Art Star.

"I got a dealer in Tokyo
  I got a rep in Paris
  I got a agent in Cologne
  Shit, I got a gallery in New York!"

So here it's been how many weeks now and I haven't even posted any of my own work yet. I thought I would share a few pictures of what it was I had interviewed at the gallery with. And I just uploaded these in a random order on accident so. Not everything I brought in is pictured and not everything pictured are pieces I brought in.

"God Is An Indian Giver". Pen and ink.

 I did bring this one. For those of you unfamiliar for the term "Indian Giver", it means somebody who gives a gift and then takes it back. I have no idea what the origin of the phrase is but I remember using it a lot as a kid. I drew this after a classmate of mine died in 2009. His mother had also lost her daughter years ago and I was immediately struck with the thought "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away". 

Acrylic.

I did this in 2009 and referenced pictures from a photo shoot I did of my boyfriend. I didn't bring in this piece but I brought in the original pictures from the shoot. I never necessarily finished this one. There was detailing on the ear I wanted to do and I wanted to clean up all the chalky marks that got left on it. So many plans, so little time.

Pencil. 

I drew this in 2008. He's a fictional character and I honestly couldn't tell you the inspiration. 2008 was a rough year so perhaps that's what I was channeling. I also didn't bring this one in because I can't find it anywhere. He grew legs and ran off.

Charcoal.

This is one of the more recent pieces I have. I either did this in late 2009 or early 2010, I can't remember which. I did bring this in.

"Oh the Places You'll Go"

Pencil. Very large format.

This was in 2009 I believe. We had a self-portrait assignment in art and I decided to draw a world map over the top of myself. I placed a push-pin and flag on Ireland, a country I dream about someday visiting. The flag on Italy was arbitrary because I felt like only one flag was awkward. But after drawing two I thought it was even more awkward. Oh well!

"Of All the Wild Beasts of Land or Sea, the Wildest is Woman".

Pencil.

This was December 2010. She's not finished in this picture so the face and hair hadn't been completed yet. I didn't bring this one in but it's recent so I thought I should include it.

Charcoal. 

2008. This was done during a figure drawing class I took at Academy of Art in the summer of 2008. It is definitely one of my favorite mediums and figure drawing is right up my alley. You get used to the naked models in about .05 seconds (or at least I did). I recommend figure drawing to anybody looking to improve their basic drawing skills. If nudity is uncomfortable for you, you can find clothed figure drawing classes as well. I did bring this in.

Pencil.

2008. I have a thing for hands and trees. 90% of what I draw includes either trees, hands, or both. In this case, both. In real life this picture is much more gray but in order for all the details to be visible, I had to darken it a bit on the computer.

Watercolor.

2011. I'm still very new to watercolor. If I'm being honest, paint freaks me out. And when I do paint I stick to black and white/monochromatic color. There's a blurred picture of me on my cell phone and I wanted to see how it would look on paper. This is really more of a sketch and would need a lot more work to be considered anything but. But I dunno, I like it. I did bring this in to the gallery on a last minute impulse and he actually ended up liking it. I might try to do more like this in the future. It appeals to my surrealistic self.

Charcoal.

2008. This is from the same figure drawing class. I do not know WHY it is upside down. I tried a few times to fix it but no luck. Oh well, a hand upside down is still a hand. I did bring this in, and this is one of my favorite pieces to date. See? A hand. 

Charcoal.

2008. Another from figure drawing. I didn't bring this in because it's very large format and traveling with charcoal is a pain in the tuchus. Plus it's already mounted and it was raining that day and the list goes on and on. But this particular guy was hilarious. He was the only model who brought props. He had gladiator armor and weapons and helmets and a leather skirt which was my personal favorite. In between the longer poses the models get breaks to stretch their legs and this guy liked to walk around and see the work the students were doing. So he threw on a backless apron of all things (typically the models would wear robes or sweats and a sweatshirt during break). I realize he was sitting naked in front of me for 2 hours, but for some reason partial nudity of the bare-ass sort is so much funnier than full frontal. Anyway, I chose to do an exaggerated portrait of him because I didn't want to draw his costumes and because his face needed to be chronicled.

Anyway, those are all the pictures I currently have. But as I begin to do more work more frequently, I'll post pictures. I'm thinking of doing pictures of works in progress too because I always love seeing other people's pieces before they're finished. 

One of the aspects of my work that I'm self conscious about is the fact that I don't seem to have one particular style or vision. In my mind, anyway. Especially when I go into a gallery and I see 4 pieces someone has done that are all different but they are obviously all done by the same artist and all follow the same theme. I get it, obviously you want to show cohesive pictures so that viewers and prospective buyers can get a good idea of your work and who you are as an artist. That's the very reason I want to wait until March to show anything. But still, it's intimidating. I know I'm still young and have plenty of time to fall into my niche but I've always lived with a sense of urgency. Somewhere in the white noise of my life there has always been a ticking clock. And it's no different here. Now that I've gotten the ball rolling on pursuing art (and it is rolling, let me just tell you), I've felt even more rushed to hurry up and settle into my style. And I haven't even been trained yet! I'm not sure if I've said this already on the blog, but I'm changing my major to Fine Arts (currently it's Communication Studies) and I could not be more excited. But I'm nervous and worried that I'll enter the program and meet all these amazing individuals who have clearly already found their voice. So for anybody else out there who feels these insecurities, whether it's in art or education or work, here is what we all have to remember: patience. Be patient with yourself. In every second of every day we must be patient with our process. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are human beings. We are going to be growing and changing until the day we die and all we can do is enjoy the ride. So here's to the ride!