You Name It III - NAMED by Vanesa A. - Inspired Art Chicago

I selected my piece for Inspired Art Chicago! My original plan was foiled by my parents' intimidating storage space where many of my paintings have been residing. I think the alternate worked out even better! You Name It III finally has a name - Sometimes Feelings. The poem Sometimes Feelings was written by Vanesa A. who is 10 years old, Corkey School, Chicago. Please read this amazing poem below. I can't believe how eloquent it is.

Sometimes Feelings

Isn’t it strange when people tell you things that aren’t true?
You feel so sad and disappointed.
So your thoughts go around and around.
Your head moves like an airplane flying around in circles
and tastes like chocolate with spices of meanness and sourness.
Smells like a world with meanness.

But when you’re with a real friend you feel sure.
It’s strange when you’re happy and suddenly
you feel so depressed and nervous that your thoughts just disappear
and don’t remember what you were going to say.
They move like a magic book flipping over and over the pages.
So it tastes like candy you don’t remember what it was called.
But sometimes you just say I don’t know what I was thinking of.

So your thoughts just disappear like a magic cape that is invisible
that you can’t see.

Vanesa A., age 10
Corkey School, Chicago

Isn't it fantastic? The words and images go together beautifully. That's why I love art. In my original blog post about You Name It III, I think that details 1 and 3 really are really highlighted in the poem. I love how the two creations are now hand in hand.

Detail 1, You Name It III

Detail 3, You Name It III

If you would like to view some of the other artwork that has been selected visit the Inspired Art Website - http://inspiredartchicago.wordpress.com/.

It's not too late to participate. The website is easy to follow. Or you can refer to my previous post about the project.

Thanks for reading and send those kids a high-five!

You Name It VII

You Name It VII, 14 x 21 cm., mixed media on cardboard

Here is a quick collage sketch I did the other day. I miss doing fast little collages, I gathered a lot of imagery from them when I did them in Chicago last year. Finding interesting old books is a challenge in Korea.

The color scheme and emptiness of this sketch remind me of You Name It III. Maybe I will combine the two compositions at some point.

Despite the fact that this doesn't count towards my 16 paintings I have been working and sketching is just as important as coming up with a final product. As vital as sketching is, I tend to be an expert at overlooking it.

Well, enjoy my doodle,

K

Tea Bag Sketches I

I have no new work to share online. I have been working but I am in the process of resharpening my drawing skills (I hate drawing, I hold pencils like paint brushes). My dear friend Casey gave me a few ideas and one of them was to draw myself. So I have been sketching my face. I decided that by the time I die I want to be able to draw my own face without a mirror. That could be tricky because as much as I don't want to admit it, I may get some wrinkles on the way. Oh, well more of a challenge.


So, tea bags. These sketches are from December 15, 2008. I was sitting at my desk at school and digesting the fact that the teachers were drinking mushroom tea. It smelled horrible. The taste is just earthy. This whole tea thing sent my mind on a tea bag craze.

The first picture above is an idea to design tea bags that describe characteristics that I think are Korean. I then started thinking about North Korea and the differences and similarities, how little time has gone since they became separate. The sketch bellow is what I came up with for that. You can guess which is which.


Other words for South Korea: homogeneous, backwards, naive, beautiful, untouched, unaffected, tradition, whole, value, calm, secret, ritual

I kind of stopped with this project because the last idea is what interests me the most (SK vs. NK) and i feel that I am in no position to make art about the situation. I can't make judgments because I just don't know. What happened here is deeply seeded and silent. I have occasionally tried to ask questions but most people have family who are in North Korea, it is a sensitive subject.

So, this is where the tea bag from the last post got it origin. Maybe I will continue with this idea but in a less blatant way. I loved the cropped photos of the improv tea bag, maybe I'll use those methods to communicate these ideas.

Well, time to stare at myself with a pencil in hand.

One more thing, two good friends of mine have just started new blogs. Zane Davis, a photographer in Chicago is now writing Plane of Focus. Another good friend, Marty Sorge , a wino/foodie, just started a catch-all blog with a food and wine twist, Blue Bottle. Zane and Marty are both very close friends and incredibly talented in their respective fields.

You Name It VI, Flowers

You Name It VI, 2'x2', mixed media on board

The underlying theme of last weekend seemed to be flowers. On Friday Chad arrived with some sweet pink roses, the next afternoon we chose bundles of flowers to create Mother's Day bouquets and that evening we arrived at the gallery to some beautiful flowers my parents sent. They are on their last legs so I decided to give them eternal life on wood.

This piece is just a quick sketch. I made a video just for fun. I like that this painting is mostly gray and white and not so much colorful.

The Subject

I wanted some kind of an alliteration for the title of this piece. Ideas?

Below is the video, I have never posted a video directly to the blog post. We'll see how this goes.

You Name It V

Before I launch into my art I would like to share that my Momma has started a blog. Katiedidstudio.blogspot.com. Go check it out! You can see what she is working on and some of things things that are artistically inspirational to Katiedid.

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You Name It V, 24x24, acrylic on board

This piece was inspired by my idea to start working big again. As you saw in the last piece, this piece borrows imagery from my other work from this year. The most obviously repeated images are from You Name It I. I like the water color look, I ended up using lost of washed on the acrylic paint.

The sign is a funny little part. I didn't intend the double meaning, it just happened because of my aesthetic choices. Actually, the sign was thrown in at the last minute. Just the figure with the background was not enough.




This picture shows the washes of paint and it also gives you a nice view of the wood. One of the biggest things I have learned from working in various media is to work with the material, don't fight it. I guess this mindset goes back to when masons were carving in the middle ages. A lesson we all have to learn for ourselves. Respond to the material, don't fight it.

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Point of news:

I donated Whole Earth Woman to a silent auction at LillStreet for Art Reach. It was fun to have something donated but I was a little disappointed because they misspelled my last name, did not put out my cards that I sent and called it Untitled instead of Whole Earth Woman (written on the back of the piece). Despite that, I am thrilled that I got to donate art to raise money to bring art to the community. The event was fantastic--great art, good food, wonderful people. They did a wonderful job.

One last thing, I am in the middle of another painting that I am making a process video of! Wooot, look forward to it!

Thanks.

You Name It IV

You Name It IV, 16 x 7 1/2 in., acrylic and mixed media on board

This piece I created a few months ago. My plan was to keep adding into it but I kind of like where I stopped working. It was partially inspired by You Name It I, I was on a collage kick and this was part of the result. I am still on the collage kick. I started with just the the boy and girl pieces. Those collage pieces are from a stereo type embracing coloring book I found at an antique store. I tried to integrate the pieces enough so that the paper to board edges were not to in your face.

Detail 1

I used a lot of sting gel for the red layer of paint just to keep the translucent effect going. A nice way to integrate the collage stuff.

Detail 2

Detail 3

I added the to bring the two sides together. The elephants untie the boy and girl across the board. Visually. Subject matter?

Detail 4

The Brevarian boy's dog and the elephant's hind side.

Okay, so my intention in this was to mock the coloring book. Stick the two stereotypes together. I ended up visually unifying them with elephants in a compromising position. Red, in the middle of the elephant's chest in the middle of the painting right between the the boy and girl.

What do you think?

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THANK YOU to everyone who has signed up. I have almost reached my 20 person goal! Keep spreading the word! I think I need 7 more. Your interaction with this blog will keep me excited! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

You Name It III

You Name It III, acrylic and mixed media on board, 21x13 1/2 in.

This piece I started about two months ago. I loved the beginning but I went about it with no plan and now I am stumped. I have added a bit of color to the collage and ink markings I made the first day. If nothing strikes me soon I will just continue to add washes to the piece. Leaving it ambiguous will be great for everyone making the piece something unique to their own imagination.

The board, by the way, was found in Sam's Wine and Spirits by Marty from the back of a wine case. If you look closely you can see the map of the region etched into the wood. Thanks Marty!

Detail 1

All of the collage elements in this piece are form a book called Patrick's Dinosaurs by Carol Carrick. I am a tad guilty of not only being influenced by the images but also the story that goes along with them. That being said, Detail 1 shows the little boy, Patrick. I like the idea of him being dumped into whatever is going on in the painting.

Detail 2

This detail shows how I integrated the collage pieces into the board. I adhered them to the board and then continued the lines from some of the images onto the board with ink. I used varied lines for to make the hard edges less apparent.

Detail 3

Let me know what you thought of this piece. Tell me what your first instinct was regarding the subject matter. I love to hear what people see and your ideas might help me finish this piece!

Please sign up for my blog updates by clicking the link at the bottom of the page. My goal is to have 20 people signed up by next Monday. Help me do that! Thanks!

You Name It II

You Name It II, acrylic on board, 7 1/2 x 16 in.

I had something very specific on my mind when I created this piece but the nature of this game is that you have to make it for you. I am not quite done with it, a few more light layers would be nice to push the ground part a little more. Need some depth.

In my intuitive painting class some of my classmates told me what this was to them. Totally not what it is to me. So, tell me what you think. After the pictures I will explain some of my thinking. Before you read what I wrote, write your own story about it.

Detail of Little Girl 1.

Detail of Little Girl 2.

Detail of Woman.

Detail 2 of Woman. I love when collage wraps around the edge.

Little Girl 1 is looking at Little Girl 2 seeing what will happen if the takes the only present path. The easy route. She ends up brown, on the bottom, covered in my gloppy paint. There are color references that you can't make out in the photos. This was spurred by watching my sister go through her college search. I saw Little Girl 1 and thought of her as a toddler.

Well, there is the quick version of my interpretation.

Thanks to everyone who signed up on my blog (look at the link bellow)!

You Name It I

You Name It I, 8x8 in., canvas and mixed media

With this piece I am announcing a sub-project to go along with some of my more kitschy collage pieces I have started working on. Each piece has specific meanings to be because I composed them. Some are very directed and others are more ambiguous. Point being, each piece will have a different meaning to each viewer. I want the audience to name the pieces. For the final title, I will either randomly draw from a collection of titles or I will choose my favorite. I would love ideas to be posted on the blog! I would also like to plan a preview party for the first time these pieces are exhibited. This is a plan just beginning to form so bare with me as I test it out. The idea spurred from Anne mentioning another artist doing title parties, so I cannot take credit for the original idea. If I can find her I will link her. So, be my guest, try a title!

This collage I put together during one of the first night at my LillStreet class. I concocted it from a book about a little boy going to the zoo and seeing dinosaurs. I am pulling in my work with the female figure, some of that work I will post soon. At first the raw canvas behind the collage really bothered me but I think adding anything might take away from the simplicity of the composition.


Some of my favorite highlights from this piece: 1) The figure is composed of a stone sidewalk. 2) The bird in the upper right corner. 3)The headless but not figure.

Name it!