Art in the 2010’s
As we just started 2020, I’ve been reflecting on the artworks I made this last decade and wanted to share with you here the progression of my practice. It’s amazing to look back and notice how much we change over the years. You’ll notice in the artworks below that some styles and color pallets transformed dramatically, yet the plant motif still remains. I invite you to take a peek at some drawings and paintings, and also highly encourage you to reflect on the last couple of years of your craft.
2016
Architecture Department of Bauhaus
watercolor on paper, 2016
Jasmine
pencil on paper, 2016
Martinelli Building
white pen on black paper, 2016
As an architect, I’m always keeping my eyes open for buildings and urban spaces. And, as a plant lover, I’m constantly admiring and photographing trees, leaves, and flowers. It is inevitable that those interests reflect on the art that I make. To tell a little bit about the story behind these arts, they’re made when I was still living in São Paulo, Brazil. The left is a watercolor of the Architecture Department of Bauhaus, the middle one is a drawing of a jasmine flower for a 30-day drawing challenge, and the left is a white pen on black paper drawing, also part of the Inktober 2016 drawing challenge. Looking back at them, for me they’re kind of “raw” because of the black and white, the beginning of finding my voice as an artist.
2017
‘Bolivian Desert’ Series
watercolor on paper, 2017
New York Townhouse #7
watercolor and pen on paper, 2017
In February 2017, I moved to New York, NY and shortly after that I started taking online watercolor classes at Creativebug and New York School of the Arts. The courses helped me improve my watercolor skills and develop a sense of using colors. The first series I painted was inspired by a trip to the Bolivian desert (left), where I visited in 2015, and wanted to transform the impressions I had there into art. Along with that, I was also deeply influenced by the vibration of New York, with its townhouses (right), which were part of my immediate surroundings in the Upper East Side, the city’s colors, smells, culture, and people.
2018
NYC White & Black #1
gouache on paper, 2018
Live Model Painting #7
watercolor on paper, 2018
Flowers #3
acrylic on canvas board, 2018
Still inspired by New York, 2018 started off with a gouache painting series based on the West Village townhouses, but this time only using black paint (left). The old townhouses of NYC instantly got my attention and admiration for their history, delicacy, texture, and terra-cotta brick colors. In parallel with some series I was working on, I started attending a weekly sketch group with live models posing (middle). There, I was able to explore all sorts of mediums - from pencil, pen, and crayons, to watercolor and ink - and drawing styles. In the summer, I traveled to Brazil to get a new US Visa, and to visit my family and friends. In São Paulo, I had the privilege to work in a studio surrounded by trees and nature, which inspired me to paint a series of six acrylic painting on canvas board of flowers (right).
2019
Feminine Portrait #2
acrylic on canvas, 2019
Tropical #1
gouache on paper, 2019
In the spring of 2018, I took a painting class at the School of Visual Arts - SVA in NYC with several models posing. There, I learned how to use and mix acrylic paints, and in the last class, I started two portraits of the models that remained unfinished for about a year. Only in 2019, after a long hiatus, I started to work again on those portraits and finished them (left). After that, I visited the exhibition about the Brazilian landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx at New York Botanical Garden, which was also important for my practice that year. Living abroad has taught me the richness of the Brazilian culture, the vast fauna and flora of my home country, and how much I miss all of that. This homesick feeling mixed with my Brazilian identity led me to paint several tropical plants in acrylic and gouache after that visit to the Botanical Garden, resulting in my most recent body of work (right).
To get better at anything, consistency is key. Even though I’ve been studying and making art since 2015, when I first took drawing and painting classes at Sesc Pompeia in São Paulo, Brazil, just recently I started to develop the habit to make art every day, and that makes all the difference when looking back at the artworks I did over the last years. Yes, time is important to develop an artistic voice, but consistency is also an important factor. The more you do something, the better you get at it. With that in mind, I’ve been honoring and protecting the time scheduled to make art, and I’m excited about the creative endeavor and art projects that are going to unfold in this next decade.
Follow me on Instagram to take a closer look at the creative process and to keep updated with the latest artworks. I’d love to keep in touch with you, let me know in the comments below if you also did a decade review of your craft, and what you learned looking back to those works.