Project 9: Night

I wanted to create a landscape that changed within itself, that was stark and unexpected like every beautiful sunset. Halfway through the painting, I decided that I would wrap it and make it a source of light. This animated the image. When the lamp is off, it is night.

I enjoyed turning the image inside out because it gave an unexpected transparency and it only showed the bottom brush strokes. The shadow of the lamp was also a discovery that has inspired me to experiment more with light in the future.


Between two hills 

The old town stands.
The houses loom 

And the roofs and trees 

And the dusk and the dark, 

The damp and the dew 

Are there.

The prayers are said 

And the people rest 

For sleep is there 

And the touch of dreams 

Is over all.

- Carl Sandburg

Project 8: Tree

Exploration of Watercolor, starting with the abstract and transitioning to the human form. 

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.

Vague dream head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.

But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.

That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

Robert Frost

Project 7: True

verb

1. 1.

   bring (an object, wheel, or other construction) into the exact shape, alignment, or position required.

I have trued paper into the creases of my face.

Project 6: Guide

The colours guide me. I am like a pilgrim moving through the dunes of the desert. I see mirages of colour; I know where to go and where not to. 

I thought of the book "Pilgrimage" by Paulo Coelho when I heard the word guide. It is about a man that travels on a pilgrimage to discover himself and the meaning of life. He had a human guide, but his best guide was his inner voice. For me, that voice takes the form of colour.

“We always have a tendency to see those things that do not exist and to be blind to the great lessons that are right there before our eyes.” 

Project 5: Trace

Tracing the unknown. I like to trace memories that I cannot quite grasp anymore. I can almost make them out, I can almost see them, but not quite. It is like asking someone to draw what they see in their mind. They can draw an approximation, but never the exact thing.