Jessica In Paris

So, Paris!  That's where I went for my Easter break!  I had six wonderful nights with L.H. staying in a hotel near to Montparnasse, exploring a different area of the city each day.  I thought I'd write up a little bit on my favourite moments that were related to the art side of the trip before posting my Paris inspired sketches.
If you've been to Paris, don't be shy, tell me what you loved - or didn't - about your visit!

The whole trip in brief:

DAY 1:  Sacre Coeur > The Espace Dalí > walk around Montmartre > BD Spirit comic book shop > Montmartre Cemetery > Dinner at Chez Marie
DAY 2:  Patisserie on Rue Raymond Losserand > The Eiffel Tower > Champs de Mars > L'Hótel National des Invalides > Lebanese Restaurant
DAY 3:  Ile de la Cité, a walk along La Seine > Notre Dame Cathedral > Gallerie Lafayette > Maison du Miel > Place de la Madeleine, Boutique Maille, Bistro > Musée du Louvre > Champs-Élysées > Arc de Triomphe
DAY 4:  Saint-Germain-des-Prés > Jardin du Luxembourg > Panthéon > 5th Arr. Delis and Markets > Shakespeare and Company Bookshop
DAY 5:  Exploring Le Marais > Food from L'As Du Fallafel > Sitting in Jardin des Francs-Bourgeois > Pompidou Centre


The Espace Dalí
Around Montmarte on the back streets below Sacre Coeur, the museum had a great collection of Salvador Dalí's line drawings, paintings, collages, videos and sculptures.  When looking at his work I read his sense of playfulness and uses of symbolism as being very personal and honest, answering to no one else.
While there a class of Parisian 4-year-olds were shown around with percussion instruments(?!) in hand.  I don't think children so young in England are ever given these types of trips, or at least not to places that aren't aimed at children specifically.


BD Spirit
I didn't buy anything from this comic book shop, because where would I start?  It looks fairly small on the outside but it really packs a wide variety of comics of all genres from over the years from the well-known to the new.  I'd recommend any art and illustration lovers to check it out.


L'Hótel National des Invalides
What a gorgeous place.  It is simply massive; we couldn't get around it all, including Napoleon's tomb.  We managed to see the Napoleon exhibition (and one of his horses stuffed and falling apart) before closing time where we saw the coronation jewellery of Joséphine de Beauharnais, his many tomes, marble busts and then there was this, in person:

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

I can't tell you how much I loved standing in front of such a magnificent painting that was so well-known but I had never seen before.  It was one of my highlights!


Day 3...
In one day we saw Notre Dame, Gallerie Lafayette, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and walked by Eglise de la Madeleine and Opera National de Paris.  No photos do any of them justice compared to strolling around with such grandiose historical buildings looming over you at what feels like every turn.  Ugh.  It's all amazing.
We stopped off in a bookshop where we found The Complete Costume History, which is now in my loving possession thanks to an even more loving L.H.  It's a great form of reference for me to get on with bulking up my costume design portfolio and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in costumes and clothing throughout history.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Musée du Louvre
Yet another enormous place filled with things we just couldn't see all of!  Entering the glass pyramid in daylight and leaving at night with everywhere around you lit up added to how magical it felt to be there.  One of the first things I stared at for a long time when we arrived was the statue 'The Winged Victory of Samothrace'.  It's such a powerful image, I can hardly believe it's so old, dating back to 190 B.C.

Yeah, of course we saw the Mona Lisa, how could we miss her?  She had a bustling crowd around her eagerly taking photographs.
But I was more enamoured with my new favourite artist, Anne-Louis Girodet, after seeing his painting 'The Deluge'.

The Deluge - Anne-Louis Girodet

Then I saw another painting and another and another, all grabbing my attention, and all happening to be by Girodet.  He uses such dramatic bold lighting with touches of striking colour that made his paintings stand out to me more than any other.  I copied down his name instantly!

I wish I had written down a few other names too, but the paintings rather than the artist are what will stay with me in the end anyway, whether I know their name or not.

There were whole areas of the Louvre we didn't get to explore.  We'll definitely have to go back again.

Le Centre Pompidou
This had to be the most exhausting gallery experience.  More than Louvre.  Firstly, the building is fantastic to see with giant multicoloured piping decorating the outside.  Inside it was wide open spaces, escalators, and 3D moving sculptures.  It was the opposite of everything we'd been to during our stay.  There was just too much to see in one visit, and with work by so many differing artists, we couldn't take it all in.
There were a lot of recognisable pieces: Picassos, Matisses, Kandinskys...
We looked around the Jesus Rafael Soto and Alina Szapocznikow exhibitions.
I found Soto's work was hypnotic and alluring, enjoyable from all angles, whereas I found Alina's too personally expressive for me to respond to.  It was very much her internal expressions and sketches, not final work designed for display, which I always find funny for an exhibition.  It was more of a visual autobiography.  My personal highlight was seeing a few of Yves Klein Blue pieces.  It was like I saw a celebrity.

View from the escalators in Centre Pompidou

I took my sketchbooks with all the best intentions buuuuut, I didn't exactly draw a lot.  And if I'm honest, everything I saw was so spectacular I thought 'how can I do that justice?  What is the point?'.  And I don't mean that in a defeatist way, I mean it in a gob-smack-ingly, awe-inspiring, I-must-accomplish-something way.  When you're looking at building after beautiful building, painting after classical painting, seeing what skills people throughout time have on display I couldn't help feel like needing to be something more.
Obviously I don't think I can design and build a palace that will last through the ages, but I can do more than I am doing now.  I can push myself to be greater, to be the greatest I can be in a way I want with what skills I have and not for any other reason than 'because I can'.  So much of my work is spent in thought before beginning to sketch or paint and more often than not it is all apprehensive thought.  What style should I try to emulate?  What if it's not as good as last time?  Who will like this?  What if today I can't do it?  How can my work reach more people?  And this is all down to the years of pressure thinking ahead to the future.  I forgot to live in the now, and therefore my drawing is neither in the moment.

For my next post I have a few sketches of people that we saw on our wanderings.
It's such a beautiful city with so much to see (and eat) we can't wait to go again.

So, Paris.  It was a much needed get-away; rather than leaving behind everything at home, I most needed a step back from myself and to dive into other creative minds. I realised that the way I've been thinking while I work hasn't been as truthful or as passionate as I had hoped but I still can be.

J.x

Fabric of Andona

Hi everyone,

Have you had a good Easter weekend?

I've barely begun eating my chocolate!

For the last couple of weeks I've started to really get back into my Andona project, which was my second year project at University (see here and here).

I didn't feel I had done enough thorough character designs and haven't dedicated my work to finer details.

To begin costume designs for the people of the planet Andona I created textile samples.

I really enjoy creating patterns, something I only realised a year ago.  There's something quite therapeutic about creating them.

I've already sketched a page of characters ready to use these patterns on them.  It creates a very quick and easy way to make variables for each character design.

So, I'm getting ready to leave for Paris tomorrow morning for 6 nights with L.H.!

I'm very excited to make some artistic discoveries!  But, like the art geek/workaholic that I am, I'll miss working on my projects.  I'm taking obligatory moleskins and camera, of course :)

Au revoir for now.

J.x

Mr Little

In case you didn't see me post this on every other online thing possible...
A portrait of Omar Little from HBO's The Wire - if you've never seen the show before what have you been watching all your life?!

It wasn't quite what I'd had in mind, but I think it actually ended up better than I'd planned.  The picture I had in my head was mainly the multicoloured scratches, which I've got, so I'm happy!

I've been neglecting my blog quite a bit this year.  It's been my own fault for keeping things secret; I've not been sharing progress and processes so as to not spoil any surprises for people.
I can tell you what I'm working on though:

- 2 costume design mini-projects
- a comic strip for my other gentleman half
- pin-up style portraits of my girl friends
- quick designs of my character Andi from my Andona project
- ideas and scripting for a graphic novel (check back with me in 10 years)
- sketching and painting for fun in between
- and then there's the next TV portrait! I've not done a film portrait yet - any suggestions?!

All that on top of working full time and trying to keep up learning languages.  It is tough and slow!
I do love personal challenges though, so I'm enjoying the struggle in a twisted kinda way.
What are all you guys working on?
Do any of you keep things secret until a certain point of completion?

J.x

P.S.  I'm now on Tumblr and Society6

Baddabing baddaboom!

Furio Giunta from HBO's The Sopranos.

I painted this a couple of months ago.  Purely for fun and practise!
My two aims were: achieve a cartoon style; design a pattern.
Like my previous 'Al Swearengen' image I enjoyed using a solely 2D pattern/texture with (very basic) shading giving a sense of 3D.

I've now made this available on my Society6.

If you know any Sopranos fans in need of a very classy and beautifully artistic pillow that's the place to get it ;)

J.x

Work In Progress

Well, I've managed to find someone crazy enough to pay me for something!  Last week I was given a really wonderful job at a local high school to support Year 11 students (and at times, Year 10) in boosting their GCSEs and future prospects.  It's a role that I feel very privileged to have; not quite teacher not quite counsellor...  Helping to make changes to how their school day works to be better for each individual pupil.
As great an opportunity it is, it does mean I will have a lot less time to do any illustration than before, but it will help me to focus and appreciate the time I do have spare.  And, you know, money is always a really really good thing.
So here's what I've worked on the past week or two (or three. I've been taking it pretty easy since uni ended!):

Prep-work pre-composition stages.

A present for a friend.  Hopefully for Christmas (1 of 5)
Tonal values decided before laying down colour.

Something silly and spontaneous!  Based on me and the mister's nicknames (pukebarfpuke).
Thinking of doing a small scruffy comic telling an abstract version of our relationship. 

Vote Delgado

ABC Comedy's Modern Family - Manny Delgado
Photoshop CS6, Genius Graphics Tablet

If there's a TV character you're fond of and would like to see me paint, go ahead and let me know!  Suggested so far are characters from these shows:

The Wire
Due South
Buffy
Justified

It's been a great way for me to learn portraiture and I change my approach with each painting to get the most effective appearance and try new things!
J.x

Life Update

So, I finally handed in all my work for my final year at university after being granted a semester extension. (BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF)  I'm really hoping that's the last of it so I can graduate in November with everyone else in my class and look ahead to my life beyond education.  I have my JessicaOnPaper site back up online for one of the university modules.  What a painful few days that was!  When it's graded I can re-build it to get it looking more how I wanted - y'know, less... terrible.

Children of Lír - 'A Family Picnic'
The new Queen transforms the King's children into swans
(Graduate Painting 4 of 8)

I'm now taking a much needed break from the computer after what felt like a very cruel year and summer, where my out-of-the-blue, couldn't-be-more-badly-timed, ill health and workload felt as if they'd never end!  During my new found free time (and restored good health that I'm ridiculously grateful for!) I'm having to remember what it is to do absolutely no work and not feel guilty about it.  I think I was in a state of shock for a couple of days after I sent the last of my work off, but now it's worn off and I can catch up with all the things I've missed out on this year - a lot of reading, countless video games, so many places to visit and, above all, be with my family and friends whom I've neglected for far too long!

Of course, art projects are never too far from my mind.  My main aim for this following year is to develop my character and costume designing abilities, and a few portraits for fun.  I'm also very excited about my graphic novel that is developing quicker than I had imagined (I actually know how the story ends, which has to be a first!), which I'll explain more about in another post.  It's going to take a long time before I can even imagine completion, yet as it's a personal project that I've set for myself it means that no matter what else is happening in my life I can always enjoy working on it.

I find myself torn with how I feel now that my work for university is done.  I wanted it all to be over for so long and yet it's important that I don't try to put the last four years completely behind me.  The rough times I've had whilst at the University made me feel like the unluckiest person in all of Carlisle, often joking that I must be cursed.  Pessimism at it's silliest and I knew it!
Whenever obstacles appeared I was actually lucky enough to have the best support I could have hoped for and always at just the right time, whether they realised it or not, before I felt the lowest I could be.  I have met and known some of the most generous and helpful people through my time at the University of Cumbria; mentors, lecturers, classmates, friends and passing visitors.  Both from the creative world and those outside of it.  People who have given up their spare time to advise me, stayed up all night to keep me going for deadlines, or who have offered me a place to stay.  And I can't forget the illustration opportunities I've been given.  This is what I want to always remember, the support I've been given over four years by so many people, not the big lows I experienced.  A real honour and a big thank you to every one of you.

Awaiting my final grades, I think I'll always feel like I could have done more, despite my improvements in digital painting in general.  I realise now that is simply who I am, no matter how much time I devote myself to my work, but that's the harsh beauty of creativity - to know that you can always do more, or better, because the skills and the ways to apply them are almost limitless.

Now. Give me a job.

J.x