Just a Relationship

Here's what I learned this week:

• Faces don't have edges, so don't draw them that way.
• Use 3-4 values to create recessional curvature, and eliminate edges
• The reason this technique has us sketch then paint is so we can work out the problems ahead of time with a more malleable medium. 
• If your surrounding values don't look right, then whatever you're trying to depict won't look right.

 

I've been trying to come up with something different, or cool, or exciting to tell you guys. But my relationship with art right now is kind of like that point in a human relationship where you've been dating for a while and you can just sit and do your own thing and not talk. It's comfortable, and yeah you guys do cool and exciting stuff sometimes, but really the two of you have adopted a daily pattern and that's okay. 

I work on this piece when I can, but right now it's mostly on Sundays. It started snowing this week, and my little corner is right by two windows so I'll usually have a cardigan on. I'll pop open a San Pellegrino or a Fentimans and pretend I'm European. By the end of a session I'll have graphite all over my hands and sometimes on my face.

It's a simple relationship. 

Love \\ Christelle

Coming Back

One of my favorite things to do after a lesson in South Jordan is to run up to Utrecht up in Salt Lake City. It's nested in this tiny old street, all under construction, but surrounded notable neighbors including Chipotle and Barnes and Noble. Both of which I visited after picking up some pencil lead.

I finally made it up to South Jordan for a lesson. So much has changed. Darin's getting ready to move to a new home, Kelly's no longer at the Academy, and Kathy's finished her 5 foot by 3 foot painting, which she began glazing.

But there's nothing like walking into Darin's home re-experiencing that wood-y sweet smell that reminds you of how well you fit when you're just working on your art. Belonging somewhere that consistently pulls good out of you. 

Notice how worn Joseph is. His wrinkles, his posture depict the weight of the world. The angel, on the other hand, is perfect, she's idealized. Darin and I discussed the fact that maybe Mengs wanted to differentiate men from celestial beings. What do you think?

Love \\ Christelle

Take a Step Back

Sometimes you're so into what you're doing that you just need to take a step back and look at what you've done.

And sometimes it looks pretty cool.

Love \\ Christelle

The Art of Life

Google the "art of life" and you'll find pages and pages of meditative advice, religious dogma, and spiritual ideals. Those whose strivings are more secular in nature could potentially appreciate John Maynard Keynes' essay which in brief talks about how the world economy is developing so quickly that by 2028, most of life's basic tasks will be automated and humans will pretty much be out of jobs. That leaves us with hours of recreational time which can be a fearful problem for reasons I'll let him articulate. Yet we're not less busy, in fact we've fallen into this "busier than thou" mentality that cripples any enjoyment of true leisure. We grow up, we learn stuff, we teach our little humans how to be human, and the cycle continues. I'd like to argue that the art of life is really about "becoming" and that there is no limit to what we can become.

So what do we become?

My senior year of high school I signed up for an upper level math class. Calculus. Within the first week it became apparent that I did not have the proper mathematical foundation to succeed in that class. I couldn't tell you what a function was, or the difference between an independent and dependent variable, much less understand the basic structure of a derivative. So for the rest of that year my dad worked with me well past midnight on assignments, helping me understand and drill in basic concepts. There were a lot of tears, but a lot of good moments too.

Before that year I was "bad at math." Now, I'm "good at math."

That idea doesn't stop there. The summer before college, my dad, who draws better than I do, bought "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson to augment his skills. It turned out to be a great beginner book too because I jumped on and soon began learning how to draw and how to see. I would draw for hours.

I received some formal training later, but before I picked up that book, I was "bad at drawing." Now I'm "good at drawing."

There's this misperception that your natural talent dictates who you are and what you can do. The problem is, you can't really know what you're "naturally talented" at until you put in some work. Ben Haggerty said, "The greats weren't great because from birth they could paint, the greats were great because they painted a lot."

What if jobs and the tasks associated with them were to disappear? We spend a lot of time classifying and defining ourselves based on our majors, our talents, our occupations. A lot of times that's derived from pursuing what we're good at, and that's cool. Sometimes what we're good at is what makes us happy. I believe, however, that the art of life means pursuing what we might not think we're good at and becoming good at it... simply because we're interested and we like it.

There are no limits. Except in calculus, but even then sometimes it doesn't exist.

Love \\ Christelle

Creativity

My roommates and I hosted a spur of the moment dessert party tonight. It was a hit. We had cake pops, cupcakes, cinnamon butter squares, brownie bites...

Cake Pops by Shelby

Brownie bites. They were just supposed to be regular brownies. My sweet roommate Abby had made them with the best intentions, but they came out really gooey (which is the best, really), and try as we might we could not make them look presentable. Then, epiphany, we scooped up the brownies, mashed them in a bowl, smushed them into spheres and rolled them in powdered sugar.

The funny thing is brownies typically only have marginal success at parties. They're widely available and always made. But rolling these brownies into spheres made all the difference. They were gone within the first thirty minutes.

That's the thing with creativity. You don't have to revolutionize anything, just make something better. Apple changed the aesthetic of the MP3, cupcake shops gave their sweets a premium look and charged a premium price, etc. You? You can roll brownies into spheres. Then everyone eats it.

Can you spot the brownie bites

The misconception is that creativity is limited to the right brained. There's another misconception that it's limited to music or drawing or fashion, but that's just not true. The opportunity is always there. It's also been proven to make you some serious dough. Get it?

Love \\ Christelle

What Do You See?

Next time you're standing in front of a painting at a museum, ask, "What do I see?"

The world makes art more and more complicated, but the only thing that really matters is what you see. It's a simple question, but an effective one. We bring our worn in lenses and consciousness that effectively communicates to us different realities about one image.

When my mentor at the Springville Museum of Art first showed me the painting above, I hated it. I thought, why on earth is this here and why on earth are we looking at this?

She turned to me and asked, "What do you see?"

And as I started naming off the farmlands and mountains, the shadow the little boy on his bike cast, I noticed the old fashioned gas station, the unpaved roads, and the peaceful setting. I realized this was a scene from the past.

She told me, "This piece is called 'The Gatekeeper', does this change anything?"

We began a discussion about boundaries our parents would set for us, like for this little boy-- he probably couldn't travel past that gas station. That was his gate. We talked about how the mountains are so large relative to the homes, we reasoned that this is a memory, and that that little boy is probably the artist. Suddenly I understood the painting.

I was touched.

There's a lot of art out there, some worth seeing, some not. Different artists create art for different reasons. I think it's worth the time to try and connect with a piece than to try and see everything.

As I've gotten more immersed in the world of art, I've picked up more and more snippets of what people think of art. Typically, people say they just don't understand it. Frankly, I agree. I don't get it. I don't "get" art. But I know how it makes me feel. I know that when looking at a piece different people see different things, and sometimes, people don't see anything at all. The artist may be trying to tell you something, but in all honesty, they have no more authority in your mind than you do. What does the painting say to you, what do you see? That's more important than what the artist is trying to say.

This applies to all paintings. It's like when you have lyrics to a song memorized, then one day you take the time to read the lyrics and realize how much thought and soul is actually in those words. With a painting, you just have to start with what you see, then you can connect.

It's simple. What do you see?

Love \\ Christelle

It's a Really Big Painting...

I've begun my final and most ambitious reproduction. I'm still working on my "Little Girl" but I've been so anxious to get started on this new piece, that I've gone ahead and started it. 

The original piece was painted by Anton Mengs, here's a portrait:

He was a career artist, never went crazy, though he did suffer from ill health at the end of his life. He's most notable as one of the pioneers of Neoclassicism. 

Now the painting is called "The Dream of St. Joseph." In the New Testament, throughout Christ's nativity story, angels visit Joseph with various messages. 

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Matthew 1:20-21

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son ofDavid, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his nameJESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 2:13

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Matthew 2: 19-20 

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

 20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

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Our story revolves around that second scripture, Matthew 2:13 when an angel warns Joseph to escape into Egypt. See it in detail here. 

Progress

This process requires me to start with a sketch. I still use a grid since this project is too big and I am too inexperienced not to. I am, however, proud of how far I've come from my first painting. When I first started in January, I was completely unsure what to see, or how to proceed. Now I have a vision, and am more aware of the light interplaying with the figures in these paintings.  I'm aware of the humanity and the flesh of the beings of these figures. I've gotten more patient when drawing hair, and try really really hard to get it all right the first time because going back to fix this painting will simply be a pain. 

For context this painting is 3.74 by 2.83 feet. Cheya. It's huge. It's awesome.

Love // Christelle