A Rant on Studies

"And in the middle of the night... when I least suspect it... when I’m fast asleep, I wake up and make some more art because I haven't made any in how many hours?" -Yours Truly

Sometimes I like to think of paintings as research papers, because, after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. When writing a research paper, one must use references and do research. In school one studies a subject to learn something for a quiz or test. In art, studies help collect information for the finished piece. For a painting, I lookup what certain things look like, from either photos or, if I have a subject available, I make sketches from real life.

On the Spot Studies:

When I have an idea I usually use whatever paper I have closest to me. From doing this so much, I call it more of an itch to draw. I try carrying around a notebook and pen everywhere, but sometimes forget it and end up drawing on the back of receipts, or envelopes, or cardboard, or even napkins.

Coffee Shop Couple on receipt paper

One night I had a dream and wanted to remember it. It wasn't something I could study from life. I drew the idea over and over until I could remember every detail and those themselves became studies from memory. Although the last one was finished, I still would like to do it again to see if it can get any better.

Drawings from Memory for I Dreamed of Rampage

Studies for I Oughta Know:

In “I Oughta Know,” from Perogative at The Empty Space, I had to study apples, butterflies, and my own face and hands. The butterflies started as an image in my head. I drew the idea of a stomach with butterflies on the back of a business card of mine. Then I finger-painted my idea onto a smaller canvass one night to get an idea of the colors.

Butterfly Belly Drawing on business card

Regarding the apples, at the time I was eating lots of apples; at least once daily. I did some sketch studies of apples as I was eating them. When I plan on doing a study, I usually draw on paper that is actually made for drawing, but that doesn’t always happen.

One of my many Apple Studies

I had a couple apples as I was finishing up the painting too. Having a live subject to paint from helped make a better finished piece. I was able to see how the apple browned over time.

Apple painting next to live apple

Studies for Gir Hat Girl:

For the painting “Gir Hat Girl,” I made myself study the figure several time from a single photo. I drew her face once to think about the shadows of her face. Then I painted her several times on the big canvass I was making a composition on. After I didn’t get the effect I wanted, I sanded down the then thick canvass and painted it white to start over. After that I did five painting studies on separate surfaces. I used whatever I had that would hold the paint. One was on a piece of paste-board. The next four were on old canvasses I had. These studies were for a quiz I made for myself: the final painting. I didn’t get it quite right on my quiz that I timed myself on, so I took a short break and painted it some more the next day. The studies sure helped.

Painting Studies before finished painting

General Studies and Improvising:

General studies can help an artist make a visual vocabulary and help technical skill. The way I drew apples over and over again to get a few good ones, drawing other things, “studying” other things, can build up a visual vocabulary to make more complex compositions. When exercising, you don't just do one pushup and say you're done doing pushups for the rest of your life (not if you want to stay fit anyway). In the same way an artist needs to make lots of "studies," ie drawings, sketches, and practice paintings before making the actual thing.

I find it best to get out the idea when it is first thought of, so its best to always keep art supplies around, even its cheap paper and crayons. When I want to make large drawings I put together lots of regular pieces of paper with tape on a wall and just draw things out.

Drawing on collage paper on door

When exercising, you don't just do one pushup and say you're done doing pushups for the rest of your life (not if you want to stay fit anyway). In the same way an artist needs to make lots of "studies," ie drawings, sketches, and practice paintings before making the actual thing. General studies can help an artist make a visual vocabulary and help technical skill. The way I drew apples over and over again to get a few good ones, drawing other things, “studying” other things, can build up a visual vocabulary to make more complex compositions. 

One might say general studies, say on anatomy or architecture, are what drawing classes are for, but that’s not always necessary. All you need is a subject. Subjects can be found sitting in a bar, or at family functions, or in your own home. Or if that doesn’t work there are books with pictures to draw from. The great thing about owning books is that you can write, or in my case, draw in them.

(left) sketch, (right) photo

Let’s not forget magazines and the internet are also usable sources for art studies. There is plenty in the big world to make studies from. Studies can be beautiful, ugly, playful, frustrating, informative, therapeutic, or stressful. Studies can end up being a complete work in itself. Studies can be thrown away once the project they are for is completed. No pressure, OR  YES PRESSURE. Anyone can do it. The materials used in studies don’t matter, the act of studying and LEARNING from those studies is what matters. It’s the people who do studies over and over and over and over and make a great finished piece based on that who are the ones that create something worth all the effort.

Form Follows Function: A Revision

"Bad easel, go sit in the corner!" -yours truly

After some intense painting, the base of the spider easel failed me. So, yet again, I had to fix the problem. This time there was no messing around; no thinking about extravagant fantasies of how it could look pretty; no speculation on what might work for the precise functions I need my easel to do.

The problem with the base was that it was too narrow to steadily hold the upper half straight. In a frustration during a late night painting session, I kicked the front base off and used my old easel the rest of the night.

I searched through my supplies to see if I had any extra wood to use. There was one unmade canvass stretcher. For a moment I thought of taking the stretcher apart and fiddling with it to make something pretty, yet functional; however, being behind on my painting schedule already, I hammered that onto the base fit to the front.

New Front Base of Easel

Then I took the wood that was the base of the front, the same piece I had kicked off in frustration, and attached that, along with the original base for the back, to the back leg. This was also to remedy the structural problem.

New Back Base of Easel

Back in the beginning of my intense painting session, before the base failed me, I tried using the tilted head to hold my largest canvass, but it was unstable. Although the original intent in keeping the face was to give it some attitude, I need this to be functional. So another amendment I made was to straighten out the spider face to make it able to hold larger canvasses. This is reinforced with a spare screw from the hinge kit I purchased. I also fixed one of the fangs that I thought might easily fall off.

Spider face revision

I am now out of nails and only have a few spare screws left. If this creation happens to need any more repairs, I just may send it to a nice farm and start again.

Revised Spider Easel

Today I used it to hold my largest canvass and so far it worked. After I decided I'd keep these amendments, I painted the new wood but kept some small things as reminders, like the word "CROOKED" in pencil on the back (when it is no longer crooked) and unpainted holes around the new screws, of the long, long process.

Crooked note on back of easel

Of course, new paint drips will happen periodically from projects, but that will happen as I paint more.

It was a chair. It was a spider. It was crooked. It was a faulty easel. It is fixed, for now.

PS. Don't forget to wear protective gloves.

Up-Cycling With What I Got

First all the wire holding the midsection together had to be unraveled. I squashed that into the shape of a brain, just for fun. Then I unscrewed everything and pulled all the nails apart. (NOT FOR BEGINNERS, WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES). Measurements were taken for how tall it needed to be to accommodate my largest canvass. It had to be close to the height of the easel I already had so it would fit in my studio.
 First all the wire holding the midsection together had to be unraveled. I squashed that into the shape of a brain, just for fun. Then I unscrewed everything and pulled all the nails apart. (NOT FOR BEGINNERS, WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES). Measurements were taken for how tall it needed to be to accommodate my largest canvass. It had to be close to the height of the easel I already had so it would fit in my studio. 
For a long time I wanted a good sturdy easel to paint on. The ones at the craft store were very expensive and none looked the right size. I bought a cheap "display" one and used it for years, but it wasn't sturdy enough for larger canvasses. As I met more artists over the years I saw their easels. Some had the expensive ones. Some got theirs from a friend but didn't know where it originated. In studios in college there were what appeared to be custom ones. This month I decided to build one myself. I already had previous woodworking experience; all i would need is new materials and a plan. 
I brainstormed based on what I saw in person and what photos I could find online. Back in August I built a spider, out of a bar stool I made, for the Chair Project. Once the exhibit was over, the spider came home with me and lived in my garage for a few months. Even though the idea of the spider was to be non-threatening, it looked scary in the dark garage. It was also taking up some space I park my car in. Looking at my wallet and then at the spider, I decided to disassemble the spider and re-use everything. This is called "up-cycling," the reuse of the whole object, that had one use, to make new and better things. In re-cycling useful parts are taken from objects and the rest of the object is thrown away. SAVE THE TREES!

                             

Spider to Easel

The pieces of wood were nowhere near the height I wanted, so I improvised. I put the taller pieces together and fasened them in place with another piece of wood that was then nailed and screwed on. After that, I checked my plans to see how tall the back leg had to be. This was also determined by how much wood I had left. I built a base with the extra wood.  Next I made the canvass holder. This one is sturdy enough for larger canvasses. I nailed some pieces together and drill holes for the cap screw. The way I built it, the canvass holder is adjustable to accommodate bigger or smaller canvasses. 
The only part of the spider I kept was the face. I wanted it to be a reminder of what it once was. A few days later, I bought a hinge, and other pieces I didn't already have in the spider. I put the hinge on aligned to the front and back parts but when it stood up, the whole thing was crooked to one side. I tried to pull apart the faulty base but it cut me. I imagined the spider biting my hand. It didn't want to change. ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES! By then, I was out of patience and called it a night. 
The next day I took apart the base and checked the tall pieces for alignment. I drew right angles to the edge of the wood, and it turned out the bottom of the tall piece was crooked, not the base. A newly aligned base fixed that and it was complete. It wasn't the easiest of projects. It took several days of work. This was possibly longer that it would have taken if I had used new pieces of wood, but up-cycling is green for the environment. This lumber has gone through another conversion. It seems more useful to my needs, for now.

Spider Easel

The best part is that it fits in my car so I can take it places as long as it doesn't bite me again.

The Little Things

Breaking the Illusion

 I am not quite sure how a blog works. I could go all out in gramatical correctness, because I payed attention in English class, but seeing as it is late and I told myself i would write soemthing anything today, I'll just blab along in something that sounds like english (for now).

I was thinking all day about how I wanted to write a blog about my giant paintings i have been working on or my woodworking projects, but I decided instead to write about something else, tonight at least.

I had always wanted to paint as much as i could as large as i could. That transfered into other art genres I have been working in. Lately, I have been thinking about little things.

Since high school english class when we learned about poetry, haiku's specifically, I have been writing poems here and there. My poems are just a haiku's put together by a common subject.

One day in the CSUB painting studio, I was helping a fellow student with her canvass. She asked what it was made of. "It's just string," I replied. String by itself can be easily torn or ripped or broken. When string is woven together is is stronger and can do great things. In the same way, my haiku poems are just little things put together to makeup something stronger.

Baby Hamster doll next to spool of string

I have been making small dolls that go with paintings i have been creating lately. They are made of what was socks which was just string which was just whatever was used to make the string. So essentally these dolls are just really strong string.

The little things are important. They makeup the whole big world; whatever that is.

Goodnight, cyberspace.