Body is the Mark

Body inspiration.

One of the women I admire the most is Frida Kahlo. Though her life was ridden with turmoil she had such a vital passion for life. In her painting, "The Two Fridas" she paints herself twice. One of her is when she married to Diego the other when they had first broken her heart. Since being through a break up myself I felt like this was the most appropriate ode to Frida I could create. it's funny looking at yourself, or even having two of me. A me before heartbreak and a me after. Looking at how much I myself has changed and how I look at myself now. 

Time Based

Inspiration for time-based.

I wanted to make my own natural dyes. I took three shirts and three ingredients I commonly use  and that I though would make the brightest colors. Red onion, Basil, and cinnamon. I boiled each of the ingredients and then poured them onto the shirt and wrapped it. I left them in the sun for few days. I always though the idea of ty-dye shirts was so cliche but when done with natural dyes I thought maybe they could be modern (and scented...) So I unwrapped the shirts and each one had a unique print (and smell...) . Each one gave off a range of colors and a modern design. 

Drawing on Objects

Inspiration images.

"After September 6"

This piece became my outlet. I had just experienced real heartbreak for the first time and it had come as shock to me. I had alway heard of artist expressing their feelings through their work and I understood that as artist. But for the first time I had fallen truly in love and then had my heart broken. It's soul crushing really. They don't kid about this stuff. I didn't really have a plan when i started. I took everyday objects (each representing two different people) and then took two wooden boards to show the separation of the two people. I arranged the objects on the boards and then covered them in gesso. Just enough to light still show the words not the pages. You can still tell what everything is it's just lightly blanketed in white. This became the way I visually told the viewer how I felt.  These were memories, lightly blanketed I could't really see my memories with (him) anymore. Now they were collecting dust. Becoming more and more covered with each passing day. I can't pick up the objects anymore because (he) is not part of my life anymore. They will stand still and ever slightly apart from each other, showing the separation of two people. 

Drawing In Space

Inspiration for drawing in space. 

Black lines or even black drips have always been one of "those things" that I always ended up drawing. Black lines on white can be taken anyway which I guess is why I like it so much. You can make black lines so complicated and focus on what makes the drawing when theres not all this color involved. I wanted lines to exude from a space up high and drip all the way down to the floor. The drips are all different lengths and side by side.  As they go down the splatters hit the bottom of the paper.  After looking at the drips and the splatters for entirely too  long I took the black ink and saw created little drawings from the lines and splatters.  I started to shed different characters and shapes so i hid them everywhere. This makes the piece more intimate. From far away you see all these lines but the viewer has to get close to meet all of the tiny characters. It creates a space in which the viewer is surrounded by all of this black ink and these small stories hidden in it. 

Tape

For these pieces i used blue painters tape in interesting ways. My favorite way would have to be the drawings I did with the tape on them. It's something I always come back to, adding things to gratings I have.