Métis Artist
Sometimes it is difficult to know what to create. I can sit in my studio and look around with no game plan. For me it doesn't matter what medium or subject, it is simply important to begin. These are two drawings that came out of a session like that. I had scraps of deer hide left over from another piece so I began working on them. I love ravens and they occasionally show up in my art.
I spent yesterday at a local ranch working on some new drawings. Our local art gallery asks artists to come out and work in a variety of gardens and properties and the community come out to tour them. I worked behind one of the cabins on the ground. It felt so good to be connect to the earth. I had prepared several frames with stretched hides, 2 moose and one deer hide. I want to explore these as a new drawing surface. The moose hide was only partially tanned but was already taking on a soft appearance, whereas the deer hide is still in the rawhide state. I use a chalk pastel that comes in a cake, applying it with sponges. It's like a combination of drawing and painting and I really enjoy the marks I can make. I plan to do more work in this area, conceptually using the circle as a starting point. These drawings were inspired by barbed wire and hair that I had set in a circle on the ground. With the moose hide, interupted circle I also used heat and metal to insize the hide.
My history with corvids (crows, ravens, magpies) goes back a ways. When I was about 14 yrs old, I had my bedroom upstairs in an old farmhouse. There was a small window in a dormer and it lead right out onto the roof. My brother and I used to get onto the roof so we could see to the back of the property. On the prairies anything high will give you at least a 20-50km view. We weren't the only ones who used this 'perch'. A magpie discovered it while trying to amuse himself one day. He sat outside my window at about 4am and 'sang'. It was summer and it was hot so I had my window open. His raspy voice sent me flying outta bed. I flung open the screen and started swinging at him with my arms. He hopped out of the way and looked at me with great amusement. "Ach, ach, ach", he said and look for my response. I cussed him out with every word I knew and he responded, "Ach, ach, ach." I finally had to crawl out and chase him off. He visited me at 4 am for the next 4 days and sang before he lost interest and looked for someone else to pester.
I meant to post these during the summer, but other things got in the way. These self-portraits were drawn by my kids during week long art lessons with Mom. It was interesting to see the progression. I am not sure if my lessons made an improvement to their drawings or not. They progress from left to right with the left one being the drawing they made on their own, without my guidance.
Okay, so this is a very bold statement but I figured I should just be honest. I am hoping you will be interested in buying prints of my art. I know Christmas is coming, birthdays are coming, or maybe you just want to treat yourself to something special. I hope you will look at my Imagekind site. It is the most amazing online store for high quality art prints that I have encountered! You can choose your potential art purchase, then actually try several types of frames on the piece, right there, online! You can see what it will look like on different colour walls, they have an option to change the colour of the walls. There is even an area where you can see what the art print would look like over a couch! Now that is online service! Even if you don't end up buying anything, do me a favour and go play there with my art for a while. Come back and let me know what you think! Here is the link:http://kimstewart.imagekind.com. If want something and you don't see it there in the gallery, just ask me and I can add it.
I have been drawing a self portrait each day for 2 weeks. First thing after breakfast I would drag myself over to the mirror and try to capture what I saw. I discovered that mornings are not when I look my best as many of the drawings show a grumpy, puffy looking face peering back at me. It was an excellent exercise, kind of a 'photo of the day' thing. Anyway, I am sharing my favourites with you here. The full colour one is a digital drawing done in Illustrator based on a photograph of me. Everything else is drawn using some sort of pencil-like instrument.
I've changed the name of my "preserves' project to 'saved'. I like the connotations of the new title. It's less domestic. I've added a new page, saved art and made a post to it. You should be able to see it as one of the options at the top and side of the blog. It will contain some of the drawings I made as a kid. Check them out, they might surprise you.
Doesn't the bare bulb above someone's head usually signify the arrival of an idea? (my basement studio, Prince George, BC, 2007)
You might say so, but in this case it is the main lighting for my humble home studio. I am not complaining. Working under this bare bulb, I feel connected to generations of artists before me who also created work under dim lighting. I can't even imagine myself in any space that does not have either a lighting problem, a leaky roof, or some sort of heating issues. Let me show you some of my home studios over the years.
View from my bedroom where I worked, down the stairs in the late 70's
This is the room where I drew horse pictures, and horse pictures....(1970's)
In my apartment in Stony Plain, Alberta, 2 friends look at the work I was doing in the Visual Art program at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, Alberta. (early 1980's)
My studio in our basement suite in North Vancouver, BC. I was attending my 1st year of college in a Graphic Design and Illustration program.
Still in College and pulling an all nighter. This painting was due first thing in the morning. You can see I have a ways to go to complete it.
Sitting and wishing I could go home for a nap. My studio space in the 2nd out of 3 years in Capilano College, North Vancouver, BC
Painting 'en plein air' (which means outside) in Prince George, BC, (2005)
It is a special day for all of you who are a father to some one. They look up to you, they model on your behavior, and they love you. Above are two drawings of Kevin, the dad-guy in this family. I did the top drawing in 1997 and the bottom drawing today. He wasn't very cooperative today. He kept sticking out his tongue and making faces, so the chin area is not as accurate as I would have liked. None the less, here is my tribute to the man who spends so much time parenting our kids with love.
sketches by me for a tryptic I'm working on. Emotional packages, tied up, bound, one cannot penetrate, to see what is inside.