Bird Shoal: Island of Inspiration

A little bit ago I visited Bird Shoal Island with some family and was immediately inspired by its beauty. I feel everyday the natural beauty surrounding us is being chiseled away by the destructive nature of humans and when I visit places such as this island I feel a connection like no other. Connections like these are what I live for, and are what I am inspired by more than anything in the world. I use these connections as an inspirational conduit to create pieces such as these few here.

 "Dunes No. 3"

 "Ocean No. 3"

 "Dune Grass"

 "Driftwood No. 3"

 "Driftwood No. 2"

 "Oysters"

 "Ocean No. 2"

"Sand"

Exploring Line

Around this time last year I was taking a watercolor course, which I struggled with quite a bit in the beginning, but came to love in the end. With the freedom to do whatever our hearts desired, the professor let us explore watercolor in a way that was flexible and personal to each individual artist. So, with the 16 weeks of free exploration I found that line was my element of choice. I was drawn to the various ways and techniques that could manipulate watercolor, as well as how different they were to anything I have done before.

Here are some examples of my line obsession.

This beginning shot shows most of the line work and detail that went into the bark.

This map style composition was an experiment where I would let the color and ink bleed into each other, then I would create forms with line variation. 

 I fed off the maplike composition and created these portraits with more control of the ink and color flow.

Taking this course definitely changed my views on watercolor and opened my mind up to the endless possibilities you have when line is involved. 

Tragic Future

Collage is another style of art that lets me bring lots of layering to my works. This abstract design is a close up of tree bark. I use layers of drawings, magazines and paper to subtly add details of the unnecessary destruction of our forests, hence the name “Tragic Future.”

The materials I use include, magazine clippings, pastel, charcoal, tracing paper, lots of modge podge and fixative. For the support I used a 20” x 16” canvas. 

Piecing a collage together is much like doing a puzzle.... a more intimate, emotional puzzle that is.

 "Tragic Future"

"Detail Shots"

Bald Head: an island of inspiration

During my last semester my painting class took an informal field trip to Bald Head Island to visit the No Boundaries art colony. I had a chance to spend the day meeting wonderful artists and walking down the island shore where I did some "en plein air" painting and sketching. I was particularly drawn to this huge piece of drift wood that had the entire base of the tree trunk intact. Also, there was a point in the water where the currents met which caused a great vertical wall of clashing waves that gave me an overwhelming/indescribable feeling.
When I came home, I knew immediately that I wanted to further investigate my sketches and photos of that day to come up with a small intimate series which could describe the emotions I felt better than words.
In this series, I use watercolor pencils, ink and graphite on 9" x 12" watercolor paper.

 "Dunes"

 "Ocean"

"Driftwood"

Revisiting this series brings all sorts of ideas for new works in the future. Is there any experiences that continue to inspire you time after time? If so, please share your ideas below. I'd love to read your thoughts.

Breakthrough Under Pressure

As a recently graduated studio art major, I am more motivated than ever to explore my artistic voice. My last semester was very stressful and I am grateful for all the support my family, classmates and professors gave me. I definitely could not have done this without them.

Through trial and error I finally broke through all the fog that clouded my mind and was able to find my true focus, nature. In the beginning I had the idea to portray landscapes in a way that showed the beauty in natural objects with underlying hints of the destruction that people cause to them. When these became less than successful, I struggled to find what to do next.

While looking through my photo albums of shots of trees and other plant life it dawned on me, I need to focus on portraying the parts of nature that are appealing to me, but also as something worth preserving. My main goal is to formulate works of art that raise questions and shine light on situations that would normally be an afterthought to an everyday passerby.  I want people to look at my work, recognize the object, and then begin to unravel it in their mind. 

With all that being said, I have made a complete transformation of style and hope to continually evolve as an artist. Here are five completed pieces. I am currently working on the sixth am itching to start the seventh.