I’m settling into life in NYC, it is all coming back to me now and is starting to feel comfortable again. I’ve tapped into a place in my past that was an intensive growth spurt creatively, and am grounded in the present feeling the influences around me and expressing them through my art.
I’ve met some fascinating artists here. One that really got me to thinking is the street artist/muralist from Dublin, Solus. He is part of The Bushwick Collective, here in Brooklyn, and quite an inspiration. His visual social commentary is concise and on target and his playful sense of humor draws you into his world and makes you want to see what else he has to say. I look forward to seeing the progression of his next mural here in NYC this July.
I’m fascinated by the process involved in these large murals and am experimenting with working on a larger scale. NYC is a gritty place so I’ve taken that influence and incorporated distressed, found boards that were discarded from the construction going on in my building, (recycle/reuse), and experimented with some spray paint and markers to come up with my mixed media rose. It brings me back to fashion illustration, drawing on top of what I’ve painted and is totally fun. There is a reason that the street artists work in the street however as the stairwell I was painting in became toxic rather quickly. I’ve several others in the works and am really excited about experimenting more with a new medium and techniques.
As one thing leads to another, I’ve been invited to participate in a group show in Westport by a woman who saw my work in Art About Town. Stay tuned for details, it will be sometime in mid July!