New discovery: Thermal paper

I have been using a new medium that I have fallen in love with: Thermal Paper. My roommate discovered it by accident and it has revived my creativity!

Thermal paper is what receipts and faxes are printed on. I enjoy it because it is often unpredictable. It reminds me of when I used to paint with watercolor (my first love) because you cannot totally control it and have to let the medium to some extent take you away.

I use heat to create images, therefore there are endless ways to use it. I love what the use of heat represents, for example creating art using a cigarette versus a hair straightener have different connotations. I have some ideas I am playing around with in my head with the use of this medium.

For an example, here is a piece I recently finished using thermal paper.

City

11"x15"

Thermal paper, acrylic, wood panel

I have more in the works and I will be updating you as I finish them! Meanwhile, have there been any great mediums you have discovered lately? 

<3 Lenore

1 Second Everyday

Today I stumbled upon this video which I think is absolutely amazing:

He records one second a day every day in his life for a year. This video has an amazing mixture of quirky moments spliced in with the perfect amount of every day boring life. At the end it gets sad, as someone is in the ICU and the shots start repeating almost exactly the same in the hospital.

I love how it expresses all of the small moments in life, and then when it hits the ICU all the excitement and enjoyment freezes and it comes almost to a standstill. My favorite part of it is the audio, the one second clips of empty audio are comforting. It makes me think of sitting back and reminiscing about a year gone by.

The guy who made this video quit his advertising job and took a year off, which is the year in which he made this video. (That's why his life seems fairly exciting). He is also currently developing an app that would allow anyone to do this, which I think is an awesome idea.

If you want to support and get the app, here is his Kickstarter website! Check it out.


<3 Lenore

Ryan Larkin

I was flipping through an old sketchbook today and the tiniest note "Ryan Larkin - Walking" brought back a memory. When I was in first year Visual Arts, in about 2006, one of my professors showed me this animation by Ryan Larkin.

This video, make in 1968, is one of the best animations I have ever seen. It captures fluidity of human motion so profoundly in so few brushstrokes. It expresses emotion through body language. It captures the movement of muscle and bone people are made of.

My professor told us the story of Ryan Larkin.  A few years after making this and working with the Film Board of Canada he fell hard into drugs and alcohol and eventually became a pan handler and was forgotten.

Decades later he met Chris Landreth who made a film about him, Ryan. This brought him attention and in the 2000's he cleaned up and began working with animation again.

The tragic part of the story is that two years after I saw this for the first time I learned that before he had ever really finished anything Ryan Larkin passed away of lung cancer.

This story always lead me to wonder what paths take us where and why. He may have gone on to do so many amazing things and his path took him somewhere else. What is the deciding factor of all of these things? Many of us start out in the same places. It's good to remind ourselves to keep on a path worth travelling.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

<3 Lenore

Fixation - New painting

I have finished a new piece, at last! I have been working on this one forever.

Fixation
Acrylic on canvas
3' x 4'

Finally I have done a reasonably sized piece here in Ottawa. It is something I would not be ashamed to show. The premise behind the piece is an expression of addiction. Addiction has many sides, this is an expression of the comfort of smoking for me. There is a dichotomy in my life between the hatred of how cigarettes are destroying me and my pure love of them. It is something I fight daily. Anyone with any addiction fights similar feelings.

I am making another painting right now. It is small, perhaps more a layout for a future bigger piece. I have been concentrating on the idea of addiction too much so I have decided to branching out a bit. I also want to do a body of work with people working service jobs and hopefully expressing the state of the economy, something I am very affected by right now.

Meanwhile I am trying to stay motivated despite working 60 hours a week. Hope you all find the time to do what you're passionate about as well!

<3 Lenore

Birthdays, amiright?

I turned 26 yesterday. I feel as though my life has been consumed by work. Never making art anymore, I'm feeling a bit downtrodden. One of my friends gave me an easel for my birthday, so I worked a bit on a painting tonight.

I need to make art more so I know what I'm making it about. My main focus was addiction, and I do not know if I am expressing it properly. I am not sure what I even think about it anymore. The more I work the more my smoking addiction takes over my life. Maybe work itself has become an addiction, the need for money to sustain myself and protect myself in the future. I need to play with canvases and materials. I need to figure things out.

Regardless I downloaded a postcast tonight called Art Marketing Action Podcasts from Alyson B. Stanfield. It is full of helpful tips on marketing yourself as an artist. I am going to continue listening as I bus to and from work everyday, hoping for inspiration.

On a lighter note, here is some art humor. That is priceless blog. Check it out!

New comic! And new drawing

My comicing was on hiatus for a while, but I downloaded a program on my ipad and I think I'm going to draw them on there! Check out my new post!

Checkit!

It's still a bit rough going but I feel in the future it will be easier to draw and upload from, and then I can color them! The comic is a bit lame, but it was a tester, really.

Also, look at what else I drew on my ipad! That's my roomie/bestie Abigail. I'm really gettin the hang of this thang.

Hope you all are well! Drop me a line!

<3 Lenore

O hai

I do not go on this enough.

Some updates! I am working the same crappy jobs. Uh. I love my cat. That is all.

Here's a picture of myself I drew on my ipad with my new stylus!

Thoughts: yesterday I realized I've been in a relationship with my cat longer than any guy. Commitment issues much?

Aw but I love my cat.

How have you all been?

<3 Lenore