A little road trip

"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door" Emily Dickinson.

Often it feels like sources of inspiration come from anywhere and everywhere but whilst on one hand they feel random, the images that move me most often link in to each other forming little road-trips into a larger journey of investigation. 

A still from Tideland  -  image uploaded from Allmoviephoto.com

'Tideland'(Terry Gilliam, 2005)- The opening scenes depict the main character, an enchanting child Jeliza Rose, cooking up heroin for her addict parents - rarely can I watch this film as a whole and often fast forward through various sections but'Tideland' is a visual feast and one in which I found references and connections to some of my favourite artists.

Image uploaded from Moma.org

The painting 'Christina's World' (1948) by Andrew Wyeth is for me one of the most arresting images from the last century. It's filled with emotional intensity created by the vast sense of open space and the ambiguity of the figure 'Christina'. This painting inspired Mitch Cullin who wrote the novel'Tideland'.

 'House from the Railroad' (1925) uploaded from Wikipaintings.org

Echoes of the house from Hitchcock's 'Psycho'(1960) appear in 'Tideland' but Hitchcock was directly inspired by the painting above - 'House from the Railroad' by Edward Hopper. 

Still from 'Psycho' uploaded from Planetvideo.com.au

Hopper's paintings of figures are rarely of close-ups causing the viewer to be psychologically distanced. His paintings are like film sets with a sense of space and emptiness. Director Todd Haynes translates these characteristics into his film 'Safe' (1995) below.

Todd Haynes 'Safe' image uploaded from www.jonathanrosenbaum.com

Gregory Crewdson photographs are of a cinematic scale and depict American small town scenes with slightly sinsister and ambiguous narratives. He is influenced by film-makers Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and Todd Haynes.

Gregory Crewdson from 'Twilight' series - uploaded from artsytime.com

  

Painting Updates - Paper Doll Series

Progress on the painting front has been slow lately but my struggle with acrylics has continued and here are my first few attempts at some hand-painted patterns;

Playing around with vintage colour schemes

After hours of intricately cutting and piecing together - one almost-finished Paper Doll; 

Collections & Obsessions - Part 1 'Street Art'

I think I spent too much time over the holiday weekend pinning images on 'Pinterest'. For those who haven't yet discovered this ever-so addictive virtual pinboard it is a godsend for categorizing and collecting images of all kinds. As an artist this is pretty handy as I'm not a naturally organized person and I usually forget many artists/images that I come across, but for some reason when it comes to Pinterest I have suddenly developed some kind of OCD for categorizing. Perhaps I can take this sudden but much awaited for compulsion to good use and start to sort out my not-so-virtual art research collection...


In the meatime a tiny selection of Street Art:


I find myself drawn to more and more street or urban artists without really knowing much about the history or culture behind it. Aside from the aesthetics, I mostly love the scale, how it challenges our sense of [public] space and how we interact with the pieces on a day to day level.

Image from www.streetartutopia.com

I discovered the work of Herakut -street artist duo Hera and Akut  (above and below) in a book shop in Covent Garden and fell in love with Hera's drawings but also the combination of the duo's differing styles. Akut spray paints the photo-realist elements which make Hera's drawings even more hard-hitting and raw.

Image from www.streetartutopia.com

Swoon's poetic pieces incorporate paper cut outs and wood block prints. The fragility is emphasized further by the delicate and impermanent nature of the medium and it's inevitable exposure to the outside elements.  

Image from www.allcitystreetart.com

 On a grander scale is the work of French Street Artist and photographer 'JR' - a project in the slums of Rio which involved pasting photos of women throughout the favela. The women's faces portray the stories of their struggles and suffering. 

Image from www.maymagazine.eu

Image from www.superpunch.blogspot.co.uk

Finally, I love the work of Dan Witz's trapped people above. Photos of people behind a grate are then placed in a fake grate giving the impression of someone trapped. Seriously cheeky prankster....check out his website for figurative paintings of mosh pits and other portraits www.danwitz.com.


You can follow or check out my Street Art pinboards on the following link; https://pinterest.com/atheballerina/street-artists/ 

Sunday afternoon sketchbook photos

A visit to the park - flashes of red running through the trees.

Grace just wouldn't remove her bunny head - she even went to sleep in it

Messing around with instagram

A Sunday afternoon at my mum's house and then the park with my niece Grace. She turned up in a cute little red-cord pinafore with kitty detail on the pockets and this pink bunny hat/head which she refused to remove even for bed - we removed it when she was asleep!