Blues vs Orange Finished Product

This is the last painting in the series. It is my favorite especially with the background. I think that it shows a great progress. I love the vividness of the colors and how they contrast each other. My favorite thing about the whole series is that you don't see my face, yet you can get a sense of me. Mostly my strength and stubbornness is shown through this pose as well as how I see myself as a woman.

Crown of Light

This is a painting I did earlier this year, but forgot to post. I did this on cardboard that had small divots in it like an egg carton. This was a quick simple painting, but I think that the color usage really captures the face. The biggest challenge was trying to figure out the background and whether or not to leave everything out or to detail it. I really like how it came out with just colors. It makes the figure look like it is starting to glow and wearing a crown of light.

This is the finished product of Opposites which I posted earlier. I was really struggling with the background and trying to make it reseed. I think that I finally got it though.

Smith Island

These are some pictures I took at Smith Island. It is a beautiful little island in the Chesapeake Bay that has no cars! Everywhere you look there is a painting. It is peaceful and inspiring.

Catch Up

Blues vs. Oranges

These two paints are my most recent from over the long holiday weekend. They are part of a triptych which I am working on. Here I am interested in heightening the natural color of my skin and working with contrasting colors. Especially in the second one. The third painting in the series is going to be a side shot of my arm. Also I am exploring a self portrait with using the normal "mug shot" as my teacher would call it.

Opposites

For the last week I have been working on this painting. Here I am working with warm and cool colors. I am playing with them and seeing how they can really make a difference in whether something is receding into the background or pushing up to the front. I still need finish the figure in the background and figure out what the scenery is.


Puzzle

This piece is actually painted over another piece that I started and got frustrated with. In the original piece I was using a picture reference and I was having a terrible time getting the skin the right color. My teacher suggested I paint over it and just do the painting from light. I started with yellow because I need that in my skin color and it was much brighter than any of the other colors I had already used. I started to block in all my light shapes with yellow. Then I took burnt umber and put in all the darks. Once I had the two I like the simple shapes and I decided that the "right" color didn't really matter. The painting is about the shapes that the colors make and choosing the right color tone for both value and mood. The color doesn't necessarily need to be life like.

The Girls

This was a quick sketch I did of the studio girls on Friday. Originally I only had one figure the closest one, Katie. However, my teacher suggested the second figure in the background. It really helped the composition and turned a failing sketch into something with depth and interest. I was starting to get the values on the face with the closest figure, but I was still having some trouble. Now I am going to go over the lines in color and develop the figures and background more fully. I think this is a good way to expand my portfolio and get back to basics.

I found Connie Hayes' website. She uses color in shapes in quickly and precisely. The subjects she chooses could be done in way that make them uninteresting and lifeless, but the color she uses along with her quick brushstrokes make these canvases exhilarating. I think that from studying her work I can learn good use of interpreted color. As well learning to use color shapes and brush strokes to create an effective and interesting picture.

Another artist that I find interesting and helpful is Erin Cone. Cone concentrates on fabric and the human figure. I love her simple photographic portraits especially in her painting Keepsake. I strive to create images as clear cut as Cone does. The use of subtle colors and shapes makes for a powerful picture. The figures demand that you pay attention to their glowing forms. I think that from Erin Cone's work I can learn how to create a more accurate figure and be able to master skin.

The last artist that I really felt a connection with is Peggi Kroll. She has tones of figures and more often than not they are just a handful of shapes. It is wonderfully surprising. Some artist take the time make the figure a complex assimilation of jigsaw-like pieces. Kroll on the other hand seems to try to do the figure in as few shapes as possible. As a result her figures are just as powerful as anyone who used small detailed shapes. From Kroll I can learn the simplicity of the human figure.

All of these artists give extremely good examples to learn from. Although practice is important, so is studying those who have mastered what you would like to accomplish.

Sketchbook Assignmet: New American Painting

Who I Am I?

What parts of our identity last beyond our death? The relationship we had with our family. Though we may not see eye to eye with our family memebers they are the key factor in personal identity. In this painting I explore the figure in shadow. I use the formula to create something extremely interesting to look at. The themes directing this paint are my mother and father. I wear my father's jacket. He is first one you notice in the family. The most outgoing and the most friendly. My mother is represented in the tea kettle. She is always there, old reliable, waiting in the corner for you to be ready for her. Both of them together create a huge part of who I am and where I have been. This painting not only shows my connections with my family but my love for art.

Three Musketeers

Though I used a photograph, I still went through a learning process of experimenting with how to paint patterns. What is important and what is not?

The Face in the Mirror

Last year I did a number of paintings with one thing in common. The figure in the painting which happened to be myself. I was searching for the identy of myself and seeing what direction it would lead me. This is the last painting I did last year. I feel that by using too different reflected images that the observer could see that I'm not always the same person. I will always have the same skin, the same body, and the same face, but I never quite seem to have the same mind. My mind is forever changing; the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde works well to show my ever changing self.