Scroll 2: 7 days in Florence, Italy

Why i am the world's luckiest Sterf:
Just got back Friday night from 7 days in Florence, Italy. My mom & brother invited me along on their big mother-son bonding trip. Villa in Lastra a Signa, car trips round the countryside, a few days in the city. Fig tree and peach tree in the backyard. A-flippin-mazing! Paradiso.

My goals were: speak lots of Italian, let mom and Nate (my bro) stuff me silly with food they made in their cooking classes, and draw constantly. In keeping with my most recent Declaration of Arty Intent*, I limited myself to one very large piece of paper, which I folded into big 9x12-ish squares and took with me everywhere. 

*(see previous post, "SYNTHESIS").

My last goal was to make it to Benozzo Gozzloli's chapel on Via Cavour in Florence and commune with my muse-- done and wow. More on that later!

I unfolded the paper and hung it up when I got home. Here is the whole piece, and then some details. Planning to add more to connect the disparate elements.

Synthesis

Florence, Italy (August 2012)

I have the attention span of a piece of fluff in a windy alley. The past month or two has revealed a real conundrum:

Do I:

1. Discipline myself to make choices, stick with them, and make a group of paintings/drawings that focuses on one idea, regardless of whether I lose interest? To have any kind of success as a commercial artist, I'd need to do this-- choose an idea and forget about the other ones, no matter how loudly they clamor for attention! And also, I think a good artist takes an idea and explores it thoroughly-- and I don't often get past the initial spark.

2.Let the lack of focus and A.D.D. take center stage as the content of the work. 

I would still absolutely need limits and constraints, but I could spill all the wandering thoughts and ideas onto a giant surface (unstretched canvas? Paper? Wall?). It would be sort of a documentation of creative furor and anxiety. 

***Note: Been inspired by philosopher Carl Jung's strategy of getting through his bouts of mental illness by recording them thoroughly and studying them later.***


I've already chosen number two, at least for my first semester. It seems a more honest route, and i've never tried anything like it-- I generally spend my energy berating myself for not being more single-minded and having a 'thing' like other artists I admire.
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Process: I've been drawing on big rolls of white paper. Here are my two so far (dimensions: about 3.5-4 ft by perhaps 7 ft. I'll take better measurements ASAP). Both are still in progress.

Studio Floor, July-August 2012

Cell-phonery

Cell Phone 'frames' and clusters: another idea! Been looking for ways to connect images made with all different kinds of media. My cell phone has been a device that connects and frames all kinds of imagery, including pictures of hand-made art, photos I've taken on the street, funny blips appropriated from the internet-- more and more, the cell phone or computer monitor is becoming a lens through which I view the world...

After taking Oliver Wasow's course, Visual Remix, I believe that owning a smartphone or ipad or laptop means becoming curator and creator of all kinds of images. With increasingly sophisticated cell phone drawing programs (I'm a fan of Draw Something and Doodlebuddy) and photo apps such as Instagram, the lines between pop culture, personal documentation and fine art continue to blur.

Step 1: measure and draw i-phone template. Then carve linoleum stamp.

Step 2: cut images to size, glue to paper, and, using a hand-drawn measuring block for accuracy, stamp cell phone 'frames'.

Side project: filled this 64 page notebook with stamps. 1 Photo per page. Going to treat it as a journal...

Sketchbook #2: Your Composition is Mine!

Composition: it's something I don't put enough thought into, for sure. I was oogling the drawings of illustrator Scott C, feeling a little despondent, when my mentor suggested examining the way the illustrators I like present their ideas on the page. Simple ideas, presented really cleverly. "Oho," decided I. "Steal from the best, I will!" (I speak like Pirate Yoda when I'm about to do something larcenous, apparently).

In this sketchbook I cut printed and cut out thumbnails of work that I've curated on Pinterest.

I glued the artist's original in the corner, responded to his or her composition more or less literally, and inserted my own content. I think I've already learned a lot-- it's really good practice!

Some experiments from the past two days:

8-4-2012

8-2-2012

8-4-2012

Note:
to see the original illustrations, shown here in thumbnail form, go to my home page, click on the 'Pinterest' link, and choose the album entitled "Nice Composition, Bro." Artists are credited wherever possible. 

Sketchbook #1: Recycled Compositions

Time to streamlinify! This 9x12 heavyweight sketchbook is my attempt to revisit old artwork (there's so much kicking about the studio) and play with composition on a standard-sized page.

I started by thinking about 'quieter' compositions...

And then about color and rhythm...

 (I liked these in person, but now they're looking about as subtle as a punch in the spleen. Hm...)

Next I cut up some of my favorite abandoned kid-monster-drawings. Who would throw these dragons away?? So cool! Again, thinking about repetition and paring down (color, at least-- still a heckuvalot going on). Trying hard to think more about background than I usually do. Not finished, put lots of fun.