Art Overload and Loving It!

I just spent the best day in Los Angeles, my friend Jorge and I came out to look at some campuses for graduate school and today we checked out UCLA.  I was really hoping I would hate it and I could check it off my list of schools I am interested in (which would be awesome because it is so expensive) and early on it looked promising.....but then we took the tour :( campus is so beautiful and their program is exactly what I would love, and they have  graduate studios off campus, so you only have to come to campus if you were teaching.  Still a long shot, but I'll give 'er a go :)

We even had some down time to sketch a little.  Then we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and it was AMAZING!  I had my first experience seeing a Jackson Polluck, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Gorky, Jasper Johns, Lichtenstein....there are so many!  I never thought I would be one to get starstruck over paintings, but it was really fantastic.



Adrift

I'm sure everyone has felt this way, but lately I feel like I sleep, and work.  Nothing more.  I haven't been able to create anything in a couple weeks :(  not for lack of trying.  I just worked in the studio for a couple hours and have nothing to show for it.  It's like all the ideas are still percolating in my head and a rush to put some paint on the canvas only proves frustrating.  Is it possible to be overloaded with nothing?  like the less I do, the harder it is to start something or make something I am happy with?  I feel like i'm not currently measuring up to my potential and that is the worst feeling of all.

Upon Water



Upon Water oil on panel, 24"x48"

Another piece I did to enter into the Springville show.  These were really fun to do, I messed around with my supports :) for the last two I used panelboard and stained it chestnut, then I just painted directly on that.  It was nice cause I wanted a rich feel to the piece and it was cool to see the stain through the paint and then blend the paint out so it is just wood on the edges.