Linocut Selfie

Alice Cook, Barcode Selfie, 2014

This is the completed series of linocuts done of my self-portrait.  The idea for the barcode going across my face is my comment on consumerism in America.  How scanning a barcode imparts all the information on a product.  If I had a barcode across my face, scanning it would reveal all the information about myself.  The reason for the multiple colors, is that different colors express different emotions.  I feel that the selfie in different colors help express different parts of myself, from the cool to the warm side.  This size of each print is 4" X 5",  carved on mounted linoleum.  Enjoy!

Monotype Print

Alice Cook, 2014, Monotype

This is my first print done in monotype printmaking.  I used three acetate sheets in three colors for the plate.  I first laid out the green branch, eliminating all of the other elements of the picture.  After printing the branch, I laid out the flowers, then finally the blue background.  It is an interesting way of making prints.  I like the fact that you only end up with one original print, unlike other printmaking techniques where you can have multiple prints.  I have another monotype project in the works and I am looking forward to experimenting with it.  Enjoy!

Drawing of Trees

Alice Cook, Horse Chestnut Tree, 2014

Some trees can be blocked in very simply, just needing
a certain amount of shading to indicate the masses.
 

Alice Cook, Ash Tree, 2014

The Ash tree is feathery in appearance with cloud-
like shapes.



Autumn Relief Print

Alice Cook, Autumn Fire, 2014, Relief

This is a relief print that was done for a fall themed show that I will be in.  I was sitting at Starbucks one day and started drawing a nearby tree.  I used that tree for the relief, but removed all the leaves to give it a autumn feel.  Otherwise the rest of the elements in the picture came from my imagination.  This relief was not done on linoleum, but on Easy Cut, which is a soft, pliable plate.  It was like cutting into butter.  I had to be careful when I hand pressed it, due to the soft material.  If pressed too hard the soft lines became blurred.  This print is the 5th edition.  Enjoy!

Linocut Selfie and Consumerism



To the left is a linocut relief print I did of myself.  It is called, Barcode Selfie.  The point of the self-portrait was to practice a portrait in linoleum and to comment on consumerism today.  The print will be done in six different colors, hopefully expressing different emotions through color.  This one is done in blue-violet.  The first three prints are done in cool colors and the final three prints will be done in warm colors.

Consumerism is rampant in our society, I know I often engage in it for various reasons.  At the scanner the barcode contains all the information about the product.  So in this print, a barcode across my face can be used on a scanner to reveal all the information about my self.  Below in the actual linoleum block the print was taken from.  Enjoy!



Selfie Self-Portrait

Alice Cook, Selfie, 2014, Mixed Media

This is my take on the selfie and the integration of technology into our everyday lives.  The self-portrait is done in acrylic, above is the electronic parts of a clock radio.  The clock radio was taken apart and cut to match the size in the matting.  Black and red wires attached to the radio, are also attached to my forehead.  With the advent of, basically, a computer that we carry around at all times, technology is taking up more space in our minds than ever before.  This selfie is a comment on that.  Enjoy!

Acrylic Self-Portrait

Alice Cook, Painted Selfie, 2014, Acrylic

From the same photograph that I used for the line drawing (see previous post) I created this acrylic self-portrait.  It is one part of a mixed media work commenting on technology and the use of self with the technology.  Layers of transparent and opaque acrylic was applied to the support, which is Bristol paper.  The size of the selfie is small, 6" X 6" approximately.  This is my first painted self-portrait, and I am happy with the results.  It does resemble me in small ways.  Enjoy!

Line Self-Portrait

Alice Cook, Line Selfie, 2014, Ink

I took a picture of myself with a camera, then enlarged the photograph to the desired size.  I drew this picture with a technical pen, mainly capturing the inside and outside contour lines.  This exercise was in preparation for a mixed media artwork and future relief print.  Currently I am interested in life drawing, and being unable to obtain a model at my convenience, I am using myself as the model.  Enjoy!

Surreal Sanity

Alice Cook, Stop The Insanity, 2014, oil

I designed this painting a few years ago in an oil painting class I was taking.  I started painting it in the class, but the instructor kind of took over some of the elements and painted them himself.  His vision for my work was not the same as mine.  So recently I picked up this painting, and painted over what was previously there.  I combined several styles in one painting and tried to make it a harmonious picture.  My interest in incorporating figures into my artwork was sparked by creating this picture.  Enjoy!

Mixed Media Landscape

Alice Cook, Aftermath, 2014, Mixed Media

This is a drypoint print I did recently.  It is the same landscape from the previous post, but utilizing a different wiping technique.  Here I wiped the zinc plate clean, leaving the ink only in the lines.  Then I hand painted it with watercolor.  I used a glazing technique, applying 7 to 8 layers of paint.  Since it was the first time I did glazing with watercolor, I am happy with the results.  The ink did not smear when the watercolor was applied, for I wasn't sure what would happen.  The BFK Rives paper took the watercolor paint well and hardly buckled.  I look forward to applying the watercolor glazing technique to future paintings.  Enjoy!

A Drypoint Landscape

Alice Cook, One Step Away, 2014, Drypoint

On a 5" X 7" zinc plate, I scratched in this landscape.  I tried different techniques with the needle.  Sometimes digging deeply with the needle and sometimes applying light pressure.  The mountains and the lake are the focal point of the picture.  I made five editions of this plate, each utilizing different wiping techniques.  With this edition I wiped the center of the plate clean with the tarlatan, leaving ink on the outer rim of the plate.  I like the effect that I got after running it through the press.  This one is my favorite of the five, and thereby stamped it with the emblem of love.  Enjoy!

Seascape Using Glazing Technique

Bright Ending, Alice Cook, 2014, Oil

Inspired by a J.M.W. Turner painting, I decided to try my hand at painting a seascape at sunset.  I used the glazing technique, putting on layer after layer of thinned oil paint.  To thin the oil paint I used a 50:50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine.  I did not mix the colors on the palette, but allowed the transparent washes to mix on the canvas.  There are 7 to 8 layers of paint on this canvas.  I am pretty happy with the results, especially since it is my first time using the glazing technique and this being my first seascape in oil.  The painting is done on stretched canvas that is 11" x 14".  Enjoy!

A Bright Idea

Bright Idea, Alice Cook, 2014, Oil

I recently completed this oil painting.  It is a take on Saint John's revelation from God.  Here the clouds part to impart a revelation to Saint John, hence the title "Bright Idea."  I started this painting a few years ago in a more realistic style, but never finished it.  So taking it up again, I revamped it into a different representational style.  The shading or modeling is done by strips of light, medium and dark colors put side by side without blending them together.  This non-blending technique produced interesting results and was fun to paint.  Enjoy!

After Rembrandt

After Rembrandt by Alice Cook, 2014, Drypoint

The original Rembrandt etching had more people and the angel leaving the scene.  I did not like the look of staring at the angels feet and up its dress, so I drew the angel coming in with a proclamation.  This print is the Artist's Proof and came out the best.  This work was done on a zinc plate, 5"X7".  The paper is BFK Rives white.  I tried to imitate Rembrandt's cross hatching technique to provide dark areas in the scene.  I personally love Rembrandt's prints and they move me to awe.  Enjoy!

Edward Ruscha, Pictures and Words

Edward Ruscha, Dare

According to Kit White, "Illustration is a visual aid to a text or an idea and is subservient to that primary agent.  Fine art, while it may illustrate an allegory or concept, has always attempted to maintain its role as primary vehicle; an autonomous form embodying the text...This is part of art's nonutilitarian identity."  Edward Ruscha uses pictures and words in such a way that they play off of each other, and neither is a slave to the other.  It is the selection of the picture and the word(s) that give it the context of fine art.  The picture alone or the words alone have a different meaning, then when bought together.  Ruscha's artwork challenges us to form new meanings for pictures and words.  Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HoNePbo9DD0

Craig Thompson

Craig Thompson, Habibi

I am currently reading a graphic novel by Craig Thompson called Carnet De Voyage.  It is about Craig travelling for three months through France, Barcelona, Morocco and the Alps, where he spent time researching his next graphic novel.  This travel diary with words and pictures documents his adventures through these countries.  The artwork is done in ink, detailed and flowing.  Craig is a great storyteller and inspires me to tell my own stories through art.  So if you have a chance to read one of his graphic novels, take the plunge, you are sure to enjoy it.  Below is a video link to an interview of Craig Thompson.  Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oumak4EW37c&feature=player_detailpage

Jeff Koons and Illusions

Jeff Koons, Puppy

According to Guy Debord, "The whole of life of those societies in which modern conditions of production prevail presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles.  All that once was directly lived has become mere representation."  Technology has given us life on a screen.  Some people only see artwork on a screen, instead of in 3D, in a direct experience of the artwork.  There is something to standing in front of a painting or walking around a sculpture that cannot be experienced through a 2D screen.  For me, art is meant to create an experience and that experience is greatly diminished through its other representation on a screen.  Enjoy!

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/p9ejfs/jeff-koons

Shout Out to Swoon



Caledonia Dance Curry, commonly known as Swoon, is a United States based street artist.  Swoon’s street art embraces the themes of fragility and community.  It is her desire to have stories emerge from her artwork and create a community spirit around her images.  She chose the street to work in because she wants her work to “participate in the world, that seeks context within our daily lives, and that is not dependent solely upon art institutions,”.   Her work is created with recycled paper and glued to the wall with wheat paste, which is intended to decay over time and eventually vanish.   This fragility that is present in the medium is used to represent the lives of those around us.  We all live within a physical environment, and it is that interweaving in her work of both humans and the physical environment that inspires Swoon in her street art.  Enjoy!

 

Banksy and Bomb Hugger

Banksy, Bomb Hugger, 2003

Banksy, is a United Kingdom based street artist, who uses his art to express his own political opinion and to question the establishment.  According to Banksy, in his book, Wall and Piece, “They say graffiti frightens people and is symbolic of the decline in society, but graffiti is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people; politicians, advertising executives and graffiti writers” (8).  And it is only dangerous for the graffiti writer or street artist because they may be arrested.  Whether his piece is anti-war, anti-capitalist, or anti-establishment, he often uses everyday subjects and people.  His main technique involves the use of stencils, where the image is drawn and cut out of paper.  Once the stencil is attached to the wall, spray paint is used, and then the stencil is removed revealing the image. Enjoy!

   .

Zevs, Street Art

Zevs, Liquidated McDonalds

Zevs is a French street artist who frequently addresses issues of consumerism and corporate advertising.  His street art communicates his concern of the “highly overt visual and violent projection of contemporary visual culture”.  In his series called Visual Attacks, Zevs works directly with the billboards and signs prevalent in the cities.  Using red spray paint he attempts to destroy the corporate images by spraying a spot of red paint dripping from the forehead or eyes of the model.  Once again, this very public work challenges the viewer to question the inundation of advertising in our daily lives.  His other series called Liquidated Logos, he attempts to confront the corporate trademarks that pepper our landscape.  In this work, he has paint dripping from these trademarks, thereby attacking their “brand identity”.   Corporate identity and advertising is called into question and challenged with his art.  Enjoy!

Shout Out to Jessica Grundy

Jessica Grundy

I was recently at a comic convention and while I was looking at all the art and comic books in Artist Alley, I stumbled across Jessica Grundy's table.  Her artwork instantly spoke to me and I paid five dollars for a small (2" x 3") print mounted on wood, of a little girl in a vineyard.  The next day at the comic con, I went back to her table and bought a 10" x 10" print mounted on wood, for a bit more money.  But in my opinion it was worth it.  In her artwork she captures the innocence of childhood, which most of us lose.  Her composition and design of the pictures are excellent and she uses the digital medium well.  I will be looking forward to seeing Grundy at future comic cons.  Enjoy!

After Rembrandt With Printmaking

Alice Cook, After Rembrandt, 2014

Alice Cook,
After Rembrandt #4

I recently did some drypoint printmaking of a self-portrait done by Rembrandt.  He etched the picture into a copper plate using acid.  Since I do not have the facilities to work with acid in my studio, I decided to do the picture in drypoint.  Drypoint is done using a sharp needle, the image is scratched into a copper plate using the needle.  When this is completed the plate in inked, wiped and sent through my small printing press.  I did a total of five prints of the plate (see picture).  The first print was light due to the fact that it was wiped too much and I didn't have enough pressure on it with the press.  With the following four prints, I increased the pressure and was not as vigorous with the wiping off of the ink from the plate.  Number four and five are my favorite, for I carefully chose how I wanted to wipe the ink off, leaving more ink on the plate.  The close up picture is of print number four.  Enjoy!

Continuous and Discontinuous Space

Albert Bierstadt, 1868

Traditional paintings, such as by Albert Bierstadt (see picture), depict a continuous space.  There is a flow to the picture.  The eye gently goes from the animals in the foreground, to the water in the middle ground, to the misty mountains in the background.  An illusion of continuous space and depth is created using atmospheric perspective.  Bierstadt was brilliant with this and his landscapes are monumental.  Forty years later we have a painting done by Picasso, where space is discontinuous, fragmented and geometric.  The eye does not gently flow through this painting, but tends to dart around, not knowing where to land.  Picasso did this intentionally, to see the world in a different way.  This is Cubism and it is a breakthrough in the way of seeing.  Enjoy!



Pablo Picasso, 1909

Edgar Degas and Photography

Edgar Degas

According to Kit White, "The camera, with its viewfinder that samples a portion of the world, changed our relationship to the frame...Painters, such as Degas, allowed the frame to cut into figures and objects, implying that part of the subject lay outside of the view of the image.  This was a radical change from the centered image of traditional painting where the space inside the frame was a metaphor for the world.  Now, we see the edges of pictures as being vital and compositionally active, not dormant and arbitrary."  I once heard an art teacher tell a student that you don't want the image touching the border of the picture, in his words it created "confusion."  If cutting the image off at the border is good enough for Degas, it's good enough for me.  Enjoy!

Digital art vs. Traditional art

Digital art has come a long way.  Years back one could tell if an artwork was created digitally, due to the flatness, artificial color and generic rendering.  Nowadays I often mistake a digital artwork with a traditional artwork.  Kit White states, "that hand rendered space (traditional art) can be more convincingly illusionistic compared to digital space."  I would have to disagree with this statement.  Even the picture posted here is quite illusionistic, creating depth and perspective.  The color palette available to these artists is incredible.  Is one better than the other?  No.  Do I prefer one to another?  Yes, that's because I am a traditional artist, so I am biased.  Like I've said, there is room for all kinds of art in the artworld, but leave arrogance at the door.  Enjoy!

Shout out to Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Richard Serra chooses to work in steel and allows it to rust and transform.  His artwork is larger than life, where you can walk along or enter into his sculptures (see picture).  According to Kit White, "In all good work, the image and its medium are inseparable...The material and the image should be one.  A Serra sculpture is the steel that makes it.  And it finds its identity both as steel and sculpture without conflict.  Your medium should be an expression of your image, and your image should arise from its medium."  For me, at times I am only trying to master a medium, and it is the process that is more important than the resulting image.  While at other times, I choose the medium based on how I want the image to look.  Each medium is unique and will give certain effects, so choose wisely.  Enjoy!

Rembrandt and Etching

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, 1630

While I have never done etching, which uses acid, I do look forward to one day learning this medium.  I have done drypoint, which involves taking a needle and scratching directly into the copper plate.  According to Gary Schwartz, in his book The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt, "The basic idea behind etching is fairly simple:  the etcher covers a copper plate with an acid-resistant ground, traces his/her design in the ground with a needle and exposes the plate to acid.  Wherever the ground has been scratched away, the acid will bite semi-circular grooves in the copper.  If the plate is then cleaned, inked in the grooves, cleaned again and run through the press with a sheet of paper, the ink will be pressed out of the grooves onto the paper."  Enjoy!


Rembrandt, 1653

Tom Christopher and Urban Art

Tom Christopher

According to Wikipedia, "Urban art is a style of art that relates to cities and city life often done by artists who live in or have a passion for city life. In that way urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or thematizing urban life style."  Tom Christopher is an expressionistic urban artist, making paintings of New York City.  He uses bright and intense colors to express emotions and dynamics of the city.  His brushstrokes are clearly seen, giving a flow and spontaneity to the painting.  Some urban artists work in public spaces creating art, while Christopher prefers the studio and gallery.  Enjoy!

Paul Cezanne and Information

Paul Cezanne, 1887

According to Kit White, "Static images deliver the information they contain instantly and can be investigated, meditated, and analyzed over an extended period of time."  Paintings are great for this extended transmittal of information over time.  At the gallery or museum, there is no time limit for viewing a painting.  With the Internet, practically any painting can be seen and printed out for further analysis.  I enjoy both the instantaneous experience of a painting and the slow reveal in other paintings.  Even some of the most simple paintings can truly be full of revelation.  Enjoy!

Jenny Holzer and Time

Jenny Holzer

According to Wikipedia, "Holzer is mostly known for her large-scale public displays that include billboard advertisements, projections on buildings and other architectural structures, as well as illuminated electronic displays. The main focus of her work is the use of words and ideas in public space. Originally utilizing street posters, LED signs became her most visible medium."  Time is a dimension.  Kit White states, "recorded media, video, film, LED word displays, and computer simulations allow for the manipulation of time and the creation of temporal illusion."  The time that a viewer is in front of an artwork, creates the experience.  Some artwork requires only seconds to create an experience, while other artwork needs a longer duration of time to express itself.  Time is in the hand of the beholder.  Enjoy!

Superflat and Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami, 2012

Superflat is a post-modern art movement founded by Takashi Murakami.  Its influence is from Japanese manga and anime.  According to Wikipedia, "Superflat is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, as well as the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture." Superflat has been embraced by American artists, who have created a hybrid called SoFlo Superflat."  Looking at various Superflat artwork, one can say it is very colorful, with no modeling or perspective in the paintings.  The subject matter is indeed of a superficial nature, with tons of happy flowers.  Murakami's artwork is a commentary on both Japanese and American consumer culture.  Enjoy!

The Codex Seraphinianus

Luigi Serafini

Recently I picked up an interesting book from my local library.  Upon opening it, I saw drawings that were completely surreal and writing that was not understandable.  According to Wikipedia, "Codex Seraphinianus, originally published in 1981, is an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, created by the Italian artist, architect, and industrial designer Luigi Serafini during thirty months, from 1976 to 1978. The book is approximately 360 pages long (depending on edition), and written in a strange, generally unintelligible alphabet."  According to Serafini, he wanted to take the reader back to childhood when they could not read, where they would look at the pictures in a book and let their imagination run wild.  I did find myself, as I looked at the colored pencil drawings gracing most pages, making up stories to go along with the pictures.  My mind tried to make sense of the arrangement and types of pictures and the nonsense made sense to me.  Enjoy!

Cliff Nielsen and the Marvel Alterniverse

Cliff Nielsen

Just finished a Marvel One-shot comic book called Ruins.  The story is what they call a alternative universe, where superheroes are caught in a different reality then the normal superhero story.  The story was interesting, but what really struck me was the artwork by Cliff and Terese Nielsen.  This was not your everyday comic book art.  It appears that each panel was created with gouache (opaque watercolor) and chalk, black and white.  The panels are sketchy and dynamic, where the artwork seems to flow.  While I won't be reading the comic again (it wasn't that interesting), I am definitely keeping the comic book for the art on every page.  Enjoy!

Stuckism and Billy Childish

Billy Childish, 2008

A new art movement of the 21th century is called Stuckism.  The founders are Billy Childish and Charles Thomson.  According to Wikipedia, "Stuckism is an international art movement  to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art. By July 2012 the initial group of 13 British artists had expanded to 233 groups in 52 countries.  Childish and Thomson have issued several manifestos, the first one being The Stuckists, consists of 20 points starting with "Stuckism is a quest for authenticity". To produce art with spiritual value regardless of style, subject matter or medium. In another manifesto they also define themselves as anti-anti-art."  In my opinion, Billy Childish's paintings remind me of Vincent van Gogh combined with Impressionism.  Artists are trying to find a new voice for painting and this is the point of Stuckism.  Enjoy!

Joseph Beuys and Installation Art

Joseph Beuys, The Pack, 1969

Installation art can mean the arrangement of objects in an exhibition.  But more specifically, a site-specific artwork that comprises an entire ensemble of objects in the environment.  The installation artwork that I have seen can take up a whole gallery or just a corner of the gallery.  Often this type of artwork creates an environment where art is all around us, in which we move about.  Joseph Beuys was an artist that did painting, drawing, sculpture, performance art and installation art.  Joseph Beuys once stated, ""Art can be learned, though a certain talent is a prerequisite, but hard work is part of the process. Art comes from intelligence, one must have something to say, but on the other side, that of capability, one must be able to express it." Installation art is not just the juxtaposition of random objects in a space, but each object and the way it is arranged contributes to the overall meaning.  Enjoy!

A Pastel Tree

Alice Cook, A Willing Tree, 2014

My local artist's association has a exhibition going which focuses on the tree.  Trees give us so much, from oxygen to houses, and many things in between.  For this exhibit I decided to simply do a solitary oak tree in pastel.  First the sky and ground were laid in and tree drawn upon them.  Layer upon layer went into making the tree with various greens, browns and black.  Initially the tree was coming together rather representational, but the need to make it my own required some further tweaking.  Sometimes, less is more.  Enjoy!

Shout Out to William G. Tucker

William G. Tucker

All though most of my recent artwork is 2-dimensional, paintings, collage, and drawing, in the past I have done sculpture with clay.  Mine were miniature sculptures compared to the work of British sculptor William G. Tucker.  With his work, massive pieces of rock are carved with a modern flare and given form.  Sculpture is special because it occupies the same space as our bodies.  We walk around sculptures, it engages us to use physical movement to view it.  Sculpture is not always conveniently placed at eye level, like most paintings.  Sculpture makes us want to touch it, to engage more senses in experiencing it.  Enjoy!

Yarn Bombing and Fiber Art

While looking up the art category of Street art, I came across the words "Yarn Bombing."  Curiosity took over and I found images of "Yarn Bombing" in cities throughout the world.  According to Wikipedia, "Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, Kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of  knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk."  Apparently it started in Texas with a man named Bill Davenport, who tried to find creative ways to use his leftover yarn.  Now the movement is trying to reclaim and personalize outdoor public spaces.  This is a fascinating and colorful way to do fiber art.  Enjoy!

Georges Seurat and Complementary Colors

Georges Seurat, 1889

Complementary colors are opposite each other in the color wheel.  They are called complementary because the presence of a color's complement will enhance the intensity of each color.  According to Kit White, "The presence of red, for instance, will cause the retina to "seek" green in the other colors present, hereby enhancing all parts of the green spectrum."  Just placing complementary colors near each other will increase the intensity.  For centuries, artists have known that colors play off of each other.  Georges Seurat and his technique called Pointillism plays into this effect.  Pointillism, according to Wikipedia, "relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones."  The interesting thing is that looking at an artwork by Seurat close up reveals just little dots of color, it is not until we step back from the painting that the image becomes clear.  Enjoy!

Basic Principles of Color

There are three primary colors:  red, blue, and yellow.  These are the building blocks of all other colors.  The secondary colors are violet (mix blue and red), green (mix blue and yellow), and orange (mix red and yellow).  All other colors are called tertiary, because they are mixtures of a primary and a secondary color.  Pictured here is the standard color wheel,  colors across from each other are called complementary colors.  When complementary colors are mixed together they produced neutral colors, like grays and browns.  Mixing the three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, gives you black.  There are many books and videos on color theory, but the best way to learn about color mixing is doing it yourself, experimenting and having fun.  Enjoy!

Social Media Avatar as Art

My Avatar

According to Wikipedia, "In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It is an object representing the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user."  For the fun of it, I created an avatar using a free avatar generating website (see picture).  I simply typed in a word that represents my character, I went with "strong."  The "We can do it" woman came on screen with other choices.  I had the chance to modify it, but I enjoy the image so much that I only performed some cropping.  Some avatar generating websites are quite complex and they use digital photos of oneself to create an avatar.  I can see how artists can be quite creative in making their own graphical representation.  Enjoy!

An Impromptu Drawing

Alice Cook, 2014

The drawing pictured here was certainly done without previous preparation.  Several weeks ago, tired and worn out, I sat down at my drawing table and put my head down.  Opening my eyes I saw little black dots on the 18" by 24" piece of paper that my head was lying on.  Realizing that the black dots were from a marker that bled through a note I wrote earlier in the day, I sighed at the ruined paper.  Now that the paper was useless for the drawing I planned for it, I picked up a pencil and started connecting the black dots.  Soon shapes developed, I went beyond the black dots and eventually the entire paper was filled with shapes.  Upon careful examination I realized that I just accidentally created a piece of art.  With a pencil I shaded in some of the shapes and finished it off with colored pencil.  It was certainly an impromptu drawing and it was fun.  Enjoy!

Francis Picabia and Formalism

Francis Picabia, 1917

According to Kit White, "Formalism refers to judging a work of art based on the elements of its visual language: form, line, color, and composition."  In my art history classes, several times I have been required to write a formal analysis of an artwork.  Doing no research on the context or cultural style of the painting, just looking at the formal elements of the work, which include, line, shape, color, composition, perspective, texture, and etc.  Francis Picabia once stated, "A free spirit takes liberties even with liberty itself."  The picture posted here is from Picabia's Dada period after World War I.  Wikipedia states that, "Many Dadaists believed that the 'reason' and 'logic' of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality."  Picabia did not call this art, but anti-art.  Enjoy!

Shout Out to Kazimir Malevich

Kazimir Malevich, 1915

I first encountered Malevich's artwork in my modern art history class.  His non-objective artwork was breathtaking and deeply moved me as I stared at the screen.  According to Wikipedia, "Kazimir  Malevich (23 February 1879 – 15 May 1935) was a Russian painter and art theoretician. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde, Suprematist movement."  Suprematism is based on the "supremacy of pure artistic feeling" rather than focusing on depicting objects.  In the artwork pictured here, the meeting of the four squares creates a felt tension.  As the eyes flip from seeing the two black squares touch, then the two white squares touch.  Enjoy!

An Intuitive Oil Painting

Alice Cook, 2014

Intuitive is "using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive."  This current picture, finished about a week ago, is what I call a "gut" painting.  Without planning, without reasoning how the painting will develop, I just started painting.  I started in left upper corner with short brushstrokes.  I did lay out the six colors I was going to use, burnt umber, cobalt blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna, Payne's grey and white.  I did not premix the colors, but allowed them to mix on the canvas.  Once the painting was one-third done through intuition, I realized a pattern was developing.  The next part of the painting I consciously followed the pattern and completed the painting.  The painting was done over a few days.  With this "gut" painting, I feel I was truly being true to myself and that made me happy.  Enjoy!