So this week for you guys I am posting two links for you that I found very informative in researching black history.
The links are:
Link #1 Black History Month time line from early slavery to affirmative action.
Link #2 Another good place to start researching.
I know this is a short post but next week I will have a longer post to close out black history month. I might include a few bios on some of my favorite black historical figures. I hope you guys Comeback to enjoy it.
-Namaste
Is Black History month still relevant? Think about it a sec...How many of you actually remembered that it was Black History Month? Here we almost halfway through the month and it doesn't feel like Black History Month. I have seen a few things on the interwebs related to Black History Month but nothing major. Its like it has been eradicated from the lexicon of our collective brains. I remember when I was a kid it was everywhere. There was commercials, shows and promotions geared around Black History Month. Now not so much.
Is it because it is ingrained in our heads to celebrate the history of our people not just in February but every month of the year? Is it because supposedly "the American black" has increasingly advanced beyond where we used to be? What do you guys think? I wonder if because we are placing so much emphasis on the financial downfall/public outcry towards the government the last few years to pay attention to "any" of our history months, I.e. Black, Women, and Latino. Again, I wonder what you guys think about that
Well I for one will be doing my part this month. The last two weeks of the month I am going to try and have my post geared towards African American history from an artist perspective. I am still going to probably post pics of what I am working on right now but I will also talk a little about artists that have made a difference to me and artist that have influenced me. I hope you guys find it informative.
-Namaste
Hello faithful few, I am feeling a lot better this week. It's been exactly a week since we buried my Mom. I am still dealing with that internal but I am feeling quite inspired and motivated to making sure I do what I have to do to be more productive and to move forward with my life. No more excuses. No more holding back. This is actually the third blog I have written the past 2 days; the second one today. My other two blogs can be found here and here. Feel free to follow them as well. I don't update them as frequently as I do this one but I do occasionally post to them. My post on those blogs are more random. So let's get to discussing some good ol' art.
This week I have two pieces of work that I would like to share with you guys. The first piece is from my series of work that I started on a few weeks ago involving Lynching and the second piece is an abstract piece. I have yet to decide where the second piece fit in with what I have been trying to do. I can say that the 2nd one was born out of an exchange with me and the GF. So without further ado...
The topmost picture is the finished image. I included a close-up pic for you guys so you could see more of how I moved the medium around and also see how I let some of the texture of the paper show through.
Now the second piece is still a work in progress. I can tell you guys that it is the same piece from my last post of last year. You can find that post "richea" The first image is what I came up with after multiple applications of paint and masking off of areas.
The next image is what the painting looks like after I have removed all of the masking tape.
The last three images are just details of the full image. The two sides and down the center of the image.
The left side...
The right side...
And the final image, down the center...
One day I will get myself I better digital camera so I can take higher res photos for you guys. I used my iPad to take these pictures and it didn't really do the pics a lot of justice. I mean in some of the detail photos you can still see the multiple layers and textures but at a higher resolution, you can really see the depth of this piece. In person it has a lot of energy and vibrancy. In some spots of the painting, I am thinking about going in and pulling back out some of the hard edges. Through the miracle of modern technology, I am going to undertake this task without actually altering the image. That way I can see if it really needs it or if I should leave it as is. And as usual, whatever I do, I will be sure to inform you guys of the progress. Until next week...
-Namaste
Today was one of the hardest days of my life. Today we laid my mother to rest. I rarely talk about my family life on here, so for me this is a really tough post. I loved my mother dearly and she will be missed...
I recently watched a bit of an artist lecture that Kerry James Marshall which I found quite intriguing. In the brief clip that I saw, he talked about getting to a point that his work was where he wanted it to be. When he got to that point he was older than I am right now, which for me gave me useful insight into where I am and where I am going in my own work. I am always worried about when I'll reach the moment when I feel my work is really clicking. Every year when we turn the calendar year, it seems like I am going to myself; "This is the year". I think I get too caught up in the "...it's now or never" to see that I can't try and force the work. When I try doing that I end up getting to caught up in over think and over analyzing my work, which leads me to be overly critical and eventually abandoning a concept that has been good for me up to that point.
I need to focus more on finishing the work and not wondering too much on whether or not I have made that piece that will make or break me as an artist. Most artist will know what I mean when I say this but "I need to get in a childlike mindset" when creating work. For those of you who might not understand that statement, kids when creating art tend to make work that makes them happy or they make work where they don't fuss to much over details or getting everything perfect. For them it's all about making something that they can be proud of or something that they can take home and hang on the fridge for all to see. Kids are great at creating things more out of love because they haven't got that handle on color schemes and juxtaposing images and/or marks yet. To them any mark they make is a work of art and they are pleased with it. Having that great childlike innocence is something that helps them to stay honest in their magical little creations. It's something that a lot of us artist try to maintain as we learn and become more self-aware as artists. It's so easy to get caught up in over thinking and analyzing our work, that we get lost in why we started creating in the first place.
The more I try to get back to basics in my work, the more I feel like I am letting the work resolve itself. And that makes for good art-making...
-Namaste
Hello faithful few. In the time since my last post I have gotten a little older. No really. I am older. My birthday was Thursday. :). I am getting closer to another milestone in this thing that we call life. Its again time that I take a look and my life and see where I stand. Where do I need to be? What do I need to do to get there and how am I going to get there...I definitely am getting to that point where I have to be more of a doer than a thinker.
One think I have always prided myself on was, that I am a great thinker. One downside of that is that I am prone to over think things. Or I tend to think too much which leads to me not take many chances. And we all know that you have to at some point in your life take the proverbial "leap of faith". I'd like to believe that as I get older I am opening myself to take more chances...to be more open to step out of my comfort zone. I plan on doing things differently. No that doesn't mean that I am just going to go and jump blindly into things but I am going to try to things without trying to overly rationalize why I am doing these things. I feel I am at a point in my life where I need to have results and signs of progress. I don't want to look back on my life in later years and have any regrets. Now is the time and I shall seize it...
-Namaste
