#100daysofart: weeks 3 and 4, making it work

Though I have never seen an episode of Bravo's Project Runway, I do fancy myself a bit of a pop culture connoisseur and I do know who Tim Gunn is. It is my understanding that Mr. Gunn uses this term as a 'shut up and put up' sort of mantra, only with far more panache. Trying to create an original piece of visual art every 24 hours is most certainly a put up sort of agenda and, though thus far it has taken turns I didn't expect, I am currently 'making it work.'

I knew that travel outside of the state would create obstacles in my cerebral adventure, but I chose to incorporate my travels as oppose to avoid. Shooting Ghostface on stage was amazing and, not wanting to rely on photography too heavily for this project, I deemed him, and this shot above, worthy. With little time to spare my third day at SXSW I got crafty and created an environmental scene using the wrist bands I had received the day before. Though I didn't know what I was doing as I was doing it, I sort of think this works.

 

 

A plane ride can really take it out of you and making my tomato garnish into a piece of art and a symbol of love brought my mediocre Mexican takeout to a whole new level with just a couple swipes of plastic knife. Wanting to explore art with Photoshop I took the maturation of my oldest nephew into an official teenager as an opportunity to make his monumental 13th birthday well, monumental. Flawed as it is, it was done with love - and what could be more beautiful than that?

A postcard to a dear friend is a standard practice in my life, but drawing it with pictograms instead of an assortment of 26 characters was a fun new take in addition to being a throwback to the days of high school when Hillary Gatlin and I thought we were far more clever than any of our teachers when passing notes between periods in this DaVinci code. Seeing beauty in the nature outside, the flora of which is unparalleled in sunny Southern California, let me to my next now pressed flower and pen drawing and a quick article on permanent marker and rubbing alcohol led me to the baseball cap only a niece could love (at least hopefully!).

At first I envisioned this project as a chance for me to take my university honed art skills and get my still life or pottery wheel on. Having a degree in Fine Art has been a blessing, but the practice in everyday life can be hard found. Instead of using my charcoal on the daily, I find myself going way way back, perhaps to when I first became an artist, when I was just a kid with a box of Crayolas. After encouragement from my parents and desire building inside I brought it to college, to the professional world and now here, to social media. The full circle of life. Ha!

Making it a point to use different mediums and play with different techniques, all while fitting it into a busy work life and developing social calendar on a new/old coast has left me using the resources and time that I have to the fullest. Whether that is a collage torn from the pages of People, a quick shot of interesting architecture in a local Asian eatery, experimenting with crayons and fire, creating colorful lines and dots while burning the print off of my right thumb, or my piece de resistance, Selena Quintanilla Perez's portrait on a teeny tiny canvas commemorating the anniversary of her untimely passing. A big Selena fan I wanted to make sure to represent and though a full length image in a purple jumpsuit may have screamed the tejano star a bit more, this simple sharpie portrait would have to do.

 

 I will admit that this challenge is, well, challenging - but as I am forced to flex not only artistic muscles, but creative ones, in terms of logisitcs as to how to accomplish a piece each day - it is sort of fun!

#100daysofart: week 1, getting creative being creative

A week in and I can already feel the enormity of this self proposed challenge I have chosen to undertake.

While perusing the site for #100daysofart you can see many people chose themes, creating a selfie a day or a watercolor of a variety of landscapes - perhaps a wise move when stumped for your next potential project. I, on the other hand, being a Jedi warrior in the art of making things far more difficult than need be, chose simply to create with an open ended idea of what that meant. I wanted to make sure I utilized different forms and mediums and, in the process, stretch and strenghten my idea of what constitutes art.

A stop at my old familiar stomping grounds of the local art supply store not only brought me back to my younger days; days when my father purchased and set up a professional draft table in my childhood bedroom, giving me the proper tools to create Louvre-worthy portraits of Peter Pan and Mickey Mouse, but also those days from university where one was often faced with the choice between a chunk of premium charcoal or nutritionally balanced meal. Ah, the good ole days.

A few basics in my bag and I was ready to go and conquer.  

day 2

day 3

day 4

Day 1 had been an introduction to the whole project and allowed me to use my middle school level typography that I love so much. Day 2 lent itself to my doodle days and came almost effortlessly as I dragged pencil on paper and made a random yet consistent pattern. Day 3 and Day 4 I chose to go 3-D, decorating mugs (a long stranding tradition for me and a couple of other ladies) and making a collage about said father who purchased that draft table all those years ago. Neither my typical form of expression yet both uniquely satisfying in their creation and result.

day 5


Figuring a trip to the Getty Center on Day 5 would simply lend itself to my next work, I found I was a bit stumped and, as a professional photographer almost felt like I was cheating it when I grabbed a quick shot of beautful bougainvillea wrapped around iron rods in the garden. Not having used photography yet I felt I got a pass.

Then life kicked in, as it is wont to do. Meetings and commutes. Social commitments and time at the gym watching How I Met Your Mother reruns while on the elliptical began to fill every conceivable moment of my day and I knew that, with this only being the beginning, I would have to think outside the box to accomplish this goal. Literally.

day 6

I knew when publicly declaring my attempt to complete all 100 days of art, time management would play as big a role, if not bigger, than the ideas with which I needed to come up to make my art. Day 6 ended up being totally out of left field and a back up when a previous concept didn't look like it was so feasible. A found rubber ball with a black sharpie and white out can go a long way when in a pinch. Day 7 was going to be a painting but, when seated at a basketball game watching an antsy 8 year old desperately searching for ways to fill her time when her father was shooting 3-pointers, I figured part of the beauty of this project could be my ability to share art with others. With a good pad of paper and colored pencils at the ready, I thought, pretending the entire time that I was not at all concerned about the fact that I knew my pencils would be returned dull and out of chromatic order, why not offer this little girl a distraction from her youthful boundless energy and allow her to create what ended up being a great portrait of her daddy playing ball. Though she was not able to finish the picture before I had to leave (with my compromised pencils)  I was able to give her a moment of art and, create art by proxy. Though I did not document her work, I did manage to capture a shot of her creating her own masterpiece, lost in her own world of color and texture - a place we should all visit more often.

day 7 

day 8


Siblings are a curious thing. Two (or more) people, made from the same ingredients who turn out totally differently. My sister and I are no exception to this phenomenon and while I was born an artist, she was born a businesswoman. Her business is fashion and, while spending a day fondling fabrics and chatting over tea I saw the opportunity to make a face right there - at the Sunset Tower Hotel with table scraps of artichoke, peper and honey for Day 8. The lemon wedge to create a sunny smile was simply icing on the cake to a day with my very different, yet almost equally lovely sister and my first full week of #100daysofart.

Hopefully having worked out some kinks and warmed up some muscles, next week will bring new inspiration and new visual adventures. Wish me luck!