Playing With Watercolors

I tried my hand with another watercolor that is looser than my last. The small format is not optimal, but it's a good way to play around with ideas. I still have some work to do on this, but here is my progress so far:

Goal Assessment

NEXT ACTIONS AND PROJECTS COMPLETED IN THE LAST MONTH:

1) made two creative gestures - watercolor
2) cut open old watercolor tubes
3) created AIR spreadsheet 
4) completed data entry from 2 Sculpture magazines into spreadsheet
5) watched video on Pomodoro technique
6) applied to Djerassi artist-in-residency program
7) made a few corrections to website
8) attended art opening for Gutai at SFAI
9) organized collage folders
10) attended Creative Capital workshop
11) attended Creative Capital party and made connections with other artists
12) worked on "You're W, I'm W, Repeat" project for one night
13) delivered magazine to collaborator, Sarah Smith
14) made several entries to art blog
15) assigned next actions to upcoming goals
16) prioritized list for art studio tasks
17) study and research art manifestos
18) made quick sketch for small mixed-media sculpture
19) scheduled upcoming figure drawing sessions

UPCOMING GOALS:

1) Participate in 2 AIR's per year
NA: work for 10 hours on data entry into spreadsheet

2) improve art studio to have a clutter-free environment
NA: get more cardboard boxes
- pack workspace into storage space
- fix floor
- get 5 gallons of white
- paint walls

3) visit art studio
NA: schedule 4 days

4) update website to be slick, clear w/ large and delicious photos
NA: find example of artist's website

5) participate in a group art show 2-3 times/year
NA: research "calls for art"
- start spreadsheet with website resources
- email other artists

6) create spreadsheet for art exercises from book

SOMEDAY/MAYBE:

1) start a museum gallery called MoDaD
NA: research on-line for examples
- create website

2) curate a mourning show
NA: gather names of artists
- find gallery space
- get funding

3) visit Hair Museum
NA: look up research and travel grants
- create spreadsheet

Djerassi Application Completed

I am always surprised how draining it is to complete applications for artist-in-residency programs, proposals, and especially grants. Glad to have the Djerassi application finished.

I wish I had an artist assistant that could help me. They would take care of all my administrative work, update my mailing lists, photoshop pics for my website, grantwriting, research AIR's, and most importantly, clean my studio!

Watercolor Completed

I finished this creative gesture today and am somewhat disappointed in it. I find it too finicky and want to create watercolors that are looser. I also wish I would have taken in-progress photos. A lesson learned for next time.

Watercolor Revival

After organizing my collage materials, I decided to tackle another project. I have a bunch of dried-up tubes of watercolors. Using an Xacto blade I cut them open so that I can use them straight from the containers. I still have a dozen more to finish.

Collage Organization

I have a huge pile of magazine pages that I've torn out, waiting to be used for collages. Tonight I organized them into themed envelopes, such as "Skin", "Meat", "Gems", etc. I still have a large orange folder to complete and three large magazines to peruse and extract more pages.

Djerassi Application

I am in the process of applying to the Djerassi Artist in Residency program and I must admit I am flailing. They ask for a project proposal while in residency and am having trouble articulating. If I were completely honest, I don't know exactly what I propose to do, but rather to explore and improvise while there. I'm sure this would not instill confidence in the panel, but I seriously have no idea what I would like to do. Instead I want to take a bunch of materials with me to manipulate, play, create, burn, tangle, wrestle, and caress. I'm sure there would be billowing blackness and deep-felt mourning. With great anxiety, I would sit in solitude with anatomy books and ponder my interior. Perhaps this would culminate in a painting or a small sculpture. Perhaps I would even be left with dread and thanatophobia. At the very least, I would hope to experience some quiet with birds, trees, and if lucky, a deer.

Art Opening Attended

Tonight, I made an appearance at the largely attended art opening for the Gutai exhibit at SFAI.





I was excited to view the show and intrigued to see the live performances scheduled for the event. Unfortunately, I did not care for the performances due to issues I had with appropriation by the white performer. I felt it was cheeky and disrespectful of the original gestures from the 60's.

On the other hand, the show itself featured some really beautiful paintings and photos from this important art movement. I will go back to see it again.

Shiraga Kazuo
Challenging Mud, 1955 (2nd execution)

JEREMIAH JENKINS
Challenging Mud—2013, 2013

JEREMIAH JENKINS
Challenging Mud—2013, 2013

Saburo Murakami
Tsuka (Passage), 1956

Guy Overfelt
Passing Through Moto Redux, 2013

Kazuo Shiraga
Chisonsei Isshika, 1960
oil on canvas

Chisonsei Isshika, 1960 (detail)

Kazuo Shiraga
Red, 1999

Art Collective Schedule

I am creating a working schedule for my new art collective. Here is my first draft for a 2.5 hours meeting (11:00am–1:30pm):

11:00–11:03   3 min.             Silence
11:03–11:23   5 min. each    Personal check-in
1:00–1:20       5 min. each    Next actions: name intentions and future next actions
11:23–11:43   5 min. each    Professional check-in: goal progress, next actions progress, accountability
11:43–12:45   1 hour            Work: discussion topic, exercise, creative time
12:45–1:00     15 min.          Writing
1:20–1:30       10 min.          Opportunities: deadlines, upcoming art events, films, projects

Work: I propose we share our notes on the 3 group manifestos we reviewed and then begin defining our goals for the group. In other words, to begin to clarify our needs. What do you want from the group? What do you want to accomplish? What are your short term goals? What are you long term goals?

AIR Research

For the last couple of weeks, I have been still been working on my spreadsheet for Artist in Residency programs. It is really time consuming, but once done I will have a comprehensive list of potential programs.