Sketchbook Project

My sister has been asking me about the results of my sketchbook project so I thought I would share a little bit of that here today.  I had some difficulty with the sketchbook as I took on the project.  The paper of the moleskines is so incredibly thin that it was not suited to the vision I had for the project.  I struggled to keep the images from seeping in to one another and as a final result had to do a lot of pencil drawings and a lot less watercolor and gouache. Keep in mind this is definitely a "sketch" book and not completed pieces of work.   I hope you enjoy some of these images from my book!

(ps- The dancing quote is not mine and I'm not sure of the source...)

Sketchbook Project

 

I probably won't be putting any new posts until next weekend.  You see I signed up for the Sketchbook Project. When, you ask? Oh let's see... in October!!  I have been putting it off as I have been having the hardest time actually starting.  My theme is: down your street.  I have given this a lot of thought and come up with many ideas but none that i was incredibly pleased with.  Well, now has come the time to put idea to paper, crunch time.  I have until Saturday, Jan. 15th to fill up all forty pages.  Yep, that's six days.  So, as you can guess every spare minute I have I will be working on this.  If it starts to come along okay I might post some pictures of my progress.  I'll definitely give a peak when I'm done and the whole book will be digitized for online viewing as part of the project so i'll pass along that information too.  So, until Saturday.  Wish me luck. I need it.

Patrick Dougherty

I love these wood structures created by artist Patrick Dougherty. Each structure is site specific.   I was really excited to learn that this September he will be working on a structure in a very dear to me park, Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, D.C.  I cannot wait to check it out next time I am there!  I promise to post pictures whenever that might be!  Here are a few of my favorite ones:

                                 1.

             2.                                                                                        3.

                     4.

                                 5.
1.  Philadelphia, PA.  Photo:Rob Cardillo
2.  Santa Barbara, CA.  Photo:Nell Campbell
3.  Lincoln, Massachusettes  Photo:George Vasquez
4.  New Harmony, IN.  Photo:Doyle Dean
5.  Scottish Highlands.  Photo: Fin Macrae
All Photos courtesy of Patrick Dougherty's website.

The Sopranos

I love this series of paintings that one of my favorite artists, Francesco Clemente,  created for the Metropolitan Opera. They are of Sopranos scheduled to perform during the 2008-2009 opera season. Here are a few:

Peter Doig

All I can say after recently discovering this incredible artist is how come I never knew his work before!?  No need to describe any further, I think these beautiful paintings speak for themselves.  I am just taking them all in myself for the first time....Love....

 

Lisa Solberg

I recently read a short interview with LA based artist Lisa Solberg and was instantly drawn to the use of color and movement  in her work.  You can find many more beautiful works to feast your eyes on here.  Below are a few of her paintings to enjoy!

  
   All photos courtesy Lisa Solberg.

Olaf Hajek

I have always loved the work of illustrator Olaf Hajek, a German born artist who now resides in London. As I was browsing his website I came across these gorgeous works that I had not seen before. I was taken away with his incredibly vivid palette and the composition of the paintings. I love how his work has a feeling of primitive and visionary art. They also seem to have an influence of wood block printing and the vibrancy of colors is stunning! I would love to have one of these prints hanging in our place! His first monograph, Flowerheads, has just been published and I can't wait for it to be available in the US to see it in person.

Flea Market Find

This was one of my flea market finds this weekend, not sure where this might be but I am guessing Italy??



I also picked up these two oldies; one a postcard, one a photo.

I Heart Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) was an Austrian born painter, architect, environmentalist, and activist. (I am obviously obsessed with early 20th Century Austrian art/artists)! He is widely known for his architecture and vibrant, organic paintings. He lived by the mantra that the straight line was "evil" and much preferred a beautiful organic line in buildings as well as paintings. He was well known for his Mouldiness Manifesto in which he stated that any renter should have the right to extend his arm out his window and chip at the facade and paint and create a space within arm's reach out the window that would let the inhabited publicly declare that "someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door." Quite a unique concept!!

Hundertwasser was a strong believer in incorporating living plants into the architecture as well insisting on plants on rooftops and plants growing out of windows. Some ideas for his buildings included uneven floors and irregular windows and said for these reasons the buildings would be constructed quicker due to the fact that the workers liked working there. He found the workers to be interested in creating unique spaces and in turn did not feel like robots. Hundertwasser was really incorporating freedom of life into every aspect that went into the building. He had many architectural concepts he developed. One that I would have loved to see developed was his model of a green motorway. Pictures of these models are also included below. As well as pictures of his living roof house in New Zealand a land that he felt deeply connected to and considered to be his true home. I think Hundertwasser was way ahead of his time, and just right for ours. He was a true visionary.

Text and images compiled from different sources but mostly Wikipedia and Taschen.