inspiration

Today I just wanna share a little bit of inspiration with you all... in the form of a book. :) But before I get to that... let me lead you up to it..

So last year around this time I got accepted into the BFA program at UVU for painting and drawing.. yay! I was so pumped and I totally felt like I had arrived... haha but little did I know that it was just the beginning! Soon enough, talk came of a BFA show and projects and all this crazy stuff.. and I just thought 'what did I get myself into?'. AAHH!! 

Every BFA student has a BFA project... it is your thesis for graduating. You come up with a concept of what your project is about and explore all ideas on it. For me... I was still figuring out who I was as an artist.. so to get all deep and focus on one thing was a big challenge for me. 

I started looking into my soul (I'm so deep... I know..) and really tried to find something I was passionate about. I tossed around a couple ideas but none really were hitting the spot... until I came across the idea of water... and it just spoke to me.

My whole life I have been a mermaid and have loved the water. It is more apart of me that I realized! Once I started focusing my work on water studies I began to soar. I found what I really wanted to explore and create my work about.

In my exploration of waattaaa, one of my lovely artsy friends told me about a book by Masaru Emoto called The Hidden Messages in Water. 

So I got the book and began reading it.. and after just reading the prologue I was beyond pumped. I kept telling Austin how amazing it was and how it just encompassed my work and ideas and thoughts and hopes and dreams and EVERYTHING. :)

While I was reading it I kept my sketchbook with me so I could write down my thoughts and quotes. I almost wrote more than I read because I was that obsessed. One of the quotes I wrote down ended up being in my artist statement for my BFA project... so thank you Mr. Masaru Emoto! Everything he said just struck a cord in me that won't stop vibrating.

I truly encourage you to read this book. It is so beyond inspiring and life changing. Trust me. You will get chills. Yup. :) Plus when see my art maybe you'll have a little more understanding of what it's all about.. eh?

To leave you, here is a little video to give you a taste of what the book is about. Woot!

road to the show

Alrighty friends... my show is this Tuesday!! Can't believe it is already here... I'll see you there eh? :)

In the mean time... let me butter you up and show you all the work that went into my show. I am going to keep the focus off the actual art (because you have to come to my show to see them!) and show you all the behind the scenes stuff.

So as you saw in the last post... I made some big huge fancy wood panels to create on.. and oooohhhh how lovely it was! They were all bigger than I am and it was so fun to dance around on them. I have never worked this big before so it was fun to go out of my comfort zone.. and freaking scary. After MANY sleepless and emotional nights I finished all my pieces... and I will tell you all about my process of how I created them soon.. just not today. :)

Once I was done with the art it was so relieving, but then a lot more work came sneaking on in. This is the part I didn't plan for. I gotta make them look all nice and professional and shiz?... whaaaat?

First step was to seal my pieces. I work in a lot of different mediums and not all are permanent, such as pastels and charcoal. Right now I have one of my past pieces in our hallway that is covered in charcoal that I haven't sealed... and Austin, like the boy he is, always rubs his fingers in it and chases me around to put black charcoal all over me... aaahh haha... no bueno. Since these are hanging in a museum and not just my house... figured I gotta make it stick! So I got Austin and his friends to help me carry my laaaaarge pieces outside so I could spray fix them and seal in all that artsy love!

Three spray cans and a very tired pointer finger later, I finished sealing in all my work.

Next was to save the sides. From painting and spraying water on it like a mad woman... a lot of paint and gunk dripped down the sids of the wood panels. So I had to paint over it. After taking waaaaay more paint chips than I should have from Home Depot and staring at them for days, I finally chose a nice warm neutral gray color to paint all the sides. I sanded and painted to cover up all the craziness and also serve as a sort of frame... and WOW it made all the difference.

Next was my least favorite part of all. Installing the hanging wire. In my earlier years of my art degree I made a wire sculpture of a butterfly, which turned out awesome.. but my poor fingers were so sad and ruined by the end of it that I vowed to never touch that wire crap again. Welp... vow didn't last long... I wired these babies up and kissed my fingers goodbye.

Once I was all done it was finally time to take them to their new home for the next month and a half, the Woodbury Art Museum. Hanging them was a bit of a pickle cause they are so large and in charge... but with the help of my handsome dude and his sis.. we busted it out.

I may or may not have cried when we finished and left... IT WAS ALL DONE! It felt so good to know that I had done my part and now it is their job to hang there, look all nice, and create an experience for the viewer. Time to let them live on their own. I know I totally sound like mother goose letting her ducklings into the world... but it's totally how I feel!

hahaha... aaahhh... I need a nap.

See you soon my friends :) and soon as in this TUESDAY FROM 6-8 at the WOODBURY ART MUSEUM :)

BFA Show

Hello lovely people!

Here's the info for my BFA show coming up! It is what I have been working toward all year and I would love to share it with you!

Opening Reception:

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

6-8 pm

Woodbury Art Museum

575 University Mall #250, Orem, UT 84097

My show is in conjunction with other amazing BFA students from UVU and the big Student Art Show that showcases the best works from UVU art students. So the museum is going to be filled with local art and artists and delicious food! Yay for foooood. :)

Come hangout and get your art on with me!

See you there!

Oh how busy I've been!

So I've been preparing for my BFA show next month.. and have been working around the clock... aahh! haha

In my head I thought it would be really cool to do large pieces on wood panels... ya know... really engulf the viewer... but putting that into reality is a lot harder than I thought. I looked into buying big panels and about cried with how expensive it was... so.. I decided to make them! I am so not a wood worker, and decided to look to the master... youtube. I searched people making wood panels for art... figured it out.. and decided to do it! 

First I had to get the supplies... so I went to Home Depot (which is so much better than Lowes... be warned) with my husband, Austin, and his dad, Curt. We were there foreeeever! But man was I glad that I brought big strong men along.. they knew what was up. I spent as much money as I would have spent on one pre-made panel... and I got enough materials to make five. Not too shabby :)

Once we got back and unloaded the truck... we looked at all the stuff we had and suddenly I was so overwhelmed. I had no idea what I was doing... aaahhh. Curt had the brilliant idea to ask a guy in our ward that was a wood worker to come help us... and man am I glad he did! He had all these fancy tools and made them look so professional. Yay :)

After they were built we had to spackle (I don't even think that's a word... but that's what I have been calling it?) and sand to get all the nooks and crannys nice and smooth. It was my first time using a fancy sander thing... it was awesome.

Up next was priming them with gesso! I bought a huuuuuuuuge gallon of gesso and an awesome fat brush to do the job. I set it up in our living room because these are too big for my art studio... which I wasn't too sad about because I got to turn on Netflix on the tv and chill with the dude. :)

Now to the art... with each piece I am approaching it differently. I have some finished work on large pieces of paper that I am going to mount to the board, which I did with the big greenish blue one. Then on others... I am just going to get all crazy and paint directly on it. Just whatever I am feeling :)

notice christmas tree still up... aahh

I'm pretty sure from now until my show... my kitchen, living room, art room.... lets be honest.. our entire house is going to be covered in artsy goodness until my show. Sorry husband :)

Yay for art!

Hheeeyyyy!

Hello friends!

Hooray for finally having a blog! Isn't it so pretty too??? :) Thanks to the lovely Rylee of Rylee Blake Design. She is magical :)

So hello! This is my first time actually posting on here so hopefully this works! haha 

This is a place if you are thinking.. 'hhmmm I wonder what Kenz is up to'... and you can come and check out what I'm doing! I will try my very hardest to stay up to date on what I'm doing, but lets be honest, if you know me... you know I'll get around to it here and there :) 

Anyway... I just wanted to say hiiiii and welcome! There will be much much much more colorful and fun posts to follow!

Stay tuned :)