Images

Ethan’s Church Abstractions

I usually bring some art supplies and sketchbooks to church to help my little ones be engaged and have fun while sitting in the pews (actually…I bring them for myself, but it benefits them as well). The last three Sundays I’ve been collaborating with my 4 year old son Ethan. His style usually involves a lot of “scribbling,” but his mark-making has actually been teaching me a lot. His marks are very spontaneous. They are “randomized” in a way that is very difficult for an artist used to control to mimic. In fact, I was unable to come close to mimicking his marks until I payed close attention to how he was holding his pencil or pen. His mars were being made by his whole arm…his whole body even. It was only after gripping the pencil with my fist in the middle and moving my whole arm that we were truly able to collaborate.

Portland Museum of Art (Maine)

Mindy and I had the opportunity to go to Maine for the first time and we decided to check out some art from the amazing Portland Museum of Art. We were immediately impressed with the quality and breadth of their collection.

When we were there, they had a show up about the Haystack School located in rural Maine. I was immediately drawn to the work created at this innovative school which began in the 50’s. I was drawn to the beauty of the work, the beauty of the natural setting the work was created in, and the beauty of the radical arts community that coalesced around the school. It was the kind of experience that makes you want to sell all that you have, move in with other artists, and dedicate yourself to communal creation. If you are unfamiliar with the Haystack School, I would definitely recommend you check them out.

Below, you will find a collection of images (including many details) from the museum. The bottom three images represent work specifically from the Haystack School.

Cardboard

This is a demo I did for “observational painting” in my Painting I class. I wanted to show them how to paint like they would in a sketchbook and be less attached to the end product, to work quickly, and to be engaged primarily in the process of looking and painting. I usually get more out of these exercises than my students, and I ended up enjoying the texture and feel of this piece painted on corrugated cardboard.

Self-Portrait Gouache Demo

I did this gouache self-portrait as a demo in my Painting I class. It’s very small (it was done in my sketchbook). I’m posting two process shots to show the underpainting and layering that I did leading up to the final project.

Rust

I was inspired watching the amazing multimedia illustration work of Bill Sienkiewicz yesterday so I wanted to try some. This has lots of layers of ink, dye, and gouache between gloss medium and I even tried some bleach (to very little effect). But here’s to experimentation and pushing a painting till it’s “injured” as Bill was talking about in his video.

Mixed Media Demo

I made this as part of a mixed-media demo in my Painting class.
Acrylic paint, wax, ink, rice paper, sharpie, gel pen, charcoal, gel medium, collage, and colored pencil.