Scratch

I have recently started drawing numberism pieces in a new way. I suppose this is a new technique, or is it a style? Maybe it's just a process. It's still numbers, but now I am using scratch board, scratching the numbers off a black surface to reveal the white clay beneath. This means I get to actually make smaller numbers than I could with a pen. What I'm really excited about is the color.

I've loved drawing with pen, but I've found there is a limited color range. With scratchboard, I can mix any colors my heart desires, which means I can do accurate skin tones and washes. This makes for a very excited Sienna.


(Scratch Board Numberism. Photo reference by Ian Dawson).

It's challenging. I'm working with light now, instead of shadows. I will be playing with the numbers setting off from light sources and reflections instead of falling off in the dark shadows. This will be challenging, and I love a challenge.

I have decided this will be the main focus of my next series, which I hope to finish by May or June. It will focus on all the adventures we cherish once the sun sets. Dancing, romance, indulgence, smoky streets with long walks that lead to who knows where. I can't wait. I've asked my two photographer friends, Ian Dawson and Benjamin Frothingham to supply me with all my reference material (their photos are beautiful and tend to have dynamic lighting, which is what I need). Once I finish this series, I will be looking for the right gallery to show in with my drawings along side their photography. I've looked into a few places but haven't found the right venue yet. I will be sure to blog away once I do.


(For those of you who haven't met me, this is a self portrait I finished today while at Market. Photo reference by Ben Frothingham.)







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On another note, next weekend is SWAN Day at the Portland Expo Center. Come see original work by myself and a select group of Oregon based artists. This takes place at the Portland Better Living show. Find us in the connector Hall. There will be music.

A selection of my originals will be on display.

SWAN Day

(Support Women Artists Now Day)

Saturday and Sunday, March 27 & 28, 2010

Exhibit and Performance Showcase: Noon - 5:00 pm

Connector Hall, Between E and D Hall

Portland EXPO Center

2060 N Marine Drive
Portland, OR 97217

12

A year ago, I started a series that became the most challenging and rewarding artwork I've ever had the pleasure of working on. Yesterday, I celebrated the completion of this series at the soft opening of our gallery in NW Portland.

"Perpetual Motion" came out of necessity. I needed the reminder to live in the present. Knowing that my life is a collection of "now", I had to motivate myself not to waste a single moment of it. It was the worry and anxiety that was ruining it for me, and I needed to replace that with gratitude and wonder.

So first came the concept, and then out of that came the technique. How could I draw a moment? How could I illustrate just how fleeting it is? I wanted to show the singular point in which the moment exists and how the procession of time is constantly taking effect and moving that moment to the next, always reinventing the "now".

So, I decided to capture the fleetingness of time in a moment by drawing the piece entirely with the numbers of the clock, 1 - 12, so that my pieces could depict all 4 dimensions in how we experience life. That is how Numberism came to be.

It all started with anxiety. I imagined that my first piece would be wrought with it. Instead, something beautiful happened. The first drawing was Falling To Pieces, and instead of an anxious, panicky piece, it was wonderful, showing the beauty and potential of a moment. I look at them and see a couple who are truly alive, living for the moment and taking everything from it that they can. It's clear that the moment is temporary, that it's already going away, but instead of worry, I feel calm looking at that piece. It's okay that it's passing; in fact, it's wonderful.



Each successive piece that followed brought me closer to being at peace with now. To have hope and determination for the future, but to be actively a part of what's going on around me now. It seemed the most honest thing to do.



If I found a way to actually be present for each moment in my life, in the end, despite what happens in my life; if I fail or succeed at each venture, in the end, it would be MY life. I could not ask for more.




We are here for such a short time, and I'd hate to waste this one great opportunity with meaningless things as worry, doubt and busy daily life.


For the past month, I have been working on the 12th and final piece to "Perpetual Motion". Last night, I showed it for the first time. It is a 19" x 24" full color numberism illustration. This piece breaks away from the rest of the series as it is the first to completely come from my mind. No photos were used for this piece. In a way, that makes this piece more intimate for me.

This final piece, which is still unnamed, seems the perfect end to the series. Showing the changing colors of fall, it depicts the passing of time in a way we all know well. The leaves turn yellow, red and brown, allowing the tree to survive the coming winter by falling off it's branches. This gives it new life, new opportunity. Rebirth, if you will. The passing of the leaves allow the tree to go on.

I think this is an important part of the piece to focus on. If those fleeting moments hadn't passed, and if we were not able to let them go, then we could never reach the opportunity of the next moment. It's with each passing moment that we get a new one.




So when I look at this piece, I am grateful for the chaos of our lives, for the constant stream of opportunities laid before us with the death and birth of each new day. Each person you meet, each project you begin or disband. Each success and failure. Each time a moment passes. I'm here for the next.




That frame, by the way, is a window frame I painted. When you think of fall, don't you think of watching the leaves fall outside your window?

Thanks to Hassy, we have good scans of this image and are working on making prints now. (Small prints will not be available for this, because the numbers are too small to begin with).

We hope to have prints of this tomorrow at Saturday market.




Click on the close ups for a better view.