Color in Visual Art

Encouragement goes very far.

"You have an innate grasp of light and color. Its really quite unusual and beautiful; you don't see that kind of thing too often." - Maryann Matlock-Hinkle 

She said that to me when I was in studio with her in 2006 at PAFA. Its really wonderful to hear that kind of affirmation when your an emerging artist. Especially when your trapped in the time of life when you are constantly trying to figure out what it is that you are trying to paint, and how to effectively execute it.

When Maryann passed away in 2009 the art world didn't only loose a visionary artist, they lost one of the greatest artist educators to have ever lived. She took the time to really understand the person she was guiding in studio work, wholly gave to them her decades of art production experience in order to fully enrich their studio education, and was an overflowing font of inspiration. 

She made you want to believe in yourself; you don't see that kind of thing too often.

Abstract Blues / Oil on Canvas 2006 / Radocaj

Abstract Greens / Oil on Canvas  / 2006 / Radocaj

Abstract Reds or Rising & Setting in the City / Oil on Wood  2006 / Radocaj

But I Forgot His Name / Oil on Board 2006 / Radocaj

Myself Under the Orange Bandana / Oil on Canvas 2006 / Radocaj

Drifted - A Series of Tryptics / Acrylic on Board  2009 / Radocaj

What Comes in Waves - A Series of Tryptics / Acrylic on Board 2009 / Radocaj 

Avalon Sky 01 / Oil on Canvas 2007 / Radocaj

Avalon Sky 03 / Oil on Canvas 2007 / Radocaj

Vitamin B12 / Acrylic on Canvas 2009 / Radocaj

Vitamin B6 / Acrylic on Canvas 2009 / Radocaj

Wire Sky 01 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

Wire Sky 02 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

Wire Sky 03 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

I could not have made any of this work with out her impact on my life.

I love creativity, but I love sharing creativity with people more.

I make art because it is a daily living need that I have to fulfill. I work as a student of the creative arts to better my skills technically and also because I authentically want to cultivate my ability in the language of the visual. I work as an artist educator because I want to teach others how to strengthen their own artistic skills, nurture their creative expression, and entreat to them the love of art that I have.

I love creativity, but I love sharing creativity with people more.  That’s why I work as an artist. 

When I start to paint I don't want to be intimidated at the beginning, I'd rather cultivate excitement and curiosity. But I am always a little unsure and nervous in the beginning. A blank pallet, a blank canvas; that is the most frightening thing in the world to me. 

 

Look Out or Shadows Dividing, Acrylic 2009 / RADOCAJ

Best quote for drinking. 

By Love is War & Sparkles.

An Unlikely Encounter

Just when I thought that it was safe to back in the water.

WHOA.

Underwater Tiger. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy

I did a photography stint while studding at my University, I suppose everyone has to do one at least to try it out; to see what happens...It was the hardest thing I've ever done at school. Not just technically. Its a lot of preparation, chemistry, and material cost. You have to really know the media; how light reacts in situations, how fast things move. But technical part of photography is actually almost incidental in the end, you could learn to develop film as easily as frying an egg becomes. 

Its the reality of photography that scares me off. The medium is so naked,  frozen, and a single instant in time is utterly exposed. Its so sad to me. You can hold that half second of time in your hand in a photo, but the time in the picture is always already gone. But I wanted to share a few images of this art experiment that I did in the naïvete time of life. 

I found these photographs in a blue plastic folder buried in my studio today. A thin time capsule. I named this portrait series "I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, 2007" -- its about the instances in life when you can briefly feel that human connection to someone, and understand that you both just want the same thing out of life. To be happy.

If you let a kid stick their head out the car window, chances are they will have a good time...just lets not tell your folks I said you could do it. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 1 Feel That Wind Through Your Hair" 2007 / RADOCAJ

I think I took this one on Easter Day, it was after lunch was over. Mom was in a good mood so I asked her if I could take her photo, and why not choose a picture from off of the wall to take with her. I knew at the instant I said that, out of all the family photos she was going to choose the portrait of her dad. I never knew him, but everyone said he was a hoot and liked to put Heinz Ketchup on everything he ate. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 3 Mom and Her Pop" 2007 / RADOCAJ

One of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life was when I was granted the opportunity to teach art at Saint Lucy's Elementary School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Art was all of the students favorite class to have. Its amazing to see a blind person paint, or draw, or sculpt; they navigate the world so differently from most people. But they can create almost anything just like any artist could with their hands. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 6 Hannah While Making a Sculpture" 2007 / RADOCAJ

My Dad brings so much joy to the people around him, I wish he'd know it too. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 7 Dad" 2007 / RADOCAJ

I used to volunteer at lots of schools art programs come to think of it. Ayisha was apart of an after-school program I used to work at, we submitted some of her work to our University children's art exhibit. She won a Young Artists Merit Award and a free scholarship to our University Young Artists Studio Saturday Arts Program. I don't remember what school she went to and I never saw her again after I took her picture this last photo of her. She'd be around fifteen years old now, and I hope shes doing well. 

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 10 Ayisha Comes to Tell Me Some Good News" 2007 / RADOCAJ

Rachael was the real inspiration and the driving force behind this series, and naming it as well. When I took this photo she was making a wish on a dandelion saying that she just wanted to stay here with her family all together and that we would be happy forever. I'd rather have been more present with her when she said this; in this fraction of a moment in time. Instead of peering through shutter at her. And remember her just as we were in this instant standing together talking in reality, in splendid live colors.  

I Think Everyone Just Wants to be Happy, a Series of Portraits / Fuji ISO 400, 35mm, Cannon, "No. 12 Rachael Makes A Wish" 2007 / RADOCAJ

You're a wonder, Wonder Woman. 

Original costume sketch for Wonder Woman TV series by Illustrator: Donfeld

For Lexi