Despite staying up way past my bedtime...I woke up at 6:30 this morning ready to...draw. And I wanted to draw at the beach. So I did. Beautiful day, not too hot...looked like this right here... So I was thinking when I first got there that the ocean looked pretty calm. From a distance it was calm. But when I sat down I saw that the water was a little rough when the waves were crashing on the shore. Truthfully, I have a love/hate relationship with the ocean. I think the ocean is beautiful. I love the beach. I love the smell of the saltwater, the sand between my toes, the way the sound is muffled by the wind. But I am also deathly afraid of the ocean. I can't swim, and the thought of getting in the water...where I can't feel the bottom...terrifies me. I think the the fish are beautiful, but I am scared of them just the same.
So as the drawing began to unfold across my paper...I realized that I was drawing the ocean, embodied as a woman.
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...all done. Art camp this week was a success, the kids went home with a ton of new projects…I made a new ‘art/teacher friend’ and I am looking forward to having someone to help keep me motivated for the upcoming show at Bear and Bird Gallery and Boutique in Fort Lauderdale…I think I am going to get something started for their upcoming Creep Cinema show. And…I finished up with my ten faces. I added the final marks in charcoal, sprayed fixative on them and I am calling it a day. It was a good outlet for me, having something to work on here and there throughout the week, but I am still kicking myself on the size. I should have gone bigger; I can always crop it down later. Lesson learned. (Below) Slideshow of ten 9x12 inch faces, charcoal and wash on Bristol. Please note: I edited the slideshow on 7-9-11 to show all of the drawings that I have been working on, not just the last three. …drawing number twenty- DONE. *Here’s a slide show showing some of my day (and night) of drawing…and by the way, no more Sharpie, the ink looks blue-black. …and it is South Florida, so am I surprised that it is raining? No. Summer is just getting in full swing, I know about the 4:00 rain showers…but this is different. Big ol’ rainstorm, complete with lightening and such. Looks like it is parked right over us…perfect time to...you guessed it- draw. When I look at tree number sixteen I can see the connections to my reading material yesterday…trying to emulate Mucha’s ‘macaroni hair’. This is the first of the series where I deviated from the format; I actually did some drawing in pencil, and then went on top of it with the Sharpie. I think that the face in this drawing works a little better; it is more a part of the tree and the background than the faces that show up in the previous drawings, so I feel like I am on to something there. Still working on that stylized hair, Mr. Mucha is a hard act to follow indeed. I would like to try and move the face away from the center…what if it was actually in the background? What if there was more than one…what if….
So that is the tree for today. Number sixteen. Guess I might need to spend the rest of the night doing more mundane things, like laundry and such. Tomorrow and the rest of the week…more trees…hidden faces…intertwined sinuous lines…. ...by my calculations... twelve. You can get twelve 18x24 drawings from a single Sharpie. Now, it is by no means used up. I could probably put the lid on, forget this marker in some place where forgotten markers go... and maybe I will. Maybe it has some marks left to make. But in my mind I keep hearing a crit from many years back...a fellow student had some drawings up on 'the wall'' (ECU art folks, I know you feel me on this)...anyways, the drawings were pretty good...but the marker was running out. And it was hard to really appreciate the drawings due to this defect. My professor put it simply...'why didn't you just get another marker?' Wow. What a simple solution. So in my mind I am thinking, if it is worth putting on paper, which it feels like it is... might as well give the marker a rest and find a fresh one. As for the fate of this marker...it may live to draw another day. Think I will take a rest for a few hours, twelve trees feels pretty good. I may put them together in a time-release style slide show to share, I see that some shapes are constant, patterns are coming and going...I even had a figurative element pop up. I wonder where that came from, heehee... So twelve for now. I hope for fifteen tomorrow and then just keep drawing til I run out of paper. It is a pretty simple plan, really. What isn't so simple...trying to figure out what to do with all my trees...paint? collage? Those are thoughts for another day. Certainly not today. Today is for taking a moment of silence for this beloved marker. Thank you marker, you helped me a great deal and I hope to work with you again on a future drawing. (moment of silence...pause....) ....so, five drawings into this undertaking...Klimt's trees...my trees...my obsession with curvilinear line and spiral motif...not sure what to call it but it has been fun. Two days, five drawings. (...has it been only two days?) Seeing what patterns get repeated, which ones fall to the wayside...what happens with the background... On my lunch break at my art camp today i was drawing and a little girl came and sat beside me and was really interested in what I was doing. Man, I tell you- explaining yourself to a seven year old is right up there with a proper art critique...I explain, she asks why...I give an explanation, she asks why...and repeat. (Ray Elmore would be proud) She asked if she could color a tree and I said no, and then thought about it...maybe? Why should my trees be so precious that I can't share them with a seven year old? So that gave me an idea...will wait to elaborate on that. For now, I have five 18x24 marker drawings full of whimsy. A seven year old likes them. I like them. No color yet, but I will worry about that later...gotta get this drawing out of my hands and onto some paper... I might just keep drawing til the pad of paper is empty. We'll see. Better get to work...got a seven year old art critic to answer to tomorrow, and she wants to see some progress... Hello! My name is Jennifer Love Gironda, known to some as Mrs. G, Coach, JLove, Jenny, ‘da muse… it’s all the same. My intention is to use this blog to stay motivated and to write about my work, or works in progress...or any other creative thing I am working on. Let me say that I am trying to start this blog with somewhat of a grammatical structure…but I do love some e.e. cummings so it might be inevitable that as the blog grows my attention to syntax may fall to the wayside. Also, there probably won’t be a continuous flow; I am just going to write what I know about my art, the act of making art and all of the happenings that impact these two things. So…here goes. I just got back from an amazing trip to Minneapolis, where I attended the Surface Design Association Confluence. One word- inspired. But I get inspired often, and I get excited and start something…alas, life gets in the way, or that’s my excuse at least. One of my struggles as an artist has been deciding what to do, figuring out what it is that I need to get out…will I paint it, draw it, bead it? All of the above. I attended a workshop with Anna Carlson focused on moving past just the first piece, hence the title of the workshop, ‘Beyond One of a Kind: Creating Collections and Signature Style.’ I feel more confident in my work after the experience; I do have some reoccurring elements and concepts in my work, so I just need to delve into them more. We participated in activities ranging from evaluating our own work and influence to presenting to the group and getting feedback. Perfect start to my summer break, I needed this. I am going to start small, just start with this weekend. My goal for today was to get this here art blog up and running- check. (Insert pat on back, celebratory jig, etc here) Now my focus for the weekend is just to get some drawing done. I had not drawn in a while prior to the workshop…forgot how much I love to draw…how much I need to sketch. When I sit down with that blank piece of paper I have so many questions, occasionally I can work these out through the act of sketching. I wore out my trusty ink pen from the El Inn in Kyoto (best pen EVER)… I dulled my new drawing pencils…I made marks. So…gonna sketch. The pic posted here is one of the sketches from the plane trip back to FL. Gustav Klimt is such an inspiration to me…so I looked at one his pieces, pulled out the largest shapes and then put the print away and just let my hands travel across the page. I really became aware of my love for spirals while drawing this piece. Working on a Mucha-inspired sketch tonight… let the journey begin. |
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