Artwork by Johanna Uribes

The Terrain Project

juribes — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:13:12 +0000

I’m about to metamorphesize into a new artist again. This creative chrysalis is very exciting for me. I’ve just completed the third piece in my latest series of paintings, The Terrain Project.

I’m using women between the ages of 35 to 80 for subjects. These pieces are not portraits, instead they focus on skin texture, highlighting the “skin wisdom” we acquire as we travel life’s highway. I’m really enjoying the sizes of the pieces – most are 36 inches square – and the spontaneity of the process. I’m using large house painting brushes and my fingers to paint. I haven’t done that in a while. I just posted the first 3 pieces on facebook and will create a page for them on this blog once I have at least four pieces.

I’m also interviewing my subjects, asking two main questions:
How do you feel about the way you look at this point in your life?
and
How are you affected by anti-aging product advertising?

I’ve gotten some very interesting information. Initially, most women tell me they’re comfortable with the way they look, but then mention minor dissatisfaction with things like sagging chin, neck wrinkling, etc. We (yes I’m a subject too at 53) do feel a bit pressured by the bombardment of wrinkle creams though.

If anyone is interested in participating in this project as a subject, please e-mail me.

The Artist’s Struggle with Subject

juribes — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:50:59 +0000

I started a new painting this week. I was planning on this being the first of a series I have been dreaming of painting for months. As I laid down the underpainting in beautiful, bold colors, I felt wonderful. Yet, when I started the next layer containing my subject, that same rigid feeling of being trapped began to set in as it has done so many times before in the past few months. As I forced myself to continue, hoping this would pass, I started to feel as though I had painted this all before, hundreds of times. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t “feel” this painting. When I stood back to look at my work, I could see that despite all of the research I have done, I still do not really know my subject well enough to paint it with the knowing it deserves. I’m just regurgitating my research, rather than showing the world my interpretation of my fascinating subject.

I now again turn to the question that I have been pushed toward in the past several months as I feel myself outgrowing all of my previous painting techniques, how to unlock my personal, internal, creative voice?

I have come close before, but always I retreat back to the familiar - the beautiful, slick end product - turning away from the unknown as unacceptable. I know this is rooted in ego and I am to the point once again where I have to break free of its clutches or I will never know what lies on the other side.

I am reading Journey into Power by Baron Baptiste. I am finding it one of the most empowering books I have ever read. Although the path ahead is visually still dark, I feel compelled to go there so that I will find the gifts I am meant to share with the world.

The Push To Be Seen

juribes — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:16:59 +0000

Last week was another First Thursday in San Francisco, an event that I dutifully promised myself I would attend each and every month from now on. The idea being that as an artist you must be seen and to be seen you must make the scene. But once again, I found myself at the end of the day, drained of any desire to look at art or make possible social connections. The underlying problem is that when I go to these things, I look at the art and then wonder what I’m supposed to be doing next. No, that’s not exactly true. My marketing people have told me to talk to the people standing around, looking at the art. Yes, I’ve gone over this script 100 times in my head. Ask the anonymous he or she what he or she thinks of the piece of art he or she is looking at. Then listen, just listen as he or she rabbits on about what they like and/or doesn’t like about the art piece. Yes, I know that’s what I supposed to do, but that just feels like more of the same of what I do on many days with my art students. And really, just how many times can I listen to a statement that begins with, “Well, I think this piece…”

The other really big stumbling block for me is this fascinating interior world I have in my head. I have paintings going on in there that are so multi-layered, so interesting to me, that I takes great effort just to leave them and come out here and listen to someone explain to me one more time what they think is fascinating about the big red square in front of us that’s standing in for a real piece of art.

I let myself off the hook this one last time with the promise that next First Thursday would be in June and of course I would attend in June. It will be nearly summer then, a time always filled with hope and promise of ripening fruits to come. So watch for me all of you gallery crawlers, I’ll be the one in the little black dress with the big (yet artistically tasteful) white logo on it, standing there listening, I promise.

Besides, no matter what, I will attend the San Francisco Art Fair the end of May. Who knows what possibilities will be there.

Art Opening

juribes — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:03:37 +0000

In case I run out of time tomorrow, as I am leaving for Los Angeles, I will be attending an art opening at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art at 117 North Sycamore in Santa Ana. Their current exhibit is Revisiting Beauty and features one of my paintings, Daisy Eye. I am very excited as I will be wearing one of my new designs. I hope to create lots of interest with this “gallery wear!”

If you are in the area, drop by!

Now We Begin

juribes — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:52:41 +0000

OK so now that everything seems be working thanks to wonderful Andrew Peterson, the fabulous WordPress Guru, I can begin this blog in earnest.

I am once again embroiled in an artistic dilemma – subject. I have so many new ideas now that I am not sure which ones I would like to paint first. Subscribing to the belief that I am consistently held back by wondering where the end product will go, I am now inclined to forge ahead, pursuing the subjects that interest me most. I really think that is the only way to make great art. Granted, we all make a lot of crap along the way, but in that sea of refuse, or at the very least those art pieces that are less than stellar, there comes to us all every now and then, that singular piece that qualifies as sublime. That is what we all strive for, what ever it is we do. That occasional creation of of the truly sublime is what keeps us making more art.

It is with that desire that I push forward to my next series of paintings, The Roma.

What they Tell Me

juribes — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:16:17 +0000

The marketing people I have been working with say that people want to hear the artist’s story. Yet it seems to me that sometimes there are too many stories. The thought of all of those ideas, all of those words, all of those punctuation marks digitally recorded and drifting out into the cosmos, makes me feel a bit overwhelmed and slightly quesey. But I guess that’s what we do now, comment to anyone out there who will read it because we cannot voice this face-to-face. Hmm, strange days.

Welcome

juribes — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:19:46 +0000

Welcome to my blog. Here you will find the information on my most recent work, exhibits and events. There will also occasional words on where my ideas come from and how I feel about my work. I hope this will grow into an open forum where you will feel free to leave me your feedback.

At this time in my career, I have decided to finally leave behind all attempts at commercialism and just paint what I find most interesting. This work is all about the symbolism within surrealism. I have uploaded my latest piece, Wisdom Replaces Innocence As Time Passes, today. Enjoy!