Studiomates

After being out of the studio for a bit (home 5 days for Thanksgiving break, hectic schedule, lots of skating practices, and you know...life), I was relieved to get my butt back to the Distillery this week. Naturally, I got all the way to Southie and realized I'd forgotten my keys. But, lo and behold! A light glistened from within the building and I was able to call up to my studiomate, Corey Corcoran, to let me in (the heat was on so high he had to crack a window...thanks, Distillery!) Once safe inside, Corey let me borrow his digital camera to take some shots of work that I had not been able to share yet. Corey saves the day again! Being an artist without a digital camera is not only inconvenient, but totally ridiculous at this point in history. I am working on this.

Here are a few shots of some work from my Invasive Species series. I just made that name up, but I think I might stick with it. This is me fumbling around helplessly with oil paint for the first time in years. Also, I have questionable digital photo editing skills. More to come!

The trees go to the seashore, 24"x24" oil on panel, in progress

Overpass, 24"x12", oil and gouache on panel, spring 2010

Oh, and the moral of the story: Studiomates are awesome!

Studio

Here's a little bloggo about what I've been up to lately. I usually just post images, but this post is a little more about process. I have a lot of stuff going on right now: collages, watercolors, ink drawings, etc. I'm hoping that as long as I keep making anything it will all eventually turn into something.

Since moving into a new apartment and setting up my new room (a big sort of lounge/music/art/study space), I've been able to work at home. I've been using ink and watercolor and working pretty small. Here is a shot of my desk. Note the cornet which I take breaks to practice:


In the studio, I've been struggling a bit-I've been making lots of drawings and little things, but haven't really put out any finished paintings in a while. Here is a piece I started working on about a month ago. I started out working with gouache. It's the biggest thing I've done in over two years, and the first painting to have a figure in it in quite some time:


Just after nearly filling in the whole bottom of the panel with grass (made with individual brushstrokes), I decided to try working with oil. Everything was really flat and boring and I just kept using the same colors over and over again. I haven't made (finished) a single oil painting since college, and it is definitely not an easy thing to pick up again. Basically, I've been fumbling around a lot, making a mess, and ruining clothes, and the whole process is producing questionable results. I ended up covering all of that initial hard work with a new layer of oil, and now the painting looks like I just started it. However, I feel like I've been making the same neon gouache landscape for about two years now, so I figure any practice which shakes things up a little is bound to be valuable eventually.

The painting now:

Note: My digital camera is broken, so all of these shots were taken with the camera on my MacBook. In real life, these are brighter, with more variation in the color.

Last night I decided to paint one of my collage/sketches (see post below). This is the beginning of my second oil painting- I just drew everything out and started to block in color. I spent about an hour blocking in the whole surface. I try not to work section by section, but rather try to build up everything by layer so that my color and spatial relationships develop together.

Shot of the two paintings together:

Cool-age

Here are some collages I've been doing. My process is like this: Make a drawing I hate, cut it up and make a collage that I hate, cut that up and have a finished collage (meaning some of these took a long time with fairly simple looking results). Some of them are images I printed from the internet onto computer paper and then painted on, others are just cut up segments of paintings. Yesterday I started messing around with Photoshopping as well. I hope to do more of these as starting points for bigger projects/paintings.

necco tower
9"x11.5"
digital print out, gouache, paper

bermuda house
9"x12.5"
gouache, paper

highway house
7"x10"
digital print out, gouache, paper

study for oil painting
8.5"x11"
digital print out (photo credit AD Jacobson), Photoshop, gouache

Watercolor in process

watercolor on paper 14"x10", in progress

Out of the Woods

trees
september 13, 2010
walnut ink on paper
5.5"x8.5"

trees with feet
september 13, 2010
walnut ink on paper
5.5"x8.5"

mountain house
september 13, 2010
walnut ink on paper
5.5"x8.5"

Big Brain

What really goes on in my head during Quaker Meeting:

Big Brain
pen & colored pencil on watercolor paper
4"x6"
May 15, 2010

Big Brain 2: NO, YOU SHUT UP!
pen & colored pencil on watercolor paper
4"x6"
May 15, 2010

Colt State Park III

Wash
acrylic ink & walnut ink on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 24, 2010

Drinks

I was feeling pretty uninspired yesterday. But you know the rules. Gotta draw anyway.

Some of the things I drank today
pen & crayon on paper / walnut ink on watercolor paper
7"x5.5" / 6"x4"
March 23, 2010

Still

Still
acrylic ink & walnut ink on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 18, 2010

Colt State Park

You said this was Colt State Park

walnut ink on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 17-18, 2010

BFFs

Best Friends
acrylic ink & walnut ink on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 16, 2010

Float

Float
acrylic ink & walnut ink on bristol
9"x12"
March 14-15, 2010

What's Underneath

What's Underneath
acrylic ink & walnut ink on bristol
9"x12"
March 14-15, 2010

The Lumper

...still thinks my paintings are okay: http://lumper.blogspot.com/2010/03/aimee-belanger.html
Thanks for the feature, dude.

LOVE LETTER

Love Letter (Now I'm addicted to this crap, and it's all your fault)
walnut ink and coffee on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 12, 2010

This High

This High
ink on watercolor paper
4"x6"
March 11, 2010

a drawing i made before spilling my walnut ink everywhere

The title of this drawing is Mt. Toby but it is really a picture of Mt. Hood
walnut ink on watercolor paper
March 6, 2010
4"x6"

Ben Lomond

The title of this drawing is Ben Lomond, but it is really a picture of Mt. Hood
walnut ink on watercolor paper
6"x4"
March 5, 2010

Field Kit

Since I'm working a new job and now have an hour off for lunch, I decided to make myself a little field kit. I hate wasting time and I love giving myself projects, so I'm carrying this with me everywhere and spending at least two hours (one before work, one during lunch) drawing each day. This kit includes: a booklet of 4"x6" watercolor postcards, small water color kit, jar of walnut ink, jar of water for ink, jar of water for watercolors, 4 brushes, a pencil, two markers, and a pen. I also usually carry a 9"x12" pad of bristol with me when I can. Here are some of the things I've made in the past two weeks (in the wonky order in which they uploaded). Click on images to enlarge.

Shore, watercolor on bristol, 9"x12", 2/21/2010

Willow, watercolor on bristol, 9"x12", 2/20/2010

Sap, walnut ink on watercolor card, 4"x6", 3/5/2010

Bear Island, pencil on bristol, 9"x12", 3/1/2010

Bear Island, walnut ink on watercolor card, 6"x4", 3/4/2010

Island, watercolor on bristol, 9"x12", 2/21/2010

Island, watercolor on bristol, 9"x12", 2/21/2010

Shore, watercolor on bristol, 9"x12", 2/20/2010

Little Things

A few little watercolors. More to come.