New Toys

One of the things I love about being a graduate student is the steady exposure to new methods and new tools.  These images show the set-up I used for a recent video project.  

With tutoring from fellow graduate students, I learned about how to arrange lighting equipment to get the effect I was after. The video will premiere at my MFA Thesis Exhibition on January 16th at George Mason University's School of Art. Not wanting to give away too much, I'll just show the photographs as documents of my process without commentary.

Getting Somewhere

A big painting calls for a big brush.  Unfortunately, a big brush also calls for more time to wash out all of the pigment when it's time to clean up.

My studio feels very crowded because I am trying to work on several pieces concurrently in order to have everything ready for my show beginning January 16th.

True Colors

An easy way for me to mix the color I want: I squeeze out two stripes of Prussian Blue for every stripe of Burnt Umber.

This painting needs a large, dark background that I have to apply in layers if I want to create a sense of depth.  I'm planning to apply at least five more thin layers.  Since each layer takes about a day to dry, this segment of the painting process requires patience on my part--an attribute I find harder and harder to maintain as the deadline for my show gets nearer and nearer. 

While I wait for the background to dry I can mix the colors I will need for the landscape.

Fresh Start

Ahh, a blank canvas, a clean glass palette, and a tidy taboret -- all I need now is coffee . . . 

. . . and some preparatory sketches.  Oh, there they are!

Before starting to put paint on canvas, I find it helpful to do some drawing to better understand what I want to see in the finished painting.  For me, more than any other medium, drawing with graphite is a way of knowing.  If I can draw it, then I can understand it.  The painting I am currently working on includes a crater.  For inspiration, I looked through images posted on NASA's website of the surface of Mars.  There I found a beautiful panorama of the "Santa Maria" crater assembled from photographs taken by the rover Opportunity in December 2010.  

Using the panorama image as a guide, I made a drawing on three feet by five feet tracing paper to define the overall shape of my crater.  Next I built a small model using a shallow plastic container, cardboard, aluminum foil, and spray paint.  I sculpted the contours of the rim of the aluminum foil crater to match the contours of the large drawing.  Finally, I made several small graphite drawings of the aluminum foil model, lit by the studio lamp on my drafting table, in order to better understand how shadows fall across the crater.

This process helps me see the connections between three-dimensional form and the two-dimensional world used to represent it.  It also helps me understand the basic structure of forms in three-dimensional space (I should say four-dimensional space-time!) so that I understand how to create my own worlds in two-dimensions.

Getting Organized

Keeping my studio organized is always a challenge.  Figuring out how to organize all the objects I collect feels like solving a puzzle-- fun and frustrating at the same time.  

Looking for Rejection

About a month ago I set out to get my artwork rejected.  For too long I avoided entering my work into juried competitions because of my anxiety that my work was not strong enough.  I used to think, “I don’t want to pay a fifty dollar entry fee just to have my artwork rejected.”   However, after many conversations with other artists, I now realize that rejection is a part of the experience of being an artist.   Every artist that I have talked to or read about has had artwork rejected.  If I am going to work as an artist then I need the experience of rejection.  In the past month I have submitted work to three juried shows and I plan to keep looking for ways to get some rejections under my belt.

Mission to Mars

For the past week I have been working on a short video shot from the point of view of a robotic land rover inspired by the exploration vehicles that NASA uses to investigate the surface of planet Mars.  To get the view point I was after, I built a camera rig.  The rig situates the camera close to the ground but allows me to push the rig around while standing.

The most important function of the rig, however, is to carry the land rover chassis in a fixed position relative to the camera lens.  To make the chassis I used parts from various discarded electronic devices that I collected from a recycling center and my own recycling bin at home.  I used small metal pipes, screws, and a metal screen to greeble the surface of the chassis.   I also borrowed my wife's reading light to provide illumination.

Below are two photos taken from the video camera's position on the rig looking over the chassis.