I mentioned a while ago (in this post) that I wanted to add a mini-series to the blog, called Art in a Suitcase. Well, when we were in Miami, I found an old Nature Conservancy Magazine with a few articles about coral rehabilitation in the Bahamas. While reading through it, I found a beautiful photograph of a boy holding a blue fish. On a rare rainy day, while we were waiting out a cold front behind Rose Island, I decided to pull out my art suitcase and make an ink and watercolor version of the tiny photograph.
I found myself drawn to the intricate patterns created by the boy’s gloves and the gradations of color on the body of the fish. The blue ripples in the water melted into the soft white background complementing the rich skin tone of the boy and his pale orange swim trunks. Even at thumbnail size, the photograph felt serene. Fishing is the way of life in the islands. Because the soil is sandy and poor for farming, the locals rely on the sea and imports from other countries for food. The grocery stores and restaurants are expensive. Fishermen run about in small boats returning at the end of the day with snapper, grouper, lobster, and conch, which they sell in wooden stalls on the side of the road or from the back of their cars or golf carts.
Last week, Brian and I drove around town in a rental car, checking out the Wynwood District and peeking into several artists’ complexes, which offer residencies and affordable studio space to a large number of artists in the Miami area. It’s been such a long time since I’ve so much as opened my sketchbook, but I’ve been impressed by the contemporary art scene in Miami, and that serves as great motivation to get my practice started up again. Meeting other professional artists, peering into well-lit artist studios brimming with works-in-progress, and wandering through galleries of experimental and contemporary works gave me butterflies and a sense of excitement that I just can’t seem to shake. When Brian and I get back from the Bahamas, we will be planning the next phase of our adventure (involving career development, artistic development, and some big decisions about the future). This trip has given me some great ideas of where I want to take my art, so in anticipation, it is now time to train my eyes back to my sketchbook!
When I attended elementary school (back in the early ’90′s), students in my class participated in a program called Art in a Suitcase, in which a classmate’s father – who happened to be an artist – came into our classroom once a month and delivered an art lecture from his suitcase. This was separate from our weekly art class (and involved less paper mache). Although my memory is a bit foggy as to the details of most of the Art in a Suitcase lectures – did I mention that they were fairly brief? – I do seem to recall a lesson in art critique revolving around a print, followed by the creation of our own rendition of said print. All in all, the Art in a Suitcase episodes did not seem to have much of an effect on me as a budding artist. However, for Christmas this year, Brian bought me a lovely tabletop easel that folds down into a suitcase housing all sorts of art goodies, from oil paints, to brushes, to watercolors, pastels, palate knives, etc. I had to get rid of my original travel easel, since it was too large to set up on the boat and took up too much room. So with this new, smaller addition, I’ve decided to make my own little mini series of Art in a Suitcase; here is the debut of my first little session. 
This is what I might have seen – had I sprouted flippers and grown a fin – if I had big bubbly fish eyes! These were taken with my fish-eye camera from Lomography.
I’ve been quite productive lately, traveling between the boat (MD), my parents’ house (VA), and my grandparents’ house (NC), with a whirlwind trip to NYC somewhere in the midst of it all. The logistics of it would make your head spin, so I will spare you the details. I spent necessary time at my parents’ house working on scholarships, t-shirt designs, and promotional materials before I headed down to my grandparents’ house last week to print up approx. 50 t-shirts in two days – the most I’ve ever printed in one go! I burned my designs onto six screens (one screen for each color), mixed my colors, ran a few test prints, and then proceeded to print 3 two-color designs. I had hoped to do re-prints of my Osprey and Sea Turtles designs, but unfortunately time did not permit, so I focused on printing designs for Patriot Tours in Yorktown, a locally owned Segway tour company that asked me to design some Yorktown-inspired tees for their new shop.
For my first time using a six-arm press and a commercial drier, I thought things went pretty smoothly. Still, there was plenty of troubleshooting (I actually scorched a shirt with the flash drier!!), and I made many new discoveries. One particularly useful discovery was that I prefer printing with water-based ink; it’s eco-friendly, healthier, makes a softer print, and it’s easier to clean up. This is something that I suspected from the beginning, but after actually using the plastisol ink, the primary ink used by commercial printers, I am convinced that water-based ink is the only way to go. Plastisol makes me a little nervous because it contains PVC, which can out-gas harmful chemicals. Not only does it let off fumes, but it also requires special chemicals to clean up. The plastisol ink that I tried out was the consistency of melted bubble gum in the container (think thick and sticky), and boy was it messy! Because it is oil-based, the ink only dries after it is cured at a high temperature. This is a great characteristic for printing large runs because you don’t have to worry about the ink drying in the screen (and clogging your image), but it also means that it will stay wet for weeks. If you get the ink on your hand and touch something, you can be sure that you will find it later…someplace you don’t want it.
Luckily, I had a little help around the shop, because I discovered that to really utilize the equipment efficiently, you need two people. While one person pulls the print, the other is monitoring the drying: pulling printed shirts off the press, putting them on the conveyor, and placing a fresh shirt onto the press to be printed. In this manner, it is possible to print many t-shirts in one go without so much as a pause. I’ve found that the trickiest part of the whole process is the set-up. Because this was my first time, I made plenty of mistakes, but it was such a great learning opportunity. I hope to be more prepared and efficient next time around (I am still planning to print shirts for my Etsy shop), but for now, I am headed up to Annapolis to work the Annapolis Boat Show. Hopefully, I won’t be too busy to blog!
Here are some photos of the printing in progress.
Reunited with my press at last! Since I wasn’t able to locate suitable studio space in Annapolis fast enough, I set up shop in my parents’ garage. I found a little space amidst the cobwebs, strung a line across the garage door, and clamped my press to some scrap wood upheld between two saw horses. It works well enough in a pinch. In addition to working on new t-shirt designs and graphic design projects, I also managed to print the first two colors for a new run of Love Birds prints.
The past two weeks away from the boat have done wonders for my productivity. It’s been great having direct access to a scanner, printer, utility sink, reliable internet, and a larger space where I don’t have to worry too much about making a mess. But it was especially nice to have some company (my furry friend) around the “shop,” since I’ve been missing Brian terribly.
I’m going to be completely honest here. Last week, I nearly went completely stir crazy working on new t-shirt designs on the boat. It most certainly is possible to work there, but it is also most certainly not a productive environment. Brian continues to point out to me that, if I want to make art, then I will make art no matter where I am. True. And I did get some work done despite it all, but just ask him, I clearly came down with cabin fever in the process.
What can I say? I live on a sailboat. My office/studio space is the saloon of a ’37 boat that is filled to the brim with live-aboard stuff, and my face is about three feet away from the kitchen (dirty dishes and all); believe me I am trying, but I am not always as productive as I’d like. Sometimes it gets downright lonely and claustrophobic during the week. Brian is at work all day (also working overtime), and I am trying not to spend a dime (since I have little-to-no income at the moment), so I don’t go out much. It’s not that I don’t like the boat life anymore, because I do, but is quite different living on the boat while it’s stationary than when we are traveling on it. Sure, I did it in Charleston, but back then I had a bit of studio space where I could work on my art and get away from the boat for a little while.
So yesterday I decided to reclaim my sanity by taking a bus-metro-train-car trip to Yorktown to visit my parents and work on new t-shirt designs at the house. My goal is to get my Etsy shop up and running in the next few weeks, so I need access to my screen-printing equipment and some room to think and create. I’ve only been putting this off for a year (almost to the day); I registered my Etsy shop last year, but sadly never listed anything. So here I am in Yorktown for the week, increasing my productivity and happily working on my art again.
I took a few pictures last week of my work setup on Illusion. There were several rainy days, which actually did wonders for my creativity/mood….who knew?
It seems that the hours of studio time I put in last fall are beginning to pay off now. After just three weeks here, my hand-printed osprey and sea turtle tees are on sale at Vivo Boutique, an eco-friendly boutique supporting local artists and designers in Annapolis. I’ve also met a group of hip young artists at SOTA, Studios of the Arts, including fashion designers, screen printers, photographers, and videographers. What with all of the connections I’ve been making lately, and due to my proximity to DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, I strongly feel the need to spend more time working on my t-shirt designs and developing my art portfolio. Although living on a sailboat makes it infinitely harder to work (space issues), it keeps my monthly expenses down to the absolute minimum, which makes this artistic exploration possible.
I have to admit, though, I’ve been struggling over how best to use my time over the course of the next three months while Illusion is in Annapolis. Initially, I felt a great deal of pressure to get a “real” job – one that would offer me steady hourly work, decent pay, and look good on the ole’ resume. After all, we are trying to build up our savings again for our trip south this winter. But we are only in Annapolis for a few months, and that is easier said than done. Because Brian found a steady job immediately and is already working full-time, it takes some of the stress off of me. But I am still wrestling with my own sense of responsibility, both to my art and to my bank account.
My gut feelings tell me, without a doubt, to follow the art opportunities that are presenting themselves to me at this time. If only those feelings weren’t at war with my sense of duty and need for financial stability. Sigh. I need to trust that the time I invest in my art now, will pay off for me later, if I work hard. So guilty feelings aside, I am going to find some cheap studio space and get focused again. I am more than ready to get back to my art.
Perhaps some of you have already heard of Lomography, a company based in Vienna that sells art cameras, such as the Diana Mini or this cool fisheye camera that I bought back in February (as a birthday gift to myself). Well, I’ve been carting around the first roll of film since Illusion left Hilton Head Island and only recently developed it. Unfortunately, the film canister popped open in my purse (several times), overexposing a few of the images, but I still managed to get a few cool shots out of the roll.
This camera has several cool features, which I thought would work well on the boat: the curved lens captures 170 degrees, it is plastic and therefore less fragile than my digital camera, I can double expose images or leave the shutter open for an extended period of time, and I bought it with the underwater-housing case. I envisioned using it to document our journey south, putting together a small look-book about our journey after the completion of our trip – perhaps I will still do so. After all, I am pleased with the results of my first experimental run. What do you think?
I just found out that my sea turtle design got accepted into the voting round on Infectious.com. My design has 13 days to collect votes, and if I get enough positive feedback, they will turn it into a laptop skin. Please check it out here, and if you like what you see, vote for me!
Also, I think I failed to mention that I updated my art website a few weeks ago. If you haven’t already checked it out, then please take a peak (Lara Neece Art). I haven’t added any new artwork, but the layout is quite different.
Sunday was gorgeous, sunny, warm, and breezy. Brian and I decided to drive out to Folly Beach for brunch and a photo shoot. I wanted to fully test out my new camera, so that I’ll know how to access and manipulate all the options and settings when we finally set sail. The lighting was fantastic, and I managed to capture some nice pictures just before a little rain storm blew in from sea.
|
In early 2009, I moved onto an old Chris Craft sailboat with my boyfriend, and I decided to become an artist. This blog chronicles the pursuit of my dreams, exploration, travel, and art.
Join me for the adventure!
|
