Just one postcard this morning but I may post more later. I have a few more finished. I just haven’t had a chance to photograph them. Note to self: buy stamps and start mailing these. This one is watercolor, graphite and acrylic on lovely archival matboard.
Incrementally yours,
-Steph
Hey guess what. Yes. I made yet more postcards this week. Here are a few of them.
Well, take care of yourselves. No one else is going to do it for you.
Loveandabominablehope,
-Steph
about 20 x 30 inches
oil and pastel on gessoed paper
More old work from long, long ago or about the same time as these.
about 30 x 20 inches
oil, nails and eggshells on gessoed paper
I’m still never quite sure where to put anything. And so, it just keeps piling up.
From a long way under,
-Steph
Fuck you,
-Steph
p.s. These are made with various combinations of water color crayon, graphite, pen, colored pencil and stickers. They are all on beautiful museum board.
I have post-nasal drip and it’s postcards again this week! These I made using watercolor crayons, colored pencil, and ink on all rag museum board. Perhaps I will continue until I have amassed a large collection of these and then send them all out at once. Or maybe I will leave them in random places. Or maybe I will shove them into a corner to add to the clutter. Who can say?
Happy winter to you!
-Steph
“Unwritten”
10 x 8 inches
acrylic and soft pastel on archival mat board
I may have mentioned earlier that I haven’t been in the best frame of mind lately. Well, yeah, that’s the way it is. And then it isn’t. And then it is again. A very smart, very kind friend of mine once compared living life to swinging on a pendulum. I’m paraphrasing, but he said something like, sometimes it’s hard to tell if your on an upswing or a down. It always stuck with me because it really is just like that. And some days, you just feel flat no matter what–like that Arp poem–the one in the first sketch below. Here are two sketches I did back in 1994. Both are about 30 x 20 inches They’re from the same series as these. These old works were kind of a jumping off point for some I’m doing now like the one above.
Anyway, I figure looking back and comparing past with present is appropriate enough right now what with the new year about to come in. Happy New Year, everyone.
-Steph
Here’s a bit of progress on this one. Remember what it looked like before? Well, here it is now. It’s not a big change, but what with the holidays and feeling as if I’d rather hide in a dungeon than open my eyes most days lately, I figure any progress is good.
Hope you’re all enjoying your days more than a sharp stick in the eye and fingers crossed for a positive start to this next year!
Love and MOREFRACKINGDAYLIGHTPLEASE!
-Steph
Alongside my sculpture, I’m also making making these quick word paintings on strips of really nice scrap mat board. Some are bits of conversations taken out of context. Some are text I made up based on awkward interactions or silent insecurities or the sort of internal dialog that begins when the external dialog wanders into that confusing realm of “Whatever the fuck is going on here I will never understand.” These are sort of like what you might see if you opened one of my journals and I didn’t bust your head open before you had a chance to read a bit. I was inspired, in part, to turn them into paintings by my friend Daniel Allyn Lee who has a real knack for word art. So far, it’s been a fun project for me.
Quietly,
-Steph
digital collage
Because of things and stuff, I spent far too much time this week. I spent it and now it’s gone. If time were money, I’d be broke. I have no idea what it means in this context that I AM broke. Anyway, as you can see,I fucked around with pixels instead of paint.
That’s it.
-Steph
p.s. I love Crooked Fingers. Mine are, too, crooked I mean.
8 x 10 inches
acrylic and bits of collage on all rag board
Accepting that it’s impossible to always feel grounded might be a good idea.
With lightness,
-Steph
p.s. detail shot:
Here’s a closeup of another sculpture. Again, I’m being stingy with my art. I would apologize, but it won’t change anything. I still feel a need to keep this mostly to myself. But the detail pic is kinda pretty at least, isn’t it? It’s pretty or gross I suppose, depending on your perspective. In the interest of pretending to be generous, I will post a couple more photos after the jump. Read more »
14 x 11 inches
acrylic on 4 ply all rag mat board
Seeing as this is Columbus Day weekend, I am probably off being very busy picking apples, finding my way through corn mazes and searching out Columbus. In the spirit of the holiday, take a look at this sketch and let me know what you discover. Apparently, it is harboring such delights as a heart, a hematoma, porn, mammal meat, aquatic life, extreme weather, and unholy nods to the birds and the bees. What do you see? Say dead people and I’ll squish you like a bug.
Love, Autumnal air, and inexplicable fascinations,
-Steph
Here’s another closeup shot of a work in progress. It looks like ice cream, doesn’t it? Well, it ain’t so don’t eat it. God I’m tired! And I have very little to say. And I am in need of a shower. And I apologize to you as well as to myself for beginning these sentences with the word and. It’s just not proper.
Let’s see if this post is salvageable. We could spend some time talking about the relevance of the ice cream resemblance. OK. Well, I’ve spent a good long time looking at images of food to fuel my brain for this series. What else can I say about that? Oh, things and stuff I’m sure, but what’s the point really? The point is just one of many that I have no energy to make.
And so, (there I go again with the and) I will, instead, leave you with a favorite old video of mine. Who wants to steal an ice cream truck and drive off into the desert with me to make out? I have buckets of paint and if you’re half as cute as James Iha in a dress I’ll let you play with my gun.
Loveandjunk,
-Steph
“I default to circles”
colored pencil and graphite on matboard
6 x 8 inches
Someone in the online art group where the original d’Arteboardians were born asked just recently,”What do you guys do when you just can’t find anything you feel like painting?” I told her that I used to do a self portrait when that happened to me. Hastings answered, “I default to circles.” If I had answered with what I actually do now, I’d have said exactly that. I did this sketch when I felt like working, but had no real ideas. I’ve titled it accordingly. Thank you, Mr. Hastings.
Sincerely,
-Steph
I’m experimenting again (well, still really) with some very basic video and sound and using my art as the subject here. The soundtrack is just loops I mess with and string together in GarageBand.
Okeedokee,
-Stephtheslowpokeewonderslug
I kept noticing and really liking this little detail on one of my in-the-works sculptures. Thought you might like it, too.
-Steph
A little because that’s all I got. Here you get to see the artist at work kinda like a monkey at the zoo. Like my heat wave work smock? It matches the art. Pretty stylish, eh? And here is a detail of part of the WIP.
OK, I’m off to do some stuff and things now. See ya later.
-Steph <3
I feel a bit guilty for not sharing much of what I’m making here on the blog for a while now, but let’s see if I can avoid sinking into an apologetic tone today. The thing is, sometimes I find it difficult not to just keep everything to myself. It’s like I have to wait until I fall into a more solid state of mind when working out vague ideas that are still forming and changing and reforming before I reach a point where the ideas and objects feel worked out enough to share. Otherwise, I risk losing interest and wanting to completely abandon the work right after. If you can forgive the lame metaphor, it’s like there’s a germination period during which I have to be especially careful or what I’m growing withers up. I’m fickle I guess… fickle and moody and I have fragile, slowly evolving ideas.
I feel good about what I’m making now, but even after several months, it’s all a bit less than solid. So I’m mostly keeping it to myself and the few visitors who happen to stop by in the hope that I can work out something more realized and satisfying. Man, I kinda feel self-conscious talking about this. Am I the only one it happens to? Have you ever just lost interest in something you were doing as soon as you shared it with others?
Well anyway, above is a tiny peek into my studio right now. I know it’s not very telling–sorry. But it’s something, right?
Slightly Uneasily,
-Steph
18 x 9 inches
acrylic, purple flocking fiber, red ballpoint pen and graphite on all-rag board
I did this sketch the other day while the paint on what I really wanted to work on stubbornly refused to dry. And although I was irritated at the time, I really do understand. Extreme humidity can suck the energy to do anything out of anyone… or anything. Hell, I was barely able to muster the energy to breathe that day. Gills might have helped, but wearing mine always reminds me of that awful movie Waterworld so I generally keep them tucked away–out of sight, out of mind. Also, I didn’t manage to stay dry myself so how can I possibly expect more from my art? Right. It makes no sense, any of it. Flocking hell.
OK I love ya Mister Eyeballman buh bye!
-Steph
Here’s a video I’m working on. It’s not really a cartoon. I know you’re shocked. Please try to roll with it.
I shot the video and then made the sound to go with it. The sound is built using loops in GarageBand which is a program I’m just learning (through trial and error) how to use. I kinda rushed through last night to get a version uploaded so I could post it here. In the process, I learned that saving files as mp3s can change them quite a bit. My friend tells me this has something to do with the file being compressed and something something something. It was late and I don’t remember. So the levels are off, and well, there’s more work to do, but any comments are most welcome just the same.
It’s like and not like the previous two videos I posted. Links here and here for comparison.
Thanks for looking.
-Steph
Agora Gallery - the proud sponsor of the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, which offers contemporary artists the opportunity to show their original art at one the most acclaimed juried art shows in Chelsea, New York’s art galleries district.
darteboard
jdhastings
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