News! News for the Deaf Ear!

      I still have yet to find the courage to post regularly.  I'm not even sure that anyone has seen my page.  I don't even want to look at my page views, for fear that the total will only be equal to my own views.  So, I will blindly keep pecking away at this keyboard - hoping that one day, someday, I will be known.  Well, not really.  I don't really care if I'm "known."  I just want people to see my work and say, "Wow.  That's nice. I wonder how she does that."  I can dream.  And until that happens, I will dream.

     I am taking three studio classes this semester.  Illustration for Publication, Printmaking II, and Graphics.  For Illustration, we were told to copy three artistic styles in a self-portrait.  Here are my attempts to be like the masters.

Style:  Henri Matisse

"Red Stripes" Self-Portrait - Oil Pastel

Style:  Kathe Kollwitz

"Laugh"  Self-Portrait - Charcoal and Ebony Graphite

Style:  Brittany Barclay (found on a blog)

"Pensive" Self-Portrait - Graphite and Watercolor

     

     In Printmaking, we were told to use three layers of color in our composition.  I was an over-achiever and did 4 layers.  (Little did I know the hell it would put me through because of my complete naïveté of screenprinting).  Here is my first attempt at screenprinting.

"Back Against the Wall"  Screenprint

     Just this morning, as I was sipping coffee and writing a letter to my boyfriend, I began to daydream about the times when I will be able to draw what I want to draw and when I want to draw it.  I will be able to be as minimalistic, or as crazy as I want to be.  No more due dates, or assignments.  No more "I want to see a little bit more here" or "hold back there" or "start over"s.  Not to say that I will not have to work with those as an illustrator, but I (hopefully) will have times in-between clients to do what I want.  I want to convert a barn into an art studio and thrive as an artist in my creative climate with the smell of old wood, paint, chalk, and outside air sweeping through the atmosphere and creeping up my nostrils.  The thought of it thrills me.  I can imagine why Jackson Pollock found so much freedom after he moved to the countryside.

One day.

Until then, I will keep painting and drawing for grades, trying to figure out who I am in this gigantic world of artists that are better than me.

Who Do I Think I Am?

Ever since watching the motion picture Julie and Julia, I have wanted to create a blog.  But, I could never really find a reason to, and all of the semi-decent reasons I thought of were quickly pushed away as I thought to myself, "and who would want to read about that?" 

Well, here I am, attempting to prove to myself that I, Libby, do in fact, have a good reason to blog.

To put it simply:  my art.

I'm an art student (and always will be).  I like to think of myself as a mini Michelangelo who wisely said, "Ancora imparo," or "I am still learning" at age 87.  I know that I will never be totally satisfied with the amount of knowledge I will obtain about art and artists and techniques.  It honestly makes me feel quite overwhelmed when I think of all that I don't know.  

I don't know a lot.  

But I know a little.  

And that little bit is what drives me to draw.  I love to draw.  I love to explore different mediums.  I love how oil pastel feels when little chunks of it are stuck in the crevices of my fingerprint as I smudge the colors together.  I love the grittiness of charcoal as you push it onto your paper.  I love the smell of graphite and the noise it makes on clean paper.  Being an artist is exhilarating.  

My mom has always told me (as many mothers have told their daughters), "Do what you love and you will love what you do."

I love creating.  I love being an artist.

And that is where my life begins.