Art as Therapy

Back In Massachusetts

2010-05-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

I've recently returned to Massachusetts to complete my degree with an internship at a local hospital. I currently work with children afterschool who are diagnosed with mental illness and learning disabiliities. The work these children have done is striking, as I become more aware of the power of art. Unfortunately, I do not have the ethical permission to post their images up here, as much as I would like to share them. Therefore, the purpose of this blog might start to transform into more work completed by me in response to their work.

I plan on posting some images soon from art I did while in Santa Fe. Amazingly, though, I threw out most of my drawings from classes because I did not feel the need to keep them considering I processed the material the art contained. I hope to continue this blog for a while longer, but am unclear as to what it will end up looking like in the near future.

HELLO!!

2009-02-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

I have had no time to paint!!! For myself at least, but at the encouragement of my therapist and fellow classmates, and my parents, I have begun the painting process again. However, now I am trying to attempt my painting sessions without guilt, expectations, criticism, etc. We'll see what comes out of this. I will post photos soon....

Tinneburg Abbey, Wales, UK

2008-03-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is a very small drawing I did of Tinneburg Abbey in Wales, UK. Done from a photo as I have never been there, it's not entirely accurate, but I enjoyed creating it with its vibrant and energetic colors.

AnnMarie Sculpture Gardens, February 2008

2008-03-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

My family and I visited the AnnMarie Sculpture Gardens in Solomons, MD during Feb. vacation and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The Gardens is a walking tour through the woods, with sculptures dotting the path deep in the trees or directly off the path. A personal favorite of mine was the search for small tree stumps with tiny reproductions of famous art pieces hidden amongst the trees. Everywhere we looked there would be a new one, and most we could identify as Botticelli, Dali, Stella, Magritte, Picasso, etc. The Gardens are very beautiful and deserve numerous trips throughout the year based on the seasons.

New England Fauvism

2007-10-16T12:35:00.001-07:00

I'm back in the drawing saddle again, as I create examples of work for students to gauge their own progress in work and to realize they too can draw like this! I'm realizing that if I want to create art, at least for the time being, a cheap, efficient, and just as effective means would be through drawing using oil pastels...I call them paint in a stick and that's as close as I can get to the real deal!
Anyways, I taught my students about Fauvism and how they incorporated bright and bold colors into their work to express emotions. One of my favorite art groups (and so short lived!), I believe what the Fauves had to offer can still be utilized today for those students whose creativty is blocked by stigma, ego, or low self-esteem. It helps them experiment with more colors than just the normal palette as well as to view the world in a completely different perspective!!
I beleive New England autumns are ideal for such creative pursuits as the changing colors provoke the use of brighter colors and seeing such reds, yellows, and oranges in everyday life can help them feel more comfortable when creating an imaginitive scene.
So, this is my example and I like it very much, however, I'm concerned it might look chinsy? Too colorful, or too cliche? I hope that is only my internalized rationalizations speaking out and not my true self!!

2007-09-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

These are two other paintings that were in my show back in May, which I never got to post on here. I do not have these anymore! They are living in very good homes in Carrollton and Dallas, Texas! Both stemmed from similar ideas and came out similarly--- creating the grooved circle and then applying oil pastel on top to enhance the quality of that circle. The top image was referred to as imagery of the "beginning of the cosmos" (thank you Dr. Eaker!), even though it has no defining title! However, I was quite pleased with that comment and cherish it as a compliment!

Still Life Drawing

2007-07-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

Even though this is an aside from my usual work of abstraction, I enjoy drawing realistically, if not with a flare for fauvism. I had this still life set up for my drawing classes at the summer school and could not ignore the urge to draw it myself. I oftentimes use too many lines when I create an image such as this, but it is an ongoing process of overcoming this sort of "safety blanket" of too many lines to hide my fear of incorrectly drawing the subject. (And I tend to use too many words to describe it, too!)
Anyways, I was pleased with the outcome, and had fun photographing the details to illuminate the build up of lines and colors that shape the subjects themselves.
Also, I have realized that this swelling urge to draw should not be ignored, as it is akin to the urge to show appreciation for gifts you have received and using them wisely and positively.

Senior Exhibit

2007-05-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

These are a majority of pieces in the senior show, which sadly came down May 13th. I didn't realize how much of myself was in the show until I started peeling off my name and show title with a razor and flicking the vinyl letters into a garbage can. But I believe the show was beautiful and well worth all the trouble and stress!! Would I do it again, absolutely! (Only wiser!!)

Process of the Process

2007-05-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've come through to the finish line, and my senior exhibit launched on April 30, 2007 as the "Process of the Process" in the Upper Gallery. I passed orals and have 10 paintings up in representation of my thesis investigation into texture, color, and initmacy with paint. Although all very different, all have common thought threads that transcend the ordinary, as is visible in my artist statement:

My work visually articulates moments of inspiration that transcend ordinary life. I take a moment of inspiration and process it intuitively through developing texture and color to enhance the surface and create a plane which the viewer can experience. A tangible texture is created by adding sawdust or layering oil pastels over embedded circles. Focusing on the creation of marks through the process of developing the planar surface is as important as the final product.

Furthermore, below the physcial layers of paint and sawdust and oil pastels, is the spiritual belief that art has a purpose to it, and creating it through a process of initial inspiration, thought, delivery, and completion, one exists in each moment and continues to exist in the painting long after the painting is completed. And from experiencing the painting(s), one may find inspiration for themselves as an artist or as a human being, to feel more positive about life and living it.

Coffee and the Beatles

2007-03-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

This painting is entitled, "Coffee and the Beatles" and records my calm afternoon experience listening to the Beatles' album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and drinking coffee in my favorite mug adorned with Monet's painting of Venice which used primarily blues and oranges and from which I hearkened my inspiration.

Although the inspiration for this piece came primarily from that afternoon, I worked through the painting as a way of manipulating paint as a form and blending hues of blue to eventually focus the purpose of the painting on the orange in the bottom right corner. I used a palette knife for all the textural build up, and a fan brush to create the circles, arbitrarily but evenly distributed throughout. This painting also brought into play the use of sawdust and wood chips as a second medium mixed with the paint to create a more tangible texture.

I consider this piece so far, the most successful of the semester and use it as a center point from which to fan out and explore other relationships of texture and color; all the while still relating to my personal self in the process of painting.

Separation Anxiety

2007-03-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

One day, I was feeling extremely nostalgic about my time here at UD, as it has been 4 amazing years devoted to studies and developing strong relationships with my friends. I considered what my feelings were and realized that I had layers of emotions cradled in the arms of nostalgia, and unfortunately pressured by separation anxiety. I began working on a painting, and the first one to come out of this understanding of my emotions was the deep blue-purple piece directly above. I was actually working backwards; these paintings represent the stages of that separation anxiety and the first painting was the last stage of how I would feel --- that of a tranquil acceptance of the changes occurred.

The next painting I engaged in starts from the initial reaction to the realization of separation anxiety (middle red painting). In thie regard, I considered my pain of leaving the UD environment as my life had indeed revolved so much around it. I brought myself to a deeper self-awareness of how my physiology would be affected by separation anxiety and I realized that I would be short of breath, flushed feeling, and literally feeling "cut-off" from the environment. I say "cut-off" because when you realize that you will not be seeing these same people, or doing these things you are accustomed to, the heartfelt bonds feel severed and there creeps into your soul a seemingly irreparable vacuity. Therefore, I created this painting with textured paint (oil paint mixed with wood chips and sawdust), and primarily used my palette knife to create the chopped-up texture. I also tried blending several shades of red to indicate the varying degrees of my emotions and to add some depth to the composition.

The painting I next completed (and last of the series!), is one about memories. I did this painting with my fingers, (don't do it with your fingers unless you have skin barrier cream or gloves on!) as I wanted to actually be in the painting throughout the process. Process is critical for me, as it is in that realm of creating that I understand why I am painting this painting and who I am as a person that is painting this piece. Therefore, the texture and strokes in the paint are created completely from my fingers. The multitude of colors reflects all my memories from UD reoccurring all at once in my mind as I realize that nostalgia cloaked in separation anxiety forces all the emotions out at once, colliding and careening all over the canvas.

Hence, the order in which the pieces will be displayed is "Separation Anxiety: Initial Pain", "Separation Anxiety: Memories", and "Separation Anxiety: Tranquil Acceptance".

"Remembering the Feeling of the Earth"

2007-03-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I let my head get too high in the clouds and I need to create something that is more "down to earth" so to speak, and this piece came out of that thought. It's like floating back down to earth and remember the colors that are of the earth, with greens, dark yellows, reds, and browns and how they intermingle.

"History Repeats Itself" -- the full image

2007-03-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is simply the full-size image from the previous post.

"History Repeats Itself"

2007-03-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

These are all close-up images from a painting I recently did in response to visiting the Holocaust Museum here in Dallas. The painting is titled, "History Repeats Itself", as I realized that even though the human race vowed never again to allow such genocide or hatred to happen again, it is indeed still happening, especially in Darfur. The colors represent blood, sadness, despair, and textures throughout the piece indicate painful emotions from such events.

Fall Semester Tribulations

2007-03-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

I painted these three pieces last semester in a search for some transcendental truth about art and how I believe my art should portray itself. They all seem to have a central source of light that I wanted to pull the viewer into the painting. However, it seemed fruitless as I had several problems with form, light, and direction of the content. The piece on the far right is unresolved, and remains to be so as I could never come to a clear breakthrough in this painting's "truth". Also, all three paintings are large, hovering around the range of 3-5 feet in length, and 2-3 feet in heighth. These paintings took too long to do, and did not produce the end result I felt justified my original ideas for soul-searching through art. Therefore, I moved to smaller and more efficient-sized paintings that seem to have proved their worth in my search through art.

Geometric Painting

2007-02-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

2007-02-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

2007-02-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

I did this painting lsat year as a response to how I was feeling that particular day. I used many shades of red to express my varied levels of emotion.

Response to Emotions Paintings

2007-02-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

Both of these paintings were done at the same time as I was realizing a new method and purpose to my paintings. I felt an inspiration for painting and decided to use vibrant colors and layers of circles filled with color to express this excitement and joy of painting.

2007-02-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing I did a few weeks ago with India Ink, Oil Pastel, and Soft Pastel. It is basically an energy drawing done very quickly and deliberately.

Walden Pond

2007-02-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

This is a photo I took when I visited Walden Pond in Massachusetts over Christmas break. I really enjoy reading Walden: Or Life in the Woods and find spiritual inspiration from his work. Walden Pond is most beautiful in the fall when the trees around the Pond are vibrantly changing colors and leaves cascade down onto the water in reds, oranges, and yellows.