Leaf Blower

This was inspired by one word: journey. So I traced some leaves on really old tracing paper and thought about all the paths I can take throughout my life. There seems to be quite a few.

Monkey

This was a Japanese-inspired guided imagery thing. Draw a river, a mountain, a house, an animal, a flower, etc. The field of orange flowers, I was told, is supposed to symbolize my work ethic. Produce, produce, produce!!

Mothman

What does death look like? When I was doing this I think was channeling the Mothman Prophecies movie from the night before. After that movie, I kept seeing pairs of eyes everywhere.

My Friends

I was having trouble with the idea of friendship. So I created 3 friends living on blue mushrooms.

Safe Place

I get nervous a lot. One way to cope is to picture the place in which you feel the safest. For me, it's in my apartment, on the couch, napping with my cats.

Addiction Mandalas

The above 3 mandalas were made as I listened to various types of music in order to produce a different result each time. I was trying to get inside the heads of drug addicts in different stages of recovery.

Soul Chaos

This is where I am when I'm not balanced. My insides get tangled in knots. Part of art making is a process of untangling the pieces and smoothing out your innards.

Quirky Affirmations

These cute cards can be made endlessly. Just google a list of inspirational quotes or positive affirmations. Then choose the size you want to make, small (for your wallet) or HUGE for your bedroom or wherever you feel the most energy.

Psychedelic Power

I felt swirly and relaxed while I was doing this.

Headache

After being read a story about the properties of water and how they coincide with life, I created this image. The red is a reflection of my awful headache that day. 

I'm on Fire

I am not a fan of Yanni. His music was playing during this exercise, and the piece reflects my irritation.

Panic in Godzilla Land

I like to make alternate universes. Usually there are monsters.

Welcome to the Murder Spa

I do what I can with the collage materials I'm given.

My Alter-Bitches

We all have our moods.

Slumlord Saga

Larry the landlord really makes me angry.

This is How I Pop Art

I wanna do a painted version of  this one because it might be cool.

Absurd Ideas are OK

This is a conglomerate of old random sketches from my art school days.

The Best Treehouse

The idea here is not drawing skills, especially since I had only 5 or 10 minutes. Rather, it's about remembering a place from your childhood that was awesome. I had a treehouse that I could climb up to and see all the way to the NYC skyline on a clear day.I vow to build an even awesomer treehouse when I have my own home and kids!

Searching for a Spirit

There is a book about the Hmong people of the East, called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. So I did a visual book report about it. I felt like using a piece of torn jeans as my canvas. The white smoke is calling a spirit, represented by the leaf, home.

Korean Ink

My first attempt at a Korean style of art. You use a special technique with a brush and ink block, on rice paper. I think it's rice paper. The patience required to just prepare the ink is intense. Very different than the American technique of rushing through everything.

Focus

 I was given photography postcards to choose from, and this picture was of someone's eye's looking in opposite directions. It reminded me of my severe lack of focus at times, as I'm pulled left and right simultaneously. I'm interested in too many things at once. The mixture of colors is an attempt to bring things into focus, or at least into the same general area.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

I was given an article from a medical journal which was about GAD, a disorder where anxiety pervades all areas of the person's life. He or she can't or won't control it. After reading about it, I created an image which attempts to get inside the head of someone experiencing this disorder. It was not a happy place.

Fijian Project

I was looking though a multicultural art book and came across Fijian Tapa cloth, which is a bark cloth. It can be decorated by rubbing, stamping, stencilling, smoking or dyeing. The designs usually contain a grid of geometrical patterns. For my humble attempt to duplicate a pattern, I crumpled up newsprint paper until soft, then made stencils and applied them with black craft paint.

Guide Me to Africa

The idea here was to draw an image of a place you want to be. Then, choose some images from collage materials that speak to you and place them in your dream space. Finally, I added a rock with my jellyfish symbol to the picture. I can take that rock with me everywhere, and when I want to remember my dream to go to Africa, I hold the rock tightly in my hand.