First Post of 2017

It has been a crazy 4 months. I guess I'll start you off with what was going on at the end of my first semester of grad school. It is was an overwhelmingly busy end. Review is intense and I don't think you can ever prepare yourself for something like that no matter how much you prep. I'm sure the next review will be even more stressful. I wouldn't expect anything less.

Today I am going to post the progress leading up to the first large piece I made with these materials and some other ideas along the way.

Studies of small designs

Starting large piece

Starting to clear up

Peeled off the paper

  

 

 

Night view

 

hanging

 

Making lines with medium

Patterns

Fall break starts this weekend. I'm going camping for the first time in North Carolina and I am very excited to see new things! I haven't been camping in a long time and the last time I did go camping it was like 92 degrees at night. Camping up north will be a lot different, I'm very excited to go.

Any who, I'm in the studio currently and was working on some things, but didn't realize I'm out of the spices I've had here. So, I decided to work on another post.

With these small works, I have been thinking of how to create patterns using the mixture and why. While working on the test studies in the previous post, it started thinking about patterns from blankets we used growing up and learning how to embroider with my mom. So, I felt it was only necessary to continue with the influences of home, leading to this next step in my work.

 

 

                          

Patterns relating to quilts

Piecing studies together

 Did a study how many people notice small works in everyday settings. About two out of every thirty people actually noticed, and out of the other 28, 12 of them were on their phones. Just random stats. At some point, I want to show a larger piece to see the difference on how many people notice the works at different scales.

Experimenting

Okay, so I am actually going to show you some work today. I have a couple of studies(just further experimenting with mediums) leading to my current ideas, but it is still in a stage of experimentation. I am doing things I would have never thought. There are so many ways to go. My brain is on overload, but in a good way. I'm in the process of making some small works that may lead to a larger work. I am considering this work to be more of an installation piece, but that it is still a ways off before I decide what to do. It will probably change again. This post has actually been a draft over the past three weeks. I wanted to get a little more done before I posted the progress. Now I just need to keep working.

Thoughts while creating First round of studies

What is left behind?

What materials should I use?

Why must it be a flat surface?

What else can I use outside of normal "art" materials?

First stages of studies:

Top study: Leftovers of past works

Second: velum, medium, ink, tape and texture tape

Third: Matte medium and chili powder

Last: Gel medium, matte medium, and garlic powder adhered to plexiglass

After creating a couple of works while thinking of these questions. One stood out, using what we don't consider as "art material." It played a vital roll in the material I chose to work with. I really missed being home and it had an affect on everything I was doing. When I was thinking of things I wanted to use in my work, it had to relate to home. I asked myself, what do I really miss the most about home? It all lead to the smells of home. The familiar smells of home you don't realize how much you need them until they are not the norm in your daily routine. The smell I miss most is walking into the house and having the smell of food surround your senses as you open the front door. Then I thought about the food itself. It led me to the spices used in one of the main dishes, enchiladas and rice, we make at home. The three spices, Chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder stood out, without them these meals wouldn't be same.

So with this, I started to experiment.

 

 Chili powder mixed with gel medium

 

During the process of experimentation, the artist Jaq Chartier was mentioned to me. Her work involves testing materials, how they react with each other, how they are affected by light, and the passage of time. Researching her made me think about measuring the amount of spice used in the medium. I made ratio mixtures, starting with a teaspoon of spice to a half a cup of medium, and then reduce the spice by 1/3 giving a shift in opacity and color within each spice. This where the next round of experimentation started.

   

These guys are just a couple of random studies using other materials I am interested in using but not for my current idea.