Naked is the New Black

I was lucky enough to be a part of the Katharine Story Boutique's Annual Erotica Show that coincided with Laguna Beach's monthly Art Walk....and wow, was it quite the event. Here is a link to Katharine's Facebook page....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=366000&id=94560730897&ref=mf

There were scantily clad VERY young men in the Calvins shimmying around to DJ music, cookies shaped like girlie and boy parts, plenty of free condoms, and (I hear) strippers at some point. We were out at other galleries, so I guess we missed that part (!).

ANYways....my piece "Lola" was part of a select group of artists on display in the store, and it was FUN...some good friends and, as always, my lovah Peter, the awesome supporter that he is, came up to see me from SD, and I got to hang out with my MCAD MFA friends too! Here are some cell phone pics..sorry about the quality! And the 1st pic is thru the storefront window when it was closed...that's why it looks so empty!

xo

Out of my comfort zone

This is one of the pieces that I did for a class this past semester; we went in search of an area of south central LA (!!) that would make a good panorama..and had to incorporate a miniumum of 2 photos together to make the picture. This one is 2 separate pieces of paper put together.

Mine was in back of this Mexican section of town where they had all these pinatas up - this is the parking lot behind one of the buildings. There was a super cool old Caddy parked there, with lots of other cars, but I just really liked that Caddy. I ignored everything else when drawing it....it's totally out of the norm for me - there are no figures! BUT the car stands in, at least for me, as the 'character' or figure. I think of old Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movies when I look at this now!

Sorry, the color/contrast on this pic isn't so great....

New year..and one semester done!

I was stressing a lot that I hadn't accomplished that much this 1st semester of grad school, and at my final critique for the semester I totally surprised myself. I hung everything that I had created (that is taking a more finished form; there were plenty of experiments that are still tucked away) on the wall and stood back - it was more art than I have made in 10 years!! And I did it all in 3 MONTHS!!

So, I decided to use the end of the year to take inventory of all I DID do - I met some really amazing people in my new program, I have a lot more knowledge of the 'how's' associated with making panels due to weeks of experimenting with it :) , I got to see some incredible art and go to more art shows and galleries than I have in a looooong time, I made some art that I am really proud of and am finding my way into a final body of work (not totally there yet, but almost!), and I have taken some big life steps that I am scared of but still moving forward with.

Working as a waitress has been hard - but it's necessary to get to do the other funner (word?) stuff. I still get to see my ladies from CCA, and the kids/students that helped inspire me to even go to school in the 1st place, which has kept me feeling SO supported and happy. I have an amazing fiance who holds down the homefront and makes me feel loved like I never have before, and some friends who have been super helpful and supportive in this 'art process'. Who could ask for more?

I plan on trying to keep up with communications and friendships a bit better this year, work on some new collaborations and ideas, MAKE MORE ART, not be so hard on myself, and get as much out of all of this as I humanly, physically and emotionally can.

SO, thanks to you all out there whom I love, and please keep coming back... I will do better putting things on here, promise! haha!

Here's a pic of my final critique with everything hanging - not all of it is 100% done, but it'll get there!

xoxo
Happy New Year!!!!

Rachel

Only 2?

So, "what the heck??", you may be asking. What have you been DOING while you are in school..you only posted 2 pieces? Well, I have spent the last 3 weeks learning how to make panels. It's really expensive to buy them, and art stores don't even make them as big as I want, so I've had the input of like 20 people and have been through some serious experimentation to figure this stuff out. I have done it about 4 or 5 different ways as of now, and I THINK that I've got it. I'm trying different surfaces (spatula-ed gesso, sprayed- on gesso, paper on the board, etc) and different supports, and have had some serious I-wanna-punch-the-wall moments, but all in all, I think that this is good for me as a student who, as an ARTIST, needs to be making her own stuff! Plus, it saves LOTS o' money :)

#2

Here is a different piece that I have been working on for a while now...it just hasn't been happening for me, so I am trying layering up a bunch of figures to confuse the positive/negative space and to get some of the darks from the different figures to blend together. It's still reaaalllly unfinished. I need to get much darker, and the far right figure is literally just started....she's lookin' like she had a little plastic surgery so I need to fix that face! There may even be another figure, or parts of, in the empty spaces too. (it's not that yellow either haha)

Thoughts???

jk!

So, the last posting didn't work so well...the picture would NOT turn right-side-up no matter what I did. So I retook it and am trying to repost it now.

Ok, so here is a piece that I guess is pretty much done....for now. :) I used water-soluble graphite on a panel. I'm happy with it - I experimented beyond my comfort zone, so that's good. The nice things happening in the hair/shoulder area would never have been done by me on purpose, so the use of water really helped me to take more risks and let things happen on their own.

Ugh...

It's been FOREVER since I posted on here...sorry. I've gotten a little 'in my head', if you will. I have so many new pictures to put on here, but for now, I'm going to list a few upcoming art thingies that you all should check out. Seems like a lot of galleries are on the same schedule - lots of openings on the same night!! Make a date night of it - go see them!
xo

SAN DIEGO AREA

Thumbprint Gallery, San Diego

Website: http://thumbprintgallerysd.weebly.com/index.html

Scott Saw and Nick McPherson

Nov 13 – Dec 5

Next: “Dreams and Dimensions” – Franky Agostino and Jimmy Ovadia

Opening: Sat, Dec 11 6-10pm runs Dec 11 – Jan 2

ProjectX Gallery, Solana Beach

Website: http://www.projectxart.com/shows/

L2:M2:S2 Tripletake

(Long Le + Mike Maas + Steve Saiz) Nov 13 – Dec 10

Next: “Defragmentation” - Michele Guieu

Opening: Sat, Dec 11, 6-10pm runs Dec 11 – Jan 14

Distinction Gallery, Escondido

Website: http://www.distinctionart.com/upcoming.html

Upcoming: Mike Maxwell, Daryll Peirce, Chris Murray.

Opening: Jan 8 6-10pm runs Jan 8 – Feb 2

Noel – Baza Fine Art, San Diego

Website: http://www.noel-bazafineart.com/Noel-Baza_Fine_Art___India_Street_Gallery/Bare,_Naked_%26_Nude.html

“Bare, Naked and Nude” –

Multiple artists, thru Dec 18

** Special: Hugo Croswaithe will be in the gallery on Dec 11 from 1 – 5pm drawing on his model’s body

ORANGE CNTY / L.A. AREA

Sarah Bain Gallery, Anaheim

Website: http://www.sarahbaingallery.com/

“Crestfallen” Pamela Wilson

Nov 2 – Nov 27

Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City

Website: http://www.coreyhelfordgallery.com/#/home/

“The Keepers of Creation”, Melissa Forman

Nov 13 – Dec 4

Upcoming: “Shapeshifter”, Sylvia Ji

Opening: Sat, Dec 11

Copro Gallery, Santa Monica

Website: http://www.copronason.com/

Chris Peters “Live and Let Die”

Mark Garro “Psychopomp and Circumstance”

Nov 13 – Dec 4

Upcoming: “Playboy Redux II” Contemp Artists reinterpret the bunny icon

Opening: Dec 18 8 – 11:30 runs thru Jan 6

Other artists: Kukula and Leila Ataya

Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City

Website: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2010/11/

5 Year Anniv Show, incl artists like Audrey Kawasaki & Natalia Fabia

Nov 6 – 27

Upcoming: “The New Realism” artists: Aaron Nagel, Linnea Strid, Nathan DeYoung, Jeff Ramirez, Jennifer Nehrbas, Pakayla Rae Biehn

Opening: Sat, Dec 11 7 – 10pm runs thru Dec 31

New piece....

This one is in the beginning stages...but excited about it!

New class project

Here is the new Pictorial Space class project - bird's eye view this time.

I was proud of myself...got a LOT more done in the first class period this time! Now I'm just refining as I go - I need to create some more space though. All the shadows are the same and it needs to go back into space more - I am going to lighten up the darks in her leg area more I think.

pics 1 & 2 - day 1 - check out my cross contours all you Conservatory-ers who had my class! :)
pic 3 - 2 class periods on it. Teacher made me add the shoe...I guess it balances out the composition a bit more.
pic 4 - 3 class periods on it (just need to finish the mirror and work on some depth)

gone too long

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything...I have NO idea where the time went. It flies. Seriously...it's MIDTERMS???? What?

Anyways...here are some experiments I did with plexiglass.

* The first one is an oil stick drawing in plexi
* 2nd - a color drawing underlay - with plexi on top (looks a little too comic booky to me)
* 3rd - a tonal drawing on brown paper with plexi over it (with minimal oil stick - just to lay in the dark tones for the drawing)

What do you think? My mentor said that I need to concentrate more on making a solid drawing and not playing around with the materials and surface as much. But I like where this is going.....I just need to really refine.

Off to LA...will post my new drawings for that class tomorrow. xo