30 Sketches V...New Zealand-style

11 Kiwis

So with a 4 week break between semesters upon me, I thought it was time for another episode of 30 Sketches Project...big number 5. Check it. What better way to become familiar with New Zealand birds than by drawing them? Over and over and over again. Bluebird by Charles Bukowski inspired this project. I had long forgotten about this poem until it resurfaced through my good friend Jelena.

Normally I paint/draw one bird per composition but really enjoyed the numerous sparrows I've been working on lately. I usually replicate that lone bird from a photograph but I want to work on being able to pull different views and angles of the bird by studying the form and making my own decisions on accuracy. This composition will be one I can own instead of ripping off some photographer's work.

Onwards and Upwards

Semester One I put you on the top shelf of the closet. It's time to move forward my friend. Walking to campus a week ago I came across an inspiration. Behold...The Couch in the Forest.

Couch in the Forest

I caught the above view out of the corner of my eye. Yup, it's a couch in a forest that sits atop a hill close to my new digs. I find the combination of interior and exterior fascinating. This idea of placing something where it doesn't belong has been what I've spent the last few years exploring in my work (birds set inside domestic environments). I'm exited to research how I can incorporate this semester's work into this combo. Below are some collage experiments from my workbook to help me find my way. (The top two are altered Jane Puckey landscapes.)

Two panels per painting?

Extracting and replacing?

Substituting purpose?

Borris

Borris and friends.

Borris detail

One week away from finishing my first semester of grad school! I'm a little more tattered and humble than when I began but I've kept myself alive. I've had the normal end-of-semester-freak-out nightmares, the only difference now is that I have an accent when I yell, "Painting is not dead!" in my dream.

My final hand in for studio practice is Borris but I've made him a new home. He is a painting within a painting now. I really wanted to build an environment that he could sink into. He looked unnatural against the stark white wall that he was on for the crit. I took away the medals and ditched the idea of a collection of numerous paintings and instead used sparrows to represent the idea of colonialism that I've been researching.

After cleaning up the studio post-Borris, I had the overwhelming feeling that it was now time to finally get on with it and make some damn art! It took living this semester for me to finally feel solid and confident to move on and make some thoughtful, educated paintings. Let's do this.

I. Heart. Sparrows.

13 Blue Sparrows

14 Sparrows on Blue

Oddly enough I've become totally obsessed with sparrows. They are everywhere here as they are everywhere on the planet. (Sorry if this is redundant to past posts...) I started painting them in NZ out of irony that they are the only birds I see every second of the day. Walter Buller is a man I've been doing much research on for my theory paper. Blah, blah, blah, he discovered and documented many birds in the 19th century that no longer exist in NZ while at the same time being responsible for many of their demises, blah, blah. An interesting and highly inspiring fact to me about Buller is that he introduced the common sparrow to NZ.

If you read the earlier post on the Stephen's Island Wren (Lighthouse Keeper's Cat story) then this may all sound vaguely familiar. I reworked the original painting, Light House Keeper's Cat,into what is now 14 Sparrows. I lost the wren/cat narrative and I'm fully focusing on the sparrows. Today I completed 13 Sparrows and plan to continue with the idea of these two paintings. Sparrows.

Critique Uno Final (until the actual final)

So this is actually what I presented at our first critique. Old Borris with the pretend medals. I think I got good feedback but was kinda stuck with the first comment which was..."I don't get it, why would you paint wallpaper? Why don't you just buy some wallpaper to paint on?". After I slaughtered the question-asker in my mind, it sunk in that I'm the sole postgrad using representational painting at present in a highly conceptual art university. The lone ranger.

I've gotten lost in all the research I've been doing and realized that I've started to make work based on my reading and not finding reading that flows with my artwork. A group of us went out after the 4.5 hr. long crit and had beer for lunch and then hit the local bottle shop for some adult beverages to take back the the studio. We sulked and drank.

We have to turn in our final work in two weeks based on changes made from the feedback from the crit. I've moved Borris to the small wall outside of my studio cubicle. He will be my final presentation. I'll jazz up the space a bit. Feeling a bit deflated but excited to get back on track.

Semester One Crit

Borris

Powder Horn (made out of Borris)

Uncle Eli (killer of Borris)

Last critique before our final Semester One critique is on Wednesday. Finished these today. I intended to show all three together but maybe I might just show ole Borris. They vary in size so I haven't hung them together to get the full effect. I envisioned what would happen if the windows were left open in pretend Uncle Eli's trophy room. I can only assume that sparrows would fly in wanted to hang with Borris. If I were a sparrow, that's what I'd do.

Now I've got about 2 weeks to write a 4000 word paper. It's overwhelming. 4000 words really isn't that much, it's condensing what I've been researching (scientific illustration vs. contemporary art, animal as object, how 19th century colonists influenced the material & knowledge that we have from that time period in regards to animal depiction, etc.) into a cohesive string of words. All of this while trying to stay alive in a strange country and attempting to tune out the chick behind me who is blasting tunes from facebook. I'm definitely close to going apeshit. Maybe I can work that into my thesis.

The Borris & Shog Show

Borris

Did some work on ole Borris the bear/ox/cat critter last night. Mainly used old-fashioned finger painting.

Shog

So the whole pretend colonist trophy wall wasn't going in the right direction. I decided to sacrifice the lamb/dog creature for this project and he has now become "Shog", the studio deity who battles bad art and dumb ideas.

I'm scrapping all but one of the medals of honor and dedicating the wall to Borris. I want to paint some black and white hunting photos, a powder horn, maybe a gun. I'd love to find a perfect location to show the work for the critique. I don't think hunting lodges are too common around these parts.

Semester One Project Progress

As you know I've become fascinated with 19th Century colonists. I've researched, read, painted, and researched some more on the topic. Mainly I've focused on New Zealand colonists during the Victorian Era but I didn't want to be the a-hole who has been in NZ for 10 minutes and thinks that she knows the entire history so I decided to make up my own fake colonist. Here is a very rough draft of the story that my paintings will revolve around:

My pretend great-uncle was a 19th Century colonist. Elijah Lucifer Lush was his name but he was always Uncle Eli in the great adventures I was told as a child.

In the spring of 1840, Uncle Eli and his young pregnant bride traveled from the green meadows of his homeland to settle the rocky shores of an untamed wilderness filled with savages and undiscovered beasts.

He was a business man by trade and went on to become one of the wealthiest and most well respected men of his time, most notably in the fields of discovery and science exploration.

Uncle Eli was known for his trophies of exotic animal specimens, indigenous textiles, and depictions of native peoples which he sent for exhibition in museums around the globe.

In a nutshell I will depict through a series of paintings one of his "trophy walls" filled with madeup mounted animal heads, medals of honor, portraits, etc. I have about 4 weeks to complete this project so I've gotta work my tail off. I want to have a shit ton of individual paintings and will display them as a group for the critique. Here is what I've been working on...

Above is my first madeup critter. It's a sheep/dog/pig/deer hybrid. I haven't figured out his bio but he is ferocious. And tiny...this is a life-size rendering. The next four paintings are medals I created. Haven't made up what they are for yet. They all need work.

This is the critter I worked on today. It's a lot larger than the others and it was super fantastic to work on a larger scale. I've mainly been working on small experimental paintings. This dude is a bear/boar/bull kinda creature. It is in it's early stages so it could change a great deal. Again, I haven't figured out how he rolls but I'll tell you one thing...looks are deceiving cuz he is a very gentle creature.

Dodo

Dodo Skull

Dodo Party

Not sure what I'd do without the good ole Massey workshop. I scavenge for wood scraps on a weekly basis. Besides the few sketches on butcher paper, all of my work has been done on old wooden boards and they are FREE!!! Yahoo! By the end of the semester I'm confident that I could build a small shed out of my paintings...hmmmm...not a bad idea considering my current living situation.

St. Huia Work

I'm so tired of talking about the purpose and message in my art. I'll just say that everything leading up to my life at this moment inspired these paintings.

Story Time!

The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat

Once upon a time there was a lighthouse keeper named Lyall that lived on Stephens Island in New Zealand. Lyall had a cat companion named Tibbles. Tibbles was a terrific hunter and soon proudly began bringing the lighthouse keeper lifeless feathered gifts in the form of a song bird. No one had seen these beautiful flightless birds before and men of science excitedly took notice. In 1894 the bird was named Lyall's Wren (or Stephens Island Wren). In that same year of discovery the Lyall's Wren was also found to be utterly and completely extinct. Tibbles singlehandedly wiped out an entire species of bird. The End. (Totally true story).

Walter Buller was one of the very excited folks that managed to get his paws on a few of the specimens of the Lyall's Wren before there were no specimens to be had. Buller was also the one who arranged the importation of sparrows from England. An indigenous bird discovered the same year as it became extinct mixed with a non-native species that thrive to this day. Hmmm...I think I'll make a painting about that. Wait, I already did.

Long-tailed Cuckoo

My first theory and research paper was due this week which led me to the research topic I will be working with for the rest of the semester and hopefully beyond. Here it is, try not to fall asleep...The Lasting Effects of the Discovery and Documentation of Avian Species During the Victorian Era. Ta-dah!

I've been doing endless research on the topic and I'm fascinated with New Zealand born colonists' desire to be accepted by their "homeland" (not unlike colonists' views in the U.S.). Sir Walter Buller (with an endless list of letters at the end of his name) was a lawyer, politician, and most famous for his ornithological discoveries. He is a prime example of this need to belong and thought that collecting titles and promotions was the way to gain status among his London born and breed colleagues. He fought to become a "gentlemen" but was looked down upon because of his "colonial upstart".

Buller loved the honor of receiving a prestigious medal (represented in the painting above). If he wasn't handed the medal he wanted, he petitioned for it and more often times than not received it.

The bird above is a long-tailed cuckoo. Cuckoos are brood parasites. They lay their egg in another species nest (in the long-tailed cuckoos case it's the nest of the whitehead, yellowhead, or brown creeper). After laying the egg, the cuckoo's parental duties are over and the whitehead parents take over.

Te Papa Visit 2

Great Egret study

Fairy Prion study

Fairy Prion gouache on gessoed panel study

So I just want to say that Te Papa's research facility that houses it's specimens is hands down one of the coolest places I've ever been. It doesn't hurt that it is literally across the street from campus. The main museum is about a 20 min. walk from school and if you are ever in the neighborhood it's a must see. As some of you know I pleaded my way into a series of sketching sessions that take place in the research facilities bird specimen room. (And by room I mean an enormo-deluxe-warehouse-heaven-like space.) I've gone for the last two Mondays for 2 hr. sessions and I'm scheduled for next Monday. It is my hope to keep the sessions going.

My first visit was overwhelming and Gillian, the specimen manager, was amazing at keeping me somewhat focused. Last Monday was much more productive. Gillian is familiar with what I'm wanting to accomplish and she had some amazing specimens already picked out. Last visit I drew from the bird skin specimen drawers (Snipe, South Island Robins, Great Spotted Kiwi - some of the skins were over 100 yrs. old!) and this time I worked from stuffed taxidermy birds (Tui, Fairy Prion, Common Diving Petrel chick, Red-crowned Parakeet, and Great Egret). Above is work from 2 of the 5 specimens I viewed.

A couple of days ago I began reading the biography of Walter Buller. He was born in New Zealand in the 1800's to missionary parents. He was responsible for discovering and documenting numerous native NZ birds. He was also to blame for the demise of some of these birds but that is a different story. Gillian and I spoke of him and at the end of my session she brought over a drawer that contained about 7 of Buller's specimens! His dang paws touched those birds - they are outfitted with his original tags! I asked if all of the species were alive today and a few are extinct. It was agreed that I will work from that drawer first next Monday. Nerd heaven....

Rats. Check. Beginning from the left hand side we have a Norway rat (largest), house rat, and lastly a ship rat. The background is based on all of their coloring combined. I don't know what else to say other than NZ didn't even now what a dang mammal was until us peeps brought these rats over (along with countless other animals) and they killed lots of indigenous critters. God, we're such a-holes.

The End.

Rats & Seagulls

Red-billed Seagull

Rats In-progress

To go along with the irony of the sparrow situation, I add the Red-billed Seagull. I see these guys just as much as the good ole sparrow. I enjoy watching them. They can be found atop a high perch checking out the scenery or fighting each other over scraps. The piece of wood came from the wood workshop.

Okay...Rats. Thank god I don't see them as much as the above mentioned critters. I've only seen one and it was outside scampering into some bushes and not in my skid row apartment. Over the course of my 5 weeks of school, I've gone in a completely different direction from my usual work but now it's time to pull in the reins a bit before I get completely lost making weirdo stuff.

Back to the basics. Do I stay with birds? "Why birds?", "What would you be painting if you didn't paint birds?", "Since your visits to Te Papa is your interest in dead or live birds?"...in a nut shell I don't know how to articulate the direction I'm headed in. I got a heap load of books which I thumbed through but I felt it necessary "to paint it out".

So, I thought one way to figure out how I feel about birds in my work is to make a painting without them. I do know that I love to draw the organic shapes and work with the natural colors of critters so I'll just paint some non-avian animals.

The ironic thing is that I chose to paint a ship rat, a norway rat, and a house rat because they are all non-native New Zealand mammals directly linked to the extinction of many indigenous birds. Take out the image of the bird but the bird still remains...

The Science of Sparrows...Completed!

Science of Sparrows I

Science of Sparrows II

Science of Sparrows III

Science of Sparrows IV

Science of Sparrows V

The Science of Sparrows

Oh the irony. Travel to the other side of the globe to see indigenous NZ birds and all I've seen is a heap load of sparrows. That's what happens when you don't leave the city. So, make art about sparrows.

Above is my progress for The Science of Sparrows. On the wall are my working drawings based on zoomed-in images of sparrows (main focus is the coloring from the feathers). After enlarging the pics I pull out circular shapes. The five pieces on the table are the beginning stages of the oil paintings based on the drawings.

Above is a close up of Painting IV from the series. The next step is to work on the circular shapes. I'd love to cover these in resin or at least a gloss finish but I'm having issues with debris getting stuck to wet paint because of the construction taking place in the studio and the constant need to have the windows open (no screens). If I can find a quiet and still place to varnish then I'll move forward if not...flat finish it is.

Abstract...Say What?!

Assignment #1...Remake

This is serious people, assignment #1 grad school-style...remake a work that you've made in the past. Remake it in any way that you see fit. Go! Above you will see the original work on the right hand side. (The frame encountered some traveling damage). It is a pastel, charcoal, and gouache work of a secretary bird that is covered in resin. Part of my whole "drainting" experimental series. On the left hand side is the remake. (I scrapped the Dodo sketch).

A long convoluted story goes along with it of course and I will spare you the details but the jist is that I was wicked frustrated, did not have the proper supplies, no mode of transport to get to said supplies and no funds to purchase them. In hindsight it would not have been a big deal knowing the information I know now - they don't have the same supplies that I am used to in this country anyways...make due. Well, make due I did. I used what was in my skid row digs - scotch tape, magazine bits, and a McDonald's bag. I ripped up pieces of mag pages to match the color and ratio of color used in the painting. BAM! Remake.

Assignment #2...Remake the Remake

For the 2nd assignment I drew a secretary bird on the above piece of wood (landscape orientation) then placed globular/molecular/circular things on top. I used some of the colors of the bird to fill in the circles and decided to cover up the bird all together. It made total sense at the time.

Experiment One

Got a fantastic book at the library on aerial shots of landscapes around the world. Work with me and believe that the above three experimental pieces are based on those landscapes.

The Sparrow Experiment

So I think it's pretty funny that I came all the way across the globe to see indigenous birds of New Zealand and because I have yet to leave the city, I have seen nothing but sparrows, seagulls, and starlings. All of which I'm very familiar with. So what ever shall I do? Make art out of the irony. Above is actually based on a zoomed in photograph of a sparrow. Today I began the practice oil painting of this work. When I feel I'm trodding on more solid ground with this experiment I have 5 delightfully delicious 12"x12" wooden panels to continue with.

Studio Practice Project #1

Studio Practice Project Numero 1:

Remake

First project of the semester is due Wed. (Tue. for all of you Americans). We had to choose a piece that we made in the past and remake it...be it different media, different size, etc. I chose a 24"x36" pastel and charcoal sketch of a Dodo I did a couple of years back. That work was based on a few images I collected from story books so it's a tinge on the whimsical side. I'm getting really interested in bird/animal preservation so I wanted to remake it in a more accurate and "scientific" way so I chose to use a photo of an dodo skeleton. The final product is covered in a very simple and sterile frame (reminded me of preparing slides for a microscope) and then I painted directly onto the glass with acrylic paint - just pulling out highlights and shadows. It makes for a bit of a 3D effect.

Dodo Subfossil Specimen from the Natural History Museum in London

Massey is a very researched based university which is very different from my previous education and one of the reasons I chose to come here. Anything that makes me work in a different way is going to yield a different outcome of work and that is what I'm down for. I may be pulling my hair out in a few weeks time when papers begin to be due in art theory and research class but in the long run I think that me and my work will be better for it.

Stoat/New Zealand Bittern

As I've mentioned, I'm becoming extremely interested in the archival conservation of animal specimens. Taxidermy, bird skin specimens, the works. Upon coming to NZ I was blown away at how many indigenous species of birds were decimated due to human contact. We introduced a heap of non-native critters to these islands which literally wiped out a huge number of animals species for good. This semester in Studio Practice we are to produce a body of work which I'm beginning to work on...well the idea anyway. Above is a combination of a New Zealand Bittern that is now extinct due to the introduction of the stoat.