Tag Archives for studio

Back to bugs and shadow boxes

To prepare for some upcoming shows this summer I brought home a box full of small, white shadowboxes which were on sale at Ikea – feeling the need, again, to work with bug carcasses. First step: paint black.

Second: do the drawings to fit the frames: pencil, ink, and watercolorGlue drawing to cardboard and attach insect(s): I still have some left over from my miscellaneous beatle/bug bits order from last summer, and will probably be ordering more soon, as I’m down to random leg and head pieces. Hmm. Some frankenbugs might be in order…

Then, frame! Oh, I’ll also take this opportunity to show off my new map, to track the world-travels of my little cute girls. Thank you so much!! Kiki never ventures far when you’re working, but she’s pretty entertained by her new drug (catnip) pouch and circle of paper.

Only eight more frames to fill!

recent studio work

rapunzel sm

Pencil and sumi on watercolor paper, 17″x20″. This one is about the story of Rapunzel, the power and sexuality associated with hair, and the act of cutting: transition, renewal, and transformation.stasia burrington hermit

Pencil and Sumi on watercolor paper, 17″x20″.

stasia burrington fingers

pencil, sumi and watercolor on watercolor paper, 17″x20″. These last two I meant to leave open to interpretation, but the responses I’ve gotten so far have been unintentionally sexual!

constellation sm

Charcoal, sumi, printmaking ink and thread on unprimed canvas… around 3.5′ x 4.5′. Freckles, stars, myth-making and interconnectedness.

firefly sm

Water-soluble pencil, sumi, and acrylic on unprimed canvas. About 3.5′x4.5′. Again with the stars, this time with fireflies, the briefness of their lifespans – you can see them dying and falling off at the bottom. With the stars dripping off of her body I was reminded of the only organisms on the planet who not only survive but actually thrive on hydrochloric acid, deep in caves, and output light…. so basically this piece is about glowing bugs and stars.

untitled sm

Water-soluble pencil, sumi and cut-out fabric flowers on unprimed canvas, about 4′x5′. This one I still feel is in a bit of a chrisis. I liked the figure drawing (except for the foot) before I started gluing the flowers on, and now it seems quite overdone, somehow. Maybe it’s the excessiveness of the pink, and maybe I’ve just spent too much time staring at it. Either way, I’m calling it done for now.

corpse sm

This one’s still in progress, there will be more flowers. Sumi and cut-out flowers on unprimed canvas, 4′x5′.

There’s only a month left before our senior show goes up – I’m so excited!

studio update: shells and vintage photography

blinkhermit

Here are some subpar photos of a couple of works-in-progress. I have found the most wonderful sumi ink in the world – I will definitely post about it in the near future! It’s so rich and black and smells like it was freshly ground… mmmmm!

scones and a studio space!


First and most importantly, this morning I got up to bake scones! I got the recipe from wineguyworld… and the process involved grating frozen butter! This was pretty exciting, as I had an enormous pile of cute little curly butter shavings. Think of the possibilities! Anyway, despite smoking up the entire apartment from baking them a minute too long, these turned out amazingly.
On another note, I was admiring my studio today:This is my first semester in an “actual” studio space, which I was really excited about, even if it is just a corner in the basement of a dying building in the middle of Idaho. It’s a little on the dreary side, but seeing as my favorite color has been grey for some time now I should have foreseen this. Here are some experiments and works-in-progress.


(Notice the flagrant use of my recent obsession with mayflies)

I’ve started experimenting with drawing on raw fabric, pinned up a few yards on the wall and am enjoying it so far. I’m thinking about ordering a roll of printmaking paper from Daniel Smith as well, as soon as I can justify the cost, because I can only imagine how luxurious a piece of paper that large would be.