Here's a little process shot of my next two pieces... these are final, full size drawings that I am going to now trace out my shapes from, completely paste over with newspaper, gesso and matte medium, and build the faces back over top out of cut out newspaper that has been prepared with the same materials, then to paint over top of that with acrylic paint and matte medium. It's a long and involved process, but one that achieves some interesting results, and I'm pretty sure I can make some stunning work if I really push this as far as it can go.
I've expressed frustration and disappointment with my work in previous posts, particularly with my process. I was unsatisfied both with the results I was getting as well as with the work itself; I wasn't motivated to produce work, but seemed rather to force myself through... to just get it done because it had to be done, not because I was excited to do it. This is partially a result of the pressures of school, and was certainly an important lesson for me to learn. However it is being out of school, away from the pressures and the constant demand for more work, that has taught me the most important lesson, and it is something my teachers had been saying the whole time I was at school. Everybody's approach to art is different. Even in the simplest things, like how you hold a pencil, there is a tremendous variety of possibility. So the important thing is simply to become very proficient at what you do, without worrying too much about "the right way" or "the wrong way"; those things don't really exist. The right way is really whatever works for you, whatever satisfies your creative desires, as well as the constraints of the project you happen to be working on.
In light of this discovery, I have been drawing a lot more, thinking a little less, and just trying to figure out what I like to do, and to get really good at that. And so, here's a little peak at my most recently completed piece. There is no big idea behind this, just a cool drawing from my sketchbook that I turned into one big experimental media piece, working out some of the kinks in a particular process I've been working on. Turned out pretty cool, but I definitely could have planned it a little more thoroughly...
