Hello Again

Well folks,  it  has certainly been a while but understandably so when one ispreparing to show. See my efforts are top secret until the big reveal. One month to go till the big night of my solo show, Celebration!

I have reached half of my intended quota but that's the scary part. I guess I like living on the edge.

I've learnt a lot about myself on this journey though and I'll share it as the day draws nearer.

I started another piece today at work. Don't know if I'll be able to do anything at home though. Just finished homework with my son. Will keep you posted. LOL No pun intended

Mad Cap

OK OK ......so I must be mad !....It's July, my show is in december and not a dab of paint on canvas!! This is the point where I tell myself to breathe and that everything's going to be fine.....but I know it won't be unless I get my paint on.

The good news is that I've made my thumbnails in colour....about ten thus far and I've only got ten more to go. But I live for the adrenaline rush. I can't wait to see the results. Sorry no pics for a while.

Just a General Intro: Before the Exhibit...there were the invitations..

marc, the still-life painting looks like a pastel drawing. It looks relly good and has a lovely sense of mood. it is quite vibrant. However there are too few posts on this blog. Decrease the number of posts on facebook as a trade off

Kudos

Fellow Bloggers,
It is with pride and pleasure that I invite you to view th eblogs of some of my students of Hillview College.
The Art of Our Lives by Jonathan Smith, My Inner Artist by Christopher Sahadeo  and Art Journal by Antonio Ramjitsingh, to name a few.

numero uno

Today Icompleted the drawing for one of the twenty pieces that I am showing at the end of the year. I will post a photo soon.

Progress Report

Work on my december show is going at super snail's pace . I'm researching a couple ideas for my themes.

Hope to do a couple thumb nails soon.

Double Take

As promised, here 's my review of With An Open Mind after my second visit to the Fine Art gallery. I must say that I feel very proud to have been a part of this exhibition, put on by my friends of Canvas Caribbean because the standards of technique and creativity of most of the participants, were very high. My favourites were Carol Lewis, Raymond Alexander, Leona Fabien and Shalini Singh.

Carol evidently gave a lot of consideration toher compositions especially those that were composites of something greater. She gave real meaning to the phrase 'the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts." Carol also added depth and creativity to her work with her tactile textures and collages. Among my favourites was The Beholder's Eye, a colourful piece consisting of half of a human face juxtaposed against abstract shapes.

Raymond Alexander's work is quite representational, at times almost to the point of photo realism but his creativity can be seen in the design of his compositions . Also, he manages to convey a strong sense of mood that makes a connection with the viewer. My favourite pieces are Come Walk With Me and Bird On A Wire.

Leona is known for her abstractions and her clean ,harmonious palette and her submissions for this show were no exception. In particular, I liked Architectural - Moody Spaces.

Shalini, true to form, created inticate pieces, albeit on a large scale. Her work was also conceptual so one really focused on the design elements of her work such as the palette, and on her technical skill. I was mesmirized by Real.. Not A Dream because of the depth that she captures in parts of the painting. However I felt that this effect should have been applied throughout the entire piece.

It was truly a treat to have been able to review these pieces and I look forward to working with Canvas Caribbean again.

" Private Viewing?......A Contradiction

The "private viewing" of "With An Open Mind" an exhibition by the group ,Canvas Caribbean, opened at the Fine Art Gallery in Woodbrook, Trinidad.

As anticipated, the opening night was abuzz with excitement as artists and patrons hobnobbed with each other and nudged their way among the guests that crowded the gallery.

I love opening nights. It's a great opportunity to unobstrusively observe the viewers' response to one's work. It's also scary.......the prospect of negative reviews.......but then , how else does one grow?

Another great thing is that one is able to see how a particular work looks in the midst of others, done by disparate artists.

The disadvantage though is that one's capacity to truly gaze at a given piece is limited because a "private viewing"is just too public. Any art lover will tell you that a certain degree of privacy and solitude is necessary in order to "communicate" with the work on show. A subsequent visit is therefore necessary in order to truly analyze one's response to the exhibit.

I must therefore reserve my comments until I have had the opportunity to pay a second visit to the gallery.

more fun with prints

I truly enjoyed printing these. Usually my figures tend to be very detailed but I felt liberated by the simplification of the shapes. There is a naivity in this type of print making that puts me at ease. Ialso love the textural effects of "sweetness".

These were done with acrylic paints and eva foam on cold pressed watercolour paper.

Blue.......a Colour of Passion

The passion, warmth and excitement of Trinidad Carnival inspired this piece. Indeed, Iam always fired by the steel drums of Carnival, as they make their way onstage for the Semi-Finals of Panorama, a national competition. The dust, the noise, sweet profusion of sound pulsating through the air ........and the people, in frenzied rapture......the music coursing through their veins. This was rendered in acrylic on stretched canvas.

Blue Again

Here's another painting of mine with a predominance of blue. I made prints of these as souvenirs for my wedding. It's a symbol of marriage, the two ducks, as they journey across the water, the drake leading the way. The huge, sturdy lily pads surrounding the ducks, remind me of hearts.....hearts that can withstand the trials of life. Enjoy.

art for art's sake

I've spent the entire evening checking out the art scene on line. I was most heartened to find so many Trini artists on line. I especially liked ARTPUBZ. Here I found Chris Cozier's "Fear....available in stores everywhere" ......boxes labelled with the word fear and installed as tough for sale in a shop or store. can you imagine this extended to racism, corruption,?? What a great way to make a statement. .
I was also intrigued by Adele Todd's performance art........an embroiderer trying to change the crime situation in five days.......the pathos of it......even though the actual embroidered pieces were simple yet beautiful.
There was also another artist who cast shadows on hung sheets. I've always been facinated by the play of shadows on the walls at night but I've never done anything about it.
Finally I paid a visit to Ink Tracks and felt inspired to just relax and enjoy being consistently creative....not worrying about perfection or fulfilling any particular objective.

Perseverance

I

In the face of adversity, persevere. This is the second and improved portrait of my friend, Martha. I hope she likes it this time.

Upon comparison with the first one, it is vastly different. I was able to make the improvements by scanning and enlarging the tiny images that she had given me. A pity that I hadn't thought of it earlier. It would have saved a lot of frustration, time and paint. How do you think the second one compares to the photograph?

More fun at Mary's

This little fellow made his way into Mary's studio: a beautiful leaf insect, so delicate and intricate. It was a joy to discover him, just like learning a new technique. I expect that I'll be just as happy when I get to play around with screen-prints, next at Mary's

More Drawings

These drawings were done while "traipsing" around Port-of-Spain and St. James with my friend and fellow artist, Marissa. As an artist, one has to be very discreet when using unwitting models.For, if you are discovered, they may become self-conscious or even down-right surly.

Imaginative Composition

This is one of a series of conceptual paintings that I am developing. However, I am not working entirely from my head because I use real life drawings to work out some of the areas that might be difficult to visualize. fortunately for me, I live on a river-bank so the bamboo that I needed for this painting was readily available. I also did several studies forthe figures until it was right for me.

MONOPRINTS

At last my anticipated monoprinting session with Mary Adam came off yesterday and these are some of the fun results.

DRAWINGS

REH

Here are two of my drawings. the one at the top is called Pensive Youth and this one shows some patrons in one of my favourite haunts on Chacon St, downtown Port-of-Spain. I call it The Bocas Four. Like all of my drawings, they are done on the spot.

Affirmation

After viewing the images on Inktrack's blog, I realized that I haven't been taking much stock of my drawings. So I thought I'd upload a few.