End of Second Semester senior year

"House of Saints" Charcoal and pastel, 18 by 24

"House of Saints" detail

"August, Seven in the Morning". Twelve color lithograph.

You heard me.

"You and Me and the Devil Makes Three" Pastel and charcoal, 14 by 19. In the collection of Wilber Blair - as it should be.

"Composite Head #2" One color lithograph, second state.

My part in Aaron Berger's Map Project. Charcoal, ink, collage, pastel, an irreverent use of painting medium and polyurethane, and moth wings.

"Rob Roy Fun Time" aka "Big, Biiiiiiiggg Circle" Pastel and Ink, about 4 feet all around. I really want to be able to make a perfect circle by using the swing of my shoulder...and stabbing a knife really fast between my fingers. Been practicing both-must say I'm getting pretty good.

look closely

Look closelier....

Some seriously sweet jedi moves

Ah, the ever-elusive denatured alcohol puddle. In litho, the objective is to get the image that is on the stone best replicated onto the print. It sounds simple, but it's far from it. Although it took me a couple of years to get it, I got that puddle.

gotcha, you sneaky bastard.

UNABRIDGED

Be there or don't.

Foetoes...those bastards

From looking at this blog, you wouldn't know that I'm an analogue, zone system nerd. I've been interested in the chemistry that goes into art, thus the lithography, zone system shooting and what not. I have to develop film that I shot for Erika, sticking with 120 asa with my lovely twin lens. Anyway, my light meter decided to stop working and the damn thing is so old that finding a battery for it would mean some antiquing. Lame.

I can't wait till this whole thesis nightmare is over and I can get to everything else I want to do. Also, it's funny how art school can get in the way of making art. How does that keep happening?

things havings beens goings ons

You know you want to wear one...

Work in progress for "House of Saints", Charcoal and pastel on paper, 18 by 24.

18 by 24 monotype from "The Hanscom Sisters". bus interior.

This is the current state of the multi-color lithograph, "August, Seven in the Morning" (heaven opened up but hell came down). This is the 8th color, halfway there?

I have been making litho masks. Last semester, I made a paper mache mold of my face, flattened it out, and traced the edges onto a litho stone so they are meant to fit the face. I've made three different ones so far, about seven of each. I want to make enough of them to completely fill one of the walls of my 301 studio.

just a few from "Hide and Go Seek" series

While noticing the world around me...

There seems to be a trend going on right now with young men in the realm of figure painting, portraits of serial killers is really vogue with the fellas right now, I haven't seen anyone younger than 28 doing this, so our age bracket. This is something that I have noticed over the last couple of years, the reach of this trend, of course, has even made its way to alumni and even some of the guys in my class. The most frequently used face is Ted Bundy's and then Manson, maybe Ed Gein, never saw Gacey. I think that is because both Bundy and Manson were very sexually charged and frustrated characters, there is also a level of misogyny (too many male painters are, most with not enough balls to come out and say it, but this is the world we live in).

So I was thinking…

I recently came to terms with my work and its relation o feminism. That is to say, my interest, conceptually, is placing women in their space and suspending them from their roles as women, and showing them as humans first. This often leads to figures in indeterminate locations and making them so vague the viewer wouldn’t even realize that he is looking at a woman. Good.

So I am going to have my own rebuttal to all of this boy’s club bullshit that brings us to….

Aileen Wuornos was executed in 2002 for the murder and robberies of seven men. Why her? Glad you asked. The ‘typical’ woman serial killer kills folks she knows, in their homes or hers, and kills by ways of stabbing, poisoning, or drowning. Not Aileen, she was a hooker and began killing her Johns in cold blood and stealing their cars- killing strangers outdoors in cold blood with a gun. The movie about her came out really soon after her execution, in the scene of her first victim, and according to her testimony in court, the first killing was in self-defense. A day or two before her execution, she admitted that the first victim was not self-defense at all. The movie had already been shot at this point; the producers were just waiting for her death before releasing the picture. She wasn’t some damsel in distress gone rogue, no black widow, she didn’t even like men, she was a killer, plain and simple.

works in progress and the frustration they entail

Your comments, criticisms, and suggestions are welcomed and needed.

w.i.p. 'the hanscom sisters, first of three"

"...second of three"

"...third of three"

W.I.P. madonna and marin

jessi as a huge mess

...and the only man I've ever loved.

Don't Worry...

'Betsy'

18 by 24 inches

Monotype

I know that I have been fooling around here, but trust me, there is plenty of 'serious' stuff going on too. Here is just one, much more to follow.

I knew it

This is an elephant, clearly.

This is a schematic for an octopus, you will know now that the eight tentacles are a lie.

This is a rabbit.

This, of course, is a cat.

Where I've been this whole time

Hi there, this is my actual studio. I still need a door, as you can see, I'm using an old painting instead from my impasto phase (good times).

I get shit every now and then for not working in the 301 or just always playing close to the vest in general. However, I have been interested in keeping a practice at home since sophomore year; my conviction is that if this is honestly the path in life that one chooses, the home studio should be a no-brainer (i.e., you shouldn't put your work away at the hardie, only work in school designated areas, and then go on with your life because THIS IS YOUR LIFE!!!! Well, at least it's mine) This room is also my bedroom, you don't see the mattress because I drag it out into the hallway in the morning and lay it back down to sleep at night.

Another optical gem found, courtesy of my good friend, Elyssa.

Metal indeed.

Thanks, everybody!

Last semester, I made 27 2-inch square drawings of still lives in my apartment that I later put in my cubicle at 301 for people to take. I kept one and 23 of you took a drawing and I wanted to say thanks to all of you. It's really cool to see when someone puts one of my drawings in their studio; in Lillie's case, I see my drawing when I clean her office.

Thanks again, everybody!

An obsession for three years and counting.

Since sophomore year, I have been working on variations of the same image. This is based on a photograph that I took before I moved to New England (what was I thinking?). I won't go into the details about why this image is so important or why I feel compelled to try to answer her over and over and over again. This has been an ongoing interest that I have had. Here are some of the phases that she and I went through.

Six Color Lithograph from Sophomore year. This was the beginning, now a six color litho is child's play. Lately, I've been working on a 15 or so color litho (unrelated). This Print is, say, 16 inches high and 9 wide.

Unfinished pastel painting that I did Junior year for an independent study I had with Tim Harney. Say, 36 x 42 inches.

Monotype on glass from Junior year. 22x 30.

Monotype on zinc, also junior year, same size.

What I am working on now (bad photo), Pastel, approx. 6 x 4 feet. This will be in my thesis show in May.

One of the many, many influences.

You don't understand until you admit that you will never understand. Get it? Then you're hopeless.