30 day digital drawings, challenge!

long time no blog! :)

I have recently embarked on a new journey.. more details about that to come in the future! But for now, all I can say is I have put the paint brush down for a bit - to embark in some new creative adventures.

While doing so, I created a small digital drawing challenge for myself - where I am layered older paintings with digital drawings, to strengthen some technical skills in the adobe suite. I am on day 8 of the challenge, and here are some of the pieces I have created thus far!

It’s been a humbling journey to get better at design work, and this is just the start. Bridging my painting with digital paintbrushes and software has been so oddly similar to printmaking in some ways, and so completely foreign. I am loving the process!

more to come
Xo, Lizzy

Gradients, my solo exhibition at Jacksonville University

I recently installed my solo show at the Alexander Breast Gallery In Jacksonville, Florida! It will be on display from January 28th - February 23rd 2021.

Gradients is an exploration of the sea both emotionally and scientifically. As I live for the moment of a sunset swim in the mysterious Atlantic, I equally am drawn to the work that scientists do to share with us what’s beneath the horizon.

My strong connection to the ocean has led me down a path of wanting to know more. The past few years I have been working with scientists and studying their research to learn more about sea level rise, coral reef decline and sea floor mapping.

I am constantly inspired by not only the work scientists put in to collect information but the output of the data through color, line, charts and imagery. As an artist, I see the parallels of science and art, especially through our modes of collecting information and creating meaning with color.

Gradients is an exhibition that combines a collection of multiple bodies of work that includes data visualizations, abstraction of information and intuitive mark making inspired by the deep unknown.

Almost all of these paintings except for just a few were made in 2020 during the isolation period of the pandemic. They started off subtle and calm and as I reflect on the work - I see the ebbs and flows of color and movement as energy started changing.

My work has been heavily reflected by the sea and my relationship to it. The deep unknown, is how I relate to the sea and this period of time was very unknown to us all. I started using seafloor maps as a metaphor to this experience - collaging them through out this time and thinking about navigating uncharted waters.

Portholes to my thoughts

I grew up surrounded by water. The past two years I’ve been living in the desert and needless to say I’ve been craving water. The sound, the smell, the feel, and of course the visuals. The start of this journey with Schmidt Ocean Institute has been nothing short of perfection. I always think poetic thoughts when I look at the water. I noticed when I hear scientists speak about the ocean and it’s known data, I always feel like it is poetry. So I decided to bring my typewriter.

I chose to put my thoughts onto paper that I cut into circles. I thought it was poetic to look through the circle windows as portals into the sea around me every morning and evening. I see the words typed back on to circles as portholes into my mind. The circular format is reflecting both inside and outside discoveries.

I find portholes to be romantic and extremely evocative. Portholes are historical, iconic, utilitarian, and simply beautiful.

Here is a little glimpse of some of my first thoughts from day one on research vessel Falkor.

as we go

the climates changing

and now we need to change,

too

thoughts from a Libra sun sign with a Pisces moon and Scorpio rising.

Surrounded by water and air

internally and externally

mapping the unknown,

creating a language and marking history for future generations to build off of.

we try

the sun reflecting off of the infinite leveled Pacific Ocean is a site I could never get tired of. 360 views of glittered fields.

It’s all just reflections and refractions.

this is what I cannot put into words.

There is no one language that can capture this feeling.

It’s a concept.

It’s a love language.

The oceans lure cause all to bask in its presence to want to return.

It’s a universal constant.