Sig Ep Teasers: Tarin

Today was perfect.

:)

Weather Patterns

So. A year ago, if you had asked me what I do, I would have said that I was a photographer. If you asked me today, I would say that I am primarily a photographer.

A camera is a machine. I look. I see. I frame. I capture. Paintings use the whole body. More than my eyes and my brain and one finger. You use your whole arm, you can be aggressive or gentle, you can express a mood with a single brush stroke or by varying your impasto. You can eliminate and add content at whim. You can layer, and layer and layer until you are pleased; simplify down to basic shapes, or work in elaborate detail. Paintings require more work, more consideration, more awareness of color and feeling. When I paint, I feel alive.

When I work with a camera I can make things look perfect, every blade of grass is represented exactly how it was when I pressed the shutter. There has been a long and brutal competition between photo and painting. The idea that an academic painting was praised for being like "looking out a window," and that photography was in fact, a window was a part of many reasons why stylistic movements started shying away from photo-realism.

And after so long of making exact renderings with my camera I was very hesitant to draw and paint because I felt whatever I made wouldn't be "good" enough. Wouldn't be exact enough, and that would be frustrating. This year I realized that I should embrace the paint for what it is, a form of free expression. It's opened up a ton of doors for me and not only have I improved my basic drawing skills but I have begun exploring many loose styles of painting to see what I like most. It's a nice break from photo but also informs my art in all other areas, from drawing to sculpture. I learn by seeing, by creating, by doing.


Detail of the wing.

Propped on an easel in studio. Please note that there are two separate panels that ideally will be hung an inch apart, creating a crop in the midsection area. It's kind of bowed in the picture because they are resting on top of one another.

Detail of the end of wing and tail.

Detail of eye and head.

This bird is for my Exploring the Series class that I'm taking under Ron Janowich. It's part of a series called Weather Patterns I'm making that I'll post the artist statement to in a later post. For now, just know I'm interested in repetition of mark, the iconography of nests, and the migratory patterns of birds. Feedback is much appreciated!

Sig Ep teasers: Louise

Spring has sprung. For real. Last Thursday I walked outside to see hundreds and hundreds of birds skimming from tree to tree, all of them singing in a righteous chorus that would put KISS to shame. Talkin bout some *loud* birds. They were still at it when I got home from class at 6:30. It was the first warm day in a really long time. Warm enough to warrant a beach day on the weekend, which I definitely indulged in with some island rats. It was Richard's birthday! (Happy birthday Meester Reechard!) We celebrated by burying each other chest deep in the 2 story high mounds of sand that the construction workers are using to re-scape the beach (which has been constantly eroding.) We also rolled down them, skim/sledded down them and jumped out as far as we could from the top of them. I was terrified when my lion ran at the edge at full speed and disappeared off the top into the abyss. (Remember when Aladdin just casually strutted off the balcony because he knew he had a flying carpet but Jasmine was like WTF!? That was me.) When it was my turn I turned on my inner rebel and turned off my fear of heights and soared off the edge!!! A measly two feet hahaha... but after finding that the landing was soft and poofed up like powdered sugar I stopped being afraid and just leaped and laughed the afternoon away.

I've been so busy working on my paintings and large format series for school that somehow a month slipped by without me even noticing that I haven't updated lately. I have a lot to show you and a lot to talk about! (Adventures happen every day!) Although I am tempted to do a massive upload tonight I think I'll space them out over the next week, so be sure to check back!



Now world, meet Louise! Hello Louise! :)





I shot one of the features for Sig Ep's annual magazine this afternoon. This will be my 4th consecutive year photographing their cover. Last year they added a feature about leading women in Greek life and Louise is one of two nominated for 2011. I've gotta tell you, it's not a surprise. She is as down to earth as can be and has a really positive attitude. Florida native, tomboy-jock we started out near Hogtown creek and moved into downtown for variety. All time favorite part of the day was finding the little pink leaves that look like dragonfly wings. When you throw them up in the air they spin down like helicopters. When I was a kid growing up I use to walk around my neighborhood picking up as many as I could and putting them in a shoe box. Then I'd go back to my room and throw ALL of them in the air at the same time. It made me feel like I was dancing in snow... Magic! Andrew and Kevin (two very nice and very muscle-y frat brothers) scourged up a few large handfuls of these at my requests. We tried to take a snap of Louise amid the pink helicopters but they blew backwards with a sudden gust of wind and we didn't have the heart or time to try it twice.

Other favorite moments of today. Posing this gorgeous girl near a dumpster that definitely smelled like pee. I'm not perverted! I actually didn't enjoy the overpowering odor... what I did appreciate was the fact we did it anyways and bust a gut over it. Some of the qualities I most respect in a person are tenacity, sincerity and compassion. I loved working with Louise today because she is all of those things. She's not afraid to get her feet wet, (literally, in the Creek.). She was down for whatever we needed to do to get the shot. Her favorite quote is "Live like there's no tomorrow" and I think today, we did!