Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Playing Catch Up

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay between posts, July has been extremely busy so I’ll giving you a huge delivery of new stuff and updates on the general craziness. Here’s some of the latest sketchbook work. I’m experimenting with showing more inanimate objects and environments, not just figures. I’m enjoying the switch, but figures are still my favorite subject.

Traffic lights at the corner of Main St and Liberty in Ann Arbor

Plane ride from Detroit to St. Louis en route to Denver

Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, Co with coffee shop patrons

Now for a Bernanke Update, here are a few details from the progressing painting. I’m playing with painting on Gatorboard with has an extremely slick surface, causing the paint to make streaky patterns when it’s applied to fresh board. I like the spontaneity of the strokes right now, but who knows, it may change. I’d love to get feedback on it.

Detail of the figures behind Bernanke

Now here’s the project that pulled me from Bernanke. It’s a wedding present for my friend, Heather, who just got married in Boulder, CO (hence Colorado sketches). Heather studied for a semester in Florence and totally fell in love with the city. I’m still about four or five hours from completion, but I am immensely proud of this piece. I’ve spent about three days on it so far, so it’s moving very quickly. I really feel that it successfully combines my sketchbook style with a painterly approach. At some point, I may offer prints of this on etsy, I’ll keep everyone posted.


The minute Chris and I got back from Colorado, we packed up and flew to Paris. Chris is currently teaching at a program in Colchester, UK but we figured that we’d do a few days in Paris.

We visited as many museums as we could with the Musee D’Orsay being our favorite. The Bonnard painting below is from their collection. Another favorite was the Rodin museum. We spent most of our evenings exploring different neighborhoods and shooting tons of photographs. I’m hoping to create another piece like the Florence for Paris.

So, we are now settled in Colchester and I am trying to work on developing a few personal projects and getting drawings ready for my next big illustration project. I didn’t bring any major art with me due to the difficulty of transporting it safely, but that helps me focus on my sketchbook and more mobile projects. ☺
Hope you enjoyed the update, we will be here until the middle of August and then will begin packing for the move to Seattle. I will do my best to post regularly.
Cheers,

Erika