My process

Things are hot and smokey here in Vancouver and I am having a bit of trouble settling in and focusing by sitting in front of my computer now.

I had to think a lot about what to post this week, I am knee-deep in marketing, sorting out my journey and making plans for my next moves, thinking through the need for the next moves and the desires behind them.

Alongside this time of processing plans and feelings, I am working on my virtual artist residency. Drawing, projecting images and drawing so I can practice with spray paint, using water-soluble paint in a refillable pen on vellum over top my large format printed vogue images. A trip to Layout Art Supply to pick up more supplies, spray paint, smaller refillable markers, different types of markers, more water-soluble paint in the colour of purple, some extra nibs for the refillable pen and some extra caps for the spray paint so I can experiment with different types of ways the paint can come out of the can. I am capturing my process during these days of the residency in my Instagram stories, mostly with timelapse videos if you want to come along and see the process unfold. I also created some long-form IGTV videos with specific goals of my process.

I filled out my final application for an artist residency in Montreal this week too. The application needs to be juried and accepted and I will not know for another 10 days so I will have to sit tight and exercise patience.

I think it is worth filling you in on my photographic process at this point because it also drives the rest of my art practice of continuous line drawings. The lines, shapes and the connection created in each image gave me the want to draw the lines to symbolize the process and how we need to connect, now more than ever.

We know each other by our lines, wrote William Blake after The Book of Ruth. He was referring specifically to the bounding lines that keep everything together, the lines that bind us, without them there is chaos. Chaos is unmanageable for anyone, the lines, the connections we have in our lives keep us grounded and keep chaos at bay. With this in mind, my process of planning and executing a shoot can be traced with a line.

I am inspired by an idea and reach out to the agency I work with to select a model to work with and book them. I then find the clothing I want to use during the shoot and print out inspiration images to use during the shoot as inspiration for the model and myself. I use them as a guide to keeping the original idea in mind during the entire process. I also use them as a guide for posing so the model has a reference.

I make JPGS from the shoot after a quick edit in Lightroom and send them to the modelling agency so they can make selects. I also make my own selects and add them to a submission cue. I always work ahead and plan my days by working ahead, planning for me is key.

Then I decide if I want to draw the lines in digital form using procreate and my iPad or if I want to make a print and project the image so I can draw it big or if I want to just use a smaller print and make a drawing with a 4x6. All of these decisions are based back on the original inspiration of the editorial I decided to create.

Turns out sitting down to tell you about my process became a much longer blog post than I intended and I’m glad. Sharing the process with you will also give you a window into where I am moving next with my art practice and my photography.

Each of these series of steps is long and takes a lot of energy. For a long time, I thought I just had to take photos and that was that, it is only now over a decade into this journey do I know and realize that the process is so much more than gaining recognition. The connection for me is the key and in that key is the line I am using to be so grateful for what I do and for me to engage with you.

Thank you for reading this far, I appreciate your support and am so grateful to have you along on my journey.

The images in this post are a recent editorial I created, some expired polaroids and images used in my formal artist residency application.

Virtual Artist Residency

It has been 8 days now and I am so happy I decided to do this residency. The summer was getting swallowed up by my serving gig and a lot of useless worry about the future.

This residency has helped me flip a switch and I am so grateful. I have been drawing, working with new mediums, trying new things and giving a daily recap on my instagram stories. I would love to have you come along on this journey with me, it is helping me grow artistically and many of the viewers are asking questions and engaging. I am thrilled you are here watching and even more grateful for your questions.

I have been drawing. I went pasting with 35 prints I made from a silkscreen I created at Blim. I have been trying to figure out how to work with spray paint. I have a photoshoot once a week and used some expired polaroid for the shoot. I have also been spending the mornings sending out marketing material before I begin the daily residency tasks. I make a list and usually accomplish what is on that list, sounds keen and fancy I know but I am realistic, it has been hot AF here and I have been doing my best to pace myself and work within an 8 hour day.

I will finish on September 3rd and have been accepted into a two-week artist residency in Sutton Montreal. I am so glad I took this time to do a virtual one to figure out a flow, schedule and give myself goals to work with.

My goal is to use the Vogue prints I have made, so far I have 6, and put vellum over top and add my lines. I want to have a show of these, to paint 1 live during the opening and also release an NFT that has animated lines. It is all about the lines.

Have I shared with you the quote from William Blake from the book Fake like Me? Read It! It is so good.

Here’s the quote, the response is ‘we know each other by our lines’.

If you think about how a line connects us that is the same idea behind me making my lines. The connection of people and intention that go into creating a shoot and then taking final images and making drawings is a final step for me in recognizing all of the people that are involved in the process. You can draw a line to mark a journey, these lines mark the steps and people who made them possible in one continuous process.

A Virtual Artist Residency with Thrive

Here it is, my residency, I will begin July 28th and end September 3 spending 18 days consistently making art.

Have you heard of the Thrive Art Community? Check them out, a great community for women in art.

Here is my residency statement, we created the statements together on a community Zoom call with a few break-out room sessions and feedback loops.

Ok, here goes. While it's fresh.

Commitment - I am committed to furthering my art practice during this residency by developing my linework with spray paint and painting with brushes on a variety of different sub-straights.

I will also take a morning to go out with my bicycle to wheat paste some posters I have ready to go. I will probably make some more in a different colour ink during the residency too. This is a form of guerrilla marketing I like that I adopted from Keri Smith.

I will attend the September Reflection meeting and check in regularly with the network.

Project - to work with my lines on velum over 6 - 40" photographic prints published in Vogue Italia that are ready to go. I purchased the velum on Saturday. I want to create a show with this series and release an NFT that is ready to go at the show.

To also work with spray paint to learn how to create small hard lines.

Time - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9 am - 5 pm with limited phone and computer use during this time. Lunch for an hour each day. An early morning paddleboard on one or two of the mornings, I live really close to the beach and usually get up at 6 am to have a smoothie, meditate and do yoga, if the weather is good I pop down for a paddle. 

**During the first hour of each of these days I need to make some marketing phone calls. There was someone who said once to do the hard stuff first during the day and this is something I have been putting off so I want to take the time now to do this and then put down the phone after 10 am and make art.

Space - my live workspace. It is ready. I have been collecting materials for the residency for the past week. I have spray paint, paint, paper, brushes and floor space.  I even have a bit of fabric ready if I want to try more hand-painted lines.

Accountability - I would really like a buddy to check in with for 30 minutes or so via face-time. I find this very helpful and also staves off the feeling of loneliness that can creep in for me because I live alone and it chased me a lot during the pandemic. A buddy has been found and our check-ins are arranged for Mondays at 10 am.

How is your summer going? Got any projects in the cue? I would love to hear about them.