| Journal from Artist Residency |
This is a journal (in reverse date order) of my experiences while artist-in-residence at Vytlacil campus, part of the Art Students League of NY. It was wonderful and I hope to go again!
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| Alan Levine's artwork |
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June 29, 2009
Last day of residency...I don't wanna leave! Returning to "normal" life means doing a lot of work that isn't making art! It has been a fabulous experience being in residence here at Vytlacil. I've met many wonderful artists, made a lot of artwork, and enjoyed the peacefulness of being here.
Yesterday Alan and I rode bikes to the nearby town of Piermont. It was an enjoyable trail ride to the cute marina town on the Hudson. We ate our picnic lunch and bought ice cream. There were also several art galleries downtown, one of which was featuring works by an interesting painter named Alan Levine. The picture above shows some of his art on display. The colors were gorgeous, and I wish I could afford to buy lots of art.
Tomorrow Alan and I go to the city to stay with his cousin for 2 days. It will be a fun mini-vacation. :)
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June 26, 2009
The art exhibition has been up since Tuesday evening, and today there will be a demonstration/workshop of how to do the layering technique using the plastic wrap at 5pm. I think it should be pretty fun. :)
I've been working on a seashell painting that is a little similar to the leaf painting. It has layers of seashells of assorted sizes going in and out of planes of space. I've noticed I've incorporated a lot of pink into my work lately. It's somehow a strange color, but I like it. I may crop the paper on the lower edge by about 2 inches. I think the composition will be better that way.
My time at Vytlacil is nearing an end, only 4 days remaining! I've gotten some new ideas of projects I want to work on, including working with plexiglass. That will have to wait until later though. July is going to be a busy when I get back to NC. Alan and I will be putting our house up for sale, I'll be returning to work (and must make many lesson plans!), and I've got to finish my TESOL certificate program before August. I'm not sure I'll have much time to work on art. However, I am working with two other artists Amy Bouse and Susan Mulder to get some group exhibitions going. I will at least work on the submission packets for that.
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| Seashell Painting (in progress) |
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| Seashell Painting (in progress) |
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| Gallery View |
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June 22, 2009
Tomorrow I hang my exhibition! It will be at the Elizabeth Sullivan gallery, located on the Vytlacil campus. I did a lot of work over the weekend to get some more pieces ready for the show. Discussed with Gary hanging options. I think I'll just go with the clear push-pin route for the show. Normally I'd prefer to mat and frame all my work, but it's just not possible this time around. The clear pushpins won't be bad though.
Here are two pieces that I finished today (Ride and Glass). Also started work on a seashell painting. I've been drawing it in my head for 4-5 days, but finally got the composition that I wanted down on paper. I'll keep you updated with it's progress here and add pictures tomorrow.
Starting to think about life when I go back to NC. Thinking I might have a BBQ/Art Exhibition party at the house sometime in July. Wouldn't that be fun? :)
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| Glass |
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| Ride |
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| My Piece of Frank O'Cain |
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June 20, 2009
Attending the second part of the 2 day workshop with Frank O'Cain was excellent. He's really a great teacher and has a teacher's heart for his students. Very honest too. He tells you what's working and what's not with a painting. But not only that, he uses some simple tools to give a visual of what could make that painting better. Tools such as a sheet of tracing paper, a piece of a paper towel, a cropping tool, and colored pencils do a great job of teaching a lesson in composition, color placement, and plane placement. Frank is a good painter and a good teacher. And he should be! He learned from some awesome American painters like Vaclav Vytlacil, who in turn studied under Hans Hoffman.
He did an in-class demo explaining the importance of color, corner variety, and space. Amazingly, I get to keep the resulting end piece! Originally he was going to cut it up into 6 or 7 pieces for each person in the class to take one part home. However, by the end of the day it was still not dry, so... I'm the lucky winner! :) Here are some photos from the demo:
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| Frank O'Cain Workshop (1) |
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| Frank O'Cain Workshop (2) |
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| Frank O'Cain Workshop (3) |
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June 19, 2009
"composition + atmosphere + color + layers = Arlissa's art"
That's
kind of the gist of what Gary (G.L. Sussman) explained as being the central components of my work. We had a good discussion yesterday concerning how I've spent my time
while at Vyt and critiquing the artwork that I've completed. Gary is
very honest, but also a good motivator.
Now I'm thinking about
what do I feel about my time here and work I've made? For the most
part, I'm just so happy I was able to come here! I think I work well in
a situation where I know I have a limited amount of time to create, and
therefore I've worked hard while I've been at Vyt. I've done a lot of
experimenting with new mediums and ideas, which has resulted in some
interesting paintings and mixed media artworks. I feel that I also
became less afraid to make mistakes.
Yesterday and today I
made some final touches to several works that were in progress, and
subsequently began some new things as well. Tomorrow I will be involved
in the second part of Frank O'Cain's workshop, so I want to tidy up the
two abstractions I began for his class. They are both compositions
based on a specific tree base that is near the house.
On
Tuesday next week Gary and I will install my exhibition in the gallery.
In the meantime I'm contemplating lots of ideas of how to hang this
stuff! Everything I've made here has been on paper (so that I could
transport it easily on the train back to North Carolina). Being on
paper creates an interesting framing situation. Usually, I would mat
and frame each piece with glass, or for some that have interesting
edges do a floating mat. However, I don't have $200+ to drop on some
frames and mats right now, plus that goes against my intention of being
easy to transport home. This dilemma has me thinking I may have to be a
bit more modest with this exhibition. Any ideas? Email me if you can think of some interesting way to hang this show.
Here's some of the finished work (you can click on the small images to enlarge):
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| Self-portrait - Arlissa Vaughn |
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| Honeymoon Flowers |
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| Jacob's Ladder |
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| Photo of Tree Base |
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| Encaustics & Oil Pastels |
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June 17, 2009
Busy days means good business! Gary Sussman, the director of Vytlacil, keeps saying that to be successful in art you should find what you enjoy making and then make a lot of it, then the business will follow. So, logically then, if I am making a lot of art then soon the business will come. :) Well, it's probably a little more complicated than that.
I have been quite busy though, and the time crunch is definitely being felt. I want to do so much while I'm here, but making good art takes time. I feel I've got little to show for my efforts, but we'll see in the end. Today I did a lot of experimenting with the encaustics and pastel sticks. It really has a nice result actually. I also layered in some mesh fabric which I hand dyed before placing it in.
Yesterday I went in to the city and had a great day. Started with a brisk walk in the park at 8am. Couldn't believe how busy the park was on a weekday at that time. Don't people have jobs?! Oh wait, New York is the arts capitol of the world, so....they're all like me working on a schedule that is totally crazy to the rest of the world. Well, made it to the Met as it was opening for the day. Glad I went early, because as I left it was getting packed!
The Met is fabulous. Amazing amounts of art from all periods of history and geography. Seriously, I felt like crying sometimes while I was there because I was so overwhelmed with beauty and inspiration. Monet's "Path Through the Irises" drew me to sit and stare on two occassions. There was also some of Anselm Kiefer's work which is incredible for it's texture and emotion.
That was all the art I could take for one day, so I made my way over to Pearl Paint in Chinatown to buy a Micron brush tip pen that I've been eyeing for two weeks. Then I did some shopping! Got home around 7pm and was completely worn out.
Tomorrow will be a day full of work and discussion about the exhibition I'm scheduled to have here at Vyt at the end of the month.
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| Self Portrait (in progress) |
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| June 15, 2009
I feel as though today I've not had enough time to create! I'm suddenly feeling the rush to make as much as I can while I'm here, because I know back in Greenville I will be back on my regular schedule of work and other obligations. Being here in NY to create new work has been amazing. I recommend all artists who have other jobs take breaks and do a residency once a year. So refreshing!
I worked on a lot of things today, mostly just experimenting with various things. I finally got around to experimenting with my original goal - techniques laid on top of digital giclee prints. Some of it I like, some of it I don't. So far I am enjoying working on the self-portrait of me sitting on a tile bench.
Mark Saffon gave a great quote from Picasso today, "Art is a lie that makes us realize truth." Wow what a true statement. We do not create exactly what we see, yet we create more than that. The truth shown in a work of art is more than what the physical eye can take in and understand. It is an experience that embodies the emotion felt when seeing certain colors, shapes, and forms.
My studio is in a building that used to be Vaclov Vytlacil's studio/barn. It's got this amazing skylight window that I just looked up today and realized I want to paint. I took a photo so I won't forget to paint it later.
Tomorrow I'm going to the city to spend some time at the Met, the Bowery, and doing a little shopping. :)
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| Jacob's Ladder (in progress) |
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| Vaclov Vytlacil Studio Skylight |
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June 14, 2009
Being here at Vytlacil has been a great return to the formal and technical studies of art. The Art Students League has done a good job of preserving these much needed studies in a world where much art has disposed of them. It has brought about a lot of internal discussion in my mind of what I believe about art. I am often debating myself on the philosophy of art, "what is or isn't art?" and have mixed feelings towards certain contemporaries. I have also had the opportunity to draw and paint with a model while here. Being a Christian, this has brought about another type of discussion, both internally and externally. I recently read an excellent article on the Gordon College website which gives a good explanation of the use of the nude figure in art. I recommend Christians and non-Christians alike to read it, as it gives a general outline to the beauty of the human form and the need for artists to learn how to correctly portray it. http://www.gordon.edu/academics/art_nudemodels
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| Frank O'Cain Workshop |
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June 13, 2009
It's amazing how easily true and honest words of affirmation lift your spirit and inspire motivation. I was at the workshop today with Frank O'Cain and he really gave me some serious compliments as well as critique. I'm not sure I've really had anyone whom I feel has a good understanding of color theory and art history give me a critique on my paintings before. It really felt great and gave me some good ideas of what to do next with my work, especially as far as color and composition are concerned. The picture is of Frank O'Cain critiquing another students work and using a transluscent tracing paper sheet to instruct about increasing or decreasing colors. It was a fun workshop and will continue next week. In the meantime we have a homework project to work on with some nature/landscape drawings that we did in the afternoon.
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| Leaf Painting |
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| June 11, 2009
Yesterday I finished the leaf painting. I added another leaf in a foreshortened view to upper center area. It's basically done minus a few small details.
There were no classes today, so I had free reign over the painting studio. I chose to spend my time playing with encaustics, prismacolor pencils, acrylics, paper, and text. I tried blending these materials and seeing what happens. I really love the clear encaustic and how it seems to add some amount of depth to the painting. I also played with adding pieces of paper to the encaustic as a mixed media piece.
I started a painting I'm going to call "Jacob's Ladder" by first doing the acrylic plastic wrap technique, then glueing a few scarps of paper edges to the paper, then pouring clear encaustic on top. That was fun, but then I decided to do more. I drew pictures of the paper shreds on some thin tissue paper using a colored sharpie. I placed them on the painting with a layer of clear then heat gunned them in place. The tissue paper essentially disappeared with only the sharpie marker image remaining. It's just a start and will be continued more later.
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| Encaustic & Acrylic Blend |
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| Jacob's Ladder |
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| My Studio Spot |
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June 9, 2009
The
leaf painting is driving me nuts. There is something I don't like. Yet the fear in considering making a drastic change is tense. I'm
thinking about adding another leaf in the upper area. Why is there
always such a risk in art? I think I may just need to lay this
one aside for a bit and take a look in a few days.
When I can't
think of what else to do I pour paint on some paper and plastic wrap
it. I'm beginning to have a little collection of these papers which are
each quite lovely and full of vibrant color. However, I'm not sure what
to do with them yet. In some sense I just love them as they are. Each
with different patterns and blends of colors. But...I don't feel that I
could leave them at that and put my name to it. I didn't really DO
anything to make it. I think tomorrow I'll play with them with the
encaustics some more in Grace's class.
On a side note, I've been meeting so many interesting people here at Vyt. And it's amazing how many times the topic of religion has come up. I'm not one to usually bring that up during introductions, but being married to a missionary it naturally arises every time someone asks "What does your husband do?". It's been fun though listening to everyone's views on the topic.
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June 8, 2009
Continued work on the leaf painting. I can see where it's going, but getting there takes so long! Got a lot of nice input from Mark Safan on line quality and the problem I was having with the big green leaf at the bottom.
Also worked on the miniature canvases for the Art House word to canvas project. I think I've completed "Normal", "Cooperate", and "Santification". Although I may put some final touches on them tomorrow after a nice night's sleep.
Did a lot of work for Visual Overture today, updating files for artists and building some new content for the website. There's still time for artists to submit to the Fall 2009 issue! The deadline is July 1st, so spread the word. There's been a lot of really interesting work submitted so far.
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| June 6, 2009
Worked on the leaf painting some more. At the end of the day I wasn't sure it had improved any, but spent some time comparing it's beginning stages to now and I can definitely see the change! It is improving slowly. I've come to realize I'm a slow painter. Quick drawer, but slow painter.
Today I did a drawing of the entry to the painting studio looking out to the stone stair steps. It's been given the plastic wrap treatment and is drying overnight. I also worked on some ity-bity canvases (2.5" x 2.5") that I'm doing as part of a group exhibition. It's really a neat project actually. They assign each artist 5 words from the dictionary at random and then the artist must give a visual interpretation of each word on the cavases. My words? "Gibbet", "Normal", "Cooperate", "Sanctification", and "Muffin". It's surely an odd assortment, but gives me a challenge of making something I wouldn't normally tackle. I'll share pics of those later.
Tomorrow I'm taking a sabbath rest and heading into the city for the morning and early afternoon. It's such a strange feeling that I'm in this remote rural place, but yet can just take the bus into Manhattan. Surreal.
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June 5, 2009
No pics today. I did work, but don't feel anything progressed enough to share a picture. I started a few new samples. I'm trying out the clear encaustics on top of giclee printout plus the plastic wrap technique. Sounds crazy, but so far it's working out quite well. It's just a sample though, and nothing special as far as a finished piece.
I was heading down to the studio to do some work tonight. However, was intercepted by Rob in the hallway and asked to join the group for a glass of wine. Well, it was more like a paper cup of wine, but same thing. It was nice discussing politics, traveling, dreams, and the human nature with Alena, Sophie, and Rob while standing in the office hallways.
It's been a rainy cold day here. I sure wish I had packed that long sleeve t-shirt I contemplated bringing! Tomorrow is scheduled to be a bright warm day though, which is great because there is going to be a special landscape painting workshop. I think I'll try to participate in that.
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| Leaf Painting just after Plastic Wrap Technique |
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| June 4, 2009
Got some more work done today on the leaf painting. I really like the painted curled leaf in the center. It's shape and coloring is eye catching. However, the big leaf near the bottom needs a lot of work. Not sure how I want to progress it yet, but more will be done tomorrow. (Note: If you click on the images you can view a larger version.)
There is a big party here at the residence tonight. Actually it's still happening downstairs, but I've had all I want. It's a fundraiser party for a local man recently diagnosed with ALS. Supposedly Bill Murray was coming. If he did, I never recognized him! Oh well. I spent some of the evening washing wine glasses for the party. It was great to volunteer, because the other times I was milling around meeting a few people but honestly not knowing a soul. Did meet one interesting fellow who does digital collage like I do, but in a much larger scale. Like, much, MUCH larger scale. He inspired me to attempt applying for some public art and site specific opportunities in which I could also create some huge digital collages. New goal to work toward when I get home.
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| Leaf Painting, Day 2 |
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June 3, 2009
A tiring, but very fun-filled day! I've spent part of last night, and most of today experimenting and feeling as though I'm in art school again. I did two test sample pages of the plastic wrap technique on paper. The tests were necessary because although I've had lots of experience with the technique on canvas or digitally, I've done very little with it on paper. I set up a 10 block grid on each paper and labeled the boxes with the experiment to be done in that space. For example, some were labeled gesso + sharpie, raw, sharpie + gel, gesso + gel, etc. On one paper I tested with acrylic paints, and the other is with watercolor paints.
Also, for the first time I tried encaustic painting (painting with wax) while in class with Grace Knowlton. Encaustic is a really exciting medium because it's so different than traditional painting, and also different from the plastic wrap technique that I've gotten used to. I had a lot of fun playing with it. I have a semi-finalized (or maybe not) painting from that class pictured to the right.
Later in the afternoon I took a class with Hans Witschi, a charming fellow from the city. Even upon entering the class I suddenly had it in my mind to paint leaves. I walked outside, snapped a large leaf off a plant, and went in to begin drawing. This drawing has a lot of promise so far. I really enjoy the negative space and interaction of layers.
I'm going to keep a photojournal of my activities, drawings, paintings, etc. while here at Vytlacil. I think it'll be fun to see the progression of work. :)
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| Test Sample 1 w/ Plastic Wrap |
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| Encaustic Painting |
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| Leaf Drawing |
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| Vytlacil Painting Studio |
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June 2, 2009
After riding the train all day, I arrived to the Vytlacil campus yesterday night (very late) to begin my stay as artist-in-residence. The residence building is a beautiful old house with lots of interesting features - like a spiral staircase and a maze of hallways. My room is full of sunshine, ample space, and a little cat who likes to curl up in one of the retro yellow chairs. From my window I can view the painting studio, aka "The Painting Barn" where I am currently setup to work. In a few days my studio will be moved to the gallery downstairs in the residence building, where I will have an amazing amount of space and peace!
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| Cat & Chair |
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| Staircase from Kitchen |
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