A couple of years ago I gave a talk at a Meetup for coders and artists. During the day I code, while I work on my art in my free time, so I was excited to speak at an event that involved the merging of my two interests.
Over the years, as I’ve learned more about technology and marketing, I’ve made adjustments to my artist website. Take a look at my talk to learn more:
The other day I completed a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which inspired me to start working on portraits again. Previously, I hadn’t focused much on portraits. My first few solo shows consisted of bodies of work that were entirely made up of portraiture/figurative pieces, and I burned myself out on that subject matter. I haven’t revisited portraiture much other than when I’m commissioned to make a portrait for a client, and I thought it would be great to delve back into the subject matter that I haven’t really focused on in years.
This portrait of “Taylor Swift” took more time than my pieces generally take, since I’m rusty with the human form and I wanted to get her likeness down properly. I’m excited to continue working on portraits and see how much I can improve with the process.
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away the other day, I was inspired to work on a portrait to honor her memory. I haven’t tackled a portrait in nearly three years, so I felt rusty when I started this one. The tricky/intimidating thing about portraiture is getting the likeness of a person down properly. Sometimes I’ve struggled with it quite a bit, and this piece was no exception. It took me about a week to work on layering everything until I felt it was complete.
I think this portrait has inspired me to work on portraiture once again. Since it takes me longer to make these since I am a little rusty, I don’t plan to film any time lapse videos for my next few pieces. Once I’m able to speed up the process, I’ll consider filming my process again.
Earlier this year I got to work on a cat portrait for a commission. I had a lot of fun tackling this portrait, specifically because one of the reference photos had the cat wearing a cute, striped bowtie. The client was also wonderful to work with.
Over the years I’ve made a number of cat portraits, but usually the custom art orders I receive are dog portraits. It was fun working on something a bit different as far as my custom artwork goes.
I get a lot of my inspiration from everyday life. My portraits are inspired by people I know or familiar figures, while my landscape/cityscape collages are usually based on the sights I see when traveling around a new city or exploring a place that I’m familiar with. My still life pieces are influenced by common, everyday objects, while my animal portraits are usually inspired by my visits to the zoo or whenever I encounter wildlife on my travels.
Aside from finding inspiration from the world around me, I also like to get inspired by seeing what other artists are making. I draw inspiration from art museum/gallery exhibits, as well as by connecting with fellow artists online. Seeing what other creatives are making is a great way to tap into your own creativity.
Other times the materials I work with prove to be very inspiring. Sometimes when I’m paging through a magazine, I’ll find a pattern or fragment within a photograph that sparks interest in using a specific color palette or tackling a specific subject. Usually when I’m working on a work in progress, I find paging through magazines to be especially inspiring, since I never know what colors and patterns I’ll find. There’s always an element of surprise that makes the entire process exciting.
I’m often asked why I’m drawn to making collages entirely from magazine cutouts. Why not paint my own paper or use different types of paper? Why not make paintings instead? There are so many different mediums out there, and I do enjoy experimenting with different materials. However, for my main body of work, I like making art from repurposing magazine strips.
Here are a few reasons why I’m drawn to this medium time and time again:
I really enjoy working on a work in progress with an acid-free glue stick, so that I have the flexibility to peel off previous layers if I’m not crazy about the way certain sections of a piece are turning out. And that’s the type of flexibility that I don’t have when I paint with acrylic or oil paint.
I prefer using fashion magazines because they usually have a lot of colorful ads and patterns. Often times I’ll find interesting or unusual patterns and textures that I wouldn’t have been able to think of on my own.
One of the struggles of working with colors from magazine pages is that my color palette is limited to what I can find. However, I enjoy the challenge of searching for ways to incorporate the colors I find within a given composition. It forces me to hone the way I view images and think about how I can repurpose them to construct entirely new images.
I never really know how one of my collages will turn out and I really enjoy that about the process. Sometimes I’ll find colors and patterns and work really well together. Other times it’s more of a struggle, and I’ll work on adding layers only to peel them back up and start over again. I like how I never really know how things will turn out, and whenever the layers flow together nicely, it’s such a satisfying and rewarding feeling. I enjoy the art of figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
One of the things I really enjoy about my process is manipulating paper in such a way that it mimics a painting. I like creating the illusion that my work is made from one medium when it’s actually made from something entirely different. I enjoy the possibilities involved with manipulating paper. At the moment I enjoy mimicking the brushstrokes in a painting, but who knows what’s next? Perhaps I’ll start mimicking drawn lines in sketches.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a coffee cup collage, so I figured I might as well film the process of making one. I’ve had so much fun making time lapse videos in quarantine, and this piece is number sixteen in the video series. I plan to take a break from making these for a little bit so I can focus on other areas of my art. I’m looking forward to finding new ways to share my art and technique with others.
Art always had a big role in my life when I was growing up. It was just something that I did and I didn’t think twice about it. I took art classes at local art galleries and took an art class every year at school. I don’t think I actively thought that I was an artist or thought about becoming an artist until I was in high school.
High school was when I started becoming more serious about art. I was mentored by a local artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, and had a couple of my first-ever group exhibits. I found myself spending hours of my free time painting at an easel and experimenting with mixed media. But again, I don’t ever think I thought “I’m an artist” or “I’m going to become an artist.” At that point in time I was wrapped up with becoming a writer, which is what I initially went to college for.
At Elon University I studied creative writing, but quickly realized that I felt lost without having some sort of visual art outlet. I picked up painting as a second major. After graduating from college, I finally realized I was an artist. I had this drive to make new work and exhibit my art. And I realized how important art had been in my life all along.
It’s funny how something can be in your life for so long, and it can take you a while to realize how much it truly means to you. I’m glad that what I once thought of as a hobby or creative outlet, is something I now know I need in my life. I’m glad that I eventually found my way to calling myself an artist. And these days I’m continuing to hone my craft and share my technique with others.
When it comes to my animal portraits, I’m mainly drawn to making bird and dog collages. So the other day I decided to work on a hedgehog collage for the first time. I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, since I figured the spines might be difficult to recreate. I was pleasantly surprised with how I found some texture that worked well with making the hedgehog’s spines. It’s nice to go outside of your comfort zone and try new things.
One of the silver linings of quarantine is that it’s forced me to get more productive with my artwork. I can’t believe that this “Golden Retriever” collage is time lapse video #14. Nearly every week since lockdown has been going on, I’ve been striving to complete one of these time lapse videos. And I was pleasantly surprised with how this piece turned out.