Stacks, Piles and More Tiny Squares

I'm still woking on painting stacks and piles and the tiny square paintings. Here's a look at what's new:

I really love this work. I am having so much FUN! Of course there's another voice saying if it's so much fun, then it's not, then it's not work. I am not a serious person but I want to be taken seriously. Visit my other blog http://improbablebeautiful.blogspot.com/

Tiny squares, tall stacks, big leaps!

It's the beginning of my fourth and final working semester of my MFA. As promised I'm becoming an "interdisciplinary artist" only not in the way I first imagined. Be sure to visit Improbable Beautiful for a glimpse of arts education magic.

Here's what I've been working on lately

63 tiny painted squares

close-up of some tiny painted squares

color stacks or stacks of color

misty stacks of color

Four Tanka Poems by Me

1.

Rivers to ocean, water to land, uneasy junctures

Despite calm skies above

Something deep inside churns at the meeting place

2.

Pull off the cloth, pick-up the pieces, it’s warm inside.

Clock tic tocks the old way, time passed slowly then.

There’s a rhythm in that too

3.

Others have done it so you will be unafraid

Death is not unknown

So, is it the dying or the leaving that frightens us?

4.

Boy gazes up, clouds sprawl and curve to touch earth’s edge

Man peers down, digs and scratches with feral intent

World spins around and around.

How can I discover the World of Art, within me and all around me?

This is my throughline for teaching art. How can I discover the World of Art, within me and all around me? I want my students to think about this question everyday and figure out their own answers. I have come to believe you can't "teach art". Especially not to little kids, they already know art. Their ideas are so much better than mine. That is why I love the choice based classroom. 

I used to believe teaching the whole class a project was the only way to teach skills. Instead as each center opens I teach the skills needed to use and care for the material in that center. What the students make using the materials is up to them. In choice class the students figure out what they need to know. They take initiative and they ask for the skills, materials and techniques to make their projects work.  Within each project are challenges and questions that must be answered through the act of making. I facilitate students understanding of their work. 

I also try to apply the throughline to myself.  How can I discover the World of Art, within me and all around me? Can I give myself the freedom I allow/expect my students to have? How can I use what happens in the class in my own practice? 

Great Minds...

Surfing the internet I found this...

Emily Green's project

This is from my first semester...

I can't believe how similar our work is. I can't believe she's selling these. Good lesson for me. Stop underestimating myself and my worth.

Pieces of me. pieces of we

This school year I have collected the detritus of the art room and created pieces from it. Art from art mishaps. A book made from the inking table.

Glorious Nature, Colorful Crowns

You really notice trees in the windy rainy weather.

This morning I saw an enormous tree that had fallen due to the weather. Some thing about the giant fallen tree reminded me of this project.

 I'm inspired to continue working on these. They're sort of crowns related to the rings of the tree. There are sticks and bark imbedded into the sides. Here's the Gracious Grace modeling the crowns.

Core Strength

I found this figure in the 6th Ave flea market, NYC. The guy said it's from Mawli. The figure is metal at it's core. It appears fragile but is quite sturdy. It's travelled far and is still held together essentially by mud.

I carried it home in my suitcase and had a stand built for it. I love this figure. I have wanted to do some art around it for a long time. I'm not satisfied with the drawing. It's too stiff and cartoony.

pencil drawing

ink drawing

These mash-ups on photoshop are better but still don't capture the grit and magic of the figure. The dangling beads, the funk of the fir, the sense of wrapped and unraveling are missing from the work so far. 

I don't know if I can do it. I'm going to set it aside for now and come back to it later.

More faces

Here's the latest....

Any favorites?

Friendly faces...

I seem to be fixated on faces right now. I started this statue study to focus on the figure and to get a better understanding of abstraction of the human form. But now I'm captivated by faces.

Here's the statue I'm working on now

This figure is another from childhood. We broke the left hand off long ago. 

The first sketch in ink

My semester project has been puppets. They are finally close to complete. Now I am creating 2-D images of the 3-D figures. It's sort of like painting a portrait of a friend.

Face to Face

watercolor, no background yet...

Growing up I loved the challenge of trying to balance this figure on it's pedestal. When I began sketching I naturally focused on capturing balance. As I sketched the face became more interesting. Sketching can reveal new directions.

color manipulated photo

I'm playing with color in both statue and the backgrounds. It's difficult to tell if it's working.  What do you think?

which one?

Do you have a favorite? If so why do you prefer one over the other?

Hats off to Bailey and Bearden!

Here's what I've been working on lately.

This is one of several African figures I grew up with. When my parents moved I got some of the smaller African statues. I've decided to make small watercolors of each one.

Here's the first the watercolor...scroll down to see different backgrounds.

watercolor & gouache 9" x 12 background still needed

After working on it for a bit I realized my influence from this guy... 

Radcliffe Bailey

check out Radcliffe Bailey current exhbition

Then I thought about it, and I can see we're both heavily influenced by this guy...

Romare Bearden

check out the Romare Bearden Foundation

Which image do you prefer?