News!

Hello fellow bloggerites!

Sadly this is not a post about new artwork. However, it is a post shamelessly promoting a show I will be participating in on December 18th and 19th. It is a fundraiser for OCAD's 4th year drawing and painting students (which includes me). I'm going to be submitting three of my older works to the show in hopes to raise some funds!

The show is at XSPACE at 58 Ossington Ave. On Saturday the 18th it will be open from 12- 6pm and Sunday the 19th from 1- 5pm. I should be there the entire time both days. 

I'm going to bring these. Well not all of them, I'm going to pick out three. If anyone who reads this blog can go, they should go!

In other news, I am a huge slacker. Since school ended I have not produced any art, but I have been relaxing. But, I hope to make some new stuff soon!

End of the Semester

To be honest, the past month has been incredibly stressful. I've finished my critiques and assignments and am really looking forward to a bit of a break. I'm still planning on making some art through the break, but definitely not the same amount. I finished my last two critiques this week and I think they went well. Part of me is really sad that the semester is over just because it means another year is going to be over soon. I get really nostalgic around this time of year.

As I mentioned in the last post, my studio space has transformed from a somewhat messy hovel into a dark cave of dusty doom. This is the outside of my fort.

This is the inside, there are a bunch of small tests on the wall. 
 

This is me working on a drawing.

Drawings on mylar for a drawing class.

Thesis Drawings

Me in the critique room after my critique. 

The Studio Space

The 7ish ft. space I was allotted in the studio has changed a few times, here are a few photos of the space in the beginning of the semester, along with some experimental stuff I was working on.

So this is some work I did at the beginning. I was playing with the creation of lines through erasure and indexical mark making. I used tape to lift off charcoal to make some drawings.

The studio is pretty neat, most of the time people just go there to hang out. It's a great environment though, it's great being surrounded by fellow artists because you can get a lot of feedback on your work as you work.

The Beginning of the School Year- A Good Place to Start

Clearly I did not create much work through the summer. I was working a lot and then I went to Florida for two weeks! (My first ever vacation out of the country). There is a big change in the work I've decided to produce this year. It's all drawing based. Yes that's right, I've put away my paint and brushes for a bit. The drawings posted are 5- 7 ft long, 4ft wide. They are charcoal and graphite on paper. I made them for a drawing class and they're abstractions from photographs of buildings in Toronto fused together.

I'm Sorry Blog, I've Neglected You.

Hi there blog and blog followers!

 I want to apologize for not posting a thing in months. There have been a few reasons for the neglect.
- Criticism from a career adviser that my blog was too "chatty"
- Me trying to set up an actual website
- Me being busy

A lot has happened since I last blogged. I've created some art, I quit my job to focus in school, I'm in my last year and I'm in the thesis program. Even though I plan to start up my website sometime soon, I've decided to keep this blog going because I actually enjoy and miss blogging. So, here are two pieces I created over the summer. This past October they were in a coffee house charity event for a friend's charity "Your Life Counts". Right now the work is being held at a coffee shop in Toronto called Coffee Co. on Queen and Parliament.

It's Been A While

I havn't posted anything in over a month! It's terrible I know. Well I have still been keeping busy and today I will post some art that I have been working on.
All of them are done in acrylic and are a lot smaller than I usually work. Most of them are images of my train track photos that were abstracted.

Painters Block

"Art is a business". That was the primary message at an information session I attended a few months ago at school when a few gallery owners came to OCAD.  I guess it is a business, the production and selling of goods- luxury items I suppose. It's the business part of art that pays the bills, but its also the same part that makes me weary of making new art. Maybe I'm just making excuses.

If an artist is supposed to keep on top of art history, contemporary artists and movements, new trends in art,  local galleries, big galleries, galleries for new emerging artists, gallery owners, art aficionados, web presence (blogs and websites), advertising and branding yourself, keeping on top of "customers", shipping and handling, installation, price lists, storage, overhead, profits and art making, there really is no room for anything else. It's a daunting task and I wonder if its right for me.

I've put a lot of time, effort, and money into making art, but apparently there is a whole other side I've neglected to think about. I know I should just make some art and worry about this after, but I just find it so frustrating. The more I think about all of the things that lay ahead of me, the more I wonder if I can handle being an artist. I don't want to make anything if I have to constantly worry about how to please the "customer" and how I can sell more. If pleasing people is my career of choice, I would just stay in retail.

Although art is a business in so many ways, art's initial purpose is not to be sold but to be contemplated on.

No one ever told me that being an artist would be easy, but does it have to be so unattainable?