#artvsartist

A fun hashtag that I kept seeing on Instagram is #artvsartist
​...I checked it out an made my own;

The whole idea is that sometimes what we create as artist resembles, well... us.  It isn't true for everyone...but looking through my own works I can see a little bit of myself (or the version of of myself in my head) present in my own works. It isn't intentional, it just happens.

One thing that I am kind struggling with a little in my own mind is my own style.  I feel like, if left to my own devices, my work would be pretty much like what I have pictured above- big ol' head with huge, expressive eyes, small features, sculpted brows, winged eyes, tiny nose and mouth and thin, elegant neck.  This is my go-to figure that I love to draw.

This is my fifth year making art consecutively every day- today is 1600 days in a row. (I actually think it might be 1-2 days more due to leap years...but math isn't my thang, so let's just call it 1600.) I have not made a conscious effort to make every month and every series cohesive- and sometimes I wish I had.  But at the same time, each month I have allowed myself to work with different materials, themes and styles and I do feel that within each monthly theme I have cohesion.  The main thing that has connected the works from month to month is the focus on the female form, usually just the face or from the neck up.

So far this year;

• ​January 2016... I wanted to prove to myself that I could still draw realistically and spent the month completing pencil/watercolor portraits of women that I admire, #GirlTalkJLG
• February 2016 ...I made fun mixed media angel sculptures  and stuck to what I feel is my true style, #AngelsOfLoveJLG 
• March 2016 ...once I started drawing realistically again I kinda caught a fever for it and kept it up with a month of charcoal portraits dedicated to male musicians that I admire, #LegendaryMenOfMusic
• April 2016 ...I was prepping for my show with ol' Bludworth at CGMS so I spent the month creating acrylic paintings inspired by tropical flowers, biknins and such.  My approach to the face was less detailed, a little more painterly...cause...well, I was painting, #BirdsOfParadiseJLG  (I did slip in a few 'big eyed' gals...you'll see!)
• May 2016 ...that brings my to this month- no faces at all- just loose watercolor with spots and drips.

I'm an rambling a bit, but this is just something that has been on my mind.  I think I will keep allowing myself the freedom  to experiment each month for the rest of 2016...starting year 6 I may look at starting to develop one particular style more.  It's not that the other styles are harder for me, or don't feel 'right', just thinking about the overall year as a body of work.  I think my tendencies at this point are more illustrative, and I'm okay with that.  I like telling stories with my art...even if it isn't always a chapter from the same book!