Work 1: in Progress

Beginning with this image:



I traced the image in Photoshop Elements and began to manipulate it, rotating and repeating it to create this design:



After several more repetitions of the pattern above, I repeated the process with the original photograph to include color and additional detail:



My next step is going to be a drawing of the bird in the original photo. I will also probably include another layer of designs from another photograph, and alter the width and possibly color of the lines.

The symbols within the work are:
Bird: messengers of heaven, fertility, fulfillment of wishes, good harvest
Green: renewal, freshness, hope, victory of life over death
Brown: earth
Tree: strength, renewal, creation, unity, growth, eternal life
Leaves: immortality, eternal/pure love, strength, persistence
Nets: containing of knowledge, motherhood, giving life

Doodles

Here are a couple "doodles" I did in photoshop. Sketches for modular designs, if you will.





They aren't as refined as I'd like, being done with a mouse rather than a tablet, but the gist can be seen. These took about 15-20 minutes and are from the same photograph (my personal image). By hand, they probably would take at least a few hours to get the same number of squares (4). I'm beginning to think more and more that I'll need to invest in a cheap desktop, large monitor, photoshop CS5 and Illustrator CS5, if only to help preserve my sanity.

quasi update

Sketchbook: 78-88% complete! Huzzah!

I'm working on the artists research as Word and Excel documents, so I'll get around to uploading that information either this week or this weekend.

Pieces: two modular designs 50% finished, sketches for elements of other modular designs, sketches of potential applications of the finished modulars, and a mock-up of a 3D modular work 20% finished. Photos to be added when the internet is less flaky.

To Dos

Where has the summer gone? I've finished the required museum visits, but I'm far from satisfied. I'll probably have to go to DC again this weekend or next week and get some more research in. Find some more artists to research, etc. Between the 50 artists and the full sketchbook, to say I'm having troubles would be a massive understatement. At least I figured out early on that my concept- or at least my medium- wouldn't work out. I'll probably have to set up my old computer and CS2 and fiddle around a bit, but I've been putting it off because my room gets unbearable during the day. I'd really love to be able to get into the studios at NVCC, since I tend to have 2-3 hours to kill between my morning and afternoon classes Monday and Wednesday, and I've been itching to do some printmaking. Cest la vie.

Museum Visits: Check
Works: ~1/3-5

Doubts and Musing on Concept

I suppose it's better to be having doubts now than later. I haven't been satisfied with the few pysanky I've actually produced so far, and I'm becoming daunted by the level of skill this would actually require- that I don't yet have. And then, a frightening thought occurred to me: If I don't do the pysanky, what will I do? I've been thinking about this for about a week now, and I'm starting to form some possible alternate ideas.

- modular designs (pysanky inspired- modernizing traditional designs)
- modulars and batiks (ibid)
- printed modulars (etchings + watercolor? litho? woodcut?)
- print + drawn modulars + batik
- modulars + batik + costume design*
- wax as a medium/link between mediums: ie. pysanky, batik, wax-resist painting/ceramic, lost-wax sculpture/jewelry, encaustic*
- batik + costume + ink/paint sketches*
- re-purposing materials (glass dress, etc)*

* (requires more thought on actual production and/or additional theme)

I want to work with something I feel comfortable enough in my skills to experiment without loss of quality. I've always felt strength in design, and in sewing, and I want to incorporate things I learned last semester in Costuming if possible. Batik is something I feel comfortable working with; the dying process is similar to pysanky, and I found it a fair bit easier than working with eggs. I also think that woodcuts are a potential double-tool: I can use them to produce variations of the modular designs relatively easily, and I can use woodcut blocks as stamps to create batik patterns in addition to free-hand designs. (Heck, maybe I could even try literally printing on fabric, rather than paper.)

I went to the Freer Gallery in DC today, and stumbled upon a show in the walkway between it and the Sackler Gallery. It was a collection of prints by Whistler, mainly architectural "sketches" of Amsterdam and Venice. One of the signs talked about how Whistler experimented with different types of papers, methods, etc until he was satisfied. And at this moment, I find myself thinking more and more that a little experimentation might help. I've been so focused on techniques and designs, and I've honestly wanted to chuck my sketchbook across the room in frustration. I think the pysanky concept, while potentially interesting, is not the best choice for such a relatively short period of time. It's something I'll have to work on over several years.

For now, I'm going to keep sketching, taking photos, and thinking.

Update

I've been working mostly on designs and concepts this week. I have one pattern for a modular design down, and I've been doing a fair bit of research on symbols. This particular design is comprised of a stylized grain pattern, crosses and stars, with meanders. It's just black and white for now as a design. I might do it on a brown egg, however, for more of an earthy feel- if I use it for the egg and the painting, that is. Maybe substitute dark green for the black. I'm not quite sure.

I've also been trying to think of how exactly I'm going to go about my concept. Whether it will be an egg and a painting with different designs to represent the same idea (ex. harvest vs mass-production-processed-food?), eggs and modular designs abstracted from the egg design, traditional eggs and modern designs or modern eggs and traditional designs in paintings. I'm thinking I'll probably just experiment with it, but I'm liking the first two ideas rather a lot.

I've been doing a fair bit of work for my internship in art, which is nice. I made a coloring page of a mural with permission from the copyright holder, and which took me about a week-and-a-half. [You should probably know that I loathe taking such a long time on projects. It's one of the things that's been driving me consistently crazy this summer, planning for next year.] I also learned the joys of trying to get exactly what you want from a printing service. Augh. They had to reprint twice; the first time, the image was about 8x4 (or possibly smaller- I didn't actually get to see the first printing as someone else picked it up) on 11x17 inch paper and the second time, it didn't have the title of the mural, the artist's name, or the museum's name. @_@ But I'm also working on other artsy things for the museum. Namely thaumatropes and other optical-illusion toys. Those I probably will be able to post pictures of, since they'd be my own designs rather than a derived work.

Artists 41-50

41] Brian Jungen
42] Alma Thomas
43] Pete Starkey
44] Sol Lewitt*
45] Tejo Remy
46] Charles Maurin
47] Van Gogh
48] Charles Garnier
49] Vigee LeBrun
50] Charles LeBrun

*These artists will be discussed in depth separately.

Artists 21-30

21] Jeroen Verhoeven
22] John Makepeace
23] John Storrs
24] Joseph Cornell
25] Matthew Hilton
26] Edvard Munch
27] Odilon Redon
28] Mark Shunney
29] Kristopher Grunert
30] Roy Lichtenstein
*These artists will be discussed in depth separately.

Artists 31-40

31] Alphonse Mucha
32] Jasper Johns
33] Beatrix Potter*
34] Byron Kim*
35] David Watkins*
36] Pat Steir
37] J.A.M. Whistler
38] Piet Mondrian*
39] Bridget Riley
40] Joaquin Torres Garcia

*These artists will be discussed in depth separately.

Artists 11-20

11] Francis Cotes
Cotes uses thin washes of oil in many of his works, imitating his earlier styles in pastel. He gives much attention to detail, especially in regards to costume of the model, and the folds and sheens of his painted fabric are full of life. There is a sharp contrast between the dark background and the light, airy colors of the foreground figure, drawing attention to her pale skin and her sumptuous gown. An avid sewer, I cannot help admiring the beautiful detail of the gown, such as the gathered pink busk or feathery layers of the sleeves, and the sheer overlay of white over the central pink panel of the skirt is masterfully painted.
12] Edouard Manet*
13] Frank Lloyd Wright
The house is literally built over a waterfall, and is composed of simple elements such as cantilevered concrete slabs and stacked rock walls. What inspires me about this piece is how well, despite its materials, it blends into its natural surroundings. Rather than detracting from the beauty of the area, it adds to it.
14] Frank Stella
Not only is this work modular in design, but it does not stick to a strict rectangular format, instead breaking the usual frame and becoming even more abstract. Stella combines shapes such as squares and half-arches, and although each is separated by a border, the elements all blend together through the direction of the lines within them and the repetition of color patterns.
15] Georges Braque
16] Gustave Courbet
17] Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
18] Grant Wood
19] Tim Hawkinson
20] Victor Vasarely

*These artists will be discussed in depth separately.

Artists 1-10

Ron Arad
A flexible bookcase, "Bookworm" is both functional and a work of art. The bright colors catch the eye, and the flexibility of the material enables the viewer to interact with the piece.
Antonio Testa
This micromosaic, "Panoramic View of Rome From the Janiculum Hill," from 1800-25 supposedly took Testa 20 years to complete*. I’ve always been impatient with my art, and the example of this artist’s dedication and patience to an obviously challenging work is inspiring. The message I took away from this piece was that it’s okay to slow down and take your time, and even work on multiple pieces at once- as long as you get it done in the end.
*According to the Victoria and Albert Museum: http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/57001-popup.html
Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham was an English book illustrator and he lived from 1867 to 1939. He illustrated several well-known works, such as a British version of the Grimm Fairy Tales, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol. I saw a collection of Arthur Rackham’s illustrations in the Victoria and Albert museum in London, and was drawn to his use of lines and often muted colors. I had also seen his illustration of Richard Wagner’s /The Ring/, “Rhine Maidens Warn Siegfried,” referenced in an article on water spirits, and loved the whiplash curves of the maidens’ hair and the low saturation of the piece in general. I’d explored the idea of illustration briefly at the beginning of the summer, when I viewed Rackham’s works at the V&A.

Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin worked primarily in the medium of florescent light, altering the medium to suit his ideas. Rather than crafting custom neon lights, Flavin used readily available florescents in common sizes, beginning with only straight lights, but progressing to circular and curved shapes later in his career. This particular work takes advantage of light's natural diffusion, reflecting the image in shattered material and the floor, even as the lights cast a colored glow against the wall.

5] Danny Lane
Danny Lane's glass sculptures such as "Parting of the Waves"
highlight the fluid nature of molten glass, while his furniture uses a comparatively fragile medium to challenge expectations.

6] Bjorn Wiinblad
Wiinblad designed exquisite pen patterns for porcelain pieces ranging from vases to dinner sets. His use of a single color in this series keeps the complicated line drawing from overwhelming the delicate porcelain.

7] Cicely Mary Barker
With a strong attention to detail, Barker renders the elderberry plant beautifully. The contrast between her comparatively strong outlines and the delicate wash of the leaves and backgrounds is particularly stunning, as is the juxtaposition of the dark blue-black berries against the light background.

8] Charles Robinson*
9] Charles Sheeler*
10] Caspar Wolf*

*These artists will be discussed in depth separately.

Musee d'Orsay & Louvre

The Musee d'Orsay did not allow photographs, unfortunately, as it was an absolutely stunning building, and I can't possibly hope to describe the feeling of standing next to works such as The Burial at Ornans, and realizing exactly how freaking BIG those works are! The museum is in an old train station, and it is a perfect setting for the masterpieces it contains. The sculpture galleries are lit by natural light from elaborate skylights, and the height of the ceilings was breathtaking. [Fortunately, their website catalogs nearly every work in the collection with images and where- exactly- the work is in the galleries].

I saw Le Dejeurner sur l'Herbe and Olympia by Manet [which were both marvelous; having just finished a paper about them, I was able to bore my parents with dozens of minute details], enormous oil sketches by Lautrec [which I was astounded had survived (and were at that scale), being on unprimed canvas! Eek!], gorgeous pastel works by the Symbolists, and many, many others.

And, of course, what trip to Paris is complete without a trip to the Louvre? It was utterly overwhelming: thousands of works I've studied or seen vaguely, but also way too many people! Versailles was crowded, but not to the same extent.

I probably could have spent years in the Louvre. Gerricault, Delacroix, Le Brun, Da Vinci... So many works, so little time!

Paris

One of the things I loved most about Paris was all the decorative elements on the architecture. We were staying in a lovely little apartment a short distance from the Eccole Militaire (sp?) and Invalides, and did not have to walk far to see the Eiffel Tower. I've never been particularly partial to the tower, but having seen it up close, I am far more impressed. It always looked harshly geometrical and austere in design, which is far from true! There are dozens of different patterns decorating it, which I had never been able to see.





One of my favorite buildings, however, was the Paris Opera; also known as the Opera Garnier, after its architect, Charles Garnier. With dozens of types of marble, rich red velvet, detailed mosaics, and glorious gilt plaster paneling, it was overwhelmingly beautiful. Ironically, many of the artists decorating its rooms, quite famous in their own time, have been overshadowed in history by their contemporaries: the Impressionists. Symbols of music and fire are everywhere. Music symbols would be expected, but the fire symbols were surprising. It turns out, the architect was paranoid of fire (rightfully, as there had been fires previously, and gas lighting was the norm), so salamanders and other creatures of fire are everywhere to ward it off.






And, naturally, I had to make the obligatory peek into Box 5, having just finished reading The Phantom of the Opera a month or so prior to the visit.

Versailles

I was a little surprised by Versailles, to be honest. I've done a lot of tours of historical houses and things, and it was rather bare comparatively. There were lots of decorations, and the wall-coverings, paintings, and ceilings were magnificent, but the rooms were sparsely furnished. I suppose that's because of the multitude of revolutions France had, but the audio tour was also surprising. The rooms would be covered with paintings and beautiful clocks or things, and it would talk for 2 minutes about the function of the room before directing you to move on.

I was fascinated by all of the minuscule details, such as the gilt patterns of the doors, designs on the carpets and wallpaper, and especially the clocks and other objects the often decorated the mantles. I even spotted an ostrich egg! I saw another in England at Windsor, but was unable to take a picture of it.



I also saw a stunningly modern clock. Sadly, this was about the best image I could get of it, since it was behind glass. It was from 1754, believe it or not!



However, the gardens were gorgeous. I could have spent days in the gardens alone. We didn't get to see nearly one third of the gardens, and if I ever have the chance, I am most certainly going back!

Germany 2

We spent most of our time in Germany searching for places our family came from. Small towns and smaller churches where great-grandparents^3 or ^4 were married were our main areas of exploration. The German sign guarded the entrance to the Wustrow Peninsula, which has been closed off for many years. The fencing stretched all along the peninsula, even extending a short distance into the Baltic sea.



After that rather bleary sight, it was a relief to explore the church in Rerik; the pictures also don't give a sense of how horribly cold it was. I always love all the little details you can find in churches. For example, delicate carvings on pews, or paintings on the ceilings. I also enjoy stained glass windows, though they are quite hard to get pictures of that look decent (at least with a point-and-shoot camera).

Travel Inspiration

While I travel, my best friend tends to be my camera. This trip, I had to buy a new memory card, I took so many photos (by the way, souvenir shops on the way to Musee d'Orsay- ripoff on memory cards)! I figured I'd start with Germany, since we only spent one or two days in London, and I want to keep my museum visits in separate posts.




These three images are of the mustard fields in Germany. The first is from along the road from Hamburg to Rostock, and the other two are from Rostock to Rerik and Rostock to Berlin. Having traveled by train in the US, and driven, etc, and growing up in the suburbs, such vast amounts of farmland are astonishing. Not only farmland, but primarily mustard crops. I'd never seen mustard in anything other than a jar before, and the color, even on cloudy days, took my breath away. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were often trails or green or brownish fields bordering the mustard, leading me to the idea of a bright yellow egg with green or brownish trails.

Updates

So, I'm finally back from my trip and recovered from jet lag.

Museum tally:
* Britain- Victoria and Albert, Windsor Castle (Although not an art museum, it did have an astonishing collection of art)
* France- Musee d'Orsay (couldn't take photos, but it was /amazing/!), Louvre (many, many pictures there), Versailles (again, not technically an art museum, but quite a collection of paintings)
Total: 3 art museums, 2 others

I haven't had a chance yet to put my travel sketches in my summer sketchbook, let alone scan them, as I've been working on something very special at my internship. I'm interning in the education department at the Udvar-Hazy branch of the National Air and Space Museum, and we've been trying to find ways to make it a little more art, not just science. As a result, I'm creating a coloring book page for our "Become a Pilot Day" event on the 19th. It's a copy of a mural in the museum, "Celebrating 100 Years of Powered Flight" by Dr. Robert McCall. It's very exciting, but it's keeping me very, very busy. I can't post the image or my coloring sheet, but I can link to the artist's site: http://www.mccallstudios.com His paintings, especially his futuristic landscapes and cityscapes, are absolutely stunning.

Berlin and travel to Paris

We ended up not going to any museums in Berlin yesterday. Instead, we took a double-decker bus around the city and I snapped many photos of architecture. I'll probably need to get a new memory card soon for my camera, too. We then took a sleeper train to Paris: Worst. Train. Ever. The compartment was barely wide enough to stand sideways next to the beds, which were triple-story bunks. @_@ But I survived, and I'm in Paris, and have glimpsed the Eiffel Tower for the first time. :) We also had a busker on an accordion or something on the subway; that was very cool.

I think the current plan is something like: wander around tonight, see Versailles tomorrow, possibly cycle along the Seine and visit the Louvre or Musée d'Orsay on Sunday, and whichever museum we didn't see the other day. And, naturally, there's lots of other stuff planned, but those are the most relevant to this blog.

I probably won't post too often here; this keyboard arrangement is driving me crazy. But I have my sketchbook, some pencils, a Cotman travel kit, and Paris to run around in. :D

One short actual post

There are apparently a /lot/ of mustard fields in Mecklenberg-Vorpommern (sp). I don't know if any of you have ever seen one, but they are amazing things. We drove from Hamburg to Rostock, and from there to Rerik, on the Baltic coast, in search of family roots, and saw tons of them! Great swaths of vivid yellow stretching to the horizon over rolling hills. (And I do mean /vivid/. I took pictures on cloudy days and it's only slightly less saturated than lemon-yellow-ish.) Often, the fields would be near groupings of trees or unused fields, spacing them with green. They also tended to have designs running through them where farm equipment drove through them.

There is actually a point here: often, pysanky artists would employ intricate paths to trap evil and keep it away from the person the egg was gifted to (I'll find that source soon; Mom's comp doesn't have my bookmarks, alas). SO, my thought is to use the path idea to create a more abstract (possibly non-objective?) design. The color palette would be: mustard yellow, with linear designs in dark green, and a greyish purple (observed in a tilled field).

Not an actual post D:

Just to point out that I am active. I've been taking photographs galore and sketching to keep my muse active, but I can't upload anything until I get home (forgetting cords is not fun). Anyway; updates!

Museum tally:
Victoria and Albert (London): check

While I was at the V&A, I came across something very cool: micromosaics. As the name implies, they're mosaics made with teeny-tiny pieces. They looked almost like the brushstrokes of paintings! I'll do an actual post about them later, with photos and artists, but their intricacy and the persistance required to complete them was astounding. One artist is rumored to have spent ~20 /years/ on /one/ micromosaic! Obviously I hope it won't take me 20 years to complete this project, but I hope I can put as much of myself into my work as those artists did.

Planned museums:
Something in Berlin
Louvre
Musee d'Orsay
Versailles
Tate British or Tate Modern

That's all for now! G'night all!

Trial and Error

I hate my cat sometimes. It took me about an hour trying to hollow out the duck and quail eggs. The duck eggs went fine; the quail not so much. Out of 6 attempts, I got only 2 un-cracked, hollowed eggs. So, naturally, my cat decided to tip the carton off the table to play with. C'est la guerre.

I ordered 4 pre-emptied emu eggs and some shell pieces on eBay last night. I'll probably start working on a design now, and practice on the shell pieces before trying my luck on the actual eggs. Here's hoping Dad has a dremel tool, as I forgot mine back at CNU. I should probably look into getting one of those pen-like attachments, so it's a little less bulky.

I've also been poking around the internet, and finding more books and artists to check out. My current plan of attack artist-wise is to see if there are other pysanky artists out there and what they're up to. Whether it's turning an egg into a Dalek or other contemporary design (which I've seen and loved- just need to find the link again) or using traditional designs on non-traditional eggs (like emu and ostrich eggs- waiting on a response from that artist re. use of images). I'm also going to look through other modern/contemporary artists and see if anything strikes me. A little broad, I know, but at the moment, it's what I've got.

Adventures

Well, since I'll be gone for two weeks, I decided to try starting early. Unfortunately, things never seem to go quite how I plan. I was elated that I actually knew where the Reston Whole Foods was; in the same plaza as our Michaels! I then proceeded to get lost in my own home town trying to find said plaza that I've been to hundreds of times before.

I'd seen online that Whole Foods carried ostrich and emu, and other types of eggs, so I went to price things out. MY. GOODNESS! They wanted $30 plus tax for one ostrich egg! I think I can get two for that price on eBay! At any rate, they did have a good price on large duck eggs (4/$3), and they had a small case of about 12-15 quail eggs for $6. So, I'll blow those out tomorrow and see where I go from there. The quail eggs are naturally spotted with dark brown patches, so, depending on the designs, I might have to cast them instead. We'll see. Maybe I can integrate the splotches in the design. As for the ostrich and emu eggs, I'm watching several on eBay to get a sense of the prices.

[On a totally unrelated note: thank goodness for strawberry season!]

Random ideas/ notes to self

* Check out artist who does ceramic scenes in holes in walls- Prof. Henry couldn't remember his name
* Buy various size eggs and make molds to allow reproduction- porcelain?
* Ostrich
* Emu
* Goose
* Turkey
* Chicken
* something smaller?
* Research Faberge and other egg artists -> if craft-like, how to make into more art-like

* Note: EXPLORE IDEAS TO THE FULLEST!!!

* What is my concept?
* Tradition in modern life? (ie. how does the past influence us today? how would traditional media/techniques/symbols be updated to fit nowadays?) ??

Ideas: dye eggs, carve eggs, etch eggs (emu), split egg open and create something inside?

Two posts in one night!!

I just re-discovered how I found out about pysanky in the first place: Reading Rainbow! It was the episode "Rechenka's Eggs" (1992, though I probably saw it in '95 or so).

Rechenka’s Eggs from WVPT on Vimeo.

Some intriguing tools and books

So, I was looking around on Amazon earlier and found some really nifty items. As I had yet to post on this blog, I figured it would make a nice inaugural post. I'm going to be exploring the medium of pysanky- Ukranian egg dyeing- next year (and this summer). Very basically, starting with the lightest color you apply wax where you want that color to remain, and then re-dye the egg in the next color. You keep applying wax and it resists the dye, and then after the final color is applied you melt the wax off and presto! Beautiful eggs!

Anyway, it finally occurred to me to check out Amazon for books and things. I found several books I was interested in, and some tools as well. First was an egg lathe: http://www.amazon.com/Decorating-Perfect-Easily-Creative-Project/dp/B000GQQ2XM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1272070387&sr=8-2 Amazing! Might have to invest in one (or figure out how to make my own. Note: ask Dad and/or Mr. Root about that.) Second, I stumbled upon a book titled "The Art of Decorating Eggs" by Gabriella Szutor. It was 1) still published, unlike many pysanky books, and 2) pretty darn cheap! Also seems to be a fairly good instruction book, though the preview on Amazon leaves much to be desired.

This little doodad was also interesting: http://www.amazon.com/Ring-Egg-Display-Stand-Gold-Finish/dp/B0006VWRSQ/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1272070387&sr=8-9 I'm still thinking I'm going to hang the eggs, but this is another option. One other idea was plexiglass stands: http://www.amazon.com/Egg-Display-Stand-Clear-Polished-Plexiglas/dp/B0009IOAO0/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1272070557&sr=8-30 Again, I bet I could make those.

Well, that's all for tonight, folks. Enjoy