some recent work

Today I am updating my portfolio because I have a job interview later that requires me to bring one. Here are a couple of works previously unseen on this blog that I thought it would be a good idea to share.

"Aquataneous Transmission/Kismet" 24x24" Acrylic on Canvas, Private Collection of S. Dowell. Novermber 2012.
I do have prints of this available for purchase.

Elephant in the room, did you say, who wants to talk about that?  I've noticed that since I have graduated from university, my art has been taking on an almost literal sense of the issues I have been dealing with in my personal life.

"Red Room" 48x65" Acrylic on Canvas. Private Collection of M. Brice, May 2012.

   This was my final work of my college education.  Happily its in the loving care of Ms. Brice in California.  I got a lot of great commentary on this work, which surprised me, because I felt it was pretty literal. It just goes to show that no matter what my intention was, people draw something out of it that relates to them, and frankly, that's a great thing.

Update on 4x4" challenge.  Last night I spent quite a bit of time working on a painting of my youngest sibling, Alycin, in her renaissance costume... as I am not happy with it, I am not going to publish it today. I will be working on it again this evening when I get home and hopefully, I can get it to the point of being worthy to be seen.

4x4" challenge

"Kimbo" 4x4" Acrylic on Clayboard, 2/25/13

So I have been following my friend Sue Donaldson's and fellow HAC* member Brian Greb's progress through an interesting painting challenge since January, each day they create a 4 inch by 4 inch painting. Yesterday I decided to pick up this challenge... now don't expect a painting everyday...I do work during the week teaching high school and junior high students that not all substitutes are stupid, mean, or crazy, but I am strict, thorough, and can pick up and teach a lesson from philosophy to calculating the volumes of three dimensional pyramids. In other words, I like my job for the most part.  It gives me a chance to meet and interact with the "ME" generation and open their eyes, ever so slightly, that not all Gingers are completely devoid of a soul, though if you count my freckles, I have accumulated 30-ish so far (insert maniacal laughter here).

Kimbo at my studio at UofH, senior open
studios, May 2012.

    So to avoid any further nonsensical rambling about my starving-artist life... here is the painting I completed yesterday (pictured above.)  It's the first in a series I plan to do where I do portraits of my real-life, virtual and perhaps even imaginary friends.  This one is of Kim, an amazingly talented mother of 3/business owner/chef.  I say chef, because every time I go to her house for any kind of function that involves food, I almost always walk away with a recipe of whatever dish she served that night.  That woman makes some of the best damned pecan chicken I have ever had (and normally I don't go in for chicken on anything, strictly a beef gal.)  Kim is also one of my great friends, who has been one of the most supportive of my work. She owns the piece "Surrealism Swimmers," one of the works I completed while in my last semester at UofH, and has it proudly displayed where no one could miss it. Kim is also one of my favorite models for painting, because she can look both hard and soft at the same time- notice how at first she might look a bit perturbed in this painting, but then you see the amusement in her eyes and lips. She carries herself really well too, so when I am working on pieces that involve her neckline and back, that perfect posture is just gorgeous in acrylics or oils. On top of all this, Kim is a wonderful friend, we may not speak for a couple of weeks in between whatever drama is happening in our lives, but we always pick up right where we left off, and then there is her talent for making jello-shots... you just cannot beat that with a stick (and frankly, why would you want to?)

"Surrealism Swimmers" 14x18" Acrylic on Canvas. May 2012. 

Well that's enough rambling for today about yesterday... off to new adventures in painting tonight! *HAC stands for Houston Artist's Collective.

Brinner, Dreckfast and Srunch

   So on a typical Sunday I normally play around in the studio and do house chores, acting out the parts of the 'domestic' room by room, while playing Mom to a vivacious blonde, known as "Socks on Floor."  Today however, I had to do a make-up lesson with the "IN-girls," a group of four siblings all age ten and under that I have had the pleasure of visiting with and teaching for the past three years.  The "IN-girls" are by far my favorite group of children to teach for one of many reasons: they have what every pupil should, an insatiable curiosity about every topic known to man, a healthy work ethic, and supportive parents who don't hover, but instead re-emphasize what I am teaching through careful, patient counsel and reminders.

Kiwi Project by one of the "IN-girls" November 2012, age 10. PrismaColor Pencils.

Cecile Baird's
 Painting Light with Colored Pencil

 The girls are also talented, but they weren't born with the talent to draw and paint (few are,) instead like me, they have been steadily practicing what I show them each week. One of the most fascinating aspects of teaching this group is that they are curious about so many things, eager to share their ideas and cannot wait to be told a story while they are working, whether its about my childhood among three brothers and two sisters, mythological and legendary figures or artists themselves.  In turn they tell me about what they are reading, what new things they have discovered throughout the week, or are working on in school and I am always personally guided through their science experiments, art projects, and shenanigans with each other. (They also giggle at my poor attempts to learn Vietnamese..I've learned finally how to say all of their names and now they are teaching me numbers... but apparently when I say the number 'three', I sound like a bleating sheep.)

       Today we began a new project in colored pencils, a very bright pink orchid out of Cecile Baird's book (Pictured above-right). I teach by showing: I draw, they draw, I color, they color, then during the week they have small homework projects that reinforce what we have learned. As I had woken up late today, I took a snack with me, and the girls questioned me, I told them I was eating my breakfast - which was true - I woke up later than usual and hadn't even thought of hunger until I was heading towards the car. They deemed this to be utterly hilarious as it was 4 in the afternoon and decided that what I was eating was not "breakfast," but "brinner!"  This lead to a lengthy conversation about the transition from one meal to the next and they came up with the title words to my blog for today.

NOTES on Painting Light with Colored Pencil

'Money Plant Project after Cecile Baird',
9x12" Prisma Color on 50lb. Strathmore Paper
December 2012. Stäcy Smith

I wouldn't say that this is a book for the beginner, but I will state that anyone with just a bit of experience working in this medium will find this book as a useful resource for technique.  Be prepared to lay out some funds for supplies if you plan to take up doing all the projects in the books as the "IN-girls" and I have. Our first six projects cost about $65.00 US in colored pencils alone (per student)... I did not go in for the even more expensive Derwent pencils, but instead used colors from Prisma as substitutes. As the girls and I have just entered the second half of the book, we just spent another $13.00 US each in new colors and a replacement of Indigo Blue.. (if you decide to take on the project of the Money Plant, you will go through 40-60% of that pencil.)  We have devoted an entire year to working in colored pencils before we move back into painting. It helps build motor skills, and color theory memory, as the girls are beginning to get used to how certain colors mix to make things darker or lighter. (And, its a lot less supplies to carry around than for painting, 1 bag instead of a rolling file cart.)

Getting things up and running! The never ending wheel of Progress....

  I started an art fan page connected to my Facebook account sometime over the summer while I was running art camps from my home studio.  Yesterday I decided it was time to give it a portfolio update.  Please feel free to like it.  Art by Stäcy Facebook Fan Page  You'll find about 10 pieces of work that I completed over my time at UofH.  If anything it will give you an idea of how my mind works now as it concerns composition. 

Well, I think that is all for today... tomorrow I will post progress pictures of the projects I am working on in the studio. Till then, ~S

Work Work Work...

So the other day I was at a library and I happened to scan through the shelves and found a book that was titled "Art is Work" by Milton Gracer.  I didn't have a lot of time to leaf through the rather large book, but I gleaned this from the first chapter.

1. "Work that goes beyond its functional intention and moves us in deep and mysterious ways we call Great Work."

2. "Work that is conceived and executed with elegance and rigor we call Good Work."

3. "Work that meets its intended need honestly and without pretense we call Simple Work."

4. "Everything else, the sad and the shoddy stuff of daily life, can come under the heading of Bad Work."

Now I don't exactly agree with all of these quotes, but I found it interesting that Gracer took it upon himself to define what these degrees of work are. Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but then what exactly is the point of having a blog where you can basically argue with yourself if you don't over-think things... or perhaps just "think" about things... perhaps that is why I am ever-fascinated with philosophy and critical theory (there is without a doubt, a lot of over-thinking going on here.) What we classify as work is so varied.  Surely by Gracer's definition, doing the dishes is either simple or bad work, but perhaps painting a scene of someone doing the dishes would elevate it to either Good or Great work, depending on the composition. Nonetheless I digress, I find so many things that classify under the heading of work, that I have lists and lists of tasks lined and scratched out.. many of them obsessively beginning with "make coffee." (Giggles to herself)  It could be worse, I could write "Make List" instead.  Ooh... I'll be titling my former "to do list" to that from now on... a "Make List."  (Yes, I know I'm odd already... you don't have to point it out, unless you just absolutely cannot help yourself, then by all means, go ahead.)

I recently joined a google hang-out, one for digital artists, (allow me to state that I am not a digital artist, hell... the most digital art that I do, is in the form of screen shots to the Paint program on my pc.) However, I found that these artists share a lot of similarities to me. We are all interested in rendering objects, IE. human forms, chairs, cars, etc..  I can relate to that with my work. Half of what they talk about including 'topology' is all but lost on me, but I'm gleaning what info I can, and they seem pretty nice so far.. (except when they mimic my semi-Texas accent, and YOU know who YOU are. tee hee hee)  If nothing else, this groups serves for me, anyway, a chance to hear other people discuss their art form from their studios/work spaces, whether they be in England, Brazil, or just on the other side of the city.  This is a simulated situation, that helps make up for what I miss about being in the block studio program.  Honestly, I didn't think I would miss the random conversations of my fellow painters, but I do.  You get nearly instant feedback on what you are working on or doing on cam... one of which is how lazy I am by not blogging, organizing my facebook or updating my website... but perhaps by hearing that on a semi-daily basis it will be just the kick in the rump I need to get moving and get it done.

Today's projects(forecast) include a collage painting that I have started, and need to finish... picture below, a bit of light painting on the background of Lalu's painting... and reading a bedtime story to 'Socks-on-floor'(otherswise known as 'Lalu') and her best friend.

This btw, is just a photo of the collage... forewarning... the finished product will probably look nothing like this. C'est la vie.

And just for fun, here is a piece that I created not too long ago.. that needs publishing anyway.

"This American Life,"  I can't remember who bought it... was sold through Austin Art, over the summer. I was listening to a lot of NPR during this time, hence the title, and this was during my last semester of college, while I was being supervised by Al Souza and Jack Massing (of the The Art Guys).  I had planned to do a series of paintings like this with muted grounds and film noir figures...if you think I should get back into this series, drop me a line, as I am currently undecided..