Secluded Artist

I have been somewhat secluded from things for the past couple of weeks. Well, secluded from the things that most people tend to take for granted in a modern society. But I am remaining as focused as I can be on my art and art related ideas. I find that I am drastically improving in my drawing skills and color mixing skills. I don't quite know what I will create with such improvements but I know it will be something on a grand scale. For now, I shall just continue to draw as much as I can and paint as much as possible. I've mainly been using cardboard boxes as canvases due to the fact that I cannot afford real canvas, stretched or unstretched. Besides, I like having the freedom to do with a box what I may and cardboard is just as durable/frail as any linen canvas. I've also been learning a lot from the Van Gogh biography I've been reading. He was very diligent with his drawing and painting. He knew that he wasn't very good at it in the beginning but kept practicing and practicing. He put up with a lot of criticism in his lifetime, the worst of it came from his mentors. It is a shame that he insisted on cutting his life short. There were plenty of other misunderstood artists during that time that persisted and continued creating well into old age. Perhaps it was just his schizophrenia/depression that got the better of him.

Here are some recent pieces of mine. The first pic is of two small paintings. A blue building titled "Building No. 1" and a black building titled "Building No. 2". Both were done in gouache paint on a recycled cola box. I tried to really make them stand out and convey a deep emotional context. That is also why I painted a red background for both of them. The second pic is just a charcoal figure sketch titled "Talk Now." It reminds me a lot of some picasso-like abstract figure. His work has also been influencing me as much as Van Gogh's. But I've yet to read a Picasso biography. I definitely will in the near future. I hacen't sold many pieces lately but that is mostly because I have been studying a lot of different drawing and painting techniques in order to expand my repertoire and add more depth to the canvas. I do see myself selling a ton of sketches and small abstracts on ebay and in person soon. I'll update on here with a few links once I'm ready to start selling again.