Tea and Posies, More Quick Figure Studies

Tea and Posies 

9x12

watercolor on gessoed illustration board

For Still Life Painting 2. Working on the illustration board was interesting.  It was nice because it was easy to lift out my whites but that also made it difficult to layer my colors.  Getting the background dark and even was very difficult.  I think the texture I ended up creating is nice though.   

 9 x 12

 oil on gessoed board

 For Quick Studies. 25 minute figure studies.  Still feeling rusty. I toned these in a horrible bright green that made it really hard to see the correct colors.  Lesson learned- tone in a neutral color. 

 9 x 12

 oil on gessoed board

Also for Quick Studies.  These are 40 minute studies.

Viva Tequila, Figure Quick Studies, Mugz

Viva Tequila 

watercolor on paper

 12 x 9

For Still Life Painting.  Low-key subject. A tequila bottle and some money. I guess you could say it is a statement about alcohol. 

Here is the underpainting-

 oil on canvas

 For Quick Studies. 25 minute figure studies. I am a bit out of practice with oil but I still think these turned out well. 

 Also for Quick Studies.  These are 40 minute studies. 

 

Mugz

water based clay

For Head and Figure Sculpture. Our first assignment was to create a 1:1 mug.  Once with our own technique and one taught by the instructor. This is much harder then it looks. I redid my technique twice.  First I tried to create a coil and that didnt work.  I ended up making a cylinder and then hollowing out the center.  The instructor taught technique was much much easier. 

WIP- Jessica and Baby Evelyn, Gold Rose and Red Wine

Jessica and Baby Evelyn WIP

watercolor on paper

  16 x 20

As a Mother's Day present I was commissioned to do a portrait of our friends wife and baby daughter.  Previous step.  I began working on the skin, darkened the color of the dress, and removed some hard lines around the hair.  I am really liking the progress so far :) 

Gold Rose and Red Wine

oil on canvas

  20 x 16

Way back in 2008 when I took my first painting class (Still Life Painting 1) and first started learning to use oils, I created this piece.  Recently we had a yard sale which gave me the oppertunity to sell some of my not so favorite pieces for cheap.  They were doing me no good just stitting in my house.  I would rather someone actually enjoy them.  Friends of ours actually bought this piece and two others. 

It has been stored for awhile and went through an international move so it needed a little bit of fixing up.  I hit it with a varnish of liquin and burnt unber and I patched up a little line in it that was there from when another painting was laying on it.  I like how the repairs look.  Here is what it looked like before-

WIP- Whale Tail, Bumper Stickers and Beautification

 Whale Tail WIP

clay

 ~ 12 inches

 For Sculpture 1.  Create a sculpture around your personal mythology.  This piece symbolize where mine and my husbands friendship strengthened and where our romance began.  I decided I didnt want to put a hole in it so I didnt.  This is still a Work in Progress as I need to reattach (again!) part of the tail that broke off.
Soo this personal myth sculpture has been the most difficult project of this class.  The fins have broken 4 times.  The left one broke and I fixed it and then it broke again in a different spot while I was fixing the right side.  I fixed the right side and all seemed well until while I am painting it it breaks again in the same spot.  I used a 5 minute epoxy to fix them.
But there is a silver lining! I love the way I painted this.  I used watered down acrylic and poured each color over the sculpture. My process- Pour a color, let it dry, pour another color, let it dry, take the mixture of those colors and pour again,  repeat steps until all 10 original color mixes have been poured.  It took me at least 3 hours of pouring and waiting, but the final product was totally worth it.
Previous step.  

 Bumper Stickers and Beautification WIP 

oil on canvas

  40 x 30

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  The final project. Create a surrealist painting.  Soo not what I do. Way out of my comfort zone with this. I have begun to add the actors and I have hated almost every minute of it.  As I told one of my classmates,  I have had such a had time wrapping my head around this.  The other projects have caused me to loosen up but for whatever reason this one has me all wound up.  On the bright side I did get a lot done with this today.  My motto for this piece is "do it so you can be done with it." :)  

My next step is too add words.  I need to wait a few days for it to dry before I can do that though.
I was going to make the sphere to look like the earth but I am kind of liking the way it looks right now.  I may just leave it as it is.  The flower needs a bit more work.
Previous step.

Boat, Scream WIP

Boat

pastel on board

  11 x 14

For Mixed Media Painting & Drawing.  Previous step. Pastel, watercolor, oil paint and pastels.  Reference is from my step brother to be who is currently studying in Scotland. 

 

Scream WIP

painted clay

 ~12 inches tall

 Continuing with my first project for Sculpture 1. I did a dry brushed coat of a light orange and it was too light so I went over that with the same blue green as the base coat.  It looks better but it still needs something. I think I need to make the shirt darker and add some lighter areas to the face. Previous step.

Path, Entrance, WIP- Boat

 Path

mixed media on board

  14 x 11

For Mixed Media Painting & Drawing.  Finished.  I love love love the way this turned out. Pastel, watercolor, tombow pen, pastel, oil pastel and paint.  Previous step.  Reference is from my step brother to be who is currently studying in Scotland.

Entrance

mixed media on board

  11 x 14

For Mixed Media Painting & Drawing.  Finished.  Not my favorite but it still turned out well. Pastel, watercolor, tombow pen, oil pastel and paint.  Previous step. Reference is from my step brother to be who is currently studying in Scotland.

Here are some progress shots-

Boat WIP 

pastel on board

  11 x 14

For Mixed Media Painting & Drawing.  This is just the first step of many to come.  Drawn with pastel and sealed with Matte Medium.  The next step is to come in with watercolor and the get into oil media. Reference is from my step brother to be who is currently studying in Scotland.

Floral Anthology Exhibition

My piece "Roses are Red" was accepted into the Studio Channel Islands "Floral Anthology" juried exhibition!! This is the first time I have ever entered a show! My work, as well as many other amazing floral pieces, will be on display from May 7-28 with the opening reception being on May 7th from 4-6. For more info click here--->http://studiochannelislands.org/2011/03/22/call-to-artists-floral-anthology/

Scream WIP, Backside, Dioxazine Purple, Raw Seinna, Ultramarine Blue

Scream WIP

clay

 ~12 inches tall

 Continuing with my first project for Sculpture 1. The next step is painting him.  This is the base coat.  Because I used self hardening clay I had to seal  him with clear gesso before I painted him.  This is two thin washes of blue green.  Next I am not sure If I will continue with thin washes or switch to a dry brush technique.  Maybe I will do both.  We will see.  Previous step.

Backside

Oil Mixed Media on Canvas paper

  16 x 10

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing.  Using a wipe out technique.  You paint the whole canvas with thinned down oils and then wipe out the areas you want to be white.  Not my favorite technique as it is not exact enough for me and I dont like getting the oil paint all over.  I did wear gloves but I still didnt like it.  Reference.

Here are a few more I did using the same technique:

 Dioxazine Purple

Oil Mixed Media on Canvas paper

  16 x 10

Reference.

Raw Sienna

Oil Mixed Media on Canvas paper

  16 x 10 

Reference. 

Ultramarine Blue 

Oil Mixed Media on Canvas paper

  16 x 10

 Reference. 

Blush Rose, WIP- The Set, Coral

Blush Rose

Oil Mixed Media on Vellum 

  24 x 18

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing.  Same technique that I used on yesterday pieces just on a larger scale.  This piece fought me tooth and nail.  I began by drawing it out in dry pastels and coloring it in oil pastels. Then I came in with turp and blended everything.  It looked washed out so I came in again with the dry pastels to add more color.  Then I decided I wanted the drippy look I had in my exercises so I added more turp.  It was missing something so I came in with a purple nupastel and sketchy outlined the whole thing.  I like it now but it was quite a struggle to bring it here.  Reference.  

 The Set (wip)

oil on canvas

  40 x 30

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  The final project. Create a surrealist painting.  Soo not what I do. Way out of my comfort zone with this.  The is the setting for my painting the next step is to add the "actors."  I am interested to see where this goes. 

Coral (wip)

plaster carving

approx 10 inches

 For Sculpture 1.  Abstract sculpture in plaster. The larger piece of this maquette. It is slow going here in my studio with this.  I pound and pound and pound and I dont feel like I am making much progress.  I guess I just have to keep with it.  This process certainly give me loads more respect for the Old Masters and their marble sculptures.  Marble is much harder then plaster. 

In other news, to put all of my actors in the same photo for my Surrealism, Stylization & Expression final project I downloaded GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/).  It is like Photoshop but free. I studied some tutorials to figure out how to do what I wanted to do and then did it.  Very exciting.  I hope to play with this program more.    

 Questions: Have you ever used GIMP or Photoshop?  Do you like surrealist art?

Oil on Vellum- Sea Star, White Flower

Sea Star

Oil Mixed Media on Vellum 

  18 x 12

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing. A new technique experimenting with using oil based media on vellum.  It was fun to melt the oils with turp because it created a cool drippy texture but I didnt like the lack of overall control.  I may need to experiment with this technique more to see if I may like it better.  Reference.

White Flower

Oil Mixed Media on Vellum 

  18 x 12

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing.  Same as above.  Original title I know.  Naming every piece gets hard.  As I look at it now there is this purple line that I put in to create some background but it is distracting.  I either need to add more lines or get rid of that one. Reference.

So I have officially hit my end of semester slump.  There are 4 weeks left of class and I dont want to do ANY of my work.  These pieces were actually due a week ago and I am just doing them.  Yeah not good.  Motivation has left me.  I need to find it quick because Ive got to get through these next 4 weeks.  Ack!  Wish me luck.  

In other news, I submitted 7 pieces to my schools spring show and 3 to a local galleries juried exhibition.  I have not yet heard back from my school BUT one of my pieces was chosen for the exhibition!!! The theme is "Floral Anthology" and my piece Roses are Red was excepted!  My work is going to be hanging in a gallery for the first time!! And someone may even buy it!  Can you tell I am excited ? :) 

Questions:  How would you name your art work?  What do you do to motivate yourself/ get out of a slump?

Finishing- Harrods Gelato, Build Your Own Surrealist Landscape

 Harrods Gelato

oil on canvas

  48 x 36

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  Finishing this piece. I love it.  I think it turned out so well.  When it is dry I am going to hang it in my kitchen :) I have painted this subject twice before in watercolor when I was trying to paint every day.  They are here and here.

Build Your Own Surrealist Landscape

oil on board

 30 x 60

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression. Finishing this.  I added the lines.  I think it turned out awesome.  It was quite a bit of tedious work but it is done so I am happy.

Gillette Cherry Tree Study

 Gillette Cherry Tree Study 

oil on canvas

10 x 8

Done in art class with Lynn Gertenbach. We met at a local cherry blossom orchard and I spent about an hour plein air painting this tree.  It has a nice soft ethereal quality about it.  I would like to refine in a little more in my studio.  

Collographs- Spring, Anaglyph

These are from today and yesterday.  I was too tired to post them last night.

Spring

collograph 

  15 x 11

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing.  Done by creating a collograph plate and printing from it.  A collograph print is created by attaching found materials to a stiff surface then painting that surface and printing from it. This piece was printed from a plate that contained various plants.   

Here are more prints from this plate and the plate itself- 

"Spring" was created by working back into this print with oil pastels and watercolor. Adding the watercolor was like using crayons and watercolor when I was a kid :) I actually used both of the plates I created to print this image.  One plate is the green the other is the yellow. 

I first painted this with a wash of light green oil paint and then printed the darker green over it. 

Anaglyph 

collograph 

11 x 15  
I really like the 3D effect this print has.  Happy accident :) 

Here are more prints from this plate and the plate itself-

Coral Maquette, Whale Tail WIP, Build Your Own Surrealist Landscape

 Coral Maquette

clay

 ~ 4 inches

 For Sculpture 1. Abstract sculpture to be done in plaster.  This was really free form and very relaxing to do. 

 Whale Tail WIP

clay

 ~ 12 inches

 For Sculpture 1.  Create a sculpture around your personal mythology.  This piece symbolize where mine and my husbands friendship strengthened and where our romance began.  Almost finished I just need to hollow it out and add a hole.  I almost dont want to add the hole but my instructor want me to make it more interesting.  

This is the maquette- 

Build Your Own Surrealist Landscape

oil on board

 30 x 60

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  Trying out Pop Art.  Pick something out of the newspaper and paint it.  I found a comic that I thought was very appropriate for this class :)  The next step is to do the outlines.