Photographers I have worked with to shoot some of my work:
Houston Stanley
and local photographer, Brian Anderson
Great photographs of one's artwork is something that is essential to a portfolio, website, artist catalog, or just about anything you need to do for self-promotion. So, it's imperative that time is spent to take professional quality photos of your work. Whether you pay a pro photographer with a fancy studio to do it or buy the lights and equipment and do it yourself this needs to be done right if you want galleries or potential buyers to take you seriously. I used my home made DIY light set-up to photograph my latest painting. I still need to do some post production on the final photos but check back to the site in the next few weeks as the final will be posted in the painting section.
Photographers I have worked with to shoot some of my work: Houston Stanley and local photographer, Brian Anderson
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I try to watch a lot of art history videos, interviews with painters, old Warhol flicks, what ever I can find on Youtube or on DVD'd to expand my "art knowledge". This past weekend I ran across this series produced by the BBC about the history of 3 colors of paint called "A History of Art in Three Colours". It was really fascinating to say the least. The documentary on Blue was probably my favorite
Here is part 1 of the Gold and part 1 of the White If you have a favorite video please leave a link in the comments. I am always looking for new things to learn about. This particular piece is part of a series (of 5) that surveys the landscape from the sky. Like the rest of my work they are various sized mixed media drawings on paper with a lot of line work, transparent muted color, multilayered, with ink and pencil.
I am still trying to work out the composition and get the balance of the larger shapes and smaller areas defined at this stage, so I photograph it and study it. Most of the time I will work variations of it in my sketch book and then the next time I am back in the studio I have detailed notes on where I want to go with it. Surface and structure are very important in this series and throughout these works I am relying on the unintended relationships between the shapes and letting them evoke memories through texture, division and form. One of the most enjoyable things for me is to be able to paint. Don't get me wrong, I get to draw, design and take pictures all day long for my job, but being in the studio is so relaxing. I get to do what I want to do and explore the ideas, imagery and mediums that excite me. This week, well hopefully this week, I am trying to get some smaller pieces completed that I have been working on and ready for gallery submissions.
This particular piece (shown above) is part of a series that surveys the landscape from the sky. I am not trying to recreate imagery from a photo with these investigations, but more trying to evoke memories of form, color, texture, division and light that are typically tied to a vision or dream. Those moments, that absurdity of an environment, the epiphany is what I am fabricating. With in that framework I am also trying to work with different sized compositions and arrange them in a way that visually frames them. More studio time today…
When I originally built the panels and cradles for the 4'x8' piece I didn't reinforce them, I didn't think I needed to. Well over time and when they got wet from adhering the paper they became extremely warped. So today I tried to straighten them back out in hopes they will lay flush with the wall when it hangs in a gallery or someones home. Besides adding center supports, I added corner braces to both. Then I weighted down all 4 corners so that overnight it will force it back in to shape and flatten it out. If this doesn't work Im not sure what I will do to fix them. I also got in a little painting today too. Update 6/10/14: Well the fix worked, Yaaaaaaa! Now they lay flush with the wall. I need to paint the backs black, clean up the sides and make sure all the paper is down on the edges, Work the front a little bit more and sign it. Then I need to photograph it. I meant to post this the other day. I was outside my friends apt. waiting for him to meet me for lunch and I spotted this gem taped to a parking meter and it made me smile.
This behemoth (The landscape is defined by eternity) is nearing completion I think. I have been working these two panels on and off for 5+ years now. I started them on paper in a small bedroom studio. My vision grew and I mounted them with additional paper to 2 panels to make it a 4' x 8' piece. I still had to work them separately because they were too big to fit as one piece in my tiny studio. At the end of 2012 I began renting a studio space that allowed me to finally work this as a whole and WOW, what a difference it made. I have spent the last year working on this pretty consistently and I hope to have it completed in the next few weeks. I took both horizontal and vertical photos of it because I am trying to decide how I want it to hang. Any suggestions, critiques etc. would be greatly appreciated. I really like it vertical right now. I feel like it is more impactful and tells more of a story.
The more I looked at it in the empty room last night I kept seeing 6 more vertical pieces that size surrounding it and I kept saying to my self that I needed to get to work on those. But it seems almost like an unreachable goal to work 6 or even 4 more that size and that detailed in a 6-month to a year time period so that I can keep they same look and feel. My goal is to do a one man show with pieces this size and maybe some smaller panels for filler. My business cards finally arrived. I used www.copycraft.com and had portfolio cards done. I ended up using 5 different designs on the front and left the back side blank. I had a custom stamp made locally to stamp the back of the cards, which makes them all unique 1 off designs.
So far everyone I have passed them out to loved them. Me getting interviewed and photos shot in front of my work at the 2014 Biennial Alumni Exhibition at MCA. Over all the work in the show was excellent, turn out was a little low I think due to all the rain throughout the night. My piece looked great but I didn't like how far apart the panels were spaced from each other so to who ever hung my work… thanks a lot for not following my directions. Other than that it looked really good with the other works in the room.
The show is up until July 26 in the Hyde Gallery, Nesin Graduate School, at 477 S. Main St. downtown Memphis. So get out and go see some art! |
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AuthorArt Blog of Mississippi Artist Jason Falconer Archives
August 2015
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