I often wonder what other artists were making in the early stages of their art practise, and how that style has developed and evolved. Lots of creatives are self taught, and many I follow studied another major while attending University or College. I myself did not know what style I wanted to focus on while in art school & dabbled in a bit of everything.
My parents have lived in the same house I grew up in and my mom has kept all of my artwork. Since I moved back to my hometown almost three years ago I've been asked several times, "When are you going to come and get your things out of the basement?" Well today I finally went with an empty trunk to gather some of my old stuff. I didn't take everything, but I thought I would share with you some pieces that I made approximately 17 years ago. When I say that it really seems like so long ago, but I can remember the feelings I had when I created some of these pieces.
I experimented a lot with water colours, I'm not really sure why I chose this medium as no other class mates were into them. Even then I was drawn to the same colours as I frequently use today; blue and green.
Stacked rectangular compositions were my go to. I was influenced by artist Mark Rothko a lot during this period and his colour blocks. Each individual form was comprised of a few lines, mark making was quite simplistic for me. Adding water to the paint created a tension that I can still remember today. Looking at them now they appear to reference a landscape in some way.
Here my process was more fluid and abstract. I used a straw to push and pull the paint around the surface. The forms appear like sea creatures dancing across the paper.
I liked to work big, details were then created drawing the viewer into the piece.
This installation hung on the wall, the brackets are on the back of these books that I painted from a thrift shop. This was an assignment (not sure the topic), I had the idea that I wanted to have a photo of an angel inside one of the books and travelled to a cemetery in my hometown to find this. For a while I was into discovering unique decorative statues, I even asked my husband to come to a cemetery while we were on holiday in Cuba. These are dated 1999.
This assignment was a self portrait. This is one of a triptych. The first focuses on the eyes. The second on my eyes and nose, and lastly my entire face. I remember that I did quite well on this even though I did the entire assignment the day before it was due. To be twenty again!
A close up of the crosshatching I used to vary the shades of pencil.
Being a creative has always been part of my life. My child hood was spent drawing and colouring. Today it is no surprise to me that my daughters are finding joy in the same kind of things.