All Hail the Robot Army!

Near the end of 2011, my art practice began to turn on its head.  I began to push waaay outside my box...hell, I think I kicked that box in the side and took off running.  I have since been hesitant to share that work in this space for many, many reasons that I won't enumerate.  However, generally speaking, this new art exploration is in its most tender stages and I am protecting it like a mother hen guards her chicks.  I felt/feel this incredible surge of imagination, enthusiasm, and wonder and I didn't/don't want to taint those feelings by laying my studio open for all the Internet to see.  In addition, I am working closer to my heart than ever before and I do believe there is real value in keeping some work - perhaps a lot of work - private.

Then in marched the robot army...I have been gleefully constructing found object robots in advance of this Friday's sculpture lesson for my high school art students.  I can't stop myself!  Several kitchen items have been sacrificed in the pursuit of robot parts.  (I never used that silly tea strainer anyway and salt shakers?  Who needs 'em!?)

I have been doodling robots fairly steadily for almost a year now (see here and here as well.)  While I failed miserably at keeping up with Tammy's wonderful "Index-Card-a-Day" challenge over at the unparalleled Daisy Yellow, I did reignite a passion for illustration that has continued unabated.  Once I gathered the courage to stoke that fire, it has been burning brightly and fiercely, gaining traction every day.  In fact, I think I can safely say that I am drawing more now that I have in the entirety of my life.

A part of my new art explorations has been to find ways to transform my two-dimensional images into 3-D representations.  The robot army is a perfect example of my sketches jumping off the page and into real life.  I can't even begin to describe how much I love doing this sort of work.  Anyway, I thought I would share a quick pic of the robot army as it stands (they were very difficult creatures to photograph).  I have no doubt that the ranks will continue to swell with new recruits...

Rejoining the Interwebs

Hello again my lovelies!  I've been off the grid the last couple of weeks for two big reasons:  I spent the last week in March preparing to hang another show on April 1 and then spent the first 6 days of April coping with a monster migraine.  So if you've emailed me or commented on this here space in the last couple of weeks, I'm just now wading into my inbox to send out responses.

I have been receiving some wonderful comments and questions regarding creativity versus chronic illness...lots of fodder for future blog posts and as I gather my wits about me to get caught up, I'll be responding with a series of posts about working around and through health obstacles.  I have many, many thoughts on this topic and I want to present those thoughts in an interesting and useful manner so it might take me a couple of days to get my act together.

In the meantime, keep your questions coming and thank you for returning time and again to this space.  Your patronage is so appreciated!