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!