fuzzybunnystew

I’ve stalled with this particular oil painting since May. I finally threw some pthalo blue paint on it last night and feel better about the direction. The initial painting lacked a unity in the color and style used and I was at a loss on how to pull it together.

I decided last night to try a suggestion from Dan gleaned from watching a documentary on Leon Golub and Nancy Spero. Golub would paint a figure in his work, then cover the whole canvas with one color and scrape away particular areas. This sounded like a possible solution to the problems I’m facing with this particular piece. I plan on working the figure, rabbits, and text a little more, then laying down another layer of color and utilizing the same process of wiping the paint away.

I also plan on changing the figure somewhat. I used myself as the study and think my treatment isn’t exactly the feeling I intended to convey in this painting . I drew a couple of drawings last year when I conceived this idea. I looked at the whole idea as rather comical. A woman sitting around in her underwear, moody and crying, gorging herself on a room of chocolate bunnies. Right now, this woman looks very unhappy and overwhelmed. I think I was overwhelmed with the whole life/school balancing act when I was painting it initially as well as no longer thrilled at using my own body as a subject in my work. I think a little time away from it has been helpful in seeing these problems and gauging the direction I need to take this piece.

Trying to get into the swing of utilizing this blog for my art. I have a dozen projects in various stages of completion that I want to get finished before this fall to submit for my BFA. I thought summer classes would be a break, but I’m finding myself doubly busy. I hope that writing will help me focus, knock out the work that’s piling up.

Earlier this spring, I bought a role of butcher paper for an idea concerning the pictures above. I want to examine the relationship between humans, animals, and food. The animals drawn so far are life size in ink and marker on butcher paper. I need to tackle my largest animal, a cow, so I can get a better sense of scale and time needed. I wondered how one might respond to a somewhat realistic rendering of particular animals juxtaposed against the division of butcher cuts. It’s a different experience from seeing a small cartoon of a cow used to select meat. Much easier to see it as simply chuck or filet as opposed to a cow. I think there’s a high level of detachment from viewing a cow in pasture to the steps in between to the consumer picking up a steak in a sealed package.

I also need to refine my idea of what animals I intend to use. I need to focus on animals fairly common to the American palette. The tarantula, a regional Venezualan edible, will most likely get cut from the line-up. I like the drawing of the rat, but I’m unsure if it will stay. I’m interested in putting in a couple of animals that are certainly consumed, but unlikely canidates for the average meal. I realize that pretty much any animal or insect is sustenance for someone out there. I plan on carrying through with the butcher shop theme by adding mock packages of wrapped meat as well. I think a trip to a butcher shop is in order for some ideas.