e2: Crossroads, Candles, and Seasonal Art Reflections
Transcript
This is Inspired Visions, a space where we discuss art that brings you back to yourself. I'm your host Ash, the artist in which behind Studio 4, 2 9, I create visionary art, talismans and divination tools that provoke reflection, spark intuition, and reveal new ways of being. Let's dive in.
right.
Welcome back to the show. This is Ash, your host of the Inspired Visions podcast, where we are talking all about art, creativity, divination. So many things today I wanted to share stories about a couple of art pieces that I have done, and I'm looking forward to starting to talk about these.
What I think I'm going to do is talk about a newer art piece and an older art piece each show, and we'll go from there. I do plan to also. [00:01:00] Talk about card creator's, coven, talk about divination tools and reading cards and all these different things, but we've gotta start somewhere. So I am starting with the first lino cut piece that I did for this last semester.
I wanna share that and then I will share more projects later on down the road. So the first one up is. This candle that I did it was a small candle. I wasn't sure what I wanted to create. But it was a five by seven line of cut that we needed to make, and it was the first time cutting on that surface apart from a little scrap test run.
It was my first time using that surface, doing this kind of printing. So I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. And I had so many thumbnails in my [00:02:00] sketchbook because I did have a lot of ideas. I just wasn't sure what I could do realistically on that small piece for my first project. So I had a ton of ideas, a ton of little thumbnails, and at the time I was really thinking, going back and forth of Is this really what I want to be doing, or is this not? I was thinking about this path to being an art teacher and if that was the path I wanted to be on and why, Why was I doing this? And so a lot of my thumbnails and designs were all about. Choosing your path, figuring out your path, adjusting your path.
so that's how I ended up with a candle of like lighting a candle to follow. Lighting that candle is like a little guiding light. and I'll share pictures [00:03:00] in show notes and everything. The candle is sitting on. the candle is sitting on he's labyrinth a design there. That's all about those crossroads, finding that path, finding where you want to go.
And so I did lots of lines and patterns and things to show that Candle burning. Bright, the energy burning bright. So I have all these different little like teardrop shapes and lines and squiggles. And at, when I was drawing the design out on, on my tablet, I had made little, like little screenshots of all these different things in the corners.
So I had a corner of like art supplies and a corner of. Other symbols of a and different, different little blocks like that. But once I actually sketched it out onto. [00:04:00] The linoleum, it was obvious I was not gonna be able to do that maybe someday, maybe on a much larger piece. But those tiny details were not gonna come out on this first piece.
So I ended up changing that out and just doing some line work. It's very simple. But it was the first piece and. It really taught me how to draw for Lino cut because it was, it was quite the puzzle trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be carving, where I'm not supposed to be carving when all of my lines were the same in the drawing.
So that was definitely. A really confusing conversation that I had to talk out to figure out where exactly I was or was not cutting. And I definitely changed my mind a few times and definitely a couple [00:05:00] sections were like, whoops. Well I guess that's what I'm doing now. But after that project I drew a little bit differently just so it would be easier for me to tell.
Exactly what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to get rid of. So this was a really good starting place. You know, simple lines, simple shapes, nothing too dramatic. But it's still, I still like it because it's the first one and because it's meaningful. Ate is the goddess of the crossroads. So you go to her when you are trying to decide what path to take.
Trying to think about, do we go this way? Do we go that way? And she is, she has three faces. I've drawn her before or painted her on my tablet before. And so I haven't used [00:06:00] this symbol before, though. So I wanted to include that in the design work as well of a labyrinth of like following these different things that come up, following these different desires as I go to see which path I go down as I keep working through my degree, as I keep working at the school, as I keep doing all these different things.
Okay.
And then once I was done carving it that was the first time of printing and I liked this process so much more than the dry point process we had done previously. The dry point just takes so long to ink and to prep to be able to do the printing. So I really liked this line of cut process a lot more and I've definitely done several more projects since then.
I, I liked the whole process. It was super easy to like flow right through all the steps and get my three prints out. So this is a [00:07:00] small addition, just three prints just to get started. And I think I will do some more additions in the future. And maybe I see this vision of doing. Additions or prints where I include other things too.
So I do the print, but then maybe do a few highlights in in like a gold pen or something, or a few pieces in like a watercolor or something just to make each one a little bit unique. We will see. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe I won't. What I did start doing though is actually taking a different surface, a rubber surface, carving that out and turning into a stamp so that I can make some of my jewelry pieces easier.
Since I have a few designs that I do, quite [00:08:00] often, I will make those designs into this carved out stamp. And then it's still hand drawn. It's still hand carved, but it'll save me a little bit of time so that I can make some more and so that I can make some different pieces or add in some different color options or whatnot for the jewelry.
So starting here at this first lino cut Cup piece has really helped me to explore some other. Options as well. So it's really cool to see when you create something new where it can lead from there. It's interesting to see how you can pull your different mediums together or different backgrounds together in order to create something totally new for you or completely different.
And just to see how these different. [00:09:00] Processes work.
All right. Since we're recording this, I don't know why I keep saying we, but since I'm recording this right around the holidays the pieces that I'm gonna talk about from a few years ago are going to be yuel themed. So we are right around those seasons and I. I haven't done one in a little while, but I will often do digital paintings as well.
And so I, a few years ago, I think. I am guessing it was 2020. 2021. So in that range I did a digital painting of an owl sitting on a branch. And I used that as both one of my holiday cards and one that I sent, or one that I make for sale for people to purchase their own cards. It has a. Snowy background.
It has an owl. It has a candle. We're going with candle themes today, I guess, and then we've also got some different branches, like a centerpiece type, pine branches and some [00:10:00] oranges and all of the like yummy, delightful smelling things that we have. Oh my god. Delightful. We've got the candle, the pine branches, and we've also got like some orange slices, some Annie stars, and at the top it says, Yu Old Blessings in a nice font.
And so I did this all digital painting. I, I wanna say I probably use procreate. I. Previously I had done some digital painting in Photoshop, but I'm pretty sure by this point I had switched over to Procreate for the most part. So it's all done there, all digital painted, and I really love painting owls.
They're feathers are crazy to get painted to get them in all the right spots. But I just love how the lighting came [00:11:00] out. I did quite a bit of. Different lighting on one edge of this owl since you've got the candle there. So it's lit really well on that one side, and then it gets darker on the other side.
So you've got like the yellows and the oranges and bits of red and pinks and everything in the feathers because you have that candlelight there. And I really like how that came out. The pine branches, you know. They could have been done a little bit better. I, I have some comments on my own artwork there, but I still like, I still like it overall and I really like like the, you got the drippy candle there, so I really like how the little drips came out and I really like how some of the orange slices came out as well in this.
So I really liked doing that and I like sending them out too. I'm, I've made a couple cards since then. [00:12:00] This year I actually did a colored pencil drawing for someone that I will, I will share later on. I did this drawing that will be for her Christmas cards this year. So I can even do that sometimes.
You know, take on a commission for. That we then put into print to get on cards, to get on tote bags, posters, whatever whatever is desired. And then I have this other drawing from 22. It is colored pencil prisma color. And I remember that year I had done so many. Digital paintings and pieces of jewelry that by the end of the year I was like, I have not drawn on paper in forever.
I need to just do something quick. Something that will be, you know, [00:13:00] joyful, that they'll bring me joy so that I can just get some pencil on paper. So I drew this candle and this little straw reindeer that you often see around Yu. And I drew these two things like. It's a very quick drawing. It is a very, very quick there's so many things I would do differently if I were to redraw this, right?
But it was one of those drawings I like simply because it got me back to. That paper got me back to being in the physical world actually creating something solid. Instead of being all digital or being all super fast sketches on jewelry. So it just got me back to where I had started with the drawing, which was a piece of paper, some Prisma colors and.
Blending those [00:14:00] colors together by hand. It's, it's a very different process when you've spent so much time digital work. I, I know when I've done too much on my tablet when I am trying to tap the paper to undo a pencil mark that I just made. So when I'm doing that. I know I need to get more time on the paper.
It's always amusing though. It makes me laugh, but it's just that little reminder of you gotta stay in the physical realm a little bit more too.
So the two of these pieces, both being about Yuel on December 21st. Brings us back to the magic of the season, the dark solstice, right? It is the longest night of the year. We light our candles to remember that the light will come [00:15:00] back. We're all cozied up in the snow and in that darkness, knowing that the light will come back, it's just.
Right now, time for hibernation. Time for reviewing where we're at, reviewing what we wanna do. You know, we aren't out starting all the projects. We're just enjoying what we have right now and just staying cozy by a candle or a fire and enjoying these smaller moments and enjoying these. Art forms and other things in our lives that bring us joy.
So that is what I wanna share about these three art pieces. I will have pictures of all them in the show notes. Prints can be purchased for. The Yule artworks and [00:16:00] I will have some prints of the candle in the future, but if you're interested in those, please do let me know and I can start working on that.
So I know in the new year I will get a few more things ready for myself to be making prints at home in printmaking style, not just in. Digital prints. So I'm excited about that, to include that as one of my many art forms. It's sometimes hard to keep track of all the different things I do, but they all have a common thread throughout them.
So everything comes back to the natural world to what we see to the candles and the magic and. Enjoying these different art forms that bring us joy. So until next time, I am signing off for today. [00:17:00] Enjoy this holiday season and I'll see you next time.
