“Creative play” probably means different things to different people, and especially for artists. For me it is tied to “not working” though I think it can be an important part of the art and work process. To free me up I decide that there is no pressure to sell or even share whatever I am playing with. It often means trying something new as well. Maybe it will be the start of a series or a new technique, or maybe it will lead to nothing. Maybe I’ll stick it in a box and won’t decide to revisit it for several months or years, and then a snippet may become a solution to a problem down the road.
Read more100 Glacier Cyanotypes, the start
This year I decided to participate in the 100 Days Project, a free, global project, hosted online where people do one creative act every day for 100 days. You can learn more about it on their website and see what other people are doing by searching under #the100dayproject.
Read morePainting on Wood
One thing I have written a few times in my list of goals is “work larger” or on a bigger scale.
This fall, I returned to something I tried back in 2012, working with acrylic paint on wood panels. I also tried to scale things up a bit. I created two larger paintings this fall: Nizina River Habitat, (which was then purchased by the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank) and K’esugi Ridge (which I just finished and is available).
Read moreDrawing as Meditation
Pen drawing of a robin's nest
I talk about the process of drawing things out multiple times and the meditation involved in doing so.
Read moreEncounters With the Spirit World
Since last fall I’ve been making cyanotypes from my drawings, which I’ve written about here a few times over the past year. It’s a work in progress, which I am continuing to develop, but I wanted to share some of what I have finished so far, and some of my thoughts behind it. This collection of images, Encounters with the Spirit World, is a series of cyanotype prints of animals and plants that are spiritually significant to me. In creating the drawings that I print from, and the handling of the printing process, I try to connect with the soul and essence of my subjects.
Read moreWinter Blues – The Good Kind: A Peek Inside My Cyanotype Process
This is the type of weather that feeds me vitamin D and is making my work possible
Like the engineers of the pre-digital age, I was also looking for a low-cost and relatively simple way to reproduce my drawings. I like the idea of blueprints because they still feel handmade and I can use the outside environment (sun and water) to make them. I’ve written several posts about how I started experimenting with cyanotypes during an artist residency with Joshua Tree National Park. In this post I wanted to focus more on the process I’ve been using.
Read moreLooking back over almost ten years of art making
Installation of my undergraduate thesis in Studio Art
I completed a double major in studio art and environmental studies with a focus in conservation biology in 2008, and decided to do my thesis in art. We could choose if we wanted to do a thesis or not and I was really looking forward to having my own studio and basically getting to do whatever I wanted with artwork for an entire year. That seemed like a lot of fun, and sure it was, but I think it was also one of my hardest classes ever.
Read moreOld Year, New Year, Review and Reflections: 2016 and 2017
Last year I wrote an end of year post summarizing many of the projects that I worked on, I want to do something similar again because I haven’t been diligent about documenting my work online. In 2016 I got to try some new things (like illustrating a coloring book and teaching in Savoonga) and I’m excited to share that with you. I also have some ideas for this year that I’m excited to talk about.
Read moreOde to Workspace - The 2 x 2' Camp Table
As an artist it feels like table space is prime real estate, as I never have enough space to lay out supplies and work. It was a big step for us to get a new dining room table last week. We moved into the new cabin after Thanksgiving and now we have space for furniture. Actually it is still quite a work in progress but we are moving that direction. When we finish putting the tongue and groove up in the ceiling we can move the bed and will have even more space. Last year we lived in a 16' yurt and much of our activity centered around a little 2x2' camp table that we bought at REI for a rafting trip. Whenever I wanted to draw, I cleaned off the table and set up shop. One of the reasons why I've been working in my sketchbooks is because they are small and portable, and I've been limited by space. By next summer I am going to turn the yurt into a dedicated studio, but right now it is a transition zone, though it does have more table space.
Read more