IsabeauxStudio

Post college I moved to NYC and got my first apartment.  It was a fifth floor walkup, and was ridiculously small.  Think of a postage stamp, multiply it times ten, add a bathroom, small kitchen & closet, and that was my apartment.  In order to live and be creative in my apartment, I divided it in half with a floor to ceiling curtain.  The creative work that I did do, happened after hours.  I worked full time, and it was exhausting.  Suffice it to say though I was good at what I did, I didn't really "enjoy" it.  I had no desires or illusions to be the next Donna Karan..and the sense of entitlement, materialism, and  attitude that was found within the industry didn't really mesh with what and who I wanted to be.  So it was and still is a job that keeps me flush in art supplies.

The grind of my day job was palatable, as long as I was doing my own thing creatively at home after hours.  This creative "balance" has kept me sane through many of my ugliest jobs and unfortunately I have had quite a few. The problem was I  never got much sleep.  When I arrived home at 8PM or later, ate dinner, and then started on a project, often times I would be so engrossed that I didn't go to bed until 1 or 2 a.m.  After 10 years of this pace,  I declared that I had enough of New York and moved across the country in search of a more sane lifestyle.  But let me tell you about the pieces I generated first, as it was a pretty prolific period.

 
At first I tried to pick up oil painting again,  but in such small confines, it was too messy and the fumes well... lets just say I am not as smart as I used to be.  Plus it took so long for the oil pant to dry, I'd accidentally knock against the canvas and invariably ended up with paint on my clothes.  The paintings shown here were done before moving onto another medium more suitable for the size of my apartment.

The painting at left is the beginnings of a self portrait.  The "Red Robes" painting below started from a collage that was done from magazine tearsheets. I found that the use of collage was an effective way to get started on a new piece.  Often times I got stuck trying to pull something out of thin air, the possibilities were too broad and I didn't know where to start.   You can see both the original collage and the translation to the painting at left.