NEW WORK by Francesca Lyn

I put some of my new work in one place: http://opheliasswimteam.tumblr.com/
check it out!

work and creativity

Did you ever have a job that is such a sinecure that it actually bothered you? Sometimes I like having such a stress-free job. Other times it gets incredibly tedious. I know everybody has elements of tedium in their work, I mean even creative acts have their boring parts. I mean, painting a painting has it's active parts - when you are composing the painting and making decisions. But I think people that do not make art sometimes fail to realize that a lot of the actual work that goes into making something creative can be quite boring. Filling in an area of a large canvas with one color can be about as boring as repainting your house. Taking photographs can be fun, developing the prints in a darkroom is often slow hard work.

art

New drawings over on http://www.francescalyn.blogspot.com/. These are for a video piece I am working on.

come check out my portfolio

I'm trying to get my artwork all on one place. I would love for you guys to see it and let me know what you think. I used blogger as a platform and I think it worked out pretty well. Eventually I would like to make a Dreamweaver site.

Please view my online portfolio @ francescalyn.blogspot.com .

glitch

I have been working on an online portfolio and decided to try an give it a "glitch" aesthetic. I'm still working on it but it's fun to take screen captures of when things go wrong. Sort of pretty isn't it?

Scott Robinson

raised by wolves...

I've been wanting to do something with this etching forever. I'm obsessed with fairy tales and the idea of being raised by wolves. Any ideas?

rough draft

Information anxiety is a theme in my own artwork and I have perhaps thousands of sketches and no practical way to compile them or analyze them. In a way, these sketches are like a twitter for my brain! They have iconography in them, often include text, and are diary-like. Some are like maps, others are like observations. A lot of artists are working in similar veins - Julie Mehretu, Sarah Sze, and Judy Pfaff come to mind. They all create multi-layered collage environments. Issues of dissemination, communication, and technology all figure in their work. Like these artists, I also think about these issues. I would like to get better at explaining that both with traditional media and new media.

What is appealing is working with Processing and making use of it's ease and design for artists. I have never done any programming before. Processing is designed for artists and by artists. Getting very good with the Processing language is one of my major goals in life. I like that it is Java-based and that other contemporary artists are using this same way of working. The Processing community is very helpful because it seems to link lots of people with diverse backgrounds and interests. Plus, I can quickly prototype ideas and share them with other artists.

Additionally, I have a problem with how image editing programs work. Most of them seem to revolve around editing photos, not creating new works of art. While, I use Photoshop to present and "clean up" finished drawings, I rarely use it as a tool for creating compositions. It does not really serve me as an artist. It seems like you have to adapt to them, rather than they suit your needs. I would like to create a program/software/application that can organize and reconfigure my own artwork, sort of like a new collage tool. Simplicity is key for me. I want to create new work from my own sketches.

I want it to be more intuitive and easy to use, Perhaps one day another artist would want to work this way with their own artwork. Or, I could easily collaborate with other artists by combining my artwork with theirs.


This is an evolution of my project that I would like to become a multi-semester endeavor. I would eventually like it to be projected in the REVE as well as digital prints made. I would like to learn how I can make generative art utilizing these new media techniques while still maintaining my ideas of aesthetics. The best part is that it could use any image file.

Also, twitter and other social media techniques could be implemented as I now know how to interface twitter with Processing.

what did you learn in school today?

I wanted to see if I could get Processing to analyze the color in my drawings and then make generative art of this information. This was WAY easier than I thought it would be. Another step closer. Next I want to make a program with a GUI so you can toggle between more than one image and blend them.
So I went from this:

To this:

And this:

To this:

something i have been thinking about

I think we are too quick to think that current aesthetics in computing are the way we should make things look. To me, so much of it looks too sleek, too metallic, too sterile. I believe that good design is critical to any project's success. But I think we need to start reconsidering just what is "good design".

project idea for my visualization class

Hi everyone! I thought I would include my project ideas here as well as the required class blog I have to complete. Below is a rough outline of my idea:

We are constantly bombarded with information. We are suffering from image anxiety. I check twitter too much. What if their was a way to gauge how active twitter was by looking at a visualization?

Using the data from twitter I want to make spontaneous generated murals. Murals are already somewhat immersive because of the relation of size to a human. This mural would change every time someone tweeted and also change due to topics that are currently trending. That way you wouldn't have to look at twitter to know that a new topic has broken.

I want to use my aesthetic in the art piece I create. I am interested in nondigital art as well as digital (including painting, drawing, & printmaking) so I would like to create interactive pieces that still have that artistic sensibility. I am interested in mark-making that still looks handdrawn or painterly. A lot of my pieces have texture and visual movement so I would like to try to translate that to the immersive environment. Patterns created could also be exported and used as digital design elements, printed artwork, or textile design.

Chinese Dreams... collages that I will revisit

I make things with my hands.

I make things with my hands. This in itself is becoming a radical act.

I am just as serious in making my "craft" items as I am working on an oil painting. They are different media sure, but I work just as hard in both. I do not think one is more important than the other. They just serve different purposes.

Things that are skillfully handmade do possess a power, a kind of grace. I do not worry that these things will become obsolete in a technologically driven world. Rather, I think technology will always have to look back and use craft if it is ever going to have any kind of permanence. And craft can utilize technology in unique ways. Recently I have seen a lot of work with soft circuits in fabric. These circuits are sewn with conductive thread. Besides looking cool, putting lights on your clothes could be useful at night if you were riding your bike.

We as crafters and artists must learn to look back at traditional crafts and forward into what technology can offer.

My Artwalk table

Special thanks to Garrett, The Center for Art Lovers, and the Floating Island.

murky picture off my studio...my new "in progress" corkboard

In lieu of a picture

I decided to post some of what I look at. I am pretty much always looking at something on the internet for inspiration. I love looking new stuff up.

art blogs:
fecal face - An art site that has a different perspective than what I learned about in college.
DRAWN! - A great illustration and cartooning blog.

geek love:
dark horse comics - The comic book company I would want to write for.
Tate's - My favorite comic book store.

favorite artists:
Judy Pfaff - Wonderful, magical installation artist.
Lisa Congdon - Illustrator.

The Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch by Paul Gauguin

Kusama

geeking out on artwork today....

One of my favorite contemporary artists, Mark Bradford:

Conceptualizing