Happiness Island

Noble Cause

Noble Cause was my first attempt at going large scale with the “tectonic shift” style of my small format work. I made this painting for my beautiful, wonderful, architect friend Malin, who hales from Sweden. I was excited to send the painting to Europe as she dutifully bragged about her talented friend from the States while showing it off to all her architect colleagues in Switzerland. (Hey, ya gotta promote whenever possible!)

While the format of my paintings is getting larger, my attention to detail has stayed as minuscule as ever. The result is there’s a whole lot more going on. Plenty of stories, characters, and treats are waiting to be discovered in my paintings. I included detail images in my large painting posts so you can enjoy some of my favorite pictorial incidences.

Noble Cause 14″x18″

Insets:

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Tectonic Shift

My paintings are a combination of abstract and representational drawing and collage combined with colorful pools of staining. I like to draw on canvas because of the way it sucks up the ink as soon as I make a line. When I stain my canvas, I like to call it “making continents”. I find it calming to watch the separate pools of water slowly move and merge, forming shapes of its own. Sometimes I intervene, sometimes I don’t.

Here are some examples of my earlier small works. I have recently moved into a larger size which I will post in the near future.

Burning Bush 6×6″

Bomb 6×6″

Regular 8×10″

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Coordinates unknown

As much as I enjoy creating narratives and images with stories behind them, I do love a good abstract adventure. I relish the purity of an image which conveys a single moment or mood that steals away as quickly as it comes.

Below are some works of mine that came out of nowhere:

(all ink on 8.5 x 11 paper)

More works from nowhere to come!

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Go figure.

I LOVE to draw females. I love the body and moving it all around. I took dance for years and had awesome teachers that would let me sit out some classes just to draw my classmates in motion. I always knew that I didn’t have what it takes to become pro (see: genetics/aversion to cheese?), but that didn’t stop me from loving dance.  Besides, I also knew drawing was my true calling.

Below is a sketch I made called “Fragments”. When I was girl, I would notice men on TV or in life discussing women in terms of their parts. I would also observe women constantly obsessing over the parts of themselves they disliked. One day, I realized this would be my fate as I matured into a woman myself.  Now that I’ve arrived at maturity, I find most adult shortcomings to be hilarious.

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I’m in the band.

As I mentioned in my “About” section, I sing in a band called Macaque. The following drawings are some that have been inspired by and in service to Macaque. Enjoy!

Text and cloud by Chris Hart:

For the record, the story for the above poster is this: A young girl has just seen her little sister get killed by the household monster-in-the-basement. As she’s running away frantically, she remembers the ring she always wears that her aunt gave her after a return from travels to far away lands. The ring is rumored to have a magic genie inside of it. When the monster looks like it’s going to catch up, the young girl wishes the genie out of the ring. Just in time, the genie appears in a puff of smoke and hypnotizes the monster into submission.

I love working with lettering. This collage is all about the way Macaque can behave.

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Black Cloud

Springtime has come with storms and dreams and motivation. The storm clouds are full of electricity. The air is charged. After the storms, the clouds are swept away, but one remains as always. My black cloud.

It’s time to visit the largest, most beautiful tree in town. Rumor has it, this tree has a knack for solving problems. Like the rings of a tree, my black cloud has shown considerable growth in the past few months. I fear its shadow will engulf me, robbing me of enjoying sunny days.

I show her my cloud, hovering angrily above us. Her concern is palpable.

She decides to try and shape shift me into one of her eternal tree daughters. Alas, to no avail. I am far too human for a complete transition to occur.

That evening as Cloud watches me through my kitchen window, I open the window and address it directly.

It is surprised by my boldness and further stunned by my invitation to sleep with me.

We agreed there was no need for us to be separated any longer.

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Lotus Explosion

For me, drawing is meditation. I enjoy obsessively layering and repeating shapes to see what comes of it. For this one, my inspiration was the lotus petal shape. Leaf and petal shapes are a recurring theme in my abstract drawings.

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