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AEDM 2009 day 12: getting stuff done

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:38:00 +0000

What a wonderfully productive day in the studio. I finished a couple small paintings (such as the one depicted, last seen here), did some sketches for a new project, and drew in my monsters sketchbook. Looking forward to tomorrow.

AEDM 2009 day 11: more monsters

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:28:00 +0000

My monsters were feeling uninspired today. Not every monster can be a masterpiece. Perhaps I'll paint over them later, depending on how soon I manage to fill in all the pages of my sketchbook the first time.

This second one is based on some cute monster fence posts we saw in London. I'll probably add more detail to them.

AEDM 2009 day 10: blue monster and flash mobs

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:31:00 +0000

I worked on a bunch of art projects today, but most of them are not yet blog-worthy. So here's another page from my monster sketchbook.

The other art of the day was of the performance variety, kind of. I participated in a flash mob in Munich. (If you don't know what a flash mob is, check out Improv Everywhere.) I'll blog about it in detail on my other blog soon, but for now I need to go wash the feathers out of my hair.

AEDM 2009 day 9: scary

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Another page in my ahhh monster sketchbook.

I printed out a photograph from my trip to London in black and white and pasted it in the sketchbook. Then I colored in parts of it using gouache and magic markers.

PS - If you want to read more about London, I wrote up my trip on my travel blog today.

AEDM 2009 day 8: London sunset

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:52:00 +0000

This week in London we saw a fabulous sunset. We were riding west in the front seats on the top level of one of those red double-decker buses, and the Christmas lights strung across the streets were coming on above our heads as the sun went down.

I'm hoping to capture just a tiny bit of that gorgeous moment in this little painting. This is it after the first layer of gouache; I'll let it dry and then work on it some more.

AEDM 2009 day 7: monster at home in his London flat

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:14:00 +0000

I promise I'll start posting something besides monster sketches again soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

AEDM 2009 day 6: sightseeing monster

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Still traveling. Fit in some sketching today, but haven't had a chance to photograph my creations. Therefore I bring you a sketch I did earlier in the week: the monster sightseeing, in a city that looks vaguely like Munich.

AEDM 2009 day 5: Tate Modern Monsters

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Sometimes it's hard to fit in art when I'm traveling. Currently I'm in London, and I packed really light so I wouldn't have to check a bag. The only art supplies I have with me are my monsters sketchbook and a couple pens and pencils. So today I sketched some monsters from paintings at the Tate Modern.

AEDM 2009 day 4: Ahhh! Monster!

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday, I am participating in the Sketchbook Project, for which I was assigned a topic. The topic I received couldn't have been further from what I usually depict. The topic label simply reads: Ahhh! Monster!

It's ridiculous how hard of a time I'm having trying to fill a sketchbook with monsters. I keep hoping I'll loosen up a bit and find my monster groove, but so far that hasn't happened. At least I'm having some fun with it.

You'll be seeing a lot of my attempts at monsters this month. I hope they don't scare you.

AEDM 2009 day 3: Sketchbook Project

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:17:00 +0000

I am participating in Art House Co-op's Sketchbook Project, and AEDM has come along at just the right time to help nudge me to finish the project and send it off by the end of the month. Art House Co-op is putting together a library of small sketchbooks from artists from all over the world. When you sign up you receive a sketchbook and a topic. Can you guess what my topic is?

AEDM 2009 day 2: Tallinn in pigment and sand

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:38:00 +0000

This was a canvas (40x30cm) I had prepped with black gesso mixed with sand. Today I got out a few pigments, mixed them with acrylic medium, and created this scene of Tallinn, Estonia (based on photos from our trip there earlier this year). I'll probably tweak a couple little things, but it's mostly done.

AEDM 2009 day 1: thank-you card

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Art Every Day Month is underway. I'm starting with a small project, a thank-you note for friends who hosted us in Toulouse last week. I could have worked on this little gouache scene for hours more, but I forced myself to declare it done and move on.

Hooray for Art Every Day

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Time to revive the art blog for Art Every Day Month, hosted as always by the lovely and talented Leah at Creative Every Day. It starts tomorrow. I participated last year and really enjoyed it. Once again I'll be posting my creations daily, no matter how ridiculous they turn out.

The other fun part about AEDM is checking out what other artists are creating during the month and connecting with them via their blogs. I recommend browsing through the other participants via the list on Leah's sidebar.

Work in progress: Sachiko

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:09:00 +0000

I make most of my color choices unconsciously. Or do I mean subconsciously? It's not like I'm unconscious when I make them... Anyway, I'm amused to notice that the color scheme of the painting is very similar to the colors I used in the preparatory sketches. I guess Sachi is destined to have purple hair. Who am I to fight it?

Studio, rearranged

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:39:00 +0000

I am lucky to have a wonderful room to use as a studio. In honor of the Creative Every Day August theme, MOVE, today I rearranged to give myself more working space for art. The large table in the photo used to be my computer table, and I was using a much smaller table for art stuff. I'm very excited about my big new work space. I can't wait to get going on some new projects.

Now if only I could figure out a good solution for storing all these canvases...

Sachiko sketches

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

This week I'm doing some preliminary sketches for a portrait of a friend.

Still here, still playing

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:42:00 +0000

When life gets busy and I step away from my artwork for a while, sometimes I have a hard time jumping back in. That's when I decide to set the bar really low, and just tell myself to play around in my sketchbook. A good example of this is the above mess. My inspiration was the ticket stub from Museum Brandhorst (pasted in the upper right corner). By incorporating scraps of paper I collect as I go about my day, my sketchbook becomes a little like a visual journal of my life.

Now back to catching up on the 100 in 100, again.

Self (portrait)

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Inspired by this month's Creative Every Day theme, self, I decided to start a new self portrait today. Can you tell what kind of mood I'm in?

I've done tons of self portraits, my whole life long. I like making portraits, and I'm always the most available subject. I'm doing this one (like most of my self portraits) by looking in a mirror. I like working from life when I get the chance.

I actually try to curtail the number of self portrait paintings I do, because they are pretty unsellable (and ungiftable). Not that I only do art to be able to sell it, but I have to sell things in order to have room to produce more. And who wants to live in an apartment full of self portraits? That'd be a little creepy. So would giving people portraits of myself as gifts... so yeah, I try to focus on other things. But I'm enjoying this chance to revisit my oldest subject.

Revisiting the Volksbad

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:59:00 +0000

I keep coming back to this tiny painting, trying to rework it into something I can be happy with. The colors have become brighter since the last time I posted it. Not quite where I want it to be yet, but moving in the right direction.

Catching up on the 100 in 100

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:06:00 +0000

I signed up for Warrior Girl's 100 in 100 challenge a few days late, so I've been behind from the start (which was supposedly June 1st). No problem, since I don't mind doing more than one drawing/painting/collage per day to catch up. Most of my 100 things will be small sketchbook pages, but I'm also counting the larger works I do when I happen to finish one.

As opposed to Art Every Day Month, when I posted daily, I've decided I don't have to post all 100 creations for this challenge. That leaves me freer to experiment and produce some totally crappy stuff. I like it that way. But I will post some of them. Here are a few of the drawings, paintings, and collages I have created over the past month. I'm proud to say that as of today, I'm all caught up on my 100 in 100.

To join or not to join

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Since visiting Munich's new Brandhorst Museum this weekend, I've been trying to justify buying myself a membership to the Munich art museums. For €90 you get a year pass to several of Munich's best art museums (plus a couple in surrounding towns, as well).

Without the pass, I am unlikely to spend €90 on admission to these museums in the next year. But with it, I will be incentivized to go to them more often, in order to make sure I get my money's worth. And wouldn't it be great to have an excuse to go to the museum more often?

Do you have a museum membership? If so, tell me how wonderful it is to help me justify this purchase...

New series: city collages

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Dublin, Ireland, 24 x 18 cm, found paper and acrylic on panel.

Tampere, Finland, 24 x 18 cm, found paper and acrylic on panel.

I really enjoyed making these, and I'm pleased with the initial results (I'll do a little more work on the Tampere one, at least). The collage elements consist of paper (maps, fliers) from the cities themselves that I've collected on my travels. I need to buy more panels so I can continue the series.

I think this one is finally finished (although this photo of it is somewhat out of focus):

Piran, Slovenia, 40 x 30 cm, mixed media on panel.

Would you let Google use your art for free?

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:01:00 +0000

My husband brought this article to my attention today, about how Google has been asking artists to create skins for them for free. The reward to the artist, naturally, is "exposure", that insipid internet currency.

I am familiar with this sort of scenario, not with my art work, but rather with travel writing. Ever since I started my other blog several years ago, I have been asked to provide my writing to various websites in exchange for "exposure" more times than I can count. My reactions to these requests have ranged from cheerful acceptance to indignant refusal. These days I usually just ignore them entirely.

So why the varied reactions? I've found it hard to come up with a blanket policy to determine how I handle such requests. Whether or not it is in my best interest to provide my writing for free depends on several factors. For example:

Is it for a cause I believe in? By submitting my work for free, am I helping a really cool website grow? Am I helping to promote someone or something I care about?

How much "exposure" are we talking about? Will it actually direct traffic to my website or lead to paying gigs for me? Sites that ask you to write for free often exaggerate the number of readers they get or expect, and these days most of them doing the asking actually get less traffic than I do.

What else is in it for me? Will it give me practice writing in a new style? Will it help me explore a new topic that interests me?

Who will be earning money from my efforts? Am I OK with that?

Now, back to the art/Google scenario at hand. Would I jump on such an opportunity? Probably, given where I am in my art career right now. Perhaps it would leave a bad taste in my mouth that a large, profitable company was asking me to work for free, but in the end I would probably stand to gain from the scenario overall. But Google is not asking me; it is asking much more well-established artists. Artists who are well-known in their fields, who already have loads of exposure for their work. For them, Google exposure would not necessarily be a benefit. In fact, as the article mentioned, artists agreeing to work for free for a giant, profitable company such as Google could set a "dangerous precedent", one that would harm artists overall. It makes perfect sense to me that so many are turning Google down.

If Google asked you to provide artwork to them for free, would you do it?

Inspired by Kandinsky

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Played around with gouache today.

Back from a travel break

zurika.jul@gmail.com (Jul) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:05:00 +0000

My in-progress Slovenian collage, last seen here.

I've been on the road for most of the past month and a half, which is why this blog has become neglected once again. I've missed having time in my studio, but at least I have been staying creative. Every day while traveling I write and take copious photographs. I've also been keeping up with my other blog, posting travel reports and photos.

To jump start my return to drawing and painting, I've just signed up for Rowena's 100 in 100 challenge. I'm a few days behind, but I'll catch up. First I'm trying to work out exactly what these 100 things will be. Sketchbook pages, perhaps. I'd love to say paintings or collages, but that's not very realistic (most pieces take me a week to a month to complete). Or perhaps it can be anything visual, as long as I post here about it. That would be a whole lot of blogging... I'll sleep on it and let you know what I decide (and by "you" I mean the one person who still reads this blog).