A Very Busy January

It might appear that I haven''t been up to much in January, but quite honestly I have been very busy.  I have been piecing together my show for the Studio which opens on the seventh of February as well as putting together notes and lesson plans for five different classes between two different schools.

I have been very pleased with the way that my current projects have been going.  I have been a bit more free with my concepts which has proved quite beneficial.  I determined that I wanted to try as hard as possible to do as much with index cards that I could.  It has been a good way to provide myself with limits in order to focus more on how the content could shift and change.  I found myself quite opposed to this idea of rule setting when I was in graduate school, but now I am beginning to see the point behind what my more educated professors were suggesting to me.  There really is more freedom to exercise when you have picked a control.

After I had loosened up a bit with the index card creations, I began to work on a few wooden pieces that would work in the same manner as the original index card pieces.    Once I had set my rules with the index cards, the transference to a new ground was a much more open process. 

The index cards have made me more open to being honest, wearing my thoughts and feelings as a badge, and enjoying my own personal metaphors.  I have previously tried to find ways around this in my art, choosing instead to make visual jokes with "funny" characters.  I've grown tired of this, however.  This show has been immensely important to my development as a creative. 

I am looking forward to future developments that this index card series may lead to.  I am also interested to see how bringing the more painterly strokes into some of my wooden grounds will change and or work the some of the other works.

Peace
-Mike

Big Doings and Stepping Into the Present Millenium

The move is done.  My wife and I are settling into our new home nicely and with that new home life have come a couple of new exciting tidbits.  She has managed to set up an internet Hotspot so that I can use the internet at home and at studio.  This works out well as I am now able to post to this super duper up to date blog right from the studio.  I also have been granted a new phone from the folks at AT&T allowing me to take better photos from my phone as well.  All of this is making me feel slightly more up to date and much better capable of doing the things that I want to do creatively.

My upcoming show at the Studio is coming along nicely.  The work has really taken a turn for the better in the last couple of weeks.  Once I opened myself up to a wider range of word pieces the show has really made more sense.  I don't think that I had ever intended on being as specific as my earlier pieces were.  The trouble was that I loved the "Today may Just be..." piece entirely too much to make wise decisions about future pieces.  Fortunately the shrinking allotted time always allows me to think a bit more aggressively on the creative end.  Today I spent the majority of my day working on a font for this piece.

 I was very pleased making this font up today.  The M was based on the font used in an Of Monsters and Men album.  The rest of the letters were made to go with that M.  It was nice to be working in a tiny sketchbook next to the final piece.  The results seemed to be so immediate working in that way.  Often I will be working in a sketchbook at home and unable to really visualize the final product because I can't see the surface that I am putting the work on.  Having the final right next to the sketchbook definitely felt better in this way.

I love this piece and how much more subtle I feel it is when I am using this font rather than a more aggressive in your face font.  I wonder what that other font might suggest with this lettering.

With any luck more to come tomorrow.  It is time for the Mighty Lark to fly.
Peace
-Mike