Wow, it feels like spring cleaning or growing up and Easter is coming along. Everything is cleaned out and new... Where to start?
New Skills
Ok, new skills first... because it is something I am really excited about. I'm back at school!!
After taking a class at College of San Mateo last year in clay, you all hopefully saw my fishes and nativity scene in my 2023 in art post, I decided to keep at it and take both Ceramics 2 and Life Drawing at CSM for the spring semester.
It is amazing how this class changes my perspective on human bodies, anatomy and how it improves how I draw. Gesture drawing, adding mass and volumes to create a proportioned body are all new to me and it clearly opened a different perspective of looking at different forms. This is like an "Aha!" moment for me and I am loving every minute of it. This class will definitely influence and impact my oil on canvas work... stay tuned for more on that...
After taking ceramics and loving it, taking the follow up deepens my skills in ceramics... And while this is a bit more of a long term goal, here I want to turn some of my paintings into sculptures. Well, hope that isn't too ambitious. We will see...
New Art
Over the past few months, I also managed to work on some really interesting pieces. Some are finishing up pieces from my artist residency in Santa Fe, but I also started a new series.
While working on "Light at the End", another unfinished painting from Santa Fe, I realized the allegorical meaning it conveys. I find life being filled with colorful experiences along the way - good and bad, happy and sad but in the end, we always hang on to hope and optimism to keep us going and sustain our perseverance.
So "Out There" is inspired as a follow up from that piece.
"Out There" is the first piece of a series symbolizing transitions. Like moving through a portal, the door reflects changes that I will go through, as an artist, a woman, and a mother. In this painting, the contrast in color from dark to light emphasizes upcoming big shifts while the blue skies symbolize hope. White represents openness to all the new experiences and the excitement these new experiences bring with it.
Updated Website and Artist Statement
It was time. Like I said, it feels like spring and a new website design felt good. As my art grows, and as I paint more series or related bodies of work it was time to give them all their own home on the site. I hope you find it easier to navigate and have more time to enjoy each piece as you wander in my world of art.
I've also spent a bit of time thinking about where my art is going and what I want to express. So with an updated website comes an updated and much more real artist statement. It is added to the website (click here), but I want to share this with all of you first. Here it goes:
When I paint, draw, or sculpt I often think about the people I meet, the places I see, and how thinking of them makes me happy. That is my art, me sharing the world we live in with everyone through color, images, and some humor. I want my art to bring joy and happiness.
My people centric art captures people in scenes that show the simplest of emotions. Someone snoozing on a couch, swinging on a beach, or just going about their day to day life. I capture these simple and common movements or activities to trigger warm memories of joy, triggering those same emotions in my audiences.
My paintings of places use colors and evoke a warmth sharing the wonder of seeing these places when I saw them. I want you to feel that warm summer day, or transport you back into your own experiences in similar places. Rather than paint what I see, I try to create a somewhat impressionist view by using different angles, adding in a soft, cuddly animal, or by painting less obvious views. Those different angles provide me with a unique angle in sharing my love and wonder.
Admittedly, for some of my work, you will see me questioning the state of our world. I do use my art to try to understand some of society’s complex problems and even to explain those feelings to myself. While doing so I try to give myself and others hope. You will see me switch to a more whimsical style and imagery, infusing either humor or break the bleakness with lovely imagery like my piggy, hearts, balloons, or sometimes all three.
I love using oil and almost all of my larger pieces are oil on canvas. The depth of color and the ability to blend the colors gives me a sense of richness that expresses the joy and fun I want to share. On my travels I like to capture impressions in water color. Sketches in pencil, charcoal or pastel are the other mediums that I use to draw portraits.
Hopefully this resonates and explains some of my art better.
Closing out for this post... I couldn't resist the green hills of New Zealand and the wooly sheep. So, I made two small squares and as you can see they look lovely, just the left and right one together...
Till next time,
Christine