Jona8than Green Art and Other Things

"If I were dressing you for Halloween, I would be inclined to draw on the inspiration of those old fairy tales that feature the theme of restoration: like the prince who, because of a curse, has lived for years as a frog, only to be returned to his rightful body and role through the kiss of a merciful soul;..."
Rob Brezsny, Free Will Astrology

So I am depressed, not too hard to figure out. I made a choice to focus on my art, to be at the print shop all the time. I've spurned social contacts and activities to be at my work, I've did this purposely; wanting to show that I am an artist, to prove people wrong. Some people wondered if I was going to waste the scholarship, just take off, etc. Maybe some even though I didn't deserve it. Spite is a motivation, just as much as wanting to be successful. I wanted to show people up, and show people my mettle.

It wears on one though, and thus I feel depressed.
1) Could be the season, that does happen in this transition periods.
2) Could be the shitty job I'm working at as a dishwasher [ yes, I'm lucky to have a job, but damn, lumpen proletariat doesn't inspire happiness].
3)Economics has always been tied to my moods, but it will take some psychotherapy sessions and a financial consultant to figure those problems out. Sometimes I yearn for my friends, or somebody, to go out. Then I realize I have 5 dollas to my name, and going out is not an option.
4) I have lived with my best friends for four years together, always had a girlfriend close by. Now, everything is spread apart, missing. The girl I started seeing has decided not to see me, not that it was going well, but thats gone. I swear if I didn't have the guys at the shop to talk to, be worse off again.

I try to blame it on the art, but it isn't that. The art is going well, making some great prints and exploring interesting themes. My descison to ignore people over my art, well, maybe that should of been more balanced. I wanted to be the hermit, the dedicated artist, wanted that aura about me. I fall for myths as much as anyone.
However I feel slightly overwhelmed by all these issues, I'm down, and as much as I do" being down" well, I need to get out of this. I need my swagger back. Just how? I still want to pursue my art, dislike it when I can't. That's truth there. I don't want to work some shitty job, but I know saying that is riduculous, better artists than I have done so. So many variables as listed above, though relieving one would help I'm sure.

I have been up to a bit in six weeks, crossed the island twice, trip to Corner Brook, trip to Englee for Thanksgiving. Three weeks of unemployment where I made a nice bit of art. The art making is on a good pace, like to increase it. Seen another artist who worked at the show, made more prints than I have in this time period. To paraphrase Larry Rivers, jealousy is as legitimate a form of motivation as anything else.

Working on some etchings and lithographs mostly, been wanting to draw and paint at times. Get around to it eventually. I have started a side project; a chapbook with a friend. Would like to work on a series of painting based on imagery from MMA and UFC fighters, the dynamicism and action would make great paintings I think. Would tie in to my interest male sexuality and issues, along with interest in violence.

That's it for now.

So I have done this before and while I may not always achieve everything I have put on these lists, it does allow me to focus a little more. Goals and projects change over time as do values and so forth, nothing is set in stone. That's why I type them on the internet, allowing me to edit them at will!!

1) My first goal is to continue making more prints at St. Michael's. I would like to accumulate a good body of work from there. Would like to make the goal of six editions. It's easy to make six prints, it's the editioning that gets tricky.

2) Drawing. I would like to draw more, just sole drawing, least once a week achieve a good drawing or small series.

3) Read a little theory once a week, then kick it to the back of the brain.

4) Get my comic book with Paul Muller photocopied and out there.

5) Assemble my portfolio, get good documentation of it.

6) Bookwork started.

seven) Do something with my Chuck Norris Journal

8)Save up money for traveling and such

9)?

10) ?

11)

Maniere Noire lithography is tedious and ardous. That is probably a very self evident statement to anyone who has done printmaking, particularly anyone who has done such technique in intaglio as in a mezzotint [ which is even more tedious and ardous].

But it is going good so far, I have been here since 3:30ish and have been scratching away at the stone. I would say maybe half of the scratching I need to do is done, and is helping me learn how to do it. I very sharp exacto knife is the best thing I have learned so far. Ha! I think it will look good when printed, and the technique will be made good use of.

The stomach grumbles despite sunday dinner today, and I am not totally wanting to catch the next bus home yet at 8:30. Especially when there is nothing to do at the apartment, nar uncluttered space to draw too or such. All my stuff is packed up and stored about my room; figured I would just have to repack in again this week or next.

I have to go to Blue Cross early tomorrow morning to get a reimbursement for my new glasses. This week will be a tight week, the account suffered a lot last week: bills, eating out due to work, gallery events, glasses, etc. I do get paid this Friday, so I hope to make it till then.

It's going to be a busy week coming up. The 24 Hour art marathon activities start Tuesday for me, and volunteers, and then our big launch is Wednesday with Annie Sprinkle at the Rockhouse, artist's talks and cocktails Thursday, getting everything ready for the marathon Friday, and then the marathon Saturday. That's a good 24 hours straight gig, with almost a hundred artists and probably 300 people coming through, over 20 bands and performers, numerous workshops, along with a bar and feeding people. I do pretty good in those situations, I just work and keep my head on a swivel. The 24 hours up awake, I haven't been able to do that in a long time. Have to see about that. Redbull? Yis!

Also having to move this week, so will have to pack up tomorrow night and getting stuff ready for that. i will be working all week and night, so Adam and the parents will have to help with that. Real bum thing to be happening, but that's it. Having problems with the guy I am sub-leasing from, but will straighten that out the week too.

As for art, well, I guess it isn't going to happen this week at all. I have been on a really good schedule lately, and hate that it will be interrupted; mostly because it is difficult getting back on it. I have a lot planned, there are many ideas floating round that I would like to get down soon. what also worries me about my art making is after the marathon, I have to start looking for new employment. That will be another interruption in that I will have to find a new job, and I really don't think there is much available. Actually, there is very little available.
The print shop scholarship is an excellent opportunity and I want to make the most out of it. Yet I feel I may have to move away to make some money, least better money. I know one to make art has to do jobs to survive, to be creative enough to make money, to just do it. I have enough phrases and words of wisdom in my head, enough to write a platonic dialogue of my own about it. Doesn't mean I think I can work at a fast food joint. Maybe something will come up, but just very nervous about the fall and the upcoming weeks.

That's what the article was called in Art on Paper magazine. I picked it up today at chapters, running into an artist I've met here in St. Johns, we discussed art as we meandered around the store. He admits to being very much a formalist, so was interesting discussion.

The article, was kinda fun to read in some of the entries; Terrance Koh seems to manifest himself in the same manner as he does his art- a bit of coke. Some others were interesting, how some of the same doubts affect I'm having still find themselves in artists of semi-establishment. I have been thinking a lot on my career as an artist, or least my start of a career. These questions seem to be getting round, my bro-bot, is experiencing similar issues on what to do with himself. Might just be the plight of a generation really.
So what do I do with myself, I'm finding out that I'm not terribly good at administrative tasks from working at Eastern Edge. It is a good learning experience there, and very appreciative for it. My problem with it I just don't know how to excel in the situation or environment. Getting a lot of sponsorships and donations seem to be one way. But to me it seem that some of it is just luck of the draw, you get responsive people and other times you don't. There doesn't seem to be a method of leading there, is there any way of leading in administrative tasks besides just doing your work promptly and on time? There does seem to be a large amount of adminstration in the art world, so one does have to get better at it.
The job ends in September, and I really don't know what I'm doing. I might score some Joe Job, which from what I'm seeing is the best I can hope for. That will be minimum wage, and will suck. I can't afford to live on just minimum wage. There might be an opportunity in Grenfell in October at the gallery there, but then that will be for quite a few months and I would be leaving my bro-bot in a lurch along with leaving on the Don Wight Scholarship at St. Michael's. The opportunity at Grenfell would be decent dollars. Yet leaving St. Michael's would be wasting good time at the shop making art. Assuming my Joe Job gave me enough time to do so. The opportunity might not even arise, so should shut up about it.

I am applying for the NLAC grants in September, working on the grant proposal; that would be the Shed project. I'm ordering some inks Monday with some people at the shop in preparation for the print and drawing project I'm working on. Reading about the John Franklin Expedition for the North West Passage today. I, as said before got to start work on that soon, yet in defense I find the literature really exciting. Though in terms of concept it seems to be approaching the "About 1865" project that Tony Scherman worked on. He did a series of encaustic paintings based on the events of the American Civil War. Beautiful paintings, though not positive on the conceptual perimeters. Anything as a starting point perhaps?

I finished my editon Saturday, dated them, and signed them. Still have yet to get a picture, but will soon.

Always act fool fool, looking slightly uncool cool.

Been a quick week, lots of goings on at Eastern Edge Gallery, getting ready for the 24 hour art marathon. Like it when we're busy. Got a really good team there. I do wonder if I'm getting enough vitamins however, because i am so tired after work. Probably been eating healthier than I have ever. Maybe the heat?

Still working on my editioning of my etching, up to nine or ten, need two more I think. Then I have to print my litho. Get that over with. I have some new ideas to get on to. Wish I had some assistants sometimes, gotten a lot of ideas lately just not enough time to get them all done. Got to remember I got the rest of my life, been told that the weekend. Got to keep it in mind.

There has been a visiting artist from Ireland this month at St. Michael's, Gemma Anderson, and she did a workshop this weekend. It was on line etching and doing multpile colours on a plate. She also showed us how to smoke a plate using a flame on a hard ground. Great old fashion pintmaking technique, not used very much anymore. I was the assistant during the workshop, which was good. Got to participate in etching a plate as well; a small 4" x6" zinc plate. I proofed it today, decided it needed a little more work.
There was a little reception afterwards for work of Gemmas and her partner Sam Douglas had in the St. Michaels gallery. Was fun, met some new people, little drink, was good. The old Jonathan was back briefly, schmoozing.haha.

The plans for this week is to finish the edition of my etching. There is also the matter of the lithograph, which should take 3 or 4 hours. I have three other etchings that I should print as well. Trying to overestimate myself here, there is always my perchance for laziness or being tired. Hopefully a litho stone will be grained as well.

Despite all this work, it has been a confusing time. Lots of thoughts on what to do for the future, what goals do I have, what should be my new dreams be, do I have any new dreams? I have ideas for new bodies of work, but thats about it. No new job options or plans for September. I looked at school again, even looked at getting a trade lik welding or carpentry. Thought I could apply it to art in the future and I could. However it is really just a comfort thing- go back to school-safe there and in the familar learning environment- not dealing with the real world yet. As I said above, i'm just acting a fool. Don't even know if I should stay in St. Johns or not, I feel I shouldn't, but why? I wouldn't be able to answer you. Can I live in the moment? Just enjoyin the floating about. Why do I have to set a course so early?

I jut want to be a baller...

"And sometime around 2 AM you end up taking advantage of yourself. Ain't no way around that. Making a scene with a magazine."

Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner 1975

And sometimes around 2 weeks you end up taking advantage of yourself and others. Ain't no way around that. making a scene with an art magazine

It's 2am, I'll probably be up for another two hours, if not more. Been reading Ralph Steadman's The Joke's Over, a book about him and his relationship as artist to Hunter S. Thompson, and Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Two madman perhaps. Also been reading the latest Border Crossing, a Canadian art magazine, fuck, been reading all the copies I have of Border Crossing. Looking for something, finding tons of things, I have everything really; some talent and skill, a decent enough mind, paper, supplies, even some ideas and sketches for Goya's sake, no distractions of girls or drinkin' distractions [though I'd love a little bit of both...], and the only things against that are few. Lack of space and no courage.
And I do have a lack of space, I don't have the grandiose space of the fourth year space in school. I got a wall in the bedroom for drawing and a small space out in the shed for painting or wood. The weather affects the shed, and it has been miserable. The room wall works though.

I just don't have the courage to draw or make art here. I have before, the summer past, but for some reason I don't want to do stuff in front of the folks. Have always been private around them, but as my art gets more introspective at times, I don't want to explain it to them. Shit, I don't want to explain anything. Isn't that lame? The being inside all day does not help either, this cabin fever. And without that courage to explain, or least lie, I can't draw. Can't draw without courage, won't be art, be demoralizing to use Nietzsche even. Would bring about the downturn or further downturn of humanity. It's an unfortunate excuse, but it the excuse.
Have all this talk about changing my ways in the previous post, but am I? I don't sleep at night because when I lie down, with nothing distracting, all the baggage enters, all the questions and worries.
Listening to Kanye helps, but not enough.

"despite any odds"...

Been letting the odds stack against me, and can't say I have done anything to stop them. Just complain about it really, let it keep me lazing round the house all day. I know it has only been two weeks since I left Corner Brook, but just as well be a month or three, it feels like that. No one has been really doing much else, but that hardly consoles me. I complain about the lack of space here, because I don't have a studio, I don't have a room of ones own; a place I can close the door and keep it close so no one looks in. I am having a problem even getting something to draw, a lack of inspiration that many artists would scoff at. Inspiration? The rest of come in here and work from 9-5 everyday, to paraphrase Chuck Close. And he's almost a quadriplegic.

In one sense, I think I put a few bodies of work out this past year in school. They're not done, but maybe done for now. Not sure what to do next. I have said I think I need to "live" a little, need something to make art about. But "live" how? Go on an adventure? Maybe it's me, but adventure seem to need least a little cash. Maybe thats an excuse from the non-adventuring type. I don't know. Really, I have no idea what I meant by "live". A cliche I grabbed really. I would say Bukowski "lived", but all he did was drink, hang with whores and freaks, etc. Cohen did the same, in his own sense, really very few of the writers and artists I admire have really done anything besides their normal living. They just used it better.

A change of pace is good in one sense, and I am moving to St. Johns, but is that much a change? Lived there last summer, went to school, interned at St. M's, but really didn't do a whole lot different than what I'm doing now. Never made any good art. Not really sure when I'll get a real external change, I'll apply for some things and see what happens there. Got to get some things in order for that.
There is internal change, and I have always thought that is a way to things. The problem is of course what to change, perhaps the outlook, think outside the box, or take a knife to the box and cut it to pieces.

Got change something here, get a solution to something, I don't enjoy my idleness as much as I should.

I am home. I am graduated. I am bored. I don't know what to do. I am looking for a job. I am thinking about art. I don't have any space for said thoughts about art. I ate Mary Brown's tonight and I am sick. I am not depressed. I am confused. I check Facebook way too much. I have nothing to read. I dislike the wind here though I missed it but a few months ago. I have thought about making the switch to the third person, but don't think that works for Jonathan. I miss people. I am mostly confused however.

It's only been a week, and I can not expect opportunities to fall in my lap right away; I am aware of that. One week is a small length of time. It's just that I find ti hard adjusting to not having somewhere to go everyday, something to do, the same people around me. I sometimes think that like animals, humans are creatures of habit. I feel I am one, least at this moment. I come home, and I can't get used to having nothing to do. I reread old magazines, books, go back and forth to the internet, watch tee vee I haven't seen in ages, but nothing interests me. I don't know if others are feeling this, some people go to better or different situations than I. Maybe worse. I don't know for certain.

I am unsure why I write this here, first time I really let personal experience into the blog, mostly it has been focused on my art making or things that do with my art making. Maybe this has to do with my art making. Been getting ever more personal in the making.

There are a lot of questions about my immediate plans, what am I going to do, etc. I dislike those questions. I ever ask people that. It is not because I don't care [ well, for some people I don't] but I don't ask because it is a tough question. Plans rarely go as planned. But I will write some aforementioned plans or perhaps expectations.

I will be moving into St.Johns to live with my brother in June. That is when I have a place of residence. Before then, I do not know. I'll be in there, off and on. Everything after that depends on variables. The variable dependent list I will post next, for I know how short people's attentions spans are. I kind of steal that from Arthur Asa Berger, who wrote a book in which the chapters are composed so they can be read in 15 minute spans.

Still needs some more revising...

My work deals with the ideas of death and loss, through the use of objects, space, and narrative. I use objects that have contain small memories and history to them, and by placing them in created and often neutral spaces, to convey the larger ideas of mortality and loss. I use the medium of drawing, for it can show the sensitively and vulnerabilities of being human. It is like a slow motion version of thought, for the process of drawing can be imprecise, and uncertain. Drawing captures this by the power of it being an unmediated impression of the artists hand and mark on the surface.

My research is very intuitive and habitual, a part of my daily routine. My research is engaged in areas of art, philosophy, gender issues, sexuality, sociology, literature and an increased interest in thanatology. Death and loss factor in my research in ideas dealing with how mortality and death are dealt with in western cultures, as in issues of confronting and overcoming. Ideas on desire and death have also become an idea of note as of late, the idea that death and desire are linked.

These drawings are a continuation of the drawings from last semester, albeit indirectly, a refocusing on the topics at hand. They led me through my research to a passage from Bill Viola

“I want to go to a place that’s seems like it’s at the end of the world. A vantage point from which one can stand and peer out in to the void—the world beyond…there is nothing to lean on. No references…

You finally realize that the void is yourself. It is like some huge mirror for your mind. Clear and uncluttered, it is the opposite of our urban distractive spaces. Out here, the unbound mind can run free. Imagination reigns. Space becomes a projection screen. Inside becomes outside. You can see what you are.”

This was an inspiration point for these drawings, to use the paper as a huge mirror for my mind. The emptiness of the paper would focus the attention on the objects, and create the mood associated with the idea.

The drawings are a collection of objects, and I am extrapolating from Christian Boltanski’s idea of ‘small memory’. For Christian Boltanski ‘small memory’, is memory about little things; trivia, jokes, memories about the little things in life. [ I’ll get the exact quote for this and footnote] The objects in these drawings have memory, but only about small things, small events. These objects however can be used, with their small memories to create larger meaning and ideas through the drawings of them.

The tie clip is a response to an event in my life; the drawing brings the words meditated passion to mind. I choose this specific object because it had personal meaning to me, but I felt it could communicate to others as well by drawing it. I drew this object existing in a neutral space, an empty space, as well as the other drawings. Luc Tuymans and Toba Khedoori both use large amounts of space in their works to a feeling of isolation and emptiness in their works, Khedoori in particular uses it to create a sense of placeless-ness and acute sense of isolation. The neutral space in my drawings work the same way, however they are not totally devoid of a referent like Khedoori’s or to an extent Tuymans, my drawings have a horizon line as a indicator of space and distance.

The tie clip is an object with social and cultural meaning to it, it is an object of restraint but yet also one of flourish. The ability of restraint is also seen as part of the flourish, the ability to restrain one’s self. The ties with its phallic connections play in to this.

Drawn in a realistic manner, from life, and surrounded it by a large mass of charcoal, the item has been marked with tape so it would not interfere with the drawing of the clip. The clip is surrounded with this greyness, to create a surface around the clip that is indeterminate and imposing, to equate it with death. The tie clip exists without the tie, so there is loss and inability to function. The desire for sex is often equated for the desire of death, for death holds the promise of release from desire.

The finger trap drawing is that of a finger trap in the empty or neutral space, hovering in the space and the drawing is split through the middle by the seam of the paper. Perspective and the horizon lines exist in the top of the drawing.

This object of the finger trap is a trick device, where you are trapped by your fingers, and when you try to haul or pull yourself out of, you only get more trapped, the trap tightens. The only way out is to push further in, and let go. The finger trap is made of pieces of bamboo, braided together; bamboo is often seen as a symbol of longevity as well as the twisting and twining in of braiding. The finger trap is a joke, not intended as a restraining device or such, but rather to be an example that one must think differently to escape a situation.

The split in this drawing is to change the perception of the drawing, an interruption of the braid, the linking of the finger trap. To escape the finger trap, one must push their fingers to the centre. If the finger trap is split in the drawing, can one escape when there is no centre to push to? Is one really trapped? So by giving the split, one can see the finger trap as complete or not.

The drawing of the hammer head is drawn in the upper half of the sheet, to place it close to the horizon line and give it a good expense of space.

The hammer head is a found object, was found with no handle. In a way it is decapitated, and remain useless. The head is still good, but it needs a new body, handle to work. I invested it with small, localized narrative through the use of the shadow; the shadow alludes to the missing handle, like the shadow of the handle had been burned in to the image, still there. The hammer head is scratched, and pitted from the activity of work. It is not the shiny new hammer of a store, but one with a history. By the look of the hammer, the lack of the handle and the shadow, along with its position on its side, all work to give the impression of the hammer head being dead.
The horizon line is included in all of the drawings, dividing the empty space up and giving ideas of distance and space. However this is all relative, for the space could be essentially a table top or a soccer field, there is nothing in the drawing to give accurate scale. This relates back to the Bill Viola quote stated above. The horizon line is also used for its placement of the vanishing points, which indicate where all things must go. An idea of Nietzsche also figures in to my including of the horizon line.

The tie clip is a response to an event in my life; the drawing bring the words meditated passion to mind. I choose this specific object because it had personal meaning to me, but I felt it could communicate to others as well by drawing it. I drew this object existing in a neutral space, perhaps more of an empty space to me. I divided this space with the use of a horizon line, and perspective lines.

The tie clip is an object with social and cultural meaning to it, it is an object of restraint but yet also one of flourish. The ability of restraint is also seen as part of the flourish, the ability to restrain one’s self. The ties with its phallic connections play in to this.

Drawn in a realistic manner, from life, and surrounded it by a large mass of charcoal, the item has been marked with tape so it would not interfere with the drawing of the clip. The clip is surrounded with this greyness, to create a surface around the clip that is indeterminate and imposing, to equate it with death. The tie clip exists without the tie, so there is loss and inability to function. The desire for death is often equated for the desire of sex, and

I have the object with perspective lines going from it to two vanishing points, the perspective lines do not match up to the object and are done so really to just acknowledge the vanishing points.

The finger trap drawing is that of a finger trap in the empty or neutral space, hovering in the space and the drawing is split through the middle by the seam of the paper. Perspective and the horizon lines exist in the top of the drawing.

This object of the finger trap is a trick device, where you are trapped by your fingers, and when you try to haul or pull yourself out of, you only get more trapped, the trap tightens. The only way out is to push further in, and let go. The finger trap is made of pieces of bamboo, braided together; bamboo is often seen as a symbol of longevity. The split acts in this case as

The finger trap is a joke, not intended as a restraining device or such. It is an example of how one cannot escape something through

The next drawing is that of welding goggles, surrounded by space and the goggles are split by the connection of the paper. On one side of the paper split, the lens is cracked. There is a slight shadow in front of the lens.

This object has industrial context in that it is used for protection from the bright light of metal cutting. They protect you from seeing the light. One of the lenses is cracked, which would allow some light to get in. This object also appears in post apocalyptic media often as a fashion object. What I was trying to do with the paper split here is show the object in it’s entirely, but showing a shift in the perception of it. By being broken on one side, and on the other side of the split, the perception of the object and its meaning is changed.

The drawing of the hammer head is drawn in the upper half of the sheet, with a long light grey shadow coming from it downwards, and perspective lines leading to a vanishing point.

The hammer head is a found object, was found with no handles. In a way it is decapitated, and remain useless. All it takes is a new handle, but till then it just lays there. Invest it with small, localized narrative through the use of the shadow and the perspective lines.

The drawing of the arctic explorers (incomplete) is that of a drawing in space, horizon and perspective lines in the space around it. This image is that of five explorers at what they thought was the North Pole, from the Peary Expedition. The drawing is erased; some of the explorers are erased as well as some of their surroundings.

This image is a found image, that I used for it reminded me a quote from the book The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart. To paraphrase, a character mentioned his “own interior Arctic”. I wonder whether it was easier to cross the real Arctic or one’s own, do you think you reach your destination when like Peary’s you are a ways off still. The drawing of the image shows loss through the selective erasure of the elements in it.

I approach my drawings, by finding an object or found imagery, and through drawing process to invest it with meaning. The objects and imagery have personal connections to me, whether they be a part of my life, were a part, or come from an area of interest.

Jonathan Green was born two weeks late and seeing out of only one eye. A unique start to the world and this essay; such beginnings set the mood, setting, context, etc. of the essay. Or sometimes it is just an interesting detail.

Jonathan’s art consists of drawing, paintings, and printmaking. If asked that to describe my materials in one word, the word would be "simple". The materials are chosen for their simplicity, and the small sensuality that I enjoy in them.

My drawings are a variety of media on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite or Prismacolour markers for they are a high quality marker that allow me to work tonally. Charcoal is never forgotten though, the mat black is used sparingly. I usually stick to black or grey tones, rarely any colour used in my drawing.

The support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but I do go through a range. I prefer smooth paper; I find it works best with my drawing methods in graphite and marker, and usually whites, sometimes BFK cream or grey if feeling especially jolly.

The Skull drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil; whereas my Rocket [Rocket just for state of reference] drawings are marker, pen, and graphite on paper and the sizes of these vary.

The paintings are on stretched canvas usually, and sometimes wood. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. Oil paint is what I use, with other media sometimes used like pencil, oil stick, and spray paint. I would not call myself a mixed media painter though, does not seem a need to make that distinction. The palette range is very different than my drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. I am unsure of the distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range as of yet.

The painting start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid does not hold any appeal to me. I would consider that I paint very directly, very confidently

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to me, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ to me too much from my drawings.

My research methods are very intuitive and wide arcing, covering a lot of ground. The library and the internet are my prime sources, for imagery and the information on the subject matter. I research a lot of different artists and different periods of art history, trying to get an understanding of the artist through biography, critical essays, and of course, their work. From there I will research other artists of the genre, tracing their influences, contemporary thought of the day, etc. Contemporary culture plays a role in my art as well, so magazines and the internet are sources for information.

It is hard to narrow down the number of artists that have influenced me over the years, and that currently influence me; it is kind of like the Paris run way. Who is good for this season? There are always the ones that stay from year to year, the classics perhaps, the ones that have had the greatest impact on my upbringing. So my short list would be:

Alberto Giacometti
Francisco Goya
Raymond Pettibon
Ed Pein
Royal Art Lodge/ Marcel Dzama
Wayne Thiebaud
Wim Delvoyle

So it follows from here to literate how these artists influence my art making, and in particular, this semester’s body of work.