Artist Spotlight - Chenoa Murdock
Chenoa Murdock
Graduate of I.E. Weldon Secondary School
Artist Statement:
“Although I do not create as avidly as I did in high school, art is never far from my mind and I continue to maintain my sanity with artistic expression. My most significant projects since leaving high school revolve around gift giving at Christmas and for the past 9 years have been pieces of clothing that I customize for each recipient, using a variety of mediums including paint, dye and bleach. However, as proud as I am of those projects, they were more about the people in my life, not about creating art for the sake of expression. Currently my favourite expression in art comes in the form of sketches- though I still dabble in acrylic now and then- which I often use as a means of escape when feeling overwhelmed and feel a far greater connection to them than with the gifts I make.
I think that in the past four years my style has changed a fair bit, as I infrequently use paint these days, preferring the convenience of simple sketches. When working with paint I often felt as if brush strokes had to be precise and crisp for the best aesthetic, but sketching is the complete opposite and I find myself loving the almost half hazard pencil lines. With pencil it is possible to create such varying aesthetics, yet it requires deceptively little to throw it off balance. Learning to navigate the different nuances of pencil as a medium of its own instead of as a skeleton for another medium has proven as challenging as enjoyable and I look forward to all the things I have left to learn about the medium. But for as much as medium has the power to change my art, my playful soul and love of nature still comes through just as clearly as it did in high school, and I doubt that any amount of time could change that.”
Flower Child
13”x10”
Pencil on Paper
February 4, 2020
I often ask my friends for inspiration for my sketches, and as a result often need to use references pictures for some of the subjects. I like that this often encourages me to explore different imagery that I wouldn’t think of and I therefore learn how to draw them, which can greatly contribute to my technical understanding of components. For example, this particular sketch explored the minute differences in line placement when expressing emotion which, especially with such simple line work, can vary drastically.
Owl Skull- Cohesive Tattoo Sketch
10”x7.5”
Pencil on Paper
February 17, 2020
My oldest best friend and I decided that we would get cohesive tattoos of Sage- due to its association with healing energy because helping each other heal is such a huge part of friendships- in an owl’s grip- given that they are associated with wisdom and that grows and wanes periodically with time as our friendship has. This is a sketch of my first exploration of an owl skull and does not include the sage that will be held in its mouth.
