Superliminal messaging

Coincidence?

I've been collecting some boxes to store my prints, and had just gotten a new one (the crazy, colorful one, which was the tamest they had).  So...I'm looking down at my pile of boxes when I remember the latest saying on a rotating sign at a local Storage Facility:

Sad? Lonely? Buy some boxes!

I wasn't feeling particularly sad or lonely, but maybe subconsciously the sign stuck in my mind and convinced me to buy more boxes.

My humble studio space

My humble studio space

While looking for a new roommate, I've temporarily taken over the extra room for as long as I'm able.  Having some space to expand is fantastic, and has made me able to become much more productive!  Here's a peek at the space, and some of my works in progress.

The windows across the room from this wall provide beautiful natural light in the afternoon and evening.  It has even inspired some new pieces, so keep your eye out for updates on those.

The large piece is my first watercolor/colored pencil piece of this size, so I'm looking forward to completing it.  At the local scrap exchange, I found some old maps and plan to use them for future work.

My worktable - a random assortment of supplies:

I've got colored pencils and sticks in an array of colors for drawing, as well as a colored pencil sharpener and a nifty tiny eraser stick; I recommend them to anyone doing detailed drawings.  Then there's my watercolor trays, cup o'brushes, and the handy spray bottle.  Snuck under the table are some sketchbooks, books, and pens.

Oooh, closet space!  I'm trying not to get too settled in and start moving art supplies into the closet, it's just so tempting. Four of my newer pieces add some color to my closet area.

My other big wall currently holds my drawing from the Carrack workshop and some new experiments with body parts in the corner.  On the drawing boards are the initial stages of my shadow drawings.

I'm fortunate to have a friend let me take refuge in his garage.  Oil paints are stinky, and therefore best not in your house.  I've finally been able to start some new paintings I've been aching to make for awhile.  I've also got some huge stretcher bars just waiting to find their way into this space.

Drawing from the Inner Self

Drawing from the Inner Self

Workshop with Janet Shaughnessey at the Carrack Gallery

How lucky am I?  At the end of April, I had the opportunity to work closely with a talented professional artist at the Carrack Gallery in downtown Durham.  She was generous enough to share her time and open up her week of gallery space for local artists to come in and create new artwork utilizing her processes.  Here's a sneak peek at what went on.

The first part of the process involves a few minutes of meditation, enabling your mind to focus on subconscious thoughts rather than your fallback imagery.  Following the meditation, we did a series of 30 second drawings in search of new forms or images, attempting to find things we had not seen before.  Whether or not this was successful was only part of the purpose, we also aimed to bypass the critic inside ourselves and seek to formulate new directions or ideas.

Left: Several of Janet's 30 second drawings (some drawings were added on to afterward).  Right: Here is Janet (at the table) and another artist working on their drawings.  

I didn't think it fair to post her work on my blog, but it's definitely worth checking out.  If you would like to see her artwork, go to the link below or click here.

http://www.janetshaughnessyart.com/index.html

These are a few of my 30 second drawings.  We found that the timeframe was a little difficult, so some were added upon after the initial thirty seconds.  It was also helpful to switch to 2 minute drawings, giving time to complete a drawing without having time to overanalyze it.

Once I had done a few series of quick sketches, I was ready to move on to my large drawing.  This is the initial stage, rough gestural sketching to show the large shapes and movements which direct further progression of the image.  Some of the textures were created by drawing on the wooden floor.

By the windows of the Carrack, Debbie is working on her drawing.  The table in front contains my drawing and some of the materials.  The drawings were primarily made with graphite sticks or lumps, china markers, paraffin wax for hidden drawings, and the coveted aqua beeswax crayon (giving the beautiful but subtle color to my drawing).  I used a few graphite pencils for detail work as well.

I began with a large, dense, dark form in the center of my page.  This forced me to regain balance throughout the rest of the drawing process, which was definitely a struggle at times.  I looked for ways to incorporate more dark areas in other parts of the image, while also reducing the impact of the large shape by pulling some of the darkness out and breaking up the form.

I decided at the last moment to rotate my image.  By the end, I had achieved the balance I was looking for, and I had won out over the dominate shape I started with.  There are some new shapes I hadn't drawn before, but also some familiar ones.  The search continues, but progress is happening!

My final drawing, hanging on the walls of the Carrack.  This and the other drawings completed during the workshop were shown in the Carrack the following weekend for a Community Show during Durham's Spring Art Walk.