Recent Work

I don't often share this image, for I think it's a little bit teenage angst. But it's fitting enough for this week.

I wanted to put in a detail in here so you can see my style better. This is done in Ball point pen as with most my black and whites. I just wish I could find a company that made ball point pens with a more colorfast and archival ink. I like pencil, but maintaining the sharpness and keeping it from smearing takes too much effort for me. I'm not a careful person and I -even when trying my hardest always wind up smearing the graphite and getting the paper dirty.

What I've been up to

I want to apologize to everyone, I have been slacking on the posts of late. Reason being, I have been trying to work out the final details of a lecture about my work. Well I just gave the speech this morning and I think it went pretty well. It happened in Dundalk, Maryland, my hometown, on the Campus of Baltimore County Community College. This also means I'm on a mini vacation back east. So I will keep the text brief and post a bunch of pics instead. After the talk, they had me go outside and judge an art show put on by some of their students, during the "Green" festival they were having.

Studio shots

I wanted to show you all my studio. It's not much, just a 36 inch card table piled with crap. I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment with my husband and our kitty, so there is not much room for anything. Living in Southern California also means a lot of dust. We have a nice patio, but painting out there means getting yellow dust permanantly set into your canvas. That's why I have been working small, and in gouache. As a paint it dries immediately.

I also thought this would be an interesting way to show you my creative process. I very easily get impatient and I do not like waiting. There are a lot of times where you have to wait, mostly for things to dry or set. While I'm waiting I like to keep my hands moving, so I move on to another project. Even with a clean table it quickly evolves into this mess. I tend to get into these very agressively creative mindsets where I have fifty ideas and I want to work on all of them. I don't want to take a break, not even for the bathroom, I really don't want to interrupt this creative "mood." The waiting, to me, could do that. So I maintain the mindset by keeping it working. And bam, my desk explodes with art supplies.

If you look at the picture you can see a sculpey mockette I've shown before. I just painted it and poured gel medium around it. I'm hoping the gell will dry and look like water, or rather, look like glass trying to look like water. I will be showing it to an engineer tomorrow to get some ideas for construction of these sculptures. Should be interesting. I'll let you all know how that goes.

Tattoo Girl

A friend is thinking about doing a line of T-Shirts for Tattoo lovers. For the logo and main design she wanter a pin-up style girl nude with tattoos all over. The sketches here show what I came up with for the visual. I read somewhere that guys and gals approach tattoos differently: women tend to get tattoos that flaunt, accentuate, or compliment their bodies, where as men get them for the purpose of comradorie, because they look cool (or so the wearer will look cool), in a place where they can easily be shown off. My aesthetic would be the first one, personally. But the friend who initiate this project wanted a little bit of both. I must say, it was difficult for me, I was gritting my teeth at some points.

Whenever working for someone else, you have to imagine your hand as an extention of their mind. You aren't creating for you, you are creating for them. A lot of artists do not like the thought of creating something you don't like, and admittedly it takes a lot of patience and restraint. But once you get it right and that person sees the finished product it makes all the labor worth it. Besides work like this is always a challenge and puts your skills to the test. Clients do not understand that you only do this kind or that kind of art. They think you are good at everything because you are an artist. And you can't explain that. So you are in the position of trying to make the client happy by doing things you are the best at and don't always do. Which is good for you.

Recylced/Eco-friendly Sculpture Project

I have some more pics to share with you. These are photos of some sketches to add into the pile for this sculpture/installation proposal that I'm working on with the Baltimore Medical System. (Check back to earlier posts to see other concepts for this project.) This first drawing is another visual of a lichen-esque design. I imagine it being installed in an atrium or large lobby area with lots of natural light. The pieces could be mounted on the walls. The skeleton would be metal or plastic, and the filler material could be fabric, acrylic, glass, or something else that would be transparent. If you had fabric you could dye them different colors, and when the sun shone through them it would cast those colors (or combinations) all over the lobby.

The hardest thing about this is that it is such an open ended project, and that I have no visual as to what the location looks like. (For teh record, the building doesn't exist yet.) So what I'm going on is that I will either have a flat surface that I can work on. Whether that be a flat wall, floor, ceiling, or possibly a corner of flat surfaces. The other tough thing about this: when I do get to see visuals I think it will change my perspective entirely and I may not have the time to design something better for the space.

So I was looking at pictures of Maryland, most particularly wetlands, thinking that the building and the BMS are geared toward reaching out to those in the Baltimore region, and so the art work in this building should do the same. As I was reading online, there are cypress trees that grow in the wetlands. It's a not-too-common occurence, because the cypress is a sub-tropical tree and even though Maryland can get just as hot as any other southern state in the summer, it tends to get colder in the winter. I love the drama of the roots and how they quickly smooth out in to straight narrow trunks. The wood is basically immume to water rot so when the tree dies, it leaves a stump poking out of the water like a stalagmite. So I came up with this idea (the drawing to the left) for a free standing sculpture. Flaring at both the top and the bottom I'm hoping that it gives the feeling that is has a personality. Well maybe not a personality, but I hope that it feels figurative, even living. I'm am still racking my brain as to the best approach for construction. I will have to make several sculptural models to figure that out.

Another idea, which would probably be a little far fetched for an indoor public space would be the conversion of a lobby floor into something more of an organic rock like landing. For functionality, winding stairs could run through the middle. This idea was inspired by overhead photos of the Chesapeake marshes, where lines of trees, tall grass and other plants/rocks rose out of the water, segmenting it. From a helicopter's height the bay waters are very smooth. So in the photos you see this contrast of a smooth blue gray water and textured green things. It's really beautiful. I'm starting to realize that I'm really attracted to ambiance. Not just objects but entire spaces and how it makes you feel. I have a lot of ideas for creating full environments (not just those shown here). It's always good to realize this stuff, so you can embrace it and use it to the fullest.

Modern Day Artists' Struggle

My apologies for falling off the earth yesterday. Work left me mind-numb and for the worse. Like all other artists out there I have a day job. Currently I have 2, a full time and part time one, and both are office gigs, which can really drain you and stall your creativity. So how do you deal with that? I'm still trying to figure that out. I come home and force myself to dabble in little things (sketch) or prepare for a bigger projects (research images, plan compositions, prep canvas, etc.) which I execute on the weekend.

One of the things that help with an artist's success is a large quantity of work, on top of it being good work. In order to do that, you need time to make a lot of works, or money to make a lot of reproductions (prints). How can those that are trying to be artists even enter into a level of success while trying to pay debts (car, student loans, rent, etc.) and spend the money (materials, studio, gallery rent, website) to do the whole art thing. You also have an under/uneducated audience that may enjoy art but are way too intimidated to talk about it much less buy it. So living the artists life means falling downhill. Why bother?

This is what people just don't understand. There is no other option. I can't just not do art. You want to see a person becoming a non-functional member of society? If you take away an artist's brushes you will watch them turn into a depressed, unmotivated, can't move, can't eat, suicidal heap. This may sound like an exageration -but it's exactly how I feel. The artist's struggle that people refer to is not the old fashioned (and cliche) struggles of completing a work and the anxiety of showing it to the world. Today the struggle is surviving, living this double life and attempting to fight this mindset of the public. It's something that I have to deal with because not creating is not an answer.

Consider this a bit of ranting and a sympathetic shout out to any of you out there trying to live the creative life. Happier posts to come. Promise. ;)

New Painting: Drips

This piece was just me playing around with gouahe. I dripped some colored gouache-water onto the clayboard and let it dry, knowing it would form these blobs with a dark outline. Then I proceeded to fill in the blobs with different colors to similate light (pink) and shadow (blue). Though not the most conventional of color choices they plesently form this 3D look to the blobs. I added in layers of purples and white to control the form of the blobs a bit more, but also to practice mixing and blending on the surface of the piece. (Gouache doesn't like that too much.) At the very end, I added globs of white paint on the outside of each blob to see if it would emphasize the 3D-ness more. (It's hard to see in the photo) The background is the raw clayboard surface, a gray-white. This piece is another of those 4x4 inch squares.

I would hope I mentioned this before, but it would bear repeating anyway. The works paintings shown are available for purchase. There are also other works listed on my website for sale. (www.sylasstudios.com) Feel free to contact me with any questions about it.

Figure Sketch

I wanted to show you all this. A nice drawing, not the best thing I've ever done, but decent. And not even finished. I was adding some color to it just to spruce it up and I spilled the paint on the piece. I was so mad at myself for doing that. I just wanted to share with everyone, even if you have talent it still takes a lot to have a piece reach the point of finished. I don't know how many times I have smudged something, ripped paper, dropped a pen on a art piece, scratched paint of a finished painting. Some of it you can go back in and work out, and some of it you just can't. This being the later.

I have done a few works like this, but to me it's just practice. Something about figures, it's hard for me to take the figure and do something with it to make it a more in depth piece, rather than just a drawing of a person. I have this idea of taking the figures, in similar poses to this one and having them melt into the four elements. (Kinda along this organic / nature / environment theme.) I tend to have lots of ideas like that but when I get to creating the piece the people just look cheesy. I think it's because in my head they are almost in motion, I see the figures from many different angles. The images in my head, even though they are ideas for 2-d work are almost three dimensional when I visualize them. Maybe it's better to describe it this way: all the different components of the painting: the background, foreground, specific objects or textures get re-arranged as I play with what the layout would be. I also tend to imagine myself working on the piece so I see it from different angles as I imagine myself working close-up and then stepping back.

The sketch is done with graphite and gouache on paper. To be honest, I was getting carried away with the paint, I watered it down a little too much (instead of adding white to lighten it), and the water made the paper all wrinkly.

Welding Intro with Bill Gardner

If you're wondering where I was yesterday, I'll tell you. If you're not wondering you might find this interesting anyway. I met this guy at the Riverside Community Art Association named Bill Gardner who offers welding classes out of his home. These are very basic, one day workshops to introduce you to the tools/equipment, and the technique. (Classmate using plasma cutter pictured below.) The class talks about Oxy/Acetylene welding and cutting, TIG welding, stic welding, MIG welding, and plasma cutting. Bill walked through all the details on how to set everything up safely, discussed the best uses, etc., and we each got to try a few rounds of welding with the apparatus. (My weld in Oxy-Acetylene on steel, below.)

Bill is a retired civil engineer from the city of Riverside, and since retirement has been offering these classes, working on commission projects and creating his own sculptures. The Mission Cross (Bill's landscape ornament with mission cross shown below) is frequently included in his work, and is considered the logo of the City of Riverside.

Attending the class means you also get to partake in this fantastic view (shown below), as Bill lives at the top of a hill overlooking the valley. I have determined that when I buy a house (which will happen soon) that I'll definitely have to pick up a TIG welder if I can help it.

Lecture at BCCC, Dundalk Campus

I would like to invite everyone reading this to come join me at Baltimore County Community College (Dundalk Campus) on April 25th at 10:10am for my lecture "Environmentalism as an Art Movement." This is geared towards artists, but there will be many things discussed that are appropriate for any art lover, or earth advocate. I will first start off with describing this new movement, where artists in subject matter, in technique, or materials are bringing attention to the environment and nature. Work of international artists will be shown. (I will also briefly delve into my own work.) Then I will discuss ways that artists can be more eco-friendly in their art and their materials and studio set up. This will open up into a Q&A session. I expect everything to last about an hour, but I will be around for the remainder of the day to talk with everyone. I will also have some very small examples of my work on display for people to see. This is all coinciding with the College's Arbor Week. There will be a fair going on at the campus that day as well. This event is free, and open to the public.

New Painting: Planets

Here is another 4x4 inch gouache on clayboard painting. (I bought several packs of these painting boards at a trade show, so you will see at least a dozen more of these...) By the time I got to this one (right after I finished "Pipes") I figured out the best way to be subtle was by mixing colored water as opposed to using just watered down paint. Because of the clay surface, it doesn't take forever to dry, and can handle having water poured on it repeatedly. (By colored water I mean water with just a hint of paint.)

This one was all about color. I have a tendency to paint in all jewel tones, which makes it hard to through in the yellows and oranges. So I was trying to create different usable palettes that still use jewel tones but that more comfortably fit all the colors into the piece. I started with yellow fading to green as a wash in the background, then added layers on top. Gouache is like it's cousin watercolor, in that it can be transparent, or more correctly translucent when watered down.

By the way, if anyone out there has a suggestion for a high quality scanner, I would lover to get your opinion. I went shopping for one last weekend and everything in the stores are meant for offices and are either really cheap or those "3 in 1" machines that are expensive but still cheap. (An oxymoron, I know, but still true.) I would like to take the little paintings like this and scan them. I think that would make a better image for you readers to see.

New Painting: Pipes

This is another mini-painting, done in gouache on clayboard. I started by playing with the background, dripping colored water on it and chasing it around with a brush. I think that's what makes this look a bit awkward. That's fine with me, because it was so much fun to do. For those of you who don't know, gouache is a finiky medium, and it doesn't help that I'm painting on clayboard, which absorbs all the liquid in the brush. It's a challenge to be subtle.

New painting: Empty Heads

This is a small painting that I completed about a month ago. I haven't displayed it yet, as I'm still deciding how I should frame/mount. I think that is the hardest part. You finish a piece, and it's not yet it's not considered complete until you frame or bolt to a pedestel or something. You don't want to cheaper the piece, but at the same time you need to make it ready to display so you can show it. (Can't just lay it on a table and hope people will respect it.) Of course I made things more complicated by putting the clayboard on it's point.

The imagery in this came from a drawing I did last year called Open mouths and Empty Heads. The piece was done more to play with the surface and paint (I used gouache on a clay-coated massonite) rather than do anything specific in terms of a statement, unlike the drawing mentioned. But it could be argued that the empty heads with open mouths represent all the garbaged spewed out by the media, politicians and others. Something is coming or about to come out of their mouths, but who knows what the hell it is, and you can expect that it has very little value. This piece is 4x4 inches and will be available for purchase when I have figured out the whole mounting/framing thing. This was image was taken in the overcast sunlight outside, so it is safe to say that the color is pretty true-to-life.

Pictured here are some of the photos of sculpey mockettes I've come up with for the sketches from the previous posts. I haven't decided, but I will probably paint them.

The one at the top left I call monolith, and I think I will add to it before I call it a complete idea.

The others are the "wingspan" idea in 3-d. I would like this large enough that people could walk under it easily (without ducking), and maybe use as a doorway. I'm really racking my brain about what materials to use to keep this eco-friendly. There are the classics: recycled glass, salvaged or reclaimed steel. But I'm thinking maybe saw dust held together with casein (a natural resin). I don't have any experience with casein, but if it acts like other resins, there will need to be a support skeleton to handle the weight. Another is scrap fabric, used clothes and whatnot to create it as a soft sculpture, but it wouldn't have the same dramatic "sagging" happening, and the longevity is cut dramatically.

Recently I have been in conversation with the Baltimore Medical System, a non-profit that offers free and inexpensive healthcare to low income families and individuals. They are building a new facility which will be one of the first LEED Certified buildings on the east coast. That stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, meaning "green." The BMS is very proud of this new facility, which will break ground in May. Anyway, we have been talking about placing a sculpture on site, and if we can get the approvals all around (as well as funds) I would like to do an permanent sculptural structure that reflects the greenness of the building.

Below are some sketches that I have made showing basic ideas. I have since moved on to mockettes (which I will photograph and show you next time) and the initial planning of materials, etc. My goal was to use environmentally friendly materials, and if I can help it, trash. I

So here is one idea:

Basically an amoebic shape that is held in place with straight architectural elements with add a visual contrast (straight versus curvy and color contrast). I would like this to look like it is going through the wall to emphasize movement, and would make it feel more alive. I would imagine the support straights would be recycled steel, but that amoebic shape could be anything. Still working on that in my head. If you have any ideas, shoot me an email...

I call this idea canvas lichen:

The below image also would have movement. I have already engineered a way to put this together using altered PVC pipe (recycled or salvaged, of course) as the linear supports and either a recycled fabric or maybe even taking plastic bags and stripping them and weaving them to create the fabric element. That way they would be easy to remove and clean, and it would be much lighter for hanging purposes. Also, using canvas or another fabric worries considering the humidity in Maryland. I think plastic would be the way to go.

The next is Wingspan:

I have already made a mockette, and let me tell you, it has evolved greatly from this. (I will post some images next time.) The BMS is looking for people friendly sculptures (my phrase, not theirs) that feel warm and inviting. "Welcoming" is their word. I have done these works in the past involving figures with wings instead of arms and so I was thinking wings would work.

Because of the recent additional requirement (meaning "welcoming") I've been evolving these sketches in my head. To me, anything overhead feels like shelter and so it is welcoming. But I'm assuming that most people would not agree. So I've been tweaking these concepts to actually create environments. And if I can pull off getting the funds, I would like to make these environments big enough that people can walk through. When a sculpture is in a corner how can it feel inviting? When the sculpture opens up and you can wander under it or on it, it seem so much more approachable.

Hey! and welcome to my blog.

So this is my first entry... I should start I guess by describing what's happening in my life right now. I am an emerging artist trying to head into that mid career phase. I'm finding there is this delicate balance that I haven't quite reached (yet) between getting the word out about myself and making artwork in the first place. So as a resolve I'm looking to use this as a little of both. I hope to post on here frequently if not daily, and plan to use this blog to unveil new work, display sketches. If this is your first look at my blog or my work, take a look at my website:

http://www.sylasstudios.com

The image here is a drawing in Ball point pen, one of my favorite mediums to use. It keeps a fine point, it doesn't smear, it's cheap to use, and very portable. I started drawing in my sketchbooks in ink because pencil always smeared after a while, even with fixative. This drawing was the first of eight artworks I made which I call Geometric Composition series.