What NOW!?!?

It's has been about a month since my show and I haven't done anything since then. School has started back and it has taken over my life it seems, but never fail I will keep creating new work soon or later. Hopefully sooner than later. One main thing that I have to overcome is what am I going to do next. Should I keep creating portraits or something entirely different like abstract landscapes? I really have thought long and hard about this and came to the conclusion that I will create art. One idea that I have thought of is the idea of dreams as a child. In other words "what did you want to be when you grew up?" I had a small drawing from when I was in 1st grade in my show. It was me as a policeman. I really like take this idea and further explore the idea and create a series of works based on this idea. I asked my grandma last night what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said Roy Rogers or a cowgirl. I wouldn't have guess in a thousand years that my grandma wanted to be a cowgirl. But, I guess you never know until you ask.

Another idea was to create a series of works based on what people do in the everyday life that I admire in away. I don't know if this makes sense but, it's a hard thing to describe. I got this idea last night when I was at my grandma's house and she was ironing my clothes for day's student teaching as BSHS. So I'm thinking about doing a series of work honoring these small things that make people important to me in some way. For example, I would create a work that shows my grandma ironing or my dad being the handyman around the house or even my mom cutting coupons out of the paper on Sunday afternoon. I think I want to paint these with an expressive impasto style where you could identify what they are doing, but not the person necessarily. I think this is my best bet yet.

One final idea was the life of books. I know that they are lifeless object that we enjoy by reading, but what if they had a mind of their own. I was in the USCU library the other day and noticed that they stamped the due date inside the back cover. So this caught my attention like many things do, and I began to read all the dates of when they were due. Some of them haven't been checked out since 2000 and others have never been checked out before. I was the first person to check this out. I really don't know where this idea will lead but I'm willing to explore it and create art work out of it somehow.

So, I guess I will have to explore these ideas further and see what happens. Hopefully I will create a series that will speak to the masses.

Successful Showing!!!

My first solo or any art show is now over and I have to say I think it was very successful! At the opening night we have over 200 people show up to see what I have been doing over the summer, along with other work from over the years. It was an amazing experience. I was so amazed of all the people that came out and wanted to see what I had done and my art. I can't describe how it felt in words. It was an amazing night to say the least. I got to meet all kinds of people and talk with them about my art and what I am hoping to get a cross when the viewer looks at my work (if you want to know more about this please read this article by Cindy Landrum: http://www.journalwatchdog.com/spartanburg/782-hes-the-man-in-the-mirror). I also really liked the comments that people made about my artwork and how much they liked it and what they felt about it. They were all positive comments and one negative one. We wont go there. However, it was a lot of work, did I say a LOT! I never knew how hard it would be to have a solo show and putting it together. I had some help along the way with my family, Nodine and others. I can't say "thank you" enough to these people.

Here are some pictures of the exhibition.