Early Bird gets the Worm

An old ancient proverb: "The Early Bird Gets The Wor..." Hey where is the M?

The M could stand for what is missing in your life because you aren't willing to make the needed sacrifice for it. (This sounds like my YES/NO post. Go Check it out!) That could mean money, time, happiness, etc.

Another proverbish like thing my father always told me was that the fisherman that had his hook in the water earliest and longest caught the fish. Now if you have ever been fishing you know that this is true and sometimes untrue. It depends on where you are fishing, what bait you are using and your skill at hooking the fish and reeling it in.

My goal in writing this blog post is not to convince you that you should get up earlier, but if that is what happens because of it I will count that as a win for me. The truth is that people that get up earlier usually have a lot more accomplished then those of us that sleep in by the end of the day. I mean think about it. When I sleep in I feel groggy through out the day and then at night the only good thing I can think of doing is watching Netflix or surfing the internet.

This week I woke up early and I started thinking about fun art projects I wanted to do. So instead of sleeping in I got up and wrote down a bunch of thoughts and then today I decided to execute one of them. It was this typography piece that appears above.

At this point I could take this blog post in so many different directions. For example:

I could talk about how people just need to start doing what they want to do and stop waiting for the right amount of money, a better job, more time, the moon to line up just right. Just go do it!

I could talk about what kind of bait you should use to catch the fish you want to catch, but then again that is up to you. You should be smart and find the bait that you like to use and that catches you enough fishies.

I could talk about the best fishing spots, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, your local Cafe, or Tumblr! This also might come down to you trying it out and finding out which works better for you.

And then I could talk to you about waking up early and getting worms! The truth is I just dare you to try it a couple of times. Purposefully wake up early and do the things you need to do and then the next day sleep in and wake up when ever you want to and write down what you have accomplished on both days and tell me which is more productive for you.

If you decide to take my challenge shoot me an email and tell me your findings. (guapolsen@gmail.com)

I think there is another proverb out there that says if you Hoot with the Owls you won't be Flying with the Eagles.

Artist Inspiration Collages

A couple of years ago for an art class I had to create a collage made up of artists that inspired me. The first one I did for school was filled with some really cool art, but lots of different genres of artists. I then had the opportunity to teach an art class yesterday and thought I would do that activity with my student again, but this time I really tried to focus on the artists that inspired me as an illustrator.

I thought it might be really fun to share both of my collages with you and maybe some thoughts on why I like the artists I chose.

This first one is the most recent one I made:

1- Tomie DePaola- I loved his fun shapes for people and big noses. I also really love his color harmony.

2- Maurice Sendak- Everyone knows where the wild things are. He has incredible fun little details on every page. His monsters are delightfully fun and his colors are really well controlled as well.

3- Scottie Young- This artist was introduced to me in High School and was on the cutting edge of drawing superheroes at the time. The picture I have here for him is of Wolverine. He has recently done a wizard of oz book with a delightful lion. I love his curvy lines and fun twists on things that I have see before.

4- James Christensen*- This man is a master of paint. His paintings are so smooth well designed. He has an amazing ability to put straights with curves and fun colors that work with each other to create a story of some sort of thing from another world!

5- J. Kirk Richards*- Kirk has let me be his art assistant for over a year now and I just couldn't leave him out. He has definitely influenced me. I have loved learning about how he thinks and getting to even do some of his under paintings for him. I would have a huge list of things if I listed all the things I have learned from him: the importance of hard edges and soft edges, having detail and when not to have it, warms and cools and much much more.

6- Dr. Suess- What amazingly fun imaginative creations from pen and ink! I have always been mesmerized by his fun shapes and characters. His colors have always been really nice and although bright they are controlled and limited.

7- Quentin Blake- This is a favorite artist of mine that illustrated books like Matilda and the BFG. his style is loose, but with a sense of great anatomy. He knows how to make some quick lines look like a person and then with some water colors he brings them to life. 

8- Shel Silverstein- Amazing Man. Don't look at the pictures of him though. He looks kind of scary. (: I love how fun Shel was with his poetry. His loose pictures that look like they were just scribbled out on a napkin, maybe even the napkin he used to write the poem on the back of, are so fun to see and take in!

9- Jake Parker*- Jake is a more recent addition to my lists of inspirations. He has a comic book style of doing art and has inspired me with his amazing caricature design as well as use of pen and ink. 

*For fun I put the stars in to show the ones I have actually met in person.

Below is the first one I did for my class:

Matt Wisniewski- I think I may have found this artist on Pinterest. I really love his stuff though. He is a photographer that takes pictures of people and then of mountains and other things and mashes them together. I love the details you can get in a photograph as well as this carefully and brilliantly placement of to pictures together to make one.

Gustav Klimt- "The Kiss". Klimt was an amazing painter that used really cool shapes, patterns, and color together.

Andy Warhol- This guy was kind of crazy, but kind or really awesome. I love the processes he used. Screen printing and other things. He was an artists really interested in getting people to think. I really like that about him.

Andrew Beck- Andrew was actually a friend of mine from High School and has gone on to be a graphic designer in Amsterdam. I really admire his fun style. He has great use of curves mixed with straights. He was wonderful textures and colors. I also really love how his images tell a story.

James Christensen! He made it on both lists. When I made this second collage I was looking at some of his more realistic work, but I still love him because he knows how to really paint!

James Nachtwey- James is a photographer that travels to distant lands and takes pictures that really move you. A lot of his work is done where there has been a war and sometimes right there in the gun fire. I really admire him for his work, but I could never do it because I value being with my wife and living more.

Zander Olsen- I think I may have found this guy on Pinterest too. He is an artist that makes installations out in nature. Doing this takes time, patience, planning and a really good eye for artistic things. He does it really well.

Bottocelli- This artist is an oldie but a goodie. He has some really fun repeating patterns in his paintings and was really good at controlling his colors and lines. I really admired his art when I learned about him in art history.

Ansel Adams- What a photographer! Great black and white images that are simply put, epic!

Andy Goldsworthy- Antoher Nature installation creator. This guy is based out of England I think and just puts tons of time, thought and planning into his images. I really like his stuff.

Jonathan Harris- Is a photographer I learned about while in collage. He travels to far away lands and takes some really cool pictures that tell some awesome stories.

Levi Jackson- Another High School friend. He is doing the installation projects with nature and it is really cool to see someone I know doing that sort of thing.

JC Leyendecker- I love this guys straight strokes! An incredible illustrator that I also learned about while in school. He painted at the same time as Norman Rockwell and even inspired Norman to become who he was. JC always painted from life and did an amazing job.


If you have read all of this I am super proud of you! I hope you enjoyed this post! I am sorry I have been missing this blog. I have been working on my final show for BYU and had some other projects come up as well. I will be posting my Senior project as well as hopefully getting back to posting twice a week. I am thinking that posts will go up every Tuesday and Thursday. So if it is Tuesday you should check the blog for something new and if it is Thursday there will be something new as well.
If you check on Saturday there might not be anything new... Unless you haven't checked since Thursday.

Thanks for Reading.

The Key to Inspiration

In the early hours this morning I found myself awake. It was really nice to lay in bed for a minute and listen to the birds chirping, but then I thought I must write a blog post! I want to write today about finding inspiration. So, here it goes...

Inspiration-

In life sometimes Inspiration comes in the early mornings when you have to make the choice to listen to it or ignore it. Sometimes it comes when you least expect it. A lot of times we talk about inspiration as something that isn't actually coming from us but some other source.
While in school studying illustration someone once shared this Ted Talk with me by Elizabeth Gilbert who is the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" She talks about Inspiration in an incredible way. See the video Here.

My favorite part of that video is maybe the part where she describes a poet who sometimes franticly runs to the house to try to catch an idea that is barreling through her like a train and sometimes she catches it by the tail end writes the poem backwards as she pulls the train back to her by the caboose!

Here is a picture of a train by Greg Newbold 

I had the opportunity to take a class from him while I was at BYU.

Some people have found surfing the internet as helpful for gaining inspiration. I will admit I have used websites like Pinterest. You can look at my page here.

I feel like there is some danger in only using the internet as your source of inspiration though. If you only copy the styles of other artists you may never fully develop your own style. Now don't get me wrong copying another artists piece to learn how they solved problems and planned composition, color and line is incredibly important in your development. I think I will just leave that thought there.

I once took a sketch book class where I had the opportunity to drive around Provo/Orem area with some other students and we would just sketch for a couple of hours. This was incredibly nice and brought me tons of inspiration. Use a sketchbook. I know some people out there that are reading this might think I am just talking to artists, but I think everyone in this world should keep a sketchbook. Whether their are drawings in it or it becomes more like a journal to you, you should have somewhere to capture inspiration as it comes to you.

Here is a sketch I ended up drawing on a Sacrament Meeting program maybe because I forgot my sketchbook or maybe because I just like drawing on the Sunday Church Programs.

It is my interpretation of the first Angry birds or Cavemen throwing Chickens...

Always keep a pen and some paper handy. You just never know what little nuggets of inspiration will come to you!

Also go out and be in nature. Go for hikes. I know that I love music and Podcasts and getting information. But I also love camping and watching the sunrise. As a world we should take some time out of our busy schedules to look around us at the beauty that has been created by God. Don't get stuck at your computer or if you are reading this from your phone. Pause and look around you at the world. That is where inspiration can come from. Talk to people. People have some crazy stories and the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!

Painting by James Christensen

I once had the opportunity to visit with James Christensen. He is a former BYU Professor and incredible artist. In talking to him I asked him how he gets such fun, crazy ideas? He told me he gets ideas out of his sketchbook and if ever his inspiration runs dry he does yard work. He explained to me that he hates pulling weeds so after just a few minutes his brain is sure to come up with something to paint instead of pulling weeds.

I guess to end this blogpost today I am going to throw out some challenges!

1. Go out in nature and just enjoy the sounds, sights and smells for at least five minutes today. I am sure you have five minutes!

2. Start carrying a pen and paper with you and record ideas, thoughts and Inspiration as it comes to you! Maybe you are a secret song writer and you just don't know it yet.

3. If you are still reading this and you like it let me know! :)