More Tiny Creations

The more I switch back and forth between the white and black grounded canvases, the more I realize why I choose one over the other in a specific moment, for a specific painting.  Aesthetic choices aside, whether I begin with black or white is dictated by my mood.  While assessing the paintings that follow, it became clear to me that the paintings with black grounds tell of my efforts, my insecurities, and my concerns.  The black canvases chronicle my battles with myself and my emotions.  The white grounded canvases, conversely, speak of my dreams, my desires, and my hopes.  This distinction was not intentional, but I think it makes an interesting series of what I've been working on lately.

Space Aquatic
4" x 4"
Acrylic and Gloss Medium on Black Canvas

I posted this painting already, but after photographing it and seeing it on my wall every day, the multitude of colors began to fall flat.  To counter this, I selectively added some clear acrylic gloss medium, which adds texture and depth by making some elements juicy and raised above the rest.  The change is subtle overall, but I'm happy with the effect I've achieved.

  Float
4" x 5"
Acrylic and Gloss Medium on Canvas

This piece was completed a few weeks ago but, much like Space Aquatic above, when I felt I'd applied all the paint to the canvas that suited it, it still felt too flat.  I wanted to add more paint to give it fuller texture and body but didn't want to lose the integrity of the hues and cascading effects, so I added clear gloss medium instead.  This painting overall, including how much water (rather than paint) went into making it, speaks to my more passive side lately.  I'm generally a very aggressive person, so when my work turns out light and airy and float-y like this one does, you can tell I'm sort of out of my element in my current state of life.  I'm fire in the water. 

Blast
2" x 2"
Acrylic on Black Canvas

Bursting forth with energy, streaming consciousness coursing through my veins.  I am liberated and fully one with myself, though that makes me no less alone in the dark.  I can cultivate all the inner beauty I want, but is it lessened in its lack of audience?

Blip
4" x 4"
Acrylic on Black Canvas

All of these black canvases have such a moodiness to them that you don't find in the typical variety.  Instead of the negative space suggesting light and openness, it suggests weight and emptiness.  Black is the color of emotional baggage, and these paintings are weighted heavily with mine.

 July Dreams
3" x 9"
Acrylic on Canvas

I love canvases that are stretched in a 1:3 ratio; something about that shape is very comforting for me.  This piece was made very automatically and without much thought.  Upon observing it afterward, it reminds me of July, of warm humid air that you feel as it wraps around you, of fireworks lighting the sky.  It represents in some ways my desires for ease and simplicity in my life, my wishes to release myself of the weight that chains me. 

Soar
2" x 2"

Acrylic on Black Canvas

Reaching up, falling down, twisting into myself, cascading.  This painting is a mildly peaceful confusion.  There isn't panic, there's even confidence... but despite best effort and intention there is not much achieved...

Just a Few Tiny Paintings

Insight
2" x 2"
Acrylic on Black Canvas

The tiniest stretched canvas I have ever had the pleasure of adorning and likely the smallest I'll ever encounter till the end of my days.  This was my first time working with a pre-made canvas with a black ground, and I much enjoyed the effortless depth it gives to an image. 

Space Aquatic 
4" x 4"
Acrylic on Black Canvas

Varying pastel colors laid lightly on top of one another.  It reminds me of a distant and exotic galaxy, or of the bright and colorful mysteries that reside at the bottom of the ocean (hence the title).  Yet again, the black gives an unfathomably depth to the negative space, making the orb and all its tendrils float, dance...

Rhythm 
~3" x 6"
Acrylic on 3 Black Canvases

I like this one more every time I look at it.  At first I began painting the woman's form across the three canvases simply out of how much i love the convention, but as the image developed further, the separate pieces gave the painting a whole new life of its own.  The unaligned arrangement works with the figure's contrapposto and gives a very barely dynamic body the illusion of dance-like movement.  The silver background to me is both reminiscent of falling rain and of all the flash and glitz of dance clubs. 

If you are interested in purchasing any of my work please contact me via email at AdriaGiovanna@gmail.com   

Art on Cardboard

Cardboard is a wonderful material to work with as an artist because it has immediately recognizable connotations.  It reminds us of work, of life, of the everyday and the mundane.  It also lends a street-art-esque context to whatever you put on it.  Beyond all that, it's extremely cheap and accessible.  Beginning sometime last year, I now take the cardboard in which products are packed and shipped to my job and recycle it into unique little pieces of art.

It says "destroy me" in clear glow-in-the-dark/uv reactive dimensional paint.

"When you see me baby will you scream or will you laugh?" lyrics from Crows 1 by Aesop Rock

The tentacles have glow-in-the-dark/uv reactive suction cups.

What do you see?

Dream...

Lies lies lies lies lies...

More glow-in-the-dark suction cups

These paintings will be listed in my etsy shop (Fever Dream Arts) for $2-5 each and will also be on sale at Anjipan's What is That Though? Art Show January 26th at Field 10 Studios in Ronkonkoma. 

Last Piece of 2012

Towards the end of last year and into the beginning of this year I've been making it a point to spend more time alone... to do some soul searching, you might say.  On one particularly warm day I took a trip out to my favorite tea shop in Stony Brook  and then explored bits of Avalon and David Weld's nature sanctuaries.  This was only just a few weeks following the "superstorm" mild hurricane that rocked the north shore of the island, so David Weld's was full of downed trees and various wooden debris left by the crews who had cut through trunks and branches to clear the paths.  While walking through a deep part of one of the trails I found this interesting scrap of wood that had a beautiful ink-like pattern on the bark and a rich reddish interior, which I couldn't help but take with me and which has become the last finished piece of mine to be created in the year 2012.

Things Left Behind
~14" x  5" x 3"
Wood, Macaw and Peacock Feathers, Glass, Acrylic Paint, Spray Paint, Gold Thread

(detail)

(reverse)

 (reverse detail)

The macaw and peacock feathers were picked up by my close friend who works at the Game Farm in Manorville.  The glass is pieces of a very nice double-blown glass teacup that my sister bought me which fell and shattered some time ago.  The other materials were all bought for some other original intended purpose and were left over.  So, indeed, this piece is made entirely of things left behind. 

Portraits of Friends

This December I did portraits of my two closest girl friends in media that I felt suited their personal aesthetic. One took a very long time and one took not long at all, but I'm very satisfied with how they both came out. 

Missy 
9.5" x 12"
Colored Pencil on Paper

Jessie
5.75" x 7.25"
Oil Pastel on Cardboard