There are so many different paths and thought processes that lead us to create the things we create! What I think is so valuable in sharing is that it opens us up to new perspectives and approaches. Here's what we've been exploring lately and all the different mediums being used in our sketchbooks…

ARCHNA's piece for cyclical. I love the different use of lines and textures!

“OK, story time. No one controlled what I consumed on the TV when I was growing up and I always had #Locomotion on, which among many cool animes, had also a lot of small experimental animations. One of such was #phantasmagoria which not only introduced me to my love of classical music but also opened the world of small experimental artists and animators. My all time favorite was #glassyocean by #shigerutamura. It's a short animation I recommend to watch if you have 15 minutes. In a world where time stand still a huge whale tries to swim in the now glass ocean, soaring in the sky for half a day and under the sea another half. There are a lot of characters who wander the ocean and the animation focus on these characters and their stories. I know the prompt it's time and it can be interpreted a million ways but whenever I think of the concept of time my brain plays gymnopedie #1 by Erick satie and I feel the little girl sitting in front of the TV unsupervised watching a rainbow factory, a mushroom forest, a bread shaped bakery and the old man and his cat on the glassy ocean.” - SABRINA Thank you for sharing your story and this lovely animation! I wasn't able to find the entire movie but I think this has some clips from it!

 

“This prompt made me walk memory lane and remember how much I have grown, how long is the road I have walked and all I have experienced and felt. It has taken a lot of time to stop being angry at the little girl who was not at fault of her circumstances, to stop being bitter and hurt about the past and to heal from grieving an stolen childhood. I am were I am meant to be now, and if I could go back in time I would hug that little girl and tell her how proud I am of her, how strong and resilient she will be, how it wasn't her fault those around her failed to protect her peace. But she survived and would live a life of peace and stability , breaking completely the generational cycle and truly loving those around her. Boundlessly. Is not perfect, but it's a life worth living.” - SABRINA 

"(Catching up. How am I behind again? I have no good reason . . . ) Gouache, acrylic, watercolor, ink, collage

I have always loved clocks and watches. I begged for a particular clock from The Treasury (anyone remember that place?) when I was eight or nine. (I still have it.) I received a beautiful watch with a blue face that I cherish when I was a kid. I still have many clocks and watches.

Time is fluid. It moves so fast. How is my ‘kid’ nineteen? How has my mom been gone for almost 14 years? But it also moves so slowly, too. This brings me to my idea here.

I painted the page with a mixed acrylic color. I took a picture of an antique clock that belonged to my mom and step dad. I printed it in black and white, cut it out, added some watercolor and pasted it to the page. I drew numbers 1-12 in random areas. I experimented with some more acrylic paint (I love the sheen of those metallics!) Some of the results I liked, others I tried to ‘fix.’ I'm moderately happy with the result." - MITZI

 

“First thing that came to me was how time passes as the sun crosses the sky. This watercolor is how I image how the landscape colors change too.” - KAREN

"For ‘time’ I thought about moon phases and clocks and I tried a couple of different things and I wanted to combine the two ideas into one piece.

 

The pink version was my first attempt - I was trying to make clock faces directly on each phase of the moon but it was a bit chaotic -- and then in the second blue one I got a little closer to what I was trying to do. For that Prussian blue version I painted round stickers with the moon phases and placed them around to create a clock face -- then I put the hands on with a paint pen!!

 

In the pink version I started with an empty cardboard tape ring stamping hot pink and dark red circles - I can't remember what I used to fill those circles with pink but it wasn't a brush because I've been not using brushes not wanting to have to clean them!

 

For the blue one I spread the paint across with some sort of palette knife, or maybe a plastic knife!" - CLAUDIA

"For ‘growth’ I used your suggestion to ‘grow onto the page’ I've been busy with collages (I had so much fun with Februllage that I decided to do my 100 Days of Collage) So since I've been in this collage mindset I started with a torn piece of black/white chevron tissue paper and grew onto the page around it in rings of paper -- alternating various blacks with a variety of torn papers with words (receipts, a pillow tag, printed instructions, etc.) It was fun!!!" -  CLAUDIA

For time I wanted to express feeling like it goes by so quickly and wanting more hours in the day! I was a little stuck at first but talking to Archna really helped :) I used a clothing tag (I noticed the paper so nice and thick!) to swipe paint on and I feel like it gives a sense of motion and the way the paint drags and fade sometimes represents the movement of time. I started with 12 swipes for the clock then added more since I would love a few extra hours to get more things done (or to get more sleep!) It's a little messy and I want to keep trying this technique but overall I feel like it captures what I was feeling and it also has a Futurism inspired feel to it! I also did a version in brighter colors which looked like candy corn at first lol. Here's a short process video, you can watch it on Instagram or TikTok.

I'm still working on grow and I think I will be re-creating a drawing a did in 4th grade and seeing how I've grown in my art practice! 

 

As we wrap up March I wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be organizing a snail mail swap for National Letter Writing Month in April. I'll be sending out more details in the next email but wanted to let you know in case you are interested in participating. Stay tuned and talk to you soon!

 

Have a wonderful weekend,