Three Works in Pencil: Collaboration w/Amanda Shoup 2007—2008 - C. Shoup
“When I met Amanda in 2004, she was living in the second floor apartment of a tilted house. Her paintings hung on the plaster walls; crammed amongst her living room furniture was an easel surrounded by paints, brushes and sketchbooks. I lived in a tiny coach house that in winter nearly froze solid. Framed or ready-to-be-framed art leaned against the walls; army green cutting mats, x-acto knives, photography equipment and books occupied most of my miniature living room. “It was instant love. By the summer of 2005, we moved into a small brick home. Our art gained better display spaces on broader walls. We had more room for our supplies. Alice was born. We continued to teach, parent, and also work (at different paces) on our art. Our “free” nights (which were rare) were spent watching episodes of Six Feet Under. Finally Amanda said, “Let’s work on something together. We can hang out, listen to music, create art and talk.” “It was an excellent idea. So I got drawing paper…”
Our living room (2011), captured in a rare moment of total organization.
“...and I put a 4’ x 4’ piece of masonite on the floor. Onto it I placed the heavy paper. Amanda got out her tackle box of colored pencils. I laid down and started to draw from the top (the “sky” section of the piece at the right) and Amanda started to draw from the bottom (the “jungle” section). We viewed each other’s work from opposite directions. Our simple plan was to compose something that would be one step beyond an absentminded sketch. “Amanda had created finished, framed drawings in her past, but it was my first time drawing more than a passing doodle. She discussed complimentary colors, and she showed me how to blend colored pencils. I just wanted my seam to merge with hers. It was a lesson for me.”
This is what it looks like when dreams come true, 2007 Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 17� x 23�
“We finished our first piece and decided to carry on our momentum. For our second piece, we started with a theme. I don’t know which of us came up with “tree” but we laid on the floor, faced the blank paper from opposite directions, and started our trees. “Amanda continued to blend colors, and I watched her, and we talked about our work (she pursued the ‘tree of life’ while I pursued the ‘tree of industry’). She insisted we leave no white spaces. I insisted the piece flow in a circular motion. You can see hints of melding between our individual voices. “This particular piece is designed to be periodically rotated on the wall, because it can be read from top or bottom.”
Rethinking the tree, 2007 Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 17� x 23�
“After understanding how to work with one another, we decided to go for a masterpiece. I had an idea about commenting on society’s love affair with watching celebrities fall. Amanda agreed on the concept. We exchanged sketchbooks for two weeks, debating about the composition and jockeying for egotistical control. This turned out to be a mere foreshadowing. Our marriage nearly broke apart during the three months that we actually worked on this piece. Each of us were committed to creating a single, coherent composition that supported one theme, but to get to that end, we needed to agree on a veritable mountain of details, and we fought like rams.
Early sketch; JoJo invading the workspace; color decisions
“This piece reflects sound organizational decisions between artistic minds, a composition with definable movement and flow, and above all else, this work ensnares and engages the viewer.”
The Movement of Celebrity Commodity within Mass Population, 2008 Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 21� x 33�