new website!

My website has finally been updated with all new recent work! Check it outtttttt:

http://www.nicolemariemueller.com 

Special thanks to Adam Okrasinski for hosting it and for such a clean design, and Dave Colson for teaching me how to upload images and edit it on my own! I am forever grateful. 

In other news, finals finished up today and so did my last day of classes, which officially makes me a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art! =)  yeaa real world! 

 Some recent little paintings! All 6 x 6", plus 5 x7" at the bottom:

A newer version of an earlier painting: 

And another recently started painting!

safety first in the studio!

animation abstraction

I recently started another stop motion project, this time trying to make a more abstract moving painting. This one is super in progress still, so this is just the first chunk of frames put together, but I thought I'd show the "underpainting" stage so far:

The movement right now is so staccato, so I'll be working back into the frames and adding more to affect the pacing and movement of things. There's so much to learn about painting AND animation in all of this! All of these video projects feel like mini experiments, just trying to figure things out yet. My plan for the spring is to develop some of these further, and/or start some larger projects. So much to do in so little time before the show though! 

synthspiration success & sketchbooks!

So Synthspiration last weekend was a super success! ;) The music and light set-up was superb, and I was sincerely stoked to screen print some T's! ok enough alliteration...you can check out more photos from the event on the Synthspiration website though! 

And here's Jacqueline and I modeling our sweet synth shirts! haha..You can still buy them for only $10 via the synthspiration site, as well as an awesome woolly mammoth design by Jacqueline, to support future synthspiration and art events with The Light! Get 'em while you can! ;) 

Also, I just set up a flickr photostream for archiving past and present sketchbook pages! My website will be updated shortly and will no longer include a "sketchbook" section, so if you ever want to just look at sketchbook pages, 

check it out here!

marker madness in the studio!

synthspiration!

Check out this t-shirt I made for the next Synthspiration party happening this Friday! Come by our apartment from 8pm onward for free food, art, live music, and dancing! =) 

We'll be screen printing these and selling them for $10 on Friday, so bring cash monies or your own T-shirt if you want one (or let me know and we'll make one for you)! We'll have other cool images to print and multi colored t-shirts too! (you can see a few examples of older ones on the synthspiration website)  

Originally inspired by my friend Joe, a group of friends and fellow artists from The Light church have been hosting "synthspiration" parties over the last year in various locations around Maryland. They're basically an excuse to get together and throw a party to show recent art we've been working on, eat, drink, and of course dance. =) 

Lately, we've been getting together once every few weeks to share ideas, get feedback on our work, and come up with collaborations, so it seemed like a perfect time to have another Synthspiration party. 

I'm really lucky to be a part of so many great artistic communities, this one in particular as a way to talk about what it means to have faith in God, be an artist, and what the relationship between those two things is. 

Also, my friend Joe just showed me this cool song by Metronomy check it out! 

some newer paintings

I'm starting to work on a new animated painting after taking a break on the videos for the last couple of weeks. I felt like I needed some time to process all the feedback I'd gotten the week of review boards, and will probably come back to "landscape of lima" later in the semester, but hopefully I'll have an in-progress version of this new project to share in a couple of weeks!

During my animation hiatus I was focusing on making more still paintings, so here are a few newer ones, both in-progress and completed! 

6 x 6 in. acrylic, oil pastel, collage, marker

This one ended up a little overdone I think, but that happens sometimes.

12 x 12 in. acrylic, house paint, oil pastel, collage, marker

Ken T. says this one feels claustrophobic, so I guess it still needs some work. =P  Since I started working mostly with collage last spring, the size of my work shrunk to no more than 12 x 12 in. max, but I think it might be time finally to start upping the scale drastically.

24 x 30 in. acrylic, house paint, oil pastel

And here's my present artist statement about painting, or an attempt to articulate what painting abstractly is about for me: 

My paintings are an attempt to develop a visual language.

There's a description I really like of the artist Albert Oehlen's paintings that says his work "remains a collage, in the truest sense. The sources Oehlen selects and samples are all taken from the numerous histories, languages, techniques, applications, methodologies, and mythologies of painting. The figures, devices, even the gestures, are like cut-outs or quotes. The canvas becomes a genuine montage of painted and painterly passages." 

While I often work with collaged materials, or a combination of paint, found papers, markers, crayons, and other low-grade materials, I hope that my paintings, regardless of media, are collages "in the truest sense." They derive their meaning from a variety of sources, and are visual diaries of my own personal history—of everything I have seen, experienced, or felt. While they are abstract, elements of figuration remain, pulling from forms and color schemes, people and places around me. I hope that they convey a love of color, a sense of humor in their unexpected squiggles and gestures, or in a line that takes an unexpected turn, and are viewed as part of a search to clarify the assortment of residual experiences I carry with me. 

oh and Happy Halloween!! =) 

Jack's Mannequin poster design contest!

Hey everyone! Jack's Mannequin (only my favorite band since high school) is hosting a poster design contest called Stop, Listen, Design for Jack's Mannequin through talenthouse.com to celebrate the release of their new album "People and Things." The opportunity I've only dreamed about since 9th grade is finally here!  Here's the painting I made to submit:

The winner's design as determined by talenthouse will be used for promotional materials for the band, and four copies will be signed and auctioned off to benefit the "Dear Jack Foundation." The winner also gets VIP passes to a Jack's Mannequin concert, some cash monies, and a signed copy of the poster they designed. 

There's also a "People's Choice" award that's determined by YOU giving me the most votes! ;) 

HELP FULFILL MY LIFE DREAM BY VOTING HERE NOW!

To vote, just go here ^ and click "VOTE!"on the righthand side of the poster image.

Voting takes place from October 26th – November 1st, GO GO GO! 

Please/Thanks/I Love You!! 

Also, so you can share in my love and appreciation for JM, enjoy the trailer for "People and Things" and the song  "Swim" from their last album "The Glass Passenger"!   

sketchbook & studio shots

Here's some newer pages from my current sketchbook which is almost full!

A couple photos of my studio in its usual working condition...plus new work, coming soon! 

studio shots

I took a few photos on my phone last Monday of the work installed in the studio during review boards, so here they are!

I projected the videos on one of the walls, here's "What The Dog Saw" looping. Watch it in better quality on vimeo!

All the still frames from "Landscape of Lima" hung...135 so far! 

 a selection of collages from "What The Dog Saw"

My usual half of the studio..also cleaner than usual..

Will be working on some new paintings soon, look out!! ;)