Jürgen Görg

(Not my work, by the way...)


I experienced spring skiing in December yesterday! Drove all the way to the mountain to find it raining and slushy, so after two runs down the hill I threw my gear back in the car and pulled out my backpack of books and pencils.

Little mountain towns are perfect sketching locations, so I wasn't too upset about the lack of boarding. While looking for a comfy café I stumbled across an art gallery. They had the usual mass-audience style of work for sale, bar one artist: Jürgen Görg.


Görg is a German artist who uses inspiration from lovers, dancers, musicians, and masked personages to create loose and free graphite/oil figures. These pictures can hardly do the paintings justice, as it seems he has created a new medium. His oil work is so thin it could be confused with watercolour, and he isn't afraid to show his searching line in the rough stages. He is showcased in galleries internationally, so hopefully you'll get a chance to see his work in person.

And Scene

It's over and I'm alive! The end of term is here along with Christmas, family, and sleep! I thoroughly enjoyed the courses offered this semester, and I know why people say second year is their favourite at Sheridan. After learning the basics we're finally able to express ourselves more effectively.

I think of art school like learning to dance. At first, you have to stay at the barre perfecting your tondue and other simple steps, and it all seems really mundane. You're then allowed to grace the floor with a bold grand jeté, for example, and you feel the excitement of the practice. Finally, you're able to choreograph steps together, and all of the sudden you're dancing! You combine traditional, ancient motions with original moves of your own, and all the tedious practice at the barre has given you the language required to communicate exactly what you want on the stage. The technique doesn't hold you back, it allows you to be free!

These are two painted layouts that I allowed myself to explore a little more freely than in the past. The above morning view of a nondescript Chinatown was created in about two hours with ink and watercolour, while the night scene below was analyzed for several hours and painted with gouache. The thumbnails are below if you'd like to see the process from tonal to final. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, so I suppose the trick is balancing spontaneity with overkill. Ha. Cinch.

My First Leica

Second semester is coming to a close, and after all the hours of sweat and tears I have a minute and forty-five seconds to show for it. lol Below you'll find my leica for this semester's storyboarding class with Nancy Beiman. It is, what I believe to be, the first full process from beat boards to moving pictures with sound that I have completed. I'm really looking forward to improving my skills with boards and am excited to see where Nancy takes us next semester.

Anyway, enjoy my first attempt at a mini-film!

Royal Winter Fair '08

It's that time of year again when everyone seems to know each other and cow dung gets stuck to your shoes. The Royal Winter Fair is in town and packed with hard-working farmers and equally determined art students. Above are a couple of little critters hanging around the petting zoo, but more importantly I wanted show you the piece below.

This is the work of four year-old Anna who, after looking over my shoulder for several minutes, wanted to paint as well. I offered her a page, taught her how to use the water-brush, and made sure her mom was cool with it. After a few strokes, I asked Anna what she was painting.
"What?" she replied.
"Yeah, what is it that you're painting?" I repeated. After a long, confused pause and without looking up, Anna said,
"It's just painting."

IT'S JUST PAINTING. Well, didn't I feel silly. This four year-old was just painting for the pure enjoyment of putting colour on paper. She would rejoice when she saw what colour showed up on the page and was neither under a time constraint nor the pressure of having to hand in her work.

There was a time when all of us believed it was "just painting", so thank you, Anna, for showing me the big picture. I'll try not to forget it.

Post Already!

Okay, okay, I hear you!

After several harassing comments, I am finally (reluctantly) posting. School is back in, and art is on display everywhere. Art that inspires, yet depresses. When I see the seniors' work I think, "Now, I can't possibly post my silly, amateur doodles on a blog!"

Alas, here I am, facing these fears and self-doubts. These life drawings were done last week at an extra course San and I take off campus. It is so refreshing to go into Toronto one night mid-week and mid-rush to simply enjoy art for art. I tend to produce more confident work there with the pressures of the Sheridan competition removed.

The constant goal is to find a balance between looking at your neighbour's newsprint (or painting, or animation...) for inspiration and guidance versus looking at your neighbour's newsprint to find out where you rank. I think we can all relate to this, and I will continue to take extra courses outside of Sheridan's program in order to remind myself why I came to this school in the first place: art is fun!