Playing...

....with contours and lines. Rivers and cities are some of my favorite things to sketch.

Book Pages Make Great Canvases

When you are poor, and just can't afford quality art materials, one starts to look around their house to see what they can use. I started doing this some time ago, and have since preferred to paint on non-canvas material.

Canvas has never been a favorite of mine since I stick to acrylic, and I don't like how the weave of the canvas shows through the painting. For a while, I painted on wood and cardboard, but then found that book pages were great to paint on. Especially old book pages because books were typically made with a better paper and are more durable. Not to mention, it's kind of a cool effect to have words behind your painting whether or not they have anything to do with your image.

This book I found for $3.00 at The Curiosity Shoppe on S. 4th Street in Philadelphia was titled "The European Discovery of America, Northern Voyages A.D. 500-1600" was filled with 700 perfect size pages including interesting images of old maps and ships. $3.00 for essentially 350 canvases sounded like a good deal to me.

Right now these paintings are just on the loose paper, but it would be great to find a way to either fasten them to something hard like a piece of wood without ruining the painting, or find a great fame that will fit it's unique dimensions. My favorite ones are of the two above guitars, and the spinning bright orange glasses.

Sunflower

I have an affinity for mixed media, and the only thing in my house besides this single canvas was a brown paper bag. So I ripped up pieces, "Mod-Podged" them to the canvas, and started to paint away. I'm not one who looks for perfection in art; I just want to paint something that is interesting to look at. Although this is reminiscent of something I could have made in elementary school, it is still one of my favorite pieces for some unknown reason. Beth's Sunflower > Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Haha, not really, but this painting reminds me of when I saw his "Sunflowers" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art the very last weekend I lived up north. It was stunning to say the least.

"Sunflower"
April 4, 2008
Philadelphia, Pa.

The City (Sketches)

I lived in Philadelphia for a year (summer of 2007 to summer of 2008). While the city in the end did not meet my needs, I was very inspired by the architecture, crumbling buildings, broken sidewalks, murals, mosaics, and basically the "beauty in the breakdown." Sometimes I would just stop mid-walk in the city and stare at a beautiful building that was falling apart, and wishing I had a camera with me. I found myself creating a lot of sketches based around my observations.

This first sketch was based on some photographs I took in Philadelphia and New York City. Two of those images eventually ended up being used in paintings, and I plan for the third one to be used in a future painting. I very much enjoy using a pen to sketch, although for this one I sketched out the images first in pencil.

A True Art Museum

The sketch below was based off of a very random finding of one of the most bizarre and magical art museums that I happened to run into while in a north west Philly neighborhood: The Ellen Tiberino Museum. If you are ever in the area, and want a true Philly art experience, this is the place to go. I felt like I had stepped into an artists' oasis, with an outside garden area workshop, and full pieces just hanging out all over the place. The museum is the backyard of the Tiberino family who still lives there, and hosts monthly parties in their backyards with new art showings and performances. Too bad I didn't discover this wild gem earlier.



Faces, Drinks, and Taxi Cabs

Partly based on memory of often seen faces; partly based on Jim Jarmusch's film, Night on Earth.


Here's a song from the movie:



Beer, Cigs, and Broken Sidewalks

Broken sidewalks were the norm in West Philadelphia. As were little places to buy beer, snacks, and cigs. This sketch (perspective off) was not based on any specific store, but more of a collective of images in my head. I think that day I was very down and out about how broken everything was, and the unkempt buildings and yards.


The more I look at this sketch again, the more I am remembering that this was not a great day for me. I put a heavy emphasis on the details of neglect, and often my sketches had put an emphasis on the fascinating architecture. I believe I did this sketch either at the brutal, unbearable end of summer, or a cold winter day. Funny I cannot remember.

Hello.

Once upon a time (before age 17) I planned on going to college and majoring in studio art. My father had given me bedtime art lessons since as far back as I can remember. Then, in high school, I fell in love with another art form that I ended up going to college for, and spending the 2 years after college working in non-profit regional theatre. During college, I found that I abandoned my previous love of art, and recently have decided that it is something I want to get back into. This blog is dedicated to all of my sketches, works in progress, doodles, and final paintings. Nothing is perfect, and maybe you won't even like it, but I'm putting it out there for all to see. To See. Not To Steal. If you share these images or posts with anyone, please credit me. Thank you for your time.