Testing colours

 

Had a decent play around with colours, and colour combinations at my oil painting class on Tuesday morning. Managed to get paint EVERYWHERE (as per usual), but came out with some test paper and trials that I'm pretty happy with. Can't wait to start on some bigger pictures!

TED: Simon Sinek

This is the video that inspired my last blog post (which is only just an offset of a thought sparked at the very beginning of the speech)

Seriously, I recommend you watch. Such an aspiring speaker and his ideas can be applied to many shapes and forms of life

Why Do You Get Out Of Bed In The Morning?

Watching a TED talk recently (in attempt to find inspiration to write my artists statement) the speaker, Simon Sinek, raised a point that while simple, profoundly hit home in my mind.

That question was "Why do you get out of bed in the morning?"

He talks about the fact that most people know what they do, and how they do it, but very few people can explain why.
So when posed with the question- Why do I get out of the bed in the morning? -my reasoning descended from confidence to confusion incredibly quickly.

We all know that we awake from our slumber in the general hours we consider to be morning. We go about our day and then go to sleep at night. Any behaviour that doesn't conform to the cycle is considered 'unusual'. But WHY?
Because we're told to do so? Because its what we've always done? Because it's what everyone else does? Because getting up in the morning serves a purpose (to our lives or to others)?

Sure, if you delve deeper into the question you can come up with logical answers of how our ancestors had to make use of the daylight hours to hunt and gather. Its just human nature. Its in our DNA.
But this information is no longer relevant to our modern lives of technological advancements and non existent socialization constraints. We possess the capabilities to get whatever we what, whenever we want. Our habitual waking routine serves no fundamental benefits to us. It has it become a societal ritual that we have never bothered questioning. You could probably spend the entire day in bed, and still have access to all your daily needs and desires.

So the question now turns to what purpose does getting out of bed really serve? What are you doing in your day that is any different to what you did yesterday? Or the day before that? (which "conforming to predetermined behavioural cycles" is by all means, a legitimate answer)

So I'm curious to know- Why do YOU get out of bed in the morning?

New Pathways: Illustration

While I love drawing 'realistic' pictures, I've been feeling a need to explore a more creative approach to drawing- so I've been working on a new style of sorts that lets me be a little more expressive with my (cliche) hippie side. I've found a few super inspiring artists to follow and study and quite unexpectedly developed my own kind of style in the process.

It has been super fun playing around with ideas and developing techniques in this style. I also feel that it opens so many more doors for me in the creative industry (and in such a competitive industry it never hurts to have different options available to you).

I look forward to being able to show you more work like this in the future.

Exciting News Of the Art Competition Kind

About 6pm on Monday I opened up my emails to check on the array of email subscriptions (I've found that signing up to the weekly newsletters of sites like ArtBiz and EmptyEasel super helpful to both the creative development of my work, but also the more 'business-y' side of things as well), and to my delight, saw an email informing me that the painting I had entered into the WSA National Youth Art Awards had been selected as a finalist.

Needless to say I was stoked.

From Friday 27^th September, until Monday 28^th October there will be a gallery exhibition at the ArtsPost Gallery - 120 Victoria Street, Hamilton, New Zealand - showcasing all the finalists work ranging in ages between 15 and 27 years. If you're in the neighbourhood, I highly advise for you to pop in and check it out.

Untitled
Acrylic Paint on Canvas
24”x24”

ArtsPost Gallery, Hamilton, NZ

A Point To Remember

I recently stumbled across the poetry of Charles Bukowski in my endless internet endeavours. The name was one that I recognized, but the work associated with it was an unfamiliar territory.
Whilst reading through a collection of his works, "Upon Reading A Critical Review" was one poem that really stood out to me. Quite often as an artist, even before you have finished one piece/body of work and idea, you have already moved on to the next thing to capture your attention. This can cause varying amounts of frustration when all other people can see is the older, decaying ideas that no longer spur your artistic capabilities. All you want to do is show them the inside of your brain, to say "Look! Look how many better ideas are to come", when they get caught up in things no longer relevant to you or the art you are producing.
To me, this poem captures that sense of creative progression in a very simple, but powerful and clever way.

upon reading a critical review
by charles bukowski  

it's difficult to accept
and you look around the room
for the person they are talking
about. 

he's not there
he's not here.
he's gone.

by the time they get your book you
are no longer your 
book.
you are on the next page,
the next
book.

and worse,
they don't even get the old books right.
you are given credit for things you don't 
deserve, for insights that aren't 
there. 

people read themselves into books, altering
what they need and discarding what they
don't.

good critics are as rare as good
writers.
and whether I get a good review or a
bad one
I take neither
seriously.

I am on the next page.
the next book.