collected from studio visits and misc conversations

1. Do you sell this stuff?

It's my ardent wish to be a self sufficient professional artist so, yes.

2. Who are your favorite artists?

Now:

urban sketchers
lines and colors
moebius
brian bolland
matisse
chardin

2002: MFA
Francis Bacon
Jime Dine
Dave Gibbons
Kent Williams

1999: BFA
Robert Rauschenberg
Jime Dine
Frank Miller
Richard Diebenkorn

3. What's next for you?

Now? Find some means of steady income to continue making, surround myself with energetic and challenging people, never stopping.

4. Why do you need music as background noise?

For me the music is a mental exercise or as entertainment. If I want to focus I practice tuning it out. If I want to relax then I just listen while waiting on paint to dry.

I don't need music as a background. It's just something nice to have around occasionally.

4. Why teach?

Well, like I said I enjoy challenges and the setting of an art department can provide great opportunities for that if people are interested. I consider myself very much a student. I just want to get better and sharing in a classroom can help me just as much as others.

5. What materials do you use in your mixed media?

Acrylic
Spray Paint
Crystal Clear Acrylic Sealant
Charcoal - home made and store bought
Crayons
Chalk Pastels
Lumber Crayons
Ink
Polyurethane
Paper - collage
Lipstick
Pencil
Recycled materials

and anything else that's around.

6. Do you have a favorite studio snack?

In the summer I love lemonade (no sugar) with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

In the winter I love chocolate milk and a nice burrito or chili.

7. Why don't you frame anything?

To frame a portrait would imply it will last longer than intended. The object that is the portrait will last about as long as the person that it is a portrait of. You can try to help it last longer but it will disintegrate.

My intention, regardless of it being understood, is to present the portrait as a fragile temporary thing, just like the time it took to make it.

8. What do you mean by immediacy, intimacy, and reliability of drawing?

To draw something you simply take another thing and make a mark with it. Pine cones on concrete, pencil on paper, finger in wet sand, or any other thing.

A drawing for me is very intimate in its production, especially when drawing a portrait. With paper held close, sitter in close proximity, and the world fading away from the two of you.

As for reliability, I see it having the least variable for final product. Cameras have so many working parts, many sculpture media are very process oriented, or even print making with its process. You make a mark and it's instantly ready for scrutiny.

If you want further clarification or have any other questions, please contact and ask.

thomas fernandez

thomas fernandez