Red = Green

Systems

2011-07-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

In my last weeks of living in San Luis Obispo I have been trying to take in all that the central coast has to offer. I have been taking small trips hiking and enjoying the coast. These drawings are based on those experiences and what I have found interesting during the outings. On my most recent trip to Montaña De Oro State Park I was drawn to the exposed layers of rock eroding thanks to the coastal weather. The different types of rock seemed so clearly divided and well organized by time. This gave me the idea of organizing and grouping textures and materials together through line and marks. These drawings are inspired by textures and materials from Los Osos, as well as maps, systems, boarders and pathways.

City

Ink, gouache, graphite, gesso on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Separation

Ink, gouache, gesso on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Sticks and Stones

Ink, gouache, gesso on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Active Hands

2011-07-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

My time at Cal Poly has come to an end,and I finally graduated. My last summer in San Luis Obispo has been relaxing. Everything seems a lot more quiet, although I still feel anxious to produce or make things as if there was a critique next week.

I have been trying to keep my hands active and make something everyday. I have continued my process of combining various lines and marks on different layers, but have changed scale from a large format to 11"x14" or smaller. The scale shift has been the hardest to adjust to. It is more difficult to create spatial depth, interplay, and movement on a smaller scale. The layers got denser at a much faster rate, which overwhelmed the support.

I needed to create more space or interaction between foreground and background layers. I then began to cut out areas of the layered composition, breaking the dense atmosphere into multiple objects. Adhering the cut outs to new supports helped turn the objects back into atmosphere. This series of drawings took the shape of mountains, describing nature and land through layers of line and mark. They were also inspired by the spontaneous gestures Zen master painters would use in order to achieve the essence of nature without rendering it to the fullest.

Mountain 1

Ink, charcoal, graphite, tracing paper on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Mountain 2

Ink, charcoal, graphite, tracing paper on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Mountain 3

Ink, charcoal, graphite, tracing paper on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Mountain 4

Ink, charcoal, graphite, tracing paper on paper 8.5"x 11" 2011

Mountain 5

Gouache on paper 11"x 14" 2011

Overlay and Repetition

2010-08-07T00:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been experimenting with the overlay and layering of images. These drawings were all captured digitally with a VisTablet (VT-Muse) making it much easier and faster to experiment with certain compositions and layers. I printed the image twice, one on tracing paper, and then mirrored on normal white stock printer paper. Both pages were combined creating a mirrored and mimicked pair of the images layered one top of one another.The intersecting and overlap of lines create a very chaotic composition, both image layers trying to fight for visual dominance. I first drew the images with the tablet in hopes of loosening my hand giving things I drew a more free flowing and organic feel without wasting real materials that I own. When combined and layered the image details act differently and are seen as visual texture. Through the physical layering and the visual traits of mirrored images these layer drawings reference a sort of Rorschach image test.

More to come.

Overlay and Repetition: Rorschach 01

Hp printer ink on tracing paper and printing paper 8.5x11

Overlay and Repetition: Rorschach 02

Hp printer ink on tracing paper and printing paper 8.5x11

Seismographic Drawings: Amtrak

2010-08-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks I have been traveling back and forth between San Luis Obispo, Sacramento and San Jose visiting friends and eating good food. I did a few experimental drawings on the train ride up from SLO to San Jose. Lately I've been inspired by the work of William Anastasi, in particular his subway drawings. On the train I sat in a straight upright position making sure my back was not touching the seat back. With my sketchbook on my lap I held a pencil in my right hand resting gently on the paper and as the train moved its movements would be recorded though the pencil. This created a sort of seismographic scribble drawing, a visualization of a distance traveled. I did each drawing from station to station. I tried this process with my left hand as well as both hands at the same time. Each drawing was a continuous contour line composition of scribbled marks going left and right, these horizontal lines are all of the turns the train makes, the more condensed and darker areas records when the train is traveling straight. the long vertical lines are of the train stopping as it arrives at a destination. I like the idea of creating drawings with random and instantaneous methods. for me it gives the art more of an honest interpretation of what that art should look like, negating any artists style that may jeopardize or change the marks being made. Through this experiment I made the artist become the instrument, I felt this practice removed all stlye and skill from the artist a sort of a cleansing feeling. More to come.

Amtrak Drawings: Santa Clara to Fremont

(right-handed) graphite on paper

Amtrak Drawings: Fremont to Haward

(left-handed) graphite on paper

Amtrak Drawings: Hayward to Oakland

(both right and left hands) graphite and pen on paper

Amtrak Drawings: Oakland Airport to Jack London Square

(both right and left hands) pen and graphite on paper

(right side) Amtrak Drawings: Oakland to Emeryville

(right-handed) pen on paper

(left side) Amtrak Drawings: Emeryville to Berkeley to Richmond to Martinez

(left-handed) graphite on paper

Andy Goldsworthy Inspired Installation

2010-06-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

This project was made about two months ago for my Intermediate Sculpture class. We were assigned to make a site specific installation in nature. This installation was a collaborative effort by Nick Roach, Noah Simmons, and myself. We were greatly inspired by the sculptor and land artist Andy Goldsworthy. Our site location was the sand dunes of Montana de Oro. Our intention for our piece was to create a large organic flowing form mimicking the natural flowing dunes and introduce a material unnatural to its site-specific location. We used sticks gathered from a eucalyptus forest about a 15-minute hike from the actual sand dunes. The sticks offered a somewhat uniform shape and mark to deal with in making our land installation. Inspired by other great land works such as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty we began creating a line in the sand by placing the sticks upright in the sand one after another, creating an unraveling spiral shape. We then continued this line in a snake like pattern creating the illusion of an endless line flowing throughout the dunes. The sticks added an unnatural element to the soft rolling sand dunes creating vertical lines and shadows which would moves and stretch as the sun rose and set. More to come.

SCHOOL IS OUT

2010-06-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

I just realized that it's been almost two months since I've posted on this blog... The last quarter of school always seems to go by so fast. But I've been pretty busy:

—lately I've been getting into oil painting, making my own painting supports and working on a larger scale. It's fun.

—my friend Garrett Deiter and I did another live painting down at First Time LA, in the LA warehouse district in May. It was wild and exhausting but we pulled it off.

—I'm currently working on a website for myself that should be up and running this summer.

—All the seniors are graduating and moving on. It's always a sad time, and I'm gonna miss them all.

On an ending note I'm posting a video that my friend Jim Weise put together for his senior project, which looks at creative ways of documenting the art making process in both collaborative, installation art as well as painting. Enjoy--more to come.

focus: an exploration of art through process

Shoot a nuke down a bug hole, you got a lot of dead bugs

2010-04-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some more bug related studies from my sketchbook. I haven't been drawing at all lately. Instead I've been painting.

Painting is hard, but D Dove's class is awesome. For the past four nights I've left the painting studio on campus after midnight. The current project is a conceptual landscape that I'm rendering in oil on one of four 4'x3' wood panels I built over break. I never realized how easy it was to build your own canvases.

More photos to come.

graphite and ink

I hate Madison

2010-04-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

Madison is a cat that always seems to be lingering around our house. He meows at everything and everyone. Also his eyes are too close together. No one knows his owner, or where he actually lives, but he's really nice and friendly. I always used to scratch him on the head.

Today Madison was wearing a flea collar. And now I hate Madison.

Enjoy these fleas. More to come.

ink and gouache

NOT THE BEES!!!

2010-04-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

So this is my first post. This blog is an illustrated journal, pieces of my sketch book, drawings, doodles, art and anything I really want to share. Below are a couple pages in my most recent sketch book.

ink and gouache

If anyone wants to watch the worst movie made, I suggest watching The Wickerman. Nick Cage is at his all time best in it. But actually I'll save you the trouble because this compilation video is actually better than the movie. More to come.