Summer ends, School begins

Summer has sadly ended and the school year has begun.  But before I had to go back to my regular scheduled program of being an art educator,  I was able to have some architecture/ art fun with one of my best buds, John. We explored the Architecture and Design Museum, where they had designs of buildings that were proposed for various locations in Los Angeles, but were never accepted.  Some of the design concepts were extremely futuristic, but it gave an interesting perspective of what LA could have possibly looked like.   During our adventure we saw the Wall Project, which are grafitti'd portions of the Berlin Wall.  It was really cool seeing it up close.  I remember being in middle school when my brother told me he was helping with taking the Berlin Wall down.  I thought it was the coolest thing that he was apart of a historical moment.

Then we went to the Geffen Contemporary, where we saw a great Architecture exhibit.  The structure below was one of my favorites.  It looked like it was made of the mesh material from lawn chairs and light/patterns were projected onto it.  Standing in the structure had a calming effect.

 

In August, I was asked to show my work at the Santa Ana Art Walk with the Orange County Creatives Gallery.  They did a really nice blog write up about me. Orange County Creatives

 I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a good experience. The gallery was extremely busy the whole night.  I seemed to attract a lot of visitors and I met a lot of interesting people. 

 

 

It has just been confirmed that I will be there again on Saturday, October 5th!

 

 

As for making things, I had made a lot of new Mizzles and Mermizzles for the show, but I have been working on a few paintings here and there.  Since Operation Relocation, a lot of the Mizzles have been exploring the beach life along with me. 

This first one is not one of my favorites.  It still needs a lot of work and turned out to be more yellow than I had planned.  I might have to redo this piece, but I thought it would be fun if the Mizzles had a beach bonfire.

After looking at this piece on the computer screen, I feel if the background was darken more then perhaps it would unify the piece more.

 This piece was a commission from one of my new neighbors.  She bought a Mermizzle for a friend's baby and wanted an artwork to go along with it.  This is probably one of my favorite pieces.  I have a lot of fun drawing the Mizzles exploring underwater life and meeting sea creatures.  I began by inking the outlines of the characters with a .18 rapidograph.

Then I used Derwent Inktense pencils to paint the foundation colors for each character.

  I used regular watercolor paint to develop the shadows and background.

 I mounted it to a 4"x 12" canvas and coated it with gel medium to seal it all in.

 This is the doll and painting together.  Since I loved it so much, I plan on recreating it. Hopefully, I can remember the correct color schemes I used.

 

I seem to finally be in a good place to begin working on my book again.  I spent the last weekend working on a few pages.  I'm trying to not let life get in the way of my goals.

 

 

LACMA

Yesterday was Friday the 13th.  Ever since my little sister was born on Friday the 13th, it has always been my favorite day and yesterday was just as great as any other.  In addition to another rain storm, I spent the day at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) with my very good friend.  There are not many people who I enjoy attending museums with because people seem to think that because I have a degree in art and teach art that I am going to the museum to be their personal tour guide.  I'm sorry, but I like to go to museums to look at the work; to learn about new and old artists; to gain curiosity about techniques; and most importantly, to be inspired!  But my friend is not one of those people who expect a personal tour.  She is the perfect museum partner who adds to my creative banter on how I think an artwork could have been improved, or what the next version should look like.  She dreams with me in a fun verbal banter in such a way that I'm sure people around us think we believe it could all come true.  I think every creative person in the world needs a friend like this.  They love the freedoms of the imagination and never try to stifle it with judgment and harsh criticism.  Everything is about problem solving, creativity, and how to make what seems impossible completely possible. 

Currently LACMA has a special exhibit on display: In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/in-wonderland

I love surrealism.  I love the detail and realism some of the paintings maintain with their odd scenes.  My favorite surrealists are Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and the pop surrealist Mark Ryden.  But as with any art movement, it is told from the views of the male artists.  This exhibit demonstrated how women artists tackled the same movement, but a very different intention of the meaning in their work.  It was exciting to walk through the exhibit and see some of my favorite paintings in person.  I have had the privilege to see works of Frida Kahlo, but to see the works of Dorothea Tanning and Remedios Varo was pure delight!  To my surprise, this exhibit was allowed to be photographed as long as the flash was not used.  Usually special exhibits do not allow photography.  I wish I had known this ahead of time because I purposefully left my camera at home thinking this special exhibit was like the others. But thankfully, cell phone cameras are more advanced now.  On this blog are the paintings that captured me the most.  The exhibit ends May 6th, 2012.  If you get a chance, you should go! I highly recommend seeing this!