Breathe to Paint. Paint to Breathe: April 2009

The focus of my sophomore year was to find my voice. Every artist has one. What is mine? I took many different classes that pushed me to try new mediums and to go past what I am comfortable with. I found great satisfaction in looking back at the year and seeing where all of my struggles and hours put into less than mediocre projects brought me to.

I had never done Intaglio[form of printmaking] before. I found it intriguing and fascinating! I liked it much better than lithography. We did not get along well. It was too process oriented. Intaglio, however, worked very well with how I like to go about making art. I loved the different mark-making that could be achieved with acid and a copper plate. Although these images are not my best, I enjoyed freely exploring a new medium.

I have been itching to attempt abstract art. I have had images floating through my head and screaming to come out onto canvas and paper for a long time. In my oil painting class, we had the opportunity to create our own assignments. The abstract just had to come out!

My teacher was great at pushing me. The painting below is not finished. I became stuck and had to leave it as is seen now. It will be finished.

This is also the first canvas and stretcher I made myself. I used power tools and chopped the wood and everything. I am a pro with the router now!

I also took a water coloring class! I had never water colored before. These are just a few of the many little studies I did of the images and ideas that have been racing through my head. I felt as though I was trying to catch fireflies with a jar, leaping around the moonlit field foolishly trying to catch every last thought. This probably wasn't the best process to go by and is probably why these studies didn't turn out the best. Once again though, I learned so much .