Love Note 01: Threads of Influences
Taking time to investigate who inspired the artists that inspired me
Hello there!
You’ve joined me away from the grasps on Facebook and Instagram! Awesome. I’m excited to be more thoughtful about content creation and sharing and am glad you’re here. I’ve added some friends and family I thought would enjoy this and many of you signed up on your own volition (woohoo!) but feel free to unsubscribe if this isn’t your thing. I’ll only be sending this out once every two weeks so it shouldn’t clog your email.
Alright, what have I been up to? Lots and nothing, the theme of 2020, no? I’ve been trying to learn to combine digital and traditional techniques more and below is my first attempt. It was nice how much it allowed me to experiment but I really want to continue to do a lot of it by hand but I’m going to continue to try new things out!
I also just finished up a whole set of ice dyed clothing for Christmas gifts. It’s such a finicky process but when I get it right, I loooove it. It’s very messy and a bit time consuming and so though many people have told me I should try selling them, I’m not so sure. If you do want one though, send me a message, I’d be happy to dye you something basically at cost since I’m still experimenting with it.
Other than that, I’m a little nervous as I move into a transition period. I just finished up two big undertakings that had deadlines in December and now I need to make sure I keep up that momentum as we move into the new year. I have lots of ideas just have to keep up the self-motivation since they have no external deadlines.
Love Letter 01: Threads of Influence
I recently completed an online course for illustrators where one of the first exercises was compiling a list of your interests, obsessions, influences, important memories, etc. One of the prompts was to research who inspired the artists that inspire you. I actually skipped that one at the time but as I have been poring over images the last few weeks I’ve found myself finding patterns over and over again.
This process has been one of the reasons I’ve decided to try to really quit Instagram this time. The joy I’ve found looking through illustrators and artists I’d never known before has been unparalleled and though I love seeing the work of current working artists, I think I need some time to cocoon, follow my own curiosity, try out some new ways of making images and let my brain just sit with it all. Truly I can’t describe to you how much joy I felt coursing through my body as I flipped through Stephen Ellcock’s All Good Things. He’s collected images from different periods and cultures, commercial and fine art into categories such as “Creation,”“The Human Realm,” “Heavenly Bodies,” and “Visiones of Eternity.” I highly recommend the book or just following him on social, I bet you’ll find something delightful you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Anyways, my love letter today goes out to these different threads of influence. I’m not an art historian, I’ve only ever taken two courses on it, so I’m not going to try to analyze but instead will just let you follow down the path my curiosity has taken me the last few weeks.
I received a book of Kay Nielsen’s illustrations for Christmas, it’s a collection of Norwegian fairy tales and I slowly went through and read all of them but mainly just loved holding these beautiful images in my hands.
His work is a little art nouveau, a bit theatrical, and I was definitely seeing the influences of Japanese woodblock prints. I googled around while writing this and he cites Chinese art more but for now I’ve been poking around at Japanese Wood Block prints. I checked out this great book from the library on Hokusai and it’s so lovely.
Van Gogh was also a big fan of Japanese prints and copied several of them in studies of composition.
Count me as one of the many who are totally fascinated with Japanese woodblock prints. I remember seeing them as a kid and really not getting the whole fuss. My grandmother’s home had tons of Japanese and Chinese art and maybe I just associated it with old people’s decorations.
I haven’t truly deep-dived into Nielsen’s theater influences but I keep finding myself attracted to images that are from his era theater set and costume design.
I could go on forever and already went on longer than I thought I would. My next research projects include marginalia in illuminated manuscripts, scientific illustration, and the work of Aubrey Beardsley. It’s been fun seeing the relationships between artists and illustrators and those who came before them, I recommend taking the time to look into the influences on the artists you like.
Readings
Poetry Nook
I read this to my family last New Year’s and think it is worth sharing again after this tumultuous year as we look into the next.
Currently reading:
Sex & Suits by Anne Hollander
I’ve always found fashion fascinating in the ways it changes and morphs seemingly on its own whim and as I am wanting to do more research on gender, I’m finding this book so interesting.
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Speaking of threads of influence, so many ideas that have penetrated the mainstream around race and activism this year are in these essays. So beautiful and moving. An essay for everything, especially to confront some of our own prejudices.
That’s it for my first edition. It feels weird to call this a newsletter, I think of it more as me stuffing my thoughts and new work in an envelope and sending it out to anyone interested. If you know anyone who may be interested, please forward.
And give me any thoughts or recommendations based on my ramblings here.
And a love note to you if you made it to the bottom,
Krista
just reread this on. It may be one of my favorites
Yeah Krista Ray! I feel like you are sitting next to me while I read your words. Please keep them coming!