January 2015

Process and Insight

what's on your mind

While looking at this completed piece, a statement I had recently written for submission came to mind in which I noted that drawing faces revealed the social proclivity toward drawing people at a time you may feel most removed. Like Tom Hanks' character in Cast Away scribbling the face of his beloved Wilson, or in my case, like writing a memo to yourself to "remember what you love about people." I mean, staring at a photograph while trying to capture the 'essence' of someone in each curve of their face, or wrinkle in their cheek (character lines as my mom would say), generally brings to the forefront of your mind all of their positive qualities. It's kind of a great exercise if you think about it. Next time you're angry with someone, find a photo of them and try drawing it. You won't, you can't stay angry with them for long.

It can also work the other way around.  When meeting a new person reminds you what you love about people and you just want to get that positivity plastered permanently on canvas. Maybe you'd like them less if you knew them better. Maybe you wouldn't. Your art doesn't necessarily care. In that moment, they're as great or as interesting as you think they are.

Faces evoke personality, quirks, “isms” that shed a little light on the relationship between the subject and the artist, whether it is a smirk that lends a mischievous nature to the subject, a lack of character that displays a less developed relationship, or the ability of a piece to emote despite a faceless subject. This to me is an interesting phenomena alone, and in that it is open to a different interpretation to each viewer. Pulling emotion from a faceless image seems a more intimate experience in some way by hinting at the intrinsic, human nature of how we relate to one another in the world around us. In some ways, your mind fills in the blanks with out giving your eye the complete picture. Though others may interpret those blanks as a lack of familiarity of the artist with the subject, or the viewer with the subject.

It's yours to decide what to do with!

Wishing everyone a happy 2015, full of new faces to make you smile and familiar ones that continue to bring you joy!

Source: process

December 2014 #2

Home is where the heart is

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I told you I was sitting in my mom's basement. We were talking about music I hadn't listened to yet, growing up and not growing up. You are always interrupting me, eh, I don't hate it. It's nice not having to say much. And I started drawing. Home sweet home, starting a new collection of faces.

Oil and pastel on paper.

November 2014 #2

Living Inspired

sf

Heading home on Fillmore after a night out with friends new to SF, I was reminded that this is a city where people come to start anew, a place where we come to get to know ourselves, to enter a new chapter of our lives and find adventure. This is exactly what it had been to me. There is something rejuvenating and free-feeling about the city by the bay, and now at the same time, after 3 years here, something so familiar and cozy, almost small and home-town feeling. Until recently I started to feel constrained by the small-town coziness San Francisco had assumed while I was discovering my role in it. Here I was, contemplating starting over again somewhere different, until I had the thought, maybe the biggest adventure would be staying. I always start a new chapter. I don't let the plot develop. What would happen if I let life continue to unfold without removing myself from the wonderful and not-so-wonderful relationships, friendships, challenges, successes and failures? What would happen if I accepted the even more difficult challenge of dealing with the things that had been difficult, appreciating the things I stopped realizing were beautiful? There's so much life, culture and beauty here that I've too easily forgotten to notice. I'm reminded that we are the same people no matter where we move ourselves. It's not the place that let's us start anew, find adventure, enter a new chapter of our lives or get to know ourselves in a different light (though it can certainly help), it's the ability to turn a new leaf and move forward with new perspective. To open ourselves to experiences, people, step outside of our personal constraints and change what it is we want to be different.

Life can become stagnant, but look up. It's still beautiful. And now, without realizing, you're moving forward, it's changing.

Preparing for this coming thanksgiving with new friends, old friends, and FAMILY, I'm so thankful for everyone who has contributed to the diverse mosaic that is our San Francisco and excited for this time with all of you!

 

Source: sf

November 2014

Happy: Art as therapy

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With completion of this series, it's evident how therapeutic this project has been.

Watching these images relay a story, while reflecting on the metamorphosis of my last 9 months, they seem to be one in the same. I caught fire, silently felt a storm begin, fell apart completely, envious of the life I was distancing myself from, and searched for a beacon of light. I got lost in sorrow and sought solace at the sea side.

Seascape

Autumn came and still, lost, tumbling without direction until a subtle feeling of the importance of movement forward began to take root. Ready to make a transition, a heaviness was lifted and my mind began to clear.

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solaceseascap

Through this project, I enveloped myself in another world, in an experience where there was more presence in the moment. My mind vacated thought, expressed itself on canvas, and became color. I suppose you could call it a form of mindfulness, a practice which has led me to acceptance, and understanding of the importance of self-love, self-worth and forgiveness.

With the arrival of November, and the conclusion of this series, I'm on a pathway forward, one on which I intend to continue while remaining hopeful for happy, and focused on the present.

emeraldbay
Source: Happy: Art as therapy