Art At Home

Social media has a whole new meaning to us now. It’s our only source of socializing during this long moment of “PAUSE”.  The silver lining for many of us during this crisis is more free time. As the weeks pass, I’m noticing more and more creativity on our social platforms. We’re adapting and communicating in new ways.

For me, with this freedom, I’ve started drawing again. I’ve been inspired by artwork on my friends’ Instagram feeds. My Saturday nights are now spent at the dining room table, drawing and painting, drinking a glass of wine. (As opposed to being somewhere else drinking wine and not drawing.) I’ll tune in to some live music played by my friends on Facebook. It’s been surprisingly fun!

I wanted to share some of the cool art I’ve come across lately. My friend Mary Ann has been posting art way before this whole virus thing hit. She’s an art teacher.  Lately on her Instagram she’s been sharing collages with typography. When I told her I was writing an art column, I asked if she could take a high resolution photo of one of my recent favorites (pictured above). Instead, she left the original on my porch (thank  you!) For inspiration, follow Mary Ann on Instagram – @maryannparedesart.

Beth Perkins is a professional photographer living in Rockaway Beach. We’ve been friends for several years now and we’re also “CROM buddies”.  I’ve always admired her photography but never realized she can draw too! She posted on instagram, “Started drawing again after about 20 years, decided to start with my money cat.” Her second in the
series was shared a few days ago and her caption resonated with me, “Peaches” is my second drawing/watercolor. I struggled with the perspective and almost started completely over. However, I learned a lot from this one, and there are elements I really like about it. So, I figured I’d post it. Like life, sometimes things fall into place and feel easy and other times it’s a struggle. Usually those struggles are what make us better, stronger, and wiser. Plus the prizes obtained from the struggle seem more meaningful. This one was done on the back of a cereal box.”

For more from Beth’s cat series follow her on IG  – @bethperkins70

I’ve been a long time fan of my friend Clare Hilger’s artwork.  A Pratt grad like me and middle school teacher, Clare is always coming up with inventive projects for her students, which seems to spill over into her own work. Recently she posted a piece that caught my attention, it’s called “Spring in the City”. See what Clare creates next on IG – @swimmonstersandwich

There’s more online creatively I want to share with you. Next week I’ll focus on other art forms, like video and writing. In the meantime, I hope this has spurred the creativity within you.