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Inside my studio

This page is intended to share insights into my creative process. I refer to my creative space as "Inside my studio," which encompasses more than just the physical confines of a traditional studio. It includes my garden, daily walks, travel experiences, and even mundane tasks like cutting fruits. Essentially, wherever I am aware of my surroundings and my own observation, I consider myself to be "at work" inside my studio. Furthermore, I believe that intelligence is a result of accumulated perception, gained through a heightened sensitivity to the world around us.

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1.5 months of Coronavirus lockdown. Spring heatwave in Los Angeles. As always, my eyes find the images and conditions that resemble my inner condition.

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Notes on the studio wall

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Seeing is the process and shapes the outcome of my artwork.

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Color is never absolute. With the physical light added, the color increases its saturation. The color is experienced as ever-present now at the time of viewing.

Light is everywhere—in the form of stored energy, in the form of poetry.

Second day of the heatwave. Water in the drinking cup, inside my body after drinking it, water drops on the table, in the paint, and evaporating into the atmosphere—all interconnected through transformation.

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The dying flower reveals its life-supporting veins. As it loses water and gets drier, the flower makes a more aggressive gesture. When light penetrates its petals, they look even more beautiful as the stained glass at the cathedral.  

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Work in progress. With layers of Korean silk and physical light.

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I love playing with light; the interplay between the light and various materials and their behavior; how light changes the appearance of color, form, and even the mood; how light changes in direction, intensity, and color. 

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Light, shadow, and textures.

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Final Color=color of fabric+pigment+physical light.

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Final Color=color of fabric+pigment+physical light.

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The studio window light and curtain. Visual music with rhythm and tempo.

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Allow the"isness" of all things. Move deeply into the Now.

- The Power of NOW by Eckhart Tolle

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I am drawn to the elements, materials, and environment that reveal the light in a poetic way.

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Before leaving for my artist residency in Assisi, Italy, I read about their "pink" limestone. I found them everywhere during my walk. I put them on a fig leaf to bring out redness against the green, its complementary color. I used these pink colors for the background of one of two drawings created during this residency.  This piece was made as a flower offering to Santa Chiara(Saint Clara) in Assisi. The overall color scheme reflects the ceiling fresco painting at Basilica Santa Chiara. 

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Warm colored Assisi "pink limestones" placed against green to increase its redness/temperature. 

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Lights and shadows inside my studio. I spend much time just watching them; how they move, how their color change and their intensity

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I enjoy working with the southern light which brings out the saturation of color that I look for. Unlike many artists who enjoy the northern light for its steady quality, I work with the color in flux as I see color is never absolute.  

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IIn January 2014, I started the project that was named “GREEN" at the beginning. Multiple panels have been executed based on the study of colors of California succulents and cactus. Each panel was devoted to the colors of one succulent. The colors of each succulent were decomposed and recomposed with the mixture of gouache, Korean transparent-colored-silk "nobang", and physical light

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Colors/light are the main elements daily that aligns my consciousness with ever-present now.  "Being a good listener without judging" is how I often describe this experience. 

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A short color(red+white+more) journey today with my camera. All triggered from the colors and taste of my blackberry, blueberry, banana yogurt I made for lunch/snack today.

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Hues

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Monochrome. Value. Split Complementary color harmony.

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To see and to learn—anytime, anywhere.

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Colors in temperature and value

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I call it "color grammar." One of color study projects.

"Composition based on complimentary or split-complementary with their chromatic neutrals organized with either temperature or value."

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After days of walking by these eucalyptus barks, I picked them up and brought them into my studio. I studied, enjoyed observing their colors, textures, and their turning twisting gestures. Then, I  developed a drawing project for my class as shown in the photo on right.

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Some objects collected and images of my interest inside my studio

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Domestic landscape. Some of the elements of my art medium and techniques- staining, needlework, fabric, photography, physical light for color, and structure.

Like listening to music, my eyes listen to the light in the space.

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Colors in my daily surroundings often echo those in my artworks or vice versa—as if the world and my creations share a single breath.

All rights reserved. Helena JinAh Min©1993

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