art – Page 2 – sara mcguyer

Auto Pilot, Disabled

My work day starts anywhere between 7 and 8 a.m., and the party doesn’t stop until about 6 p.m. I typically work at home in the morning, then take a break of about an hour for breakfast and getting ready to head into the office. I often have work-related lunch engagements, otherwise, I eat at my desk while I clean out my inbox, or do light social engagement on behalf of SmallBox.

I don’t mind the ten or eleven hour days. It gives me the flexibility to break my day up into blocks, to take a walk in the afternoon, or to decide one day to knock off early for a yoga class with zero guilt. Still, the sitting and screen time that comes with the long days takes its toll eventually, so I’ve been thinking more consciously about inserting little breaks into the day.

This morning, I was doing the usual – catching up on email, reading some blog posts and getting an early start on the day. But then there it was – an email in my inbox challenging me to mix up my routine.

It served as a bit of a wake up call – why do I need a prompt to remind me to do what I love? Weird, right? If I could design each morning, free of rush and hurry, with no care to an overloaded to-do list, I’d begin with creativity. So, I gathered supplies – journal, pen and pencil, graph paper, markers, and my coffee, with no idea what small project to embark on.

Since I didn’t have any particular inspiration, I decided to draw the horse-like figure from a pillow I bought on my honeymoon in Mexico. I fell in love with these make-believe creatures at first sight. He seemed a little lonely, so I made up a friend for him, inspired by a kangaroo.

I’d never looked up the history of these figures, so I did a little digging there too. This embroidery style is the work of Mexico’s Otomí Indians, and the figures were inspired by a paper craft practiced by Otomí shaman for thousands of years, and before that, appeared in paintings found in ancient caves.

Just as I was leaving the house, I remembered the challenge again, and made a last minute trip back to my bedroom for the book I’ve been reading. Instead of the usual lunch at my desk, I was able to get in two chapters over my turkey kale wrap.

Later in the afternoon when it was time to take a walking break, I decided to check out a nearby coffee shop I had never visited. The barista at Perk Up in Broad Ripple gave me the scoop about these pie-like almond and raspberry cookies. They don’t always have them, he said, but when they do, he “jumps on it.” So, I had a jump-on-it cookie in a new cozy spot.

Adding these little elements throughout the day might require a little extra thought and planning, but I do like the way things looked when I shut off life’s auto pilot.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Try something totally different. Take a new route to work. Make up a new recipe. What did you come up with?”

Make, Love, Finish

My coworker Lydia just celebrated her fifth anniversary with SmallBox. Not only is she our champion of collaborative processes, she also is the sort of gal who has a word of the year. This year’s word: PLAY. As part of her anniversary gift, we decided to make and frame a collaborative piece of art inspired by her word.

Each participant was to create a 5″ x 5″ piece to be framed together – any style, any medium, so long as it was flat and related to the theme PLAY. I chose watercolor for my medium.

One of my evergreen goals is to create more. It’s a balance I struggle to find – connecting time with ideas, loving what I’m making in the moment, finishing. On the morning I painted my contribution, it all came easily. That’s not always the case for me, so I wanted to get at why.

The importance of getting started.
Just getting the watercolors (or whatever supplies) out is half the battle. I set out to paint one watercolor, but ended up with four. It’s surprising how much I need to remind myself this simple thing. Resolve to start, even without clarity of what exactly to make.

4 watercolors by sara mcguyer

Assignments.
About that whole getting started thing. Another simple revelation: I should be giving myself specific assignments with deadlines! It’s funny to think back on the productive days of school, when writing and making of things piled up in heaps. Parameters give a starting point, so there is less stress over concept. It’s also fun to push to be creative within a boundary.

The assignment also forced me to allow a few flops. I threw away my first attempt, and 2 others in between. I might have given up on a normal day after the first bad watercolor.

Inspiration places.
Knowing she takes playful and interesting photos, I looked to Lydia’s instagram feed for inspiration. Though I haven’t ever turned to a social site for art ideas, it worked really well. I tried painting one image of “December Mushrooms” which ended up looking a little like mustaches. In one image she wrote: “Sky. And it smells like campfire. My heart explodes.” which inspired the final watercolor. Another reminder: sometimes I take art too seriously. Find inspiration in unexpected places (yes, even the internet).

Collaboration.
I mostly work alone in art. Working with others toward this larger goal was rewarding in a very rich way. Added to my to do list: find art partners.

Fire in the Sky

Indiana knows how to crown clouds with the setting sun. An exact replica I could never capture. Instead, I took the idea of fire in the sky quite literally and lit a fluffy cloud aflame.

I am an inpatient dabbler in art. The ideas come and I want to get them down on paper or canvas quickly, then move on. In an art class during my freshman year of college, the teacher observed incorrectly: “You draw with the confidence of a senior.” Less than confidence, it’s an urgency to finish, one that I find tough to shake. My haste makes for art that garbles the original idea, often leads to abandoned work, or even discourages trying in the first place.

Sometimes I can will myself to slow down. Other times, I try to fill the need to create with a quick win.

I made this ode to Indiana this morning because in reflecting on 2012 creative projects, I was feeling low that I had created so little. From ideation, to pencil sketch on canvas, to color mixing to finished work, this 4 x 4 inch painting was the work of a half hour or so. While not a work of which I’m very proud, at a time when I needed it, this little Fire in the Sky filled that need to create.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “What did you make this year? Whether work-related or something more personal (like a song, craft project, or work of art), share your process and the end result.”

Cyanotype Surprise

For years, I never really noticed this:

Then one day in Broad Ripple, walking passed a pocked-up utility pole, I was struck by the strange beauty of the staples. Not to mention all of the scrappy hope that went into posting them there.

Each one represented a band who hoped you’d go to their show, a small business looking to build up a tribe and the like. Call them rust or litter, I can’t see (or unsee) them as I once did.

Last Friday in Fountain Square I discovered I’m not the only one who has found inspiration in the stapled-up utility pole, though this was of a different sort:

I caught Tasha Lewis in the middle of her installation of these cyanotype butterflies on Virgina Avenue across from the Murphy Center. She uses tiny, but powerful magnets to attach these winged creatures to the staples left behind from flyers of yore. There’s just something about stumbling onto art in unexpected places. Love seeing stuff like this in Indy.

Burt, a Yarnbomb

Completed in the summer of 2010, the multi-colored yarn moustache was conceived as a going away present for my friend April. In addition to being one of my best friends for more than a decade, she taught me to knit. A tribute yarn bomb seemed like the perfect gift to send her off to Philadelphia. I enlisted my weekly knitting group to help adorn James Tyler’s Brickhead 3. The giant head sculpture is in Davlan Park on the 400 block of Mass Avenue. The yarn bomb lasted a few weeks, then mysteriously disappeared.

See more images.

Bigger Picture Show

A project of the Indy Film Fest, the Bigger Picture Show features re-invented movie posters for an art show/fundraiser. I took a stab at one of my favorites, Waiting for Guffman. Though it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, the tragedy within the comedy offers some of the most interesting moments in the film. These are the moments which inspired the poster.

When Corky erupts on the city council because he’s been denied budget for his production and threatens to go home and bite his pillow, the panic the acting troupe feels when they see that the folding metal chair they’ve reserved for the critic is empty, the moment Corky St. Clair realizes Guffman isn’t Guffman at all, just some random bloke. The spinning propeller of his beanie cap and over done eyeliner seem to mock the tragic deflation in his expression.

Gravity’s Loom

Sometimes it’s worthwhile to look beyond the art. The shadows cast by the architectural loom are as dramatic as the saturated color strands spanning the lobby of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Though the brilliant colors are captivating, don’t miss the shadows.

Reminded me of the Distressed Awning from a few weeks ago.

by Ball-Nogues Studio,
Nylon twine, aluminum and ink,
IMA Lobby