The Trees of the Night

Here is most of my on-going series, The Trees of the Night. My inspiration for my work in this series comes from nature, hopes and life experiences. I work with acrylic and I paint mostly on acrylic or cradle wood.

Each painting tells a story within itself. They are created with the intention of being enjoyed by the viewer.

All paintings are created by me, and cannot be used without my written permission.

The Burning Bushes - Acrylic on canvas (n/a)

Red Skies Tell of Tomorrow - Acrylic on canvas (sold)

Aurora Evening - Acrylic on canvas (sold)

Winter Sunrise - Acrylic on canvas - 48 x 16
$250

High Hopes - Acrylic on canvas (n/a)

Lighting the Way Home - Acrylic on cradle wood - 24 x 20
$150

Summer Evenings Alone - Acrylic on canvas (sold)

Summer Nights Dreaming - Acrylic on canvas (n/a)

Dreaming Forest Walks: Fall - Acrylic on canvas (sold)

Dreaming Forest Walks: Winter - Acrylic on canvas - 30 x 30
$300

Dreaming Forest Walks: Winter is featured in the 2012 ANIC Liturgical Calendar. It is titled Laying on the Forest Floor. The calendar is available for purchase here. It supports church planting within our ministry.

Thank you for taking the time to enjoy my work!

Art for Sale (2011)

Hello!

I am selling some of my art I have had hanging around my house (done by me). I am wanting to make room for new things I have been working on. All of my work is done with acrylic. I'm flexible with prices so don't be shy to offer something different than my asking price.

I have priced things much lower than what I ask for when I have my work in art shows.

Now onto the paintings!

Nintendo

 Wario 8 x 8 Acrylic on Canvas $25

Goomba 8 x 8 Acrylic on Canvas $25 SOLD

Toad 8 x 8 Acrylic on Canvas $25

Bundles of Boos SOLD

3 Panels 6 x 24 each

Acrylic on Canvas $60

(all three are sold together)

Toad Confusion SOLD

10 x 20 Acrylic on Canvas $50

Trees of the Night

Dreaming Forest Walks: Winter

30 x 30 Acrylic on Canvas $300

Lighting the Way Home

24 x 20 Acrylic on Cradle Wood $150

Winter Sunrise

48 x 16 Acrylic on Canvas $250

Misc.

Deadmau5 at Night

16 x 20 Acrylic on Canvas $150

(Colours are more vibrant than the photo)

Any inquiries can be emailed to: sophietabak@gmail.com

Thank you!

School has started. I've never been so drained.

I love it.

School is presenting new challenges for me. I am currently studying painting, drawing, visual foundations, photography and printmaking. Printmaking has to be the most interesting course yet.  It is a brand-new medium for me. I think I'm in love.

You carve images into a piece of linoleum, ink it and then put it through an old-fashioned press. We just started learning, so when I learn more, I'll write about it here!


Lately my emotions have seemed to be getting the best of me. I think too much. Then again, maybe everyone does. Instead of acting on what I'm thinking, I've decided to put it all down into a tree painting. I told myself I wasn't going to paint anymore trees but I couldn't resist.



That's all for now.

The Selfish Side of Sof

In an earlier post, I talked about how an artist can be selfish and paint for themselves solely. Lately I have taken on this way of creating art and have started painting only things I want to paint. Instead of painting skies, which make me money, I have started painting video game characters and drawing cartoon characters. These are things I do solely for myself. If others like what I create, then that is an excellent bonus for me.

This is a small painting which I completed a few days ago. It's a Goomba from the Mario Bros. video game series. The actual colours are different shades of brown. In art, nothing has to be the correct colour.

Much of my fascination for art comes from video games themselves. For example, the art in the Legend of Zelda series. It never ceases to amaze me. The colours, all of the weaponry and different characters are what draws me in. One character in particular, known as The Skull Kid, is one of my favourites. He has a creepy and dark personality and each time his character is redesigned, I like him even more. Below are two photos, the one above is him in Majora's Mask (released in 2000) and below is from Twilight Princess (released in 2006).

School begins in a week, so I will be posting my school projects so you can see what I am up to. Until next time!

Talk soon!

Back On Track and Plastic Cameras

Well it seems I have been slacking on updating my blog. My apologies!

I have been working hard on my series of night sky paintings. I have an exhibition at the Primcorp Exhibition Site, which is downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It runs from August 23rd until October 18th, 2011. It is my first exhibition and I am very excited about it. I will have six paintings for the exhibition.

In a few weeks school will begin. I never thought I'd be a fine arts student. I always thought I would be an animator, nurse or a computer expert. The last two years have presented many new challenges to me as well as ideas and inspirations. With digital art in this age, it is more of a challenge to make yourself known through traditional art. I hope one day to be a voice for the deaf and hard of hearing artists.

This year I fell in love...

...with plastic cameras.
Their simplicity, imperfections and pretty much everything about them is what took me in. Lomography is a big carrier of these cameras. They all have different effects, and all cost considerably less than a decent digital camera.

Currently in my arsenal, I have:

The Fisheye - captures a 160 degree view of what is around you. It works best in cloudy conditions, or at night, as it comes with a built-in flash. It uses 35mm film.

Holga 120N - I have not mastered using this one yet. It is loved for its light leaks and colour distortion. It comes with an external flash with colour covers. It uses 120mm film.

Fujifilm Instax Mini - This is very similar to an old Polarioid which prints photos. It works best in dark conditions, and the film is very pricy. It uses Instax Mini film only.

The Spinner 360 - This camera is by far the most unique. It sits on a handle, you pull the drawstring and it winds around in a complete 360 degree turn, capturing everything around it in one frame. It takes eight photos on a regular 35mm roll of film instead of twenty four.

POP 9 Gold - This camera takes nine photos in one frame. It captures everything in four seconds. It has a built in flash so you can even use it at night. It uses 35mm film.

My hope is to use my photos for an art project. It's still in the planning stages so I can't say much about it yet.  My next camera I want to add to my collection is the Diana Mini "Love is In The Air" edition. It's so cute, it's hard not to want it!

Now I need to get back to working on my paintings. I'm not going to get anywhere if I keep playing with cameras all day.

Until next time!

Exercising your mind, exercising your talents

Have you ever put something off continuously, and eventually found yourself in a rut? Or maybe you find yourself complaining about the smallest things, as if it's become a habit. Is it because of boredom? It's easy to fall into a trend, especially with modern technology doing so much for us these days.

A few days ago I had my entrance interview for an art school I had high hopes for attending. A conversation I had with the program coordinator really stuck with me. Going through my portfolio, she mentioned that it seemed my work had a lot of time and effort put into it and asked me if I had any inspiration behind what I had come up with and how much planning went into it. The only answer I could come up with was, "I need to keep my mind busy, or I get lazy and stay that way." She agreed with me and we began talking on how easy it is to get stuck simply by not challenging ourselves and our minds. We spoke of the shapes I use in my ink drawings, and how there isn't any planning, and that a pencil is never used to plan. It's all up to what my mind wants to do, and usually, the more I have on my mind, the more I like the photo when I'm finished. The more time my mind takes to work itself out, the more time I spend on the drawing. If I get lazy and stop, I will likely never finish what I had started.

I am guilty of this - quite often.

I have endless amounts of paintings, sketches and drawings, all not finished. The ideas lost forever because I chose not to work hard on it when the ideas were there. Now, the ideas and the inspiration are gone. I can't even remember where I wanted to take many of the pieces I had started.

An example of a drawing which was never finished.

Now, I'm not trying to sound like such a downer. I am quite fascinated by the fact thoughts can become lost, as if they just disappear into nowhere. Do they go somewhere? Or are they simply gone forever as quickly as they came? Some thoughts eat at you, and to me, my art really fixes this. A good way to take it out instead of yelling or getting upset, is to use all that energy and put it down on paper. Often fantasizing or elaborating the ideas makes it so much easier to come to terms with.


Just remember, if you're bored you should try challenging yourself and getting out of old habits. Before too long you might start looking at the negatives. Keeping busy will help keep you positive. Being positive not only makes you happier, but the people around you too.

Until next time!

All You Need is Love

So after more than a week, I have finally completed another painting. Life is busy, and gets in the way, also my motivation decided to go on vacation. Now it's back, and I've finally kicked myself in the butt to get going.

Do you ever wonder what artists did before they made it? Or what they do as their full-time occupation? If I ever made it, I think it would sound silly to have my biography say, "Sof was a cashier at..." Not so interesting, right?

Someone made an interesting comment recently when seeing one of my pieces, and it got me thinking. They said, "I wish I had some sort of talent." Although the comment made me think maybe this person was just being a bit of a downer on themselves, it made me wonder what their talent was. Everyone has one, whether it be art, music, public speaking, listening to others, math...the list is endless really. We look up to people with special talents. Many of them musicians, and artists. Whether it be someone who we can relate to, or someone the complete opposite. I find myself having a hard time with public speaking and carrying on a conversation in general. Someone very close to me is a very confident speaker, and carries themselves very well. I really look up to them, even if they don't think that is some kind of talent. To me, things that help you in everyday life such as good charisma, being able to listen and giving good advice are amazing and rare talents.


Anyways, here is my newest painting:

Evening Dreaming

I'm still trying to decide where I want to take my art. I guess I won't know until I work more on it right?


Thanks for reading!

Details, Repetition and Deadmau5

Do you ever look at something and think, "Wow, that's really detailed. I wouldn't try to repeat that." Or maybe the opposite, "That looks so simple. Why would someone pay so much for that?" Sometimes the ideas behind the piece are what make the art, more than what is seen to the naked eye. Other times, art is made to be visually appealing, regardless of what inspiration is behind it.

When I come up with an idea, I try to make is as visually appealing as I can. I don't want someone to have to think too much about the idea behind it. Most of the time, there isn't any idea or inspiration behind what I come up with. I do it because I enjoy it. Many of my paintings have a re-occuring theme of trees and night skies. Many of my drawings have a "tribal" theme filled in with miscellaneous shapes and figures. When I look at something, I want to be able to look at it again and again without becoming bored of it. You pay good money for art, you don't want to be sick of looking at it in a few months, do you?

Often times when I create something, I do it because I like the subject. For example, on two separate occasions, I was listening to a lot of Deadmau5 (pronounced 'dead mouse'), an electronic artist from Toronto, Ontario, and decided to paint a portrait of him wearing his Mau5 (pronounced 'mouse') stage costume. Another time I drew a picture of various Mau5 heads floating around. I couldn't find any Deadmau5 posters in my area, so I hung up these two pieces instead.

Deadmau5 Everywhere
(early 2011)

Deadmau5 Nightlife
(mid 2010)

I'm not saying anything is wrong with simplicity. Stories and ideas behind art are part of what makes it so interesting. In times like today where patience is rare and people are just too busy with their lives, I want to create something that will make them stop what they're doing and say, "That's really nice." 

Take a break from life, and start enjoying it a little bit more.

Goal Setting! Oh wait...you mean I actually have to complete these?

Good evening!

Lately, I have been coming up with certain goals, and as I mentioned before, one of them being getting my work into a few local galleries. I really have to push myself, but it's going to get done! A few things I have coming up involve photography, drawing and some mixed media. Stay tuned!

What's on my mind?
One of my supervisors at work made an interesting comment today. Apparently I am not weird enough to draw attention to myself and my art. This got me thinking....
Do I want people to know me because of my art, how I look or carry myself? No... I want people to see my art and say, "Wow, that's nice. I would hang that in my living room." It seems as if some artists create art to describe themselves, or to be part of them and their persona, and there's nothing wrong with that. Art is all about self-expression. I'll confess I have an obsession with making others happy, so what I come up may not always be "self-expression" because I want others to like what they see. In a way however, this may be self-expression -a way to come to understand the intent behind the piece and who the artist is as a person.

Now some good news...
I took place in an art show recently, to raise money for street artists and a local community centre and found out both of my pieces sold! I was very excited. Definitely a couple bonus points for self-esteem.

I was feeling a little lazy the past few days and didn't feel much like painting, so I did some freehand doodling in my sketchbook. This is what I came up with:

Now that I've set all these goals for myself, time to go find some motivation to complete them!

Goodnight and Happy Easter!

Good Morning Good Morning

"The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them." -Stephen King

So I've finally given in and created a blog for all of the stuff I come up with. I sat here, probably for the past half hour trying to think of how to begin. Where do I start? What do I talk about? How about I tell you what I believe the definition of art is? 

To me, art is a way of telling a story, displaying emotion, or simply any way of expressing something words cannot. 

Visual expression is the most important form of communication. Having relied on it all my life in everyday communication, I have always taken into account someone's body language much more than what comes out of their mouth. 

Growing up, art was always a big part of my life. Drawing and creating things were part of everyday play, and it was always encouraged in my family. My grandmother was very creative, always sewing and knitting and creating crafts. My mother teaches art, drama and music to elementary students. Both of these women greatly influenced me. 

Through elementary and high school, my main interest was drawing. I rarely picked up a paint brush, and rather detested the idea of painting until I was older. Now, I paint almost everyday and hope one day to make a profession out of it. Now my focus is on painting, ink drawings and photography.

"Blue Night" (early 2011)

Most of my paintings consist of bright skies with silhouettes of trees in the foregrounds. I am fascinated with the idea of the branches of trees forking out to create more branches. Follows the idea of, "one thing leads to another." One decision can lead to something new, different and exciting. 

As of right now....

I am working hard at coming up with a series of paintings to submit to galleries around my city. They follow along with the theme of trees I have taken a liking to. I hope everyone enjoys looking at them as much as I have creating them.

That's all for tonight! Thanks for reading!