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.

Thinking About Ryman

This is Robert Ryman's "Untitled", 1965. I am really enjoying this guys work, it's very different from what I'm used to. But its not so much the work that I'm captivated by, although I do really like this piece, but his fascination and love for paint. I was watching an interview with him in one of my classes and he just talks about how he just loves paint. One his great quotes is " It's not about what to paint, but how to paint". I've been keeping that in my mind for the past couple of days while I have been rushing around to get work done. Personally, I think some of the most compelling work deals with how paint is used.

The Now

Today I have been thinking a lot about the future and things that are important to me. And while my head has gone through an endless amount of scenarios, ideas, and issues, I constantly come back to the same thought: life is scary and making decisions is scary. I much rather not take responsibility for anything and be a recluse for the rest of my life. That in itself is a decision with some pretty hefty consequences, but it seems better that making real choices. I dread the times when people ask me what I'm planning to do with my life, because I don't have a clue.
I'm just stressed out with school at the moment. It would be nice to take a break from life, but I only have a month left until summer.

The Daily Scene

So the photo I posted is a picture I took while riding the Go train to school. There really isn't anything spectacular about it, nothing that is especially pretty. But I was taking photographs to abstract from for a painting assignment of mine. I decided to keep this photo anyways because I thought the composition was pretty interesting. I think I may do something with it a little later.
I've never really been a fan of landscape art, but recently I've had a lot of thoughts about "Canadian" identity. Does Canada really have an identity? Does any country? I've read a bunch of stuff on the topic, and one of the most common things mentioned about being part of the "Canadian identity", besides multiculturalism, is that it's attributed to land and its landscape. That's probably why the Group of Seven is/ was so popular. But the type of landscape that comes to mind is always some dangerous wilderness or cottage country. For me, as someone who lives in the GTA, that idea of Canada seems outdated. I've always seen Canada, or at least the part of Canada that I live in, as more "developed" or urban.
Even though what I spend most of my day looking at isn't a beautiful depiction of the Great White North, I'm beginning to appreciate my surroundings a little more. I think if you allow yourself, you can find beauty in anything.

Coffee and Coffee

A while ago I got my boyfriend the movie "Coffee and Cigarettes". Basically, it's a bunch of short clips of people sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. For whatever reason, this movie sparked an interest in coffee. This triptych was based on some photographs I took at a Tim Hortons of people sitting around drinking coffee. They are all 30x 40, acrylic on canvas. I was really inspired by the neutral color scheme one may find when in a coffee shop or when one thinks of coffee. I also made a few other works prior to this that had to do with coffee, I might include some of them a little later on.
I think what I liked about looking at coffee in these pieces wasn't just the physical substance, but the interaction around coffee. It took me a while to figure out what I actually found interesting about the film and coffee. Coffee and Cigarettes is visually beautiful and it was the characters and the aesthetics of the film that I fell in love with. Had I figured this out before hand, I think the work I would have produced would have taken a different direction. However, it's not to say that I regret making this piece or the earlier ones.

Staining

Hello. I havn't posted anything in a while, I've been busy with school, but I thought today would be a good day. This is an older work of mine, I made it during my second year. The assignment was to stain raw canvas. I really enjoyed this project and I also really liked the outcome of it. A lot of people I've shown this piece to are not really taken by it, but I think because I had so much fun creating this work that I like it so much more. The original piece has more purple in it. I used acrylic on raw canvas and pushed watered down paint across the surface with a medium sized paint scraper. The Large shapes the the middle of the piece was the result of pooled water when I let the piece dry.
I think in the summer, I may take on another similar project with staining canvas.