Since May I have not been able to spend a lot of intentional time in the studio. However, the Cedars Gallery Tour is coming up and I will be there!

Right now I am working on a large multi layer stencil while also doing some small figure studies and other stencil work.

I have been increasingly busy with school. I am finding that grad school plus a job means there isn’t a lot of time to do other things. I have managed to keep my plate full and recently I have been looking for things to cut out of the schedule.

The most recent cut is that I will no longer be providing canvas stretching services. As of November, I will be downsizing the studio and not taking any more canvas orders. I was glad to have provided the service over the past year (see www.stretchmycanvas.com). I am also glad to let that portion of my schedule go.

The point of freeing up my schedule some is so that I can spend more time in the studio painting so hopefully I will be able to put some new work up soon! Hopefully I haven’t lost too many of you due to my silence!

I don’t watch many old movies – but one of my housemates does. This is an enriching quote from Lion in the Winter (1968). Eleanor is played by Katharine Hepburn.

Prince John: A knife! He’s got a knife!
Eleanor: Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history’s forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can’t we love one another just a little – that’s how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.

I really enjoy the reality that the History of art is not monopolized by the history of western art. Part of the problem of the institutionalization of art education is the necessary linear focus of art history. I just finished a paper for an art history class that traced Hung Liu’s influences through Chinese Socialist Realist and Soviet Socialist Realists. These are not typical movements covered in an art history class and I enjoy the fact that there are many trajectories in art history and the History of art is not linear. Would love to engage with you on this!

Ben Howe did this centipede piece as part of the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2009. He was highly comended as an emerging artist. Amazing work! Enjoy.

This is as much for me and managing my time as for sharing a little of my life with you all.

Tonight – Going to see Michael Okeefe’s show at Valley House Art Gallery

Saturday Morning/Afternoon – I will be bartending at Yucatan Taco Stand in Frisco

Saturday Night – I will be doing an event as Liquid Artisan Bartending Specialists.

Sunday Morning – I’ll be at Watermark

Sunday Afternoon – Will be spending some time with some friends

Sunday Night – I’ll be back at work at Yucatan Taco Stand.

Monday morning – I’ll be at the studio finishing up some orders.

Later Monday morning – I will be at my Math class

Monday evening – I will working my first shift at the Sheraton in downtown Dallas.

Tuesday is to be determined but I think I’ll be able to spend some time down at the studio, doing orders and maybe even paint! In all, I counted about 5 jobs that I work in one capacity or another (not including my new job at the Sheraton). It’s helpful to type things out like this so I don’t go crazy

I saw this image online and I believe it’s one of Banksy’s from the 2008 Cans Festival. The technique is very cool and I can easily see myself experimenting with this. I have different subject matter in mind but I love the juxtaposition of the stencil along with the colors and form of the drips!

The weather has been improving and it has been nice spending time at the studio without having to see my breath. I am currently working on some pieces to potentially show at the Shanghai Expo 2010 as a representative from Grenada. You can see more about the expo here: http://en.expo2010.cn/

I heard back from SMU that they prefer I not pursue my MFA degree with them. While disappointing I am not devastated. Here are a few reasons why:

1. The application process for art is subjective depending on the preferences of the reviewers. Not only is painting the most popular program but I work mainly with the figure which is a bit of an “F” word in the art world. People either love it or hate it. It’s either a refreshing reprisal of a classical subject which is timeless and relevant or it is seen as a passe expression and the automaton subject of art schools.

2. I have a certain perspective on art that is born from my experience as an entrepreneur, my upbringing in the Caribbean, my interaction with art and artists of the Caribbean, and my liberal arts education. This perspective is difficult to conform into the American art school conversation. For the most part I am much more interested in the communicative aspect of art as opposed to the long running inside conversation of art talking about art. (Let me know if you would like to hear more about this, this point is beyond the scope of this blog). I have felt the pressure from some of the classes I’ve taken to work harder on being “painterly” and asking questions about line, form, composition and color in a way that hasn’t been done before. Fair enough – but to me if you are not using these elements to communicate a message outside of itself, then you are engaging in artistic self stimulation.

3. I have been enjoying improving my technique (so as to better communicate my message), and I have been gaining momentum over the past few years in my art career. The main reason for an MFA is to teach, which I would like to do. I would especially like to teach art in Grenada from a West Indian artistic perspective. I do not need an MFA, however, to become a better artist. I can network with more mature artists and I can view and read about art in order to better myself. I can continue exhibiting my work and look for new arenas for my art.

4. With my liberal arts education, I can easily go from one field to the other. My plan B is to embrace my entrepreneurial leanings and pursue an M.S. degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Texas at Dallas. Not only would this degree enable me to run my current businesses better but that I could help others start and run their own businesses. I could also have the option to teach. Perhaps one of the projects in the future would be to start an art school in Grenada

5. I really enjoy working on my own in my own studio. I enjoy the opportunity to explore and experiment on my own time. It can be very wearying to be critiqued at every turn or to adjust your style to placate an instructor.

So that’s where I’m at for right now! If you would like to come visit me at the studio let me know!

I’ve been back in the studio and this is the latest fruit of my labor. It is 48″x48″ and I wanted to see what effect my technique has with larger subjects. I did a few things differently, including attempting a ‘dripping grisaille’ before adding layers of color. I think I have to let it sink in a little before deciding whether I will make it a mainstay of my process. I love the light in this piece and the emotion.

I think I am having to come to grips with the fact that I may be a colorist. This may be a result of my childhood in Grenada. My eyes are not satisfied with dull and flat colors. I initially did this piece in flesh tones and was unsatisfied with it until I added in some reds, oranges and blues.

Here is a link to some well-known colorists or fauvists: Wiki Fauves

Enjoy!

I just wanted to put a quick post on my thoughts on fractals! For those not in the know, fractals are basically a visual representation of a mathematical expression that results in a pattern of infinite detail. Not only do we see fractal patterns all the time, like in nature (tree branches are an organic fractal) but we think and even live in forms of fractals.

I realized that there were some fractal-like patterns emerging from my paintings. See the pic below:

Expanding on the idea of “what exactly is it to paint people” is the idea that people are fractal expressions. Not only do we have biological expressions such as our nervous and cardiovascular systems but also in the way our brain processes and transmits information. Developing that idea – we live out patterns. Any one day in your life should be an approximate snapshot of a year of your life. Granted your life will increase in complexity from childhood to adulthood, similarly so do fractal patterns. It gives me a sense of purpose to consider that my daily activities represent my annual priorities which will ultimately determine my life pattern.

On that note – I think fractals are beautiful – in fact, most people do. Because of the way the brain processes patterns and aesthetics, fractals are biologically visually appealing. One of the factors that made Jackson Pollock’s work so compelling was that it was fractal in nature. This component of his work differentiates himself from many abstract expressionist imitators. Pollock’s work was enjoy long before fractals were “discovered” in about 1978.

I am going to be looking for ways to use fractals in my paintings more intentionally as another layer of meaning. To help conceptualize fractals I started using a program called fractal domains. Here is an image I created using this program: