This past weekend my fiance and I rode the bus down to Baltimore so that she could check out the Maryland Institute College of Art’s graduate program in Graphic Design. She was very impressed which is awesome. As long as I was there I checked out MICA’s Hoffberger school of painting. I am still undetermined as to whether I think that it was great or not, but it was awesome to see some painters in their studio again. It has been so long painting in my bedroom/kitchen that I’ve nearly forgotten my awesome studio spaces.
I also started to think about how to break the mold that I have built for myself in recent years. Not to say that I am not a huge bird fan anymore, because I am. In fact today on a hike I saw a Downy Woodpecker, and it was awesome, but I don’t think I need to continue painting solely birds. It is not healthy and it doesn’t push my creativity anymore. So I started to think back, and realized that the series that I had started with word bubbles needs to come back. There is so much left to say with it, and I kind of missed the point before.
The goal of this series that I am starting is to convey more feeling than my works of late. I am very pleased with the paint quality that I’ve been able to achieve, and I think that I am much more comfortable with my drawing style than I was immediately after college, but it is time to bring back some of the feel for paint that I have lost. I want to get back to walking away from my canvas and feeling out the tone of my piece, and not just creating a quick illustration. I have been thinking about different aspects of this series and in sitting and thinking about the pieces on the bus for eight hours, I’ve got a much better feel for my next bold move.
The sketches in this post are merely quick preliminary sketches. Expect something more final in the coming weeks. In summation, I am really attempting to make my work a bit more cerebral and less like production. I need to remember to love paint again.
So, keep looking back. I will have some new work soon. I am very much looking forward to painting the next couple of weeks. Until then.
Peace
-Mike