Tag: narrative art

I’m taking a break from blogging

Hi Friends, Family, and Followers,

I am taking a break from blogging on my Art of Schmidt site until life calms down a little. I’ve been juggling an art show deadline that’s looming and the art hasn’t been coming

Stopping by the Woods, one point
Stopping by the Woods, Mixed Media, 2018, Jodie Schmidt.

together, and some health issues. I hope to get back to blogging more frequently after the art show opening, On and Off the Wall at the Artists Gallery in Frederick, MD. I will be joined by many local artists who work in a variety of media. All art will be for sale via silent auction and proceeds will help raise funds for the continuation of the gallery, which is operated exclusively by artists. For now, here are some progress photos of my box entry, Stopping by the Woods. Here is a link to the art show if you want to know more about it:Box Side 2_edited-1Box Side 3_edited-1, finalBox Side 4_edited-1 http://www.theartistsgalleryfrederick.com/march-2018-box-show.

In my next post, I hope to show you the completed project, but for now, I am still figuring out how to bring it to a successful conclusion. I was not happy with how the sides of the box turned out, so I  am re-doing them from scratch in Photoshop. Next week, I hope to transfer these images to the box and paint the panels in Acrylic. Here are the Photoshop files in progress that will be displayed on the other sides of the box. The box is based on the poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. I love this poem because it is so mysterious. Is he talking about death, life, or the push and pull between responsibilities and dreaming, when he stops to admire the snowy woods, but then decides that he has other things to get back to at the end of the poem when he says he has “miles to go before I sleep”. I think the poem can be open to many interpretations and that’s what makes it interesting. Thanks for stopping by!

Stories We Tell, Part 2

What stories do we tell as artists in the work we create? In my work, I am finding that poetry is a wonderful jumping off point for creating artwork which tells a story. There is so much feeling, and sometimes imagery to mine, which can be easily translated to the fine arts. For instance, in my pastel drawing, Ghost House, (2015), I interpreted the Ghost House poem by Robert Frost. After I had read the poem, I tried to pick lines out of it that seemed to lend themselves to visuals. First I thought of a haunted house, and then I began to think about who might inhabit it. Later on, the idea of including a ghost bride and some crows popped into my head. Thus, the story of a haunted house was born.DSC_1470c This excerpt was cited on:

www.poets.org.
I dwell in a lonely house I know 
That vanished many a summer ago, 
   And left no trace but the cellar walls, 
   And a cellar in which the daylight falls 
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow. (Robert Frost, Ghost House)