A Great Max Photo for 2010

The Lux Review -

My drawing titled, Portrait of Chantal was accepted into the Lux Review and will be published in their next magazine.  Pretty cool and great news (on my birthday even).  I am reposting the drawing.

My Grades Are All In...

I was, as posted earlier, disappointed in the A- for printmaking, but I was happy (surprised) to receive an A+ in one of my Art Education courses, so all evened out in the end.  I had made peace with the A- and was ready for the inevitable drop in GPA but am pleased to have it at a 4.0 for one more semester.  This was important to me because I know that next semester is going to be a real challenge and wanted a buffer to take a little pressure off.

Grades-

To add to the last post: It's funny but this semester, I wasn't able to nail down any grades in any of my classes.  I had to totally let go of the GPA concerns and work my A_ _ off.  I didn't get any grades at all from my painting class.  I don't like working that way, I like knowing where I am at, where I am headed, and what can be done if I'm headed in the wrong direction.  This semester was extremely stressful in so many ways.  I have got to find a way to balance the stress of scholarship grade requirements, GPA and just the workload alone.  I am going to rest up because next semester is expected to be even tougher. I don't do well in art history courses, and I found out that the scheduled class was changed because the instructor will be out for health reasons.  Originally, all was well, a fellow student had the books that are required for the class I was supposed to take, and she let me borrow them, so I wouldn't have to buy books, and I could read up on the subject during break; now, that has changed.  But one glimmer of hope on "Rate my Professor. com," the professor for the new class had decent ratings.  Most of the art history teachers have scary ratings, like- senile, loses papers, loses tests.  So we shall see.  ARGH!  Eddy is helping me to cope with an A- , and my son Josh thinks I'm crazy to get so upset about an A-.  Coping and Crazy, that's how my holiday break is going.  How about yours?

Does an A- bother anyone else?

I was somewhat disheartened, bummed and really upset at receiving an A- for my semester grade in intro to printmaking.  I weary of the grading process and not being a part of the crowd that gets As just for being "cool."  It's seriously like being back in high school all over again.  For the most part, the cool kids, are the idiots that take up class time, cheat or are completely lazy and lack any real talent.  I know, it's still an A but it's a lesser A, and not the grade I should have received.  Oh well, move on and let it go- right.?.

Just for Fun - My Dog Max

Not art related - just for fun.  This is my pug Max; he is 7 months old.  Just a quick snapshot - he moved a little, so it's fuzzy but cute.   He likes to scratch on my canvases and paintings - tough critic!!!

Drawing Rough - Grid

This is two images of the initial drawing for the painting of the boy shown in my previous blog post.  I thought it would be good to put these up.  I had to create two diagonal grids, one for the boy and one for the positioning of the boy within the stairs.  I find the diagonal grid works better for me than the traditional grid.  Eddy took the pictures for me.  Thanks Eddy.

Art Education ... Lesson Plan

This was a lesson plan I created for another project in my Art Ed Class.

Art Education ...

This is a game board I made for one of my art education courses.  I used the artwork and artist from the Ponyo movie.  I created the board, some game pieces, cards and questions.  I am posting here the game board.  I created two halves in Photoshop and placed them on a board that can be folded like an actual store bought game.

Some Old, Some New

Below in my blog I have listed some older images, but there are also some images of my final for printmaking and for my painting courses.  Take a look... Thanks for following along on my blog.  I have officially made it through another semester.  A time for rest, holidays and family.

Abstract Painting - from earlier this summer.

I felt like adding another painting that I had finished over the summer.  It is a watercolor - mixed media, watercolor and wax.  It is titled- Scars.

Disharmony - Painting II

I am also reposting a picture I painted a little earlier in the semester. This painting expresses how I was feeling toward the end of this semester.  The title again is Disharmony.

Final Painting - Painting II Class

This is an extra credit project for Painting II class.  I had wrapped up my paintings a little early, so my professor asked me to paint ONE more.  Eddy was kind enough to buy me another canvas, as I had run out of money for the semester.  The painting was first painted with acrylic in gray tones, and then I glazed over with oils.  The painting could probably use a couple more hours work, but I think it turned out well, since I only had four sittings to work on it.  This painting was taken from a photo provided by Janet Scott.  It is a photo she had taken of her son.

Printmaking-Final Project

I am posting some images of my Printmaking Class Final Project.  I was pleased that my grade was an A+. I worked very hard on this project.  The ink work is done in drypoint etching.  I had to duplicate the process to create an edition of two each; I also ran another copy and finished it off with colored pencil.  This is a comic book story in two panels:
Backstory:

Etched in the Alter Ego, Zedie

Zachary Smith, a starving and unemployed Painting Major ingests radioactive Raw Umber while working on his final piece of work for Painting III.  Transformed with the ability of flight, strength and uncanny insight into the intricacies of Color Theory, Zachary takes on the alter ego of Zedie – traveling through the previously unknown intergalactic dimensions, righting wrongs and providing solace for struggling artists here in our own galaxy and beyond…

In Black and White:

In color:

This is Zachary Smith...starving, unemployed painting Major by day...

Super Zedie by night.

It Made It In and Won Third Place....so awesome!

My drawing made it into the juried undergrad show, and believe it or not, it won third place!!!

Some New Art - Toward the end of the semester...more to come.

I have done some strange work this time around, but I really like the paintings.  One we were assigned a word, and we had to paint to that word, then we were given the opportunity to choose a words or words from an assigned list.  For my other paintings I chose "void", "line", and "us".  I will be showing you the first word I painted to - "Disharmony."  I painted it all in grays tones first, and then I painted only the interior of the mouth in color... creating disharmony, plus the subject matter creates some disharmony as well.  The picture is cropped at an odd place to set the subject matter off center, again disharmony.  The other image I have is for the word "void."  I painted the interior of my mouth.

This is Disharmony in partial Color

This is Disharmony in only gray tones and white

This is Void

Zedie at Christmastime... My New Holiday Card for 2010

I enjoyed creating this years Christmas card for 2010.  I hope you enjoy viewing him...  A little quieter version will be sent out to friends and family, but I really liked how this Zedie turned out.

The End is Near, Once Again!!

It is almost the end of another semester.  I will hopefully be posting some final works soon.  It has been exhausting - but good.  I am 3 semesters away from graduating.  I say 3 semesters because it sounds a lot better than a year and a half.  I was pleased to be given the opportunity to be part of the Golden Key honor society - top 15%, not too shabby!  The journey continues...

Zedie Comic Book Cover

There is a call for comic book covers - original art - for the Step Gallery at ASU.  I entered my take on a comic book cover with one of my Zedie characters.  The cover has to have a price, title and UPC code, so it would look as if it were a real cover.  The artists can work in any 2D medium as long as it adheres to the traditional comic book size.  I made mine in pen/ink and colored with markers.  Eddy commented that my comic book was probably a special edition collection since it was a bit "pricey."  So I said, it was "a one of a kind," never to be duplicated.  lol

Printmaking Class

We are finishing up a new print series, "Things That Go Bump in the Night."  I decided to do monsters as my take on it.  This is my print.  This is a Drypoint intaglio process.  There is a full image of the print and then a close-up of one of the monsters.

Zedie on my locker...

I decided to put my Zedie stickers on my lockers, so I could tell them apart from all the others.  One Zedie has survived without harm; the other has been torn at the corner.  Someone tried to take him home.  Eddie took a picture of my one locker, so I thought I would put it on my blog.  My Zedies make me smile.

Painting Pears

In my Painting II class we are in the process of painting wet-into-wet.  I am posting 3 photos of various stages in the painting.  I hope to have it done in a week.  Side note: We didn't get to draw out the image; we had to wet the entire canvas with our paint/solvent mixture and use a rag to wipe back the light and white areas.  We could only use rags.  We then used a brush to paint in the shadow areas.  So this was very difficult for me.  Absolutely no foundational drawing was done.

The photos are crooked not the painting.  The base of the pears is actually straight in the actual painting.  I had taken the photo at an angle. 

Printmaking 1

I am currently working on a project that has to include symbols.  I haven't taken photos of the finished work.  I thought I might at least throw up a photo of one that was in the early stages.  The symbols have not been added to the print yet.  The symbols will be added later using a pronto plate.  I actually finished up my work on this project last Friday.  I hope to have more photos to post.  Our critique is on Thursday....wish me luck.

This photo is not very good; I took it in a hurry.

Silkscreening 101 - Intro to printmaking

This was a down and dirty screen printing process.  We had to draw with the inks directly onto the screen and create a complete composition on the screen and have it made in one pull.  So I decided to go with a cartoon approach.  The theme was to create something from our past memories.  I remembered having my braces just put on and the horrors of being called BRACE FACE!  I uploaded some images of the process and the finished image.

Cézanne and American Modernism - Phoenix Art Museum Exhibit

I went to the Cézanne exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum.  It was awesome to see the work in person and not exclusively from a book.  His brushwork and knowledge of color -astounding.  One thought though, I would have preferred viewing his work all together in one room than mixed in with other artists that were influenced by Cézanne.   It made it more difficult to view, a lack of continuity.   A must see.

Start of a New Semester and....

It is the first official week back at ASU and it was punctuated by a car accident. Tuesday of this week, I was in a car accident, in pain, and yet the only thing I could think about was.... I have to get my art supplies!!!!  How am I going to get all of my art supplies now? I am currently working with a wounded left hand.  This semester started out with a real BANG.

Finished Drawing...

These are some photos of the finished drawing.  I will try and post more later that might be a little clearer.  But I wanted to get something up now.

I Finished the Drawing!!!

I finished the drawing I had posted earlier.  I will post photos of the finished drawing shortly.  I was pleased with how the braids turned out.  I am also pleased I was able to get it done before the new semester started.  I knew that if I didn't finish, it would sit and never get done.

The New Semester is Upon Us

We are about to embark on a new year at ASU.  New people, new classes, NEW art.  We'll see what's ahead.  I will blog.

Finally Finishing up on The Drawing.

I am finally working on the final stages of the drawing I started and posted earlier on this blog.  I decided to stay true to what I do and simply draw the person as I see her, in her beauty, no tricks, no added gimmicks, just a drawing of a young woman.  I have the braids in her hair to add for the final touches.  I am posting a full picture of her and then two smaller closeups of her eyes and of her mouth and chin.

                                        

                                         

Second shots of the Max Painting.

I have worked on the Max Pug Up Close painting further.  It's a mixed media piece.

This is another really close up shot of Max.

Painting Just for Fun.

I am working on a watercolor painting of my puppy, Max.  He is a black Pug dog.  I am working from a photo of an extreme closeup of him.  He was sniffing the camera when I shot it.  I liked the photo so much and thought it would make a fun painting.  It's still in the works....it makes me smile.

This second photo is a real up close photo of the painting.  It's not a serious painting; it is strictly for fun.

Comments to a Fellow Friend and Artist.

I was posting a comment on a fellow friend and artist's blog: The frustration! What a great thing it would be to have a private studio space to work in. When you live in a tiny space and you work in that same space it's very frustrating.  It takes so much energy just to get ideas together and then you have to spend another hour just getting the supplies out and - well then is the idea, the feeling, the creativity still there..? I have so many art boards, paper, pencils, paint etc. tucked away in so many little spaces. I have a hard time remembering where everything is. Studio space - ahhh the dream.  I will travel to great places, have a great, private studio to work in, and will have fame for my artwork - in my lifetime. I will...

A Poem I have written - it's in the works:

The Artist is Born


Violent penetration,
stifling darkness,
mar the soul.


Convulsing, 
searing pain,
rendered anonymous,


terror wrapped identity,
toxic fairy tale potion.


Age beats the flesh of child,
A womanly form, 
dysfunction prescribed.


Violent penetration,
The Artist is born.

By Lisa Bella-Bryson

Lost soul - Lost vision - working little by little

I have found this summer to be a stretch both mentally and artistically.  I am struggling to finish up the drawing that I posted previously - I can't seem to get in my mind how to finish it.  I'm thinking of some element built into the face or something like my hand full of pencils laid over the canvas so it would be the canvas under my hands working on it.  It just sits waiting for more inspiration or direction.
I am also going to do some fun work - fun with watercolor, no heavy theme...simple, playful, happy work.
I'll post some work once I get some going.  And I'll keep you filled in on the drawing, what will be the next approach.  I don't like it when I am pushed to do stuff that just is simply not me.  I am by no means edgy-at all.  I paint things that make me feel moved, happy, sad, simple, naive, pained and alive.  My art won't cause a stir - but possibly cause a good feeling - a shared love.

Work in Progress

This is a drawing I am currently working on.  I am spending much more time on this drawing, trying to really focus on details in the eyes and brows.  I want the drawing to have a softer touch to it from some of my other works.  Hopefully it will be done before the new semester starts up.

School is around the corner!

Well a new semester is drawing near.  I was very disappointed to see that my ASU financial aid for this year has been reduced by $900.00!!!  Things are going to be very tight.  It's really getting hard to pay for an education!!!

Drawing Again and Working on Zedies

I have finally started on a drawing again.  It's a drawing of a fellow student attending ASU. I have just started the face.  I will try and have pictures posted soon.  I have also been drawing up some Birthday Card Zedies for family members and friends.  I hope they all like them.  My Grandson is turning 1 year old this August, so I made a special Zedie card for him. -  pictures will post shortly.  Here is a quick shot of the Zedie card made for my grandson, Mason.  It's not a very good image; I took it with my computer camera - quick shot, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Closer to the real thing.

This is a closer representation of one of my abstracts as to what the colors actually look like.  Photoshop likes to enhance it too much.

More Summer Artwork

Here are a couple more of my summer artwork adventures.  I also am adding an updated image of the abstract face/mouth to show the changes - the camera seems to focus on the greens, but this is the completed painting.
This is the finished product of the abstract face/mouth:

This is another abstract that is reminiscent of a wood stump grain:  I used watercolor, gel medium, coffee, and tools to scratch and scar the paper.

                                             

This last one is called Wild Flower in the Field - Abstract:

The first image is the whole painting and the second is a close-up:

I used the similar methods of gel medium, torn paper elements, tools to scar the paper as the previous work.  These paintings go through a very rigorous thrashing!