Week 4 - Getting into the groove

OK so I am 2 days late.  Unfortunately I was wiped out because I caught something and decided to take it easy on Valentine’s day.  OK so what did I accomplish this week.  

I did a skin over an abstract dripping - I will post it later.  
I met with Natasha (my mentor) for the first time.  We discussed all sorts of great ideas and what I pulled from her overall.  Was a great study on
Ingrid Calame
http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/ingrid-calame/selected-works/  
She also gave me a great article- called Sourcing Information
Practiced stain-making 

Also making a series of smaller paintings to share with her

Got a meeting with Terrel James (artist referred to me from Darra Keaton) http://www.terrelljames.com/tjpaintings.html

I went to the Forbidden Gardens City- It is being closed down - In 259 B.C. at the time of the First Emperors birth, China had been in a state of civil war of over 200 years and was divided amongst 7 Warring states. Qin ascended the throne at the age of 13, but did not have full power till the age of 21. One of his goals was to end the centuries of war and to unite the warring states into one kingdom. After almost twenty years of pitched battle, he was able to do just that. For the first time, the warring states were united into one country. Not content with just one lifetime, he began searching for things to prolong his life, including the fabled elixir of life. But what his alchemists brought back were things like powdered jade, phosphorous, and mercury. Before his death in 210 B.C. he began working on an elaborate burial site containing all the luxuries he'd enjoyed in life.  
Most impressively, it is said he had made 8,000 terra cotta warriors, the vanguard of his army, to protect him forever in the afterlife. Each of these statues is unique, from the braiding of their hair, to the way their armor is pieced together. Most of these statues are life sized, standing an average of 6ft. These statues were rediscovered in 1974, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The excavation is ongoing.
Our exhibit features about 6,000 1/3 rd scale replicas, made in Xi'an for Forbidden Gardens. The layout is as was thought to be in 1992 when our construction first began, but new discoveries have been made since that time,
including figures of animals, dancers, and acrobats.
http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/02-10-11-highway-99-paves-over-forbidden-gardens/

Oh and the highlight of my week Fernando Casas - Nature at the Very Verge, who is my professor had an opening reception at the Gremillion & Co.  He is also my professor at the Women's Institute - Astonishing Art over the Ages.  His stuff was incredible and very deep. Check him out. It is hard to feel the actual presence of the picture on line.  
http://www.fernandocasas.com/main.htm

Lastly, lots, lots and lots of research for my upcoming paper. I think I am going to write about Norman Lewis and Sam Gilliam.  I started out thinking I would write about my favorite Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Lewis but the more I researched, the more in common I seemed to have with Lewis and Gilliam. More to come on this. I could research for the rest of my life.

Well that is all I really have time to report for the week.  More happened...painting, 2 classes and need to reschedule and meet with Geoff Hipenstiel.