Take Chances. Collaborate.

Beats and Pieces Art Show!

2010-10-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 14th I got an invitation from my good friend Yumi to attend and art show, who then mentioned to me that they were still looking for artists, I sent off an email that morning, and by that afternoon i was a part of the Beats and Pieces 3rd Art Show on October 18th!

http://harbdesigns.com/bnp/

Four days later I was setting up my Robot friends at the Century Night Club, meeting other local artists like Ben Pearson (a soapstone artist), meeting other people interested in art, listening to DJs, live bands, and solo artists, and then i got taped (LIVE) for RJZTV's Live Video Stream website (minute 35):

http://rjztv.com/art/

It was a whirlwind of an art show and it was so very exciting! It was even overheard that my paintings "looked very professional." It was such an excellent experience and so many of my wonderful friends were able to make it out on a Monday night! I really appreciated it and it inspired me...look for some new Robot paintings soon :) I'm thinking a Martin Robot needs to be made very soon...

As a result of this art show I have been contacted recently and two Robots have found new homes:

Big Ben-- http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qVuB9pyhx8s/S94nKnv6cJI/AAAAAAAAAQA/igG2tFP8O5k/s1600/BigBen.jpeg

Bigger Ben-- http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qVuB9pyhx8s/S94lm6NEuQI/AAAAAAAAAPo/d8LFQ4FDyhE/s1600/BiggerBen.jpeg

Painting in Nelson, B.C.

2010-10-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

This summer I had the opportunity to visit Nelson, B.C. for the very first time. It is an amazing place where you look out from your house and see a forest of trees rather than a forest of concrete, where you can smell an earthy damp after it rains and where you can go to a thrift store with an armful of items and be charged only $3.00.

Dad. I worked on two paintings there, one on my father who always has his arms wide for a hug. A hug is the "Gittins Greeting" as I was always told from a young age. The result? I love hugs!

Marnie. The second painting was of my new friend Marnie, who always has as carefree ponytail, who is always ready to dance (see brother Andrew: Dancing Andrew below), and who is an artist herself...a artist of Bears!

To Be Wedded Robots Robyn and Will

2010-07-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

This is Robyn and Will.

They're getting married,
They're a good pair and a
Good match
and happy
to be together.

They make me happy too
seeing them together, too.

Acrylic and Pen
8" x 10"
Gifted in a Silver Frame

Meet Dancing Andrew

2010-05-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Dancing Andrew enjoys dancing.

A lot.

He especially loves

Dancing
with his

Music Speaker.

Who loves to dance
with him

Too.

I made two Dancing Andrews and i am wondering what your opinion is.

SmDancingAndrew is 4"x6" and has less texture and a color scheme of orange, yellow, and purple.

TallDancingAndrew is 11" x 14" and has more texture to the background and Andrew himself and a color scheme of red, green, and purple.

Which Dancing Andrew do you prefer and why?

One World Art Show: Robots Galore!

2010-05-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

My first Art Show on May 1st, 2010: One World Art Show Fundraiser for Haiti at Science World.

I was in the Eurika Room on the second floor, and I stole the best lighted spot!

I also decided that I would donate a door prize to the art show. I based this painting on images from the events I attended during the olympics. I wanted to create something that represented the Vancouver Olympics without having plainly the olympic rings or just being blatantly "Canadian" or "Vancouver."

A lot of the events I attended were at night and the crowds that were surging down the streets were amazing to be a part of because the feeling in the air was excited and good, rather than annoying and destructive.

There was a man with a maple leaf shaved out of his hair; there was the city scape as you walked over the Burrard Street Bridge; there were the hundreds of people that filled the streets.

This Art Show was a fantastic experience and I was able to meet a lot of new people (getting some networking done), sell a few cards, and I was fortunate enough to sit next to and observe an incredible art salesperson (eavesdropping). Anyway, the part you all have been waiting for:

The Robots that I have available:

"Alice" Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 8" x 6"

"Big Denis"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 16" x 20"

"Dancing Ben"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 8" x 6"

"Drexel"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 6" x 4"

"Denis"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 8" x 6"

"Bigger Ben"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas 14" x 11"

"Beth"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas
Board, 8" x 6"

"Big Ben"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas 14" x 11"

"Big Alice"

Acrylic, Flower Collage, and Pen on Canvas 14" x 11"

The paintings "Alice and Denis" and "Richard" (below) are also available as Cards!

"Alice and Denis"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 12" x 10"

"Richard"
Acrylic and Pen on Canvas Board, 6" x 4"

Robots

2010-04-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

I thought that I would try to draw some Robots, and I had an art show with a deadline. I found myself completely stuck.

I would look at images of all sorts of machines, appliances, anything that is metal, and still I couldn't be inspired.

Then I started basing the robots and people I knew, and things really started to come together. Just goes to show to stick who you know. Artwork is so much better when it relates personally to the artist.

eN in new Process

2009-11-23T11:00:00.001-08:00

After trying out a new process with the Process Paintings, I decided to try a different process with the even Numbers series. Again, because I am so focused on what the end-result will look like, I had to create a process in which I was only a minor contributor. The ironic part of taking this process painting approach to my even Numbers series is that this series focuses on the fact that I am obsessive compulsive about the evenness of numbers.

PROCESS:
1. I "drew" the even Number figures in a paint-resisting medium onto a piece of hardboard
2. I put the hardboard on tarp, and then I pooled paint by pouring it onto the board
3. Left the paint to dry
4. Pulled away the paint-resisting medium to reveal an even Number figure.

Materials:
Hardboard - 25" x 25"
House Paint
Paint-Resisting Medium

Process Art

2009-11-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

While at UVIC one of the main focuses of exploration and preference that the school encouraged was Process Art: when a piece is created the process of creating that work is more important than the ultimate end-result. I, on the other hand, require of my own work that the end-result be just as important as the process of creating the work.

In order for me to be interested in the end-result of a process-painting I decided to create a piece that I had little control over the end-result, because if I was standing in front of a canvas painting a picture the piece would become about the end-result of the picture rather than the process of getting to the final ending piece.

PROCESS:
1. Take two pieces of hardboard and put one on the ground. Take the other hardboard piece and cover it with paint mixed with a thickening medium and suspend it above the first hardboard.
2. Over 5 hours I would videotape the paint dripping from the suspended hardboard onto the hardboard piece laying on the ground.
3. Let the paint dry in the way and it has fallen on the bottom hardboard piece and let it settle into its own creation. Also, leave the suspended hardboard piece in place until it is dry as well and let the paint dry while under the influence of "extreme" gravity.
4. When both pieces are dry, mount them on the wall next to one another and play the video of the process overtop of it including the sounds of the paint falling and landing on the bottom hardboard piece.

Through this process I was able to look at the process, specifically through the video of watching the paint fall and the sound of the paint hitting the hardboard. I had to learn to let go of the control I require when creating an art piece in order to look at the importance of the process of creation.

Materials:
House Paint
Thickening Medium (various)
Hardboard - 25" x 25"

Sculpture: Videogames and Superheroes

2009-11-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Growing up in the 80s, having four brothers, and being there when the original NES made its debut, I loved playing Mario Brothers and watching X-Men, Spiderman, all of those Superheros. Who does not remember obsessing over winning at Mario Brothers, the original game or thinking how COOL it would be to fly and have super-strength like Rogue (although the not touching other people would be a bummer). For me, because I was not allowed out of the house much on account of my protective parents, I became enveloped by the Mario and other Superhero characters and I began to draw.

Through out high school I stuck to painting with nothing but paints and drawing on paper with pencils. When I started in college I took a sculpture class which opened my eyes to the potential mixed media and sculptural elements can bring to a simple painting or drawing. The use of a medium other than regular acrylic or oil paint or something that is not traditionally used to draw on a piece of paper can convey your idea to your viewer in a different and even surprising manner. The ability to surprise and to intrigue your viewer with a combination of mediums they have not seen before is something as an artist I strive towards.

"My Childhood Through A Television Screen"
This series of "drawings" as I called them because it was for a drawing class, are scenes I remember strongly from my childhood. Each "drawing" to the series contains a traditional Super Mario backdrop of black or blue, the completely regular and never-changing brick inch below your character, the goombas, the dark green hills and light green shrubbery, the strangely flat-bottomed white clouds...I could go on...with a pixelated Super Mario Brothers style version of a main character from one of the many cartoons I used to watch.

PROCESS:
1. Take a look back at the Super Mario Brothers game and look at the backdrops
2. Take a look back at what exactly the main characters from my childhood cartoons actually looked like
3. Take construction paper, cut it into small squares and make the main characters, using as little pen-line as possible to convey the "square" style of the original Super Mario game

Materials:
1. 9 Hardboard squares - 25" x 25" each
2. Construction Paper
3. Hot Glue Gun
4. Black Sharpie

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Superheroes"

In high school, of course I continued to watch X-Men and Spiderman (the 1996 cartoons) until they were no longer aired and I appreciated the superhero style of the cartoon opposed to the, for example, Archie style of cartoon because well, the superheros were so much cooler than Betty and Veronica. Who DOESN'T want to fly? To have super-strength? To control the weather (and fly)? I think that it was more the idea that the superhero characters were strong and capable on their own, and they weren't fawning over some scrawny red-head who couldn't make him his mind. Seriously ladies, your time is worth more than that...I hope.

"Effortlessness"

This piece I wanted to convey a sense of subconsciousness where the main character is not fully aware of herself or her surroundings. She is drawn to something which is why she is floating onwards and upwards and while she is in tune with nature (waterfall backdrop) she is comfortable in letting nature be as it should be.

"Energy/Power"

This piece is more aggressive than the other one in that the main character is facing you and looking at you directly. This woman has taken to controling nature and the elements which surround her because she demands nature's use and is given it because she is, as well, in tune with nature.

PROCESS:
I wanted to draw a super hero, but I did not want to just have a pretty picture that you can put up on the wall. One thing I really enjoy about sculpture is the 3-d element to it. So how do you make a drawing 3-d? You make a backdrop (trying out new painting techniques and experimenting with airbrushing) which can be suspended from the ceiling, then you draw the superhero, color it and outline it with Indian ink (which makes you light-headed if you do not do it in a ventilated area) cut it out, buy a piece of glass that is as large as the backdrop, glue the superhero to the glass and then suspend the glass from the ceiling as well with a 1.5-2 feet space in-between the backdrop and the glass to give the piece a play on light, shadow, and spacial depth.

Materials:
Illustration Board - 20" x 32"
Glass Pane - 20" x 32"
Paint/Airbrush
Indian Ink
Pencil Crayons

Abstraction is a way to take an idea and deconstruct it into its very basic elements and to find a physical way to portray these elements of ideas.

2009-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

"Putting On Your Face"

This piece focuses on the idea of Waste in Beauty. The amount of money and time that women put into "fixing" their appearance is incredible! Growing up I have always been given large volumes of concealer, make-up kits, nail polishes, bath beads, soaps, lotions, scented anything and everything you could possibly imagine because I am the "girl" in the family. I also fell into the trap myself, thinking that I needed large volumes of concealer to "cover up" my face because obviously I needed it, that is what all the girls use, that is what all the commercials tell me I need.

PROCESS: I decided to take all of this rubbish that I did not use because
1. I did not know how to use it
2. I was too lazy and did not want to use it
3. I had received so much of one particular item I had an overabundance of it,
and I decided to create an abstract piece using these "beauty aids" (sounds like band-aids doesn't it?) as materials for painting. In essence, instead of being a woman who "paints" and "makes-up" her face, I am "painting" and "making-up" an abstract piece. Needless to say, woman's products are ridiculously perfumed and the piece smelled strongly toxic, fake, slightly chemicaly, and chalky.

Materials Used:
Stonehenge Paper
Bath Beads
Nail Polish
Nail Polish Bottles (broken glass)
Eye Shadow
Perfume
Netting to hold Soaps

"even Numbers"

This piece entitled "Obsession" initiated the start of my delve into my own mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I knew for myself already that I had a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency towards even numbers in that (for example) if I were eating candies, I would have to have an even number of candies so that if I eat one candy on the left side of my mouth, I obviously must eat one candy on the right side of my mouth. Same goes for eating sandwiches in that if I took a bite of my sandwich I would chew that bite on the left side of my mouth, and with the next bite I would chew on the right side of my mouth. It just makes everything even.

In any case, I had started doodling detailed and repetative non-representational line drawings in the margins of my note-paper for other classes. I took a look at them and noticed something that really I had known subconsciously already: They were representative of various even numbers. So I took my doodles and took them to am obsessive level:

PROCESS:
1. I took one of my doodles and painted one of them in the middle of my paper
2. I did not like how there was only one of them, it bothered me, so overtop of the one large even number representation I drew three more: equaling four.
3. Then I took oil pastel, lay down, and drew the even number representation in even-numbered rows, and even-numbered columns, each containing an even number of the doodle.

I think that by doing this project I became a little more obsessive-compulsive in my even-number tendencies, but at least now I am aware of it right?

The image to the right shows the even number representation of the number "two" because the main branch of the swirl counts as the "one" and the curl at the top counts as the "two."

Materials:
Stonehenge Paper
Indian Ink
Acrylic Paint
Oil Pastel