Jan 31, 2015

Learning in Drafts



I fixed the text alignment for page one of Crows at Dusk. This time I did the text separate and used the magic of photo editing to combine them. It saves a lot of time. I need to color match along the gutter better but otherwise I like it. Now I am noticing that the cars along the street are the correct proportion for go carts, it's more noticeable in the next pages. I feel like I should redo that page but of course I don't want to. Even after experiencing the tremendous benefits of multiple drafts in page one, I am resistant (I did not even post my first draft of page one as it was awful.) Its obvious to me that each time I work to make an illustration better I learn how to illustrate better, but I still want the satisfaction of a finished project as soon as possible. Also it can be hard to find the midway point between improving something out of a healthy expectation and getting carried away by useless perfectionism. Does anyone else care that the cars are way to small for the woman on the street?



Jan 28, 2015

Crows at Dusk Update







I might need to redo some of these but I am mostly happy with it. I can't believe I aligned the text left in the first page....geez!

Jan 26, 2015

Crafting



My sister came for a visit and we had a crafting session making cards out of my enormous pile of experiments and other project cast-offs. The above card was cut from a meditation and I didn't feel like it needed any augmentation, what a find!




My favorite cards were the ones I made out of old art-journal pages, it's fun to piece the text together into a more concise and universal sentiment. Of course the text on the back side of the card is upside-down when the card is folded.




My sister made some awesome cards, but we were having so much fun I did not think to photograph them until after she left.


Jan 24, 2015

Crows at Dusk Revise


 I'm working on a new version of Crows at Dusk. These are some phone photos of the illustrations I've completed so far.










 One motivation is simply that I made the first version as a Christmas present for my family with limited time. While I love the rough, tangled aesthetic I felt like I could do better. 

Another motivation behind the new version is me toying with the idea of  developing a more consistent illustration style so that I could do work professionally. I love being able to experiment and make art as more of a discovery than goal-oriented process but a person needs to make money in this culture and the best way to do that is to serve the needs of others. I can see it as a sacrifice of my artistic integrity or I can see it as a development of maturity to channel my talents into services.



 

Jan 8, 2015

Catching Up After the Holidays

My most exciting announcement is that from March 26 to April 30th I will be showing my poem paintings alongside the work of Rachel Urista at Studio 262 in Corvallis. I am really excited about showing with Rachel and about showing at 262, it will be a wonderful exhibit.

http://www.studio262gallery.com/



Last month my painting Trees Before Rain won an honorable mention at the Something Red Art Walk.

http://www.alexandraschaefers.com/2010/10/trees-before-rain.html 


Yep, that's me getting an award in the red coat, totally fun.

I also ran into one of my favorite artists who was also showing at Something Red,  Eugene Cummings. 

 Here's Eugene with his painting Shipwreck: Innocent Lost.

 

Also a profile of my art was featured in The Corvallis Advocate here.

http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2014/artist-profile-alexandra-schaefers/


I worked extra at my day job for the beginning of the year, I may have spent most of my free time playing the Sims that week. I'm not exactly proud of that but it was a nice vacation from my personality. Now its time to catch up with painting. 

I hope you had a great holiday season!