is a piece I made for my Language of Abstraction class in the year that just ended. I came up with the idea by taking photos on the train going to school and cutting them up and combining them together. The last piece I made for this class was made in the same way. I think I want to make a series from this idea. The pallet is very neutral, like the scenery. I rather like this piece because of the repetition of irregular rectangles. Perhaps that is my ultimate concern in these works; the relationship between the irregular rectangle in comparison to the precise rectangular surface the image is on.
Hopefully I will start to make some new work soon!

Portrait Drawings

Good news! I am officially done my third year of university! Today I had my final critique, which went alright. We had to submit two drawings done in class and two drawings done outside of class. I wish I had re- done my first out of class drawing, I think it would have helped me achieve a better grade. Anyways, I'm going to post the drawings I created in the class, even if some of them are not so great because it shows how much I've progressed over the semester. The ones that are black and white are conte on newsprint, 18x 24. The two red and white ones are conte on pastel paper. And the last one is conte and charcoal on stonehenge paper with an acrylic ground, 18x 24.

Portrait Sketches

So I have my last critique tomorrow that I have not prepared for yet. For some reason the last task you have to do in the year is always the most difficult to complete. Anyways, I was rummaging through a small sketchbook I found that I thought I misplaced and found a few portraits in it. Most of them were drawn on the Go Train. I also drew two super quick portraits last night and this morning. I think it's interesting to see my progression through the year.

The first sketch is of a woman sleeping on the train. Then I have a few people reading on the train, followed by another man reading on the train. The next drawing was done in sanguine conte, and I'm not sure if it's a self portrait or just a random face. Beneath that one is a self- portrait created last night before I went to bed. And finally, my personal favorite. A drawing of my boyfriend from a photograph. Actually I am going to use the same photograph for my final project. So this is more of a preparatory sketch than anything.

School

My third year at OCAD is coming to an end! I just have one project left, a portrait drawing due on Tuesday that I havn't started. I emptied out my locker and brought everything home, so it's really official. I forgot my digital camera on Wednesday, so I don't have a quality photo of how I displayed my final abstract painting (the painting I posted in the last entry). So, I have a really low grade quality photo from my phone.I also changed the order of the panels. The walls we had in this classroom were terrible, there's no way to nail your work to the walls. So I actually used Velcro to hang up my pieces!
It's a little scary that my third year is almost over. I can't believe I'm going to be in my fourth year come September. Looking back, I think the quality of my work has improved. I think my technical skills are a lot better than second year. I think two of the things that I wish I had stayed on top on this year would have been trying to get into shows and working on the concept in my pieces.
Most of my summers consists of working and pooping around. This summer I really want to make a good, hard effort to paint a lot and to create a body of work. I want to come out of the summer with a bunch of new pieces I can be proud of. I also want to read a few books and watch a few films. I suspect this will be a very artsy summer! Another thing I really want to accomplish is get into some kind of show, or get my work seen in some kind of way. After talking to a bunch of people at my school, I realize that getting your work seen is probably one of the most important things for an artist to do. I don't think I'm being overly ambitious, I just hope I have enough time to relax this summer too!

Painting for "Language of Abstraction" Class

I'm actually going to post some recent work! And it's super recent, ie. I finished it about an hour ago. It's a painting for one of my classes. The assignment was to create a painting on a shaped structure (so not a square or rectangle). I got my handy- dandy boyfriend to cut up a plank of wood into four parts, then I proceeded to beat up the smaller pieces with a hammer and chisel. I based the image off a series of photos I took on the train that I cut up and juxtaposed together. I'm pretty happy with this one. I'm not sure what else to do with it so I'm going to say it's finished. All I need to do now is go to Home Depot or wherever to get some little devices so I can hang the pieces up for my critique tomorrow.

PS. This isn't how I'm going to hang the pieces, I will try to take a photo of this at my critique to show how it should look. 

Past Paintings

I wanted to post something today and I was looking at some of the paintings I have photographed and couldn't believe I hadn't posted these yet. I made these around November 2007 or 2008. They are five wooden panels painted with acrylic and acrylic gel and collaged with paper and acetate, 16x 20. I really like these pieces  because they were so fun to make. I made stencils from acetate, got a brayer (a printmaking tool to roll ink), and made a whole bunch of overlapping prints. The entire process is a lot different from how I've been making my paintings recently. This was very spontaneous, created laying flat on a table using bright colours. Recently, my paintings are very much thought out, upright on an easel using neutral colours. I'll have to include some actual recent works some time soon to show some of the differences. I just never seem to get around to photographing stuff.
In recent news, I've been blessed with a bastard of a cold. Isn't it great when you get sick during the last couple weeks of school when you have the most work to do. I just love it! **Hides under a blanket**

A Painting

Colours! I've been working with neutrals for a while now, it was a l surprise when I incorporated some colour into my work over the winter break. This was made by taping off sections with tape and layering on different colours. It's 30x 40", acrylic on canvas.
I'm starting to appreciate geometric shapes, especially of the rectangle and square. They're so versatile and familiar. Although they're criticized for being cold and mechanical, I think it's the artists job to give these shapes personality.
I think I would be utterly content if I could just paint squares and rectangles. I've yet to get bored with looking at and creating them.