Just an update

I am not good at keeping this blog updated, I need to put some frequency in my postings. Just making a quick post to keep you updated. Currently I'm working on a piece, I'm also running low on canvases so I need to acquire more soon. Been working on creating a youtube show on my cracked lemonade channel. Hopefully that will be up by the end of the week because I'm hoping to make it something I frequently do. I guess sometimes you have to put deadlines on yourself. I had another post that I was going to put up but it is incomplete so hopefully I will finish writing it and will post it at a later date. I'm trying my best to stay focused and keep busy and hoping all this will pay off someday. Sorry for such a short post, but I will go back to my normal postings soon.

Art Evolution

I love how many people will say that a picture is worth a thousand words but never acknowledge the inverse. The fact of the matter is that words can incite numerous images and thoughts in a person’s head. Words develop many different connotations as time progresses based on society and your surroundings. An example of this is the connotation of artists in this day and age. Many consider the archaic starving artist motif as well as misunderstand the creative power of artists. There is a high demand on the creative juices of those who can create and there is also an expected frequency in such creative actions. The fact is that some artists can hold up to frequent creativity and it takes others to receive that inspiration for them to go to the next creative state. If you are wondering where this is going, I’m gonna talk about my art of course.

  

The first painting completed from the Dane vs. Dane series

                Currently I have one completed series and am currently working on another series. It makes me feel good to say I have a number of completed paintings and to have so much stuff in the works. In a way, I feel backed up because I’ve been traveling which slows down various aspects of production in a number of ways. It seems as though I have a better understanding of my work long after completing it. It also seems like I really only understand what was going through my mind after the painting is done and I have time to sit down and reflect. In many ways I was deriving words from my imagery to help explain what I was trying to portray to the viewer. The writing only goes so far though, due to the fact that people are different and are going to develop meaning based on their experiences. This is where the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” comes into play. This is an aspect of art where the audience participates by reacting and acting with the piece. As an artist, it is an interesting aspect to view people in a gallery setting reacting to artwork. I can’t speak for every artist, but when people react to my artwork I thoroughly enjoy it. Personally, I find it interesting to see people react with other artists work as well, but there is something about when it is your own. I guess I would say it’s the challenging of my artwork that I really like, or maybe the discussion. Either way, I’m moving away from the point.

The Skecth for one of the first paintings from what is tentatively called Dane vs. Dane 2

The incomplete painting

                At the beginning of this blog I spoke about the inverse of a picture being worth a thousand words. I usually find this to be true during the creative process. Sometimes there isn’t always an image to put on a piece of paper directly from your brain to present to the world. Sometimes there is a cerebral process often known as brainstorming that takes place. Recently I have been in a bit of a slump without actually being quite in a slump. I was still sketching and coming up with some ideas, but I wasn’t painting and I didn’t feel like writing much. I took this period of time and it went from being about creation to being about introspection. I was examining my art work and the stories I want to portray in them for the purpose of changing a couple of artist statements of those paintings.  This is important because most time it is the story that sells the artwork more than the artwork itself. To be honest, most times the image comes before I develop a story to accompany. There are times in which I am inspired by a word or concept and I try to develop artwork around it. An example of this is when I first heard Linkin Park’s CD reanimation and I was completely into the concept of reanimating or reinventing yourself so I spent a majority of the time listening to that CD and trying to change the direction of my artwork.

another sketch from Dane vs. Dane 2

                While I was in Pittsburgh I overheard a conversation between two musicians about making albums and putting things together. There was advice being handed out in this conversation about putting together a demo. This advice given holds to visual artists as well and it’s to keep producing and perfecting your craft and things will begin to fit together and there will be some things that won’t fit but you can use those for other projects. I didn’t paint the paintings I had with the intent of creating a series, I created and at the end I had several pieces that had similar meanings and basically share a theme so that became my first series. My first series is entitled Dane vs. Dane: An Introspective look or Dane vs. Dane Part 1 for brevity purposes. The series has to deal with stress and emotions I was going through during my undergraduate studies. The title of the series was more or less inspired by the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World when Scott encounters Nega Scott and has to face him by himself (minus going out to brunch with myself). Originally I had planned for the Dane vs. Dane part 2 to deal with artwork and imagery I created before I went to college and I made the decision to become an artist. The only problem with that was you can’t always dictate where your art is going. I had that idea for part 2 only to make newer stuff based off of where my life was going at the time. This became the series I’m working on right now Dane vs. Dane Part 2 which is only the tentative title. Dane vs. Dane Part 2 began with a painting that I am still working on that was inspired by The Root’s album Rising Down and it evolved into other pieces including one I am tentatively calling “Sacrifice” because it deals with me giving my life to art. Other imagery in this second series either deal with concepts closely relating to death and dreams, it gets very surreal and I thoroughly hope to get what imagery I have sketched turned into paintings sooner rather than later. The theme came from the fact that I’m moving from one avenue of life to the next and there are things that are going to change for one reason or another. Hopefully I will be able to bring the retrospective concept back for my third series of paintings. Gotta focus on one thing at a time for the time being, and right now that is my second series. 

I will continue to work on this series as well as try to keep this blog updated.