This is where it gets a little weird. Bridges 22, 23, 26

Bridge #26, photocopies of drawings, 11x14, 2002

Bridge #23, pastel, 9x24, 2002

Bridge #22, pastel, 11x14, 2002

This was 9 years ago, but I remember thinking that what I really liked about the bridge visually was the big sweeping curve with the straight lines of the support beams just on the one side.  I also liked how the backgrounds were all gradual changes of warm to cool colors.  But the composition of #22 was too simple so I started to play around with using the big curve as a building block to create other images.  The teacher encouraged me to explore this, and to use the photocopy machine so that I could figure out how I wanted to combine the pieces before starting another drawing.  I kept photos of these as a record of how I got from where I was to where I was going, but these are not show pieces.  I picked a sampling from this phase.  There are many that are a variation of #26.  I cropped off the notes I wrote on them to remind me of what I was thinking about for each one.  At that time in my life, I was about to move from the city to the suburbs and I was not sure how I felt about that.  Now I have lived 12 years in a rural setting, 11 years in the city, and 8 years in the suburbs.  I wonder if anyone else out there has had a similar experience and can speak to how that messes with your sense of identity.  Oh, and if you are trying to figure out my age, I left out the years before rural when my family moved around a lot, and the college years, when I moved around a lot.

Entertainment. Bridges 17 and 20

Bridge #20, pastel on black paper, 11x14, 2002

Bridge #17, wax crayon, 9x12, 2002

At this point, I was into it and really having fun.  Using wax crayon on paper that is on a heated griddle is the coolest thing.  The color just glides and you can push it around and it blends just a little at the edges.  The problem is I don't know what type of paper to use so it will last.  There is a grease stain at the edges of the picture like with oil pastel.

Shortly after this, I noticed that the bridge form upside down looks like the bottom of a ferris wheel or some other carnival ride.  Since this is all about having fun and letting the image do what it will, I let it be a carnival ride.  It is still the bridge and yet it isn't.

Next post by Sunday morning or sooner.

Fail! Bridges 11 and 14

Bridges #14, pastel, 11x14, 2002

Bridges #11, pastel on sandpaper, 8x11, 2002

Argh!  I forgot to post this morning, so I have failed at my resolution of posting every other morning.  And yet life goes on.  I want to continue posting so here I am.

After using the fabulous Wallis sandpaper, I thought that regular old sandpaper would work just as well.  Not so.  It was ok.  Of course it also is not PH balanced and so who knows how long it will last.

I'm interested in continuing to revisit this bridge series, but I don't think it's necessary to post every single one. Often the differences are not dramatic.  I like the dark brown stenciled shape in #11 against the vibrant wiggly lines.  Bridge #14 turned purple and seems to float.  I wonder if this was the beginning of that wiggly line thing that I seem to repeat often.

Bridges 8 and 9

Bridge #9, pastel, 11x14, 2002

Bridge #8, pastel on Wallis paper, 11x14, 2002

I hope I did not get these two mixed up.  Wallis paper is a super fine sandpaper and I love it for pastel.  This was my first introduction to it.  It is spendy, so I was a bit afraid to start for fear of making a mistake, but you gotta get over that sort of thing or you're toast.

Bridges 6 and 7

Bridge #7, pastel, 11x14, 2002

Bridge #6, pastel, 11x14, 2002

#6 was the response to "Draw it faster".  The railing is starting to look like a parade of abstract dogs.  I'm not sure what the stars are all about, I think they first showed up in #5, which is already posted in "Bridge is the easy way out" a week or so ago.  #7 made use of stencils.

I almost failed in my effort to keep posting every other morning.  But it is still morning, so I'm alright.  The 48 hour goal was too stressful.  My perfectionistic brain can't deal with the reality that sometimes it will be 46 hours, sometimes 51 hours.  The goal is to have the next post sometime Monday morning.

Silence the inner critic

Bridge #4, oil pastel, 9x12, 2002

Bridge #3, oil pastel, 9x12, 2002

Draw it again, Draw it again. I was not getting it yet when I was drawing #3. She said I was taking too long on each one and therefore not learning anything new.  The best advice was to draw one really fast and not judge myself as I was drawing it.

Influences

Bridge #1, pencil, 9x12, 2002

Bridge #2, oil pastel, 9x12, 2002
I took a class back in 02 that continues to influence me to this day.  The assignment was simple and yet could have as much depth as you wanted it to have.  Choose an object.  Draw it.  Draw it again. Draw it again. Draw it again.  The teacher was excellent at guiding without dictating.  I learned a lot about drawing and artmaking and teaching.

Next post Thursday morning.

Go Gophers

Swimming Gopher, pastel, 9x12, 2005

So I was at Wm O'Brien state park in Minnesota, watching this creature swim in the Mississippi (I think its a gopher, not sure, but since I'm a U of MN alum, it makes sense to call it a gopher).  I was wondering what is going through its mind.  Is it worried about something or just going through the motions of its everyday life.

Time management

Figure studies, watercolor, 9x12, 2007

I was trying to be efficient with my use of line and trying to finish the study before the subject moved.
I keep thinking with each post that the next post will have something I just made instead of pulling out these photographs from past years.  But I think it is more important to keep up with posting every 48 hours or so to get in the habit.  I have hundreds of photos of my old work, and it has been valuable to go through them to find the one that matches what is happening in my life at the moment.  Lately its been time management that is in the front of my mind.  What am I currently doing that is unnecessary?  This?  Nah.  How do other people have jobs, kids, interests and clean laundry?

Next post by Sunday 7:30am.

Quick Post

Minneapolis Canoe, watercolor, 9x12, 2008

I did not think I would have time to post this morning, but I did this post in less than 5 minutes!
I think it is important to keep posting, even if sometimes it is not a deep thought.

Thinking about travels

The Journey, acrylic, 16x20, 2008 or 09

I don't remember if this is the same title as when it was in the last show, but I remember it had something to do with journey.  I'm talking about travel, not "Don't Stop Believing".  There is something about letting the paint colors flow into each other that appeals to me.

Next post by Tuesday 9pm.  I'm giving myself some extra time because Tuesday will be busy.

Another Monochromatic one for Turtle Lake

Turtle Dream, acrylic, 16x20, 1999

I spent the day today with elementary art teachers.  Fun!

Next post by Sunday 8:17pm (I hope).

A Bridge is the easy way out.

Bridge #5, pastel, 11x15, 2002

Hi students.  This one has CONTOURS, and is a METAPHOR, and has a variety of VALUES of red.  It would fit the current assignment if not for the blue bits.

The next photo is my ipod response to Hockney.

Next post by Friday 8:55PM.

something new

portrait of Rebecca, ipod, 2011

I showed my students a video I found about how David Hockney is creating art on his iphone.  So I had to give it a try on Rebecca's ipod.  Here is the video link:

David Hockney's iphone passion

Next post by Thursday, 8:01am.

From the Deck

unfinished tree study, watercolor, 9x12, 2010

A little something I started back when I could sit on the deck.

This is why I'm not on the deck today.  This picture was taken a couple weeks ago and the snow has been shoveled away now, but it is still a bit chilly out there.

Next post by Tuesday 3:17pm.

Room with a view, 2009, Oil stick on canvas board, 12x16

2010 was a year that I let everything get in the way of my artmaking.  I hope 2011 will be different.  This is the view from my classroom where I spend way too much time.  Seeing that bench out there makes me sad because no one ever sits in it.  I wonder if I asked for a key to that courtyard, would they give me one?

I usually resist the temptation to make new year's resolutions because I think it is silly to create change for the sake of change and those resolutions are rarely successful.  However, I'm going to give it a shot this year.

Two resolutions: to post something on this blog at least once every 48 hours and to make sure my son and I exercise daily.  Maybe no one will ever read this, but that is OK.  I know it is here and that is enough.