Photography / Artistic breakthrough Blog haha

So a few things are going on in my life. I landed a work study gig managing the Dark Room in the art department. Which is great, I love film photography so much more than digital. On a personal level rather than technical. Sure with the digital age you can have high quality pictures edited to the core and sent to a million people in less than 5 minutes. But, it doesn't stimulate me. I need to be stimulated when I work. I love the process, I'm starting to think I'm a methodical kind of guy. My painting though abstract and kind of minimal, definitely has been reflecting my methodology on things. I think a large majority of it is a result of taking printmaking with Julia : ) , I liked the risk of failure according to a calculated trial. I hope that makes any sense to you, maybe it's just me XD. I think it brings out the human in me. Let me clarify:

I love working with machines, and I love overpowering the machine. It means we're not slaves to our own creations, yet. I love how even though it's the press's job to force ink onto paper, It's up to me whether it completes the mission or fails. Even though there is a chemical recipe to process film, it's my patience, my accuracy that developes that film correctly, not the chemicals. There is a HUGE risk factor in monotypes, carvings and film based processes that I love. With painting, you work until the painting's "done" or you give out, or you're about to hit that deadline : ). But with these mechanical processes there's a contridiction that goes as follows:

I want to calculate everything so I'll have a finished product, but I also want to screw up just enough to make it interesting.

Even I have patience and love the long hours, somehow it ends up with wanting instant gratification.

But back to methodology. In my painting class, I am amazed / disappointed with the evolution of my work. I was expecting to go in a hundred different directions, trying out different things so I can understand what "art" is. But, I ended up building on the same method of painting. I'm discovering things about myself I never knew, but apparently I'm very aware of, since I keep doing it!!

I started with a brown painting of squares, very organic, very design based. I loosened up a bit for the second, painting a gray tone, very thick abstract, with a more depth of field. Third was a still life of bricks. I made them softer and drippy, very alive and organic again. My last painting was a shocker it took everything I;ve done in my life and meshed together well. Not to mention I love adding surface to my paintings now, with extra canvas and string :).

You know something's wrong when I have more fun with my college life than my social life heheh