For Still Life 2. Severe Cropping. I dont know if I was severe enough. I did this in the bridal suite as we were getting ready for my Mom's wedding today. It turned out well under the circumstances.
Portrait Studies
9 x 12
acrylic on board
For Quick Studies. All done in under 40 minutes. The first three were 25 minute studies and the last three were 40 minute. I feel like I am getting better at these little studies :)
For Still Life 2. Finished. Previous step. I love the peaches. The rose got a bit difficult. I tried really hard
not to get caught up in the details. I think need to find some more
flowers to use :) Im thinking orchids.
This is watercolor on illustration board. Instead of using gesso this time like I did for Tea and Posies I used Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground.
It has a different feel then the gesso more like watercolor paper but
smoother. I much prefer painting on the Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground over the gesso. It layers nicely and I can still pull up lights if I need to.
For Quick Studies. All done in under an hour. All of these were done today. Crazy I know. It was quite a task to get all of these finished. Im still doing these
in acrylic in a limited palette and enjoying it very much.
Marry Me?
11 x 14
watercolor on gessoed illustration board
For Still Life 2. This was done from an old reference photo. These are the roses my husband gave me when he asked me to marry him. In this image they are dried and sitting on the bathroom counter. I did a quick study using the same reference image above.
I dont really like working on the gesso as I cant really layer
my colors very easily. I find if I use too much water it pulls up the
color from underneath. The surface seems to respond best to thick
applications of color.
For Quick Studies. All done in under an hour. I added the rest of this weeks paintings. Im more proud of
some then others but I think they all turned out well. I am enjoying
doing these in acrylic. I feel more graphic and bold with my strokes.
There is no time to blend.
Yes you read that right. These were done in acrylic. I have not done a painting in acrylic in years. The smell of oil paints really bothers me so I decided to try my hand at acrylic. It is definatly a new experience. They really dry much much quicker and they also mix differently. Not bad just different.
I have been reading Kevin Macpherson's book Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light and Color and it helped to inspire these paintings. In his book he talks about using a limited palette of Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Aliziran Crimson, and Ultramarine Blue so I used only those colors to create these paintings. It was a challenge but it was also exciting. Using a limited palette really challenges you to get creative in your color mixing. I think I will probably be experimenting with acrylic in the future.
For Still Life 2. The beginning lay in.
I need to work more on the values but I think it is coming along nicely.
This is watercolor on illustration board. Instead of using gesso this time like I did for Tea and Posies I used Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground. It has a different feel then the gesso more like watercolor paper but smoother. We'll see how it does when I add more layers.
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.
Today I went to the AAU LA Expo in Downtown. I got to meet and chat with my teachers, alumni, and other students. It was an amazing experience. I love connecting with people.
These were done during the figure drawing workshop with Craig Nelson. Both are 25 min poses done in watercolor.
Inspired by The Creative Edge by Mary Todd Beam. I didnt have a book to read at work today but I had paper and pen :) so I made some cool doodles. I have just doodled in a long time. It was a ton of fun and I think I should do it more often.
Can you name all of the fruits in the second doodle?
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.
10 years ago I woke up to Fox 11 Morning News like I always did- the first tower had been hit. I ran up stairs to tell my mom. She didnt believe me. I watched as a plane flew into the second tower. I watched as they fell. I was 14.
Never Forget.
That day the actions of those few men shocked the world changed the world forever.
For Head and Figure
Sculpture. Our first assignment it to create 2 mugs- one of our own technique and one taught to us. I did my own technique first so I would have have the influence of the other one. This was much harder then it looks. When you are creating additive sculpture you are usually adding clay to a mass. With this there was a hollow area inside making it difficult to add clay. I ended up creating a solid cylinder and the carving the center out. Much easier then my first try (which I scrapped) that I tried to create using a coil method. Hopefully the next one will go smoother.
On a different note, I made the most delicious soup tonight. While reading Prevention Magazine at work today I stumbled across a recipe for Asparagus Avocado Soup. Soo soo yummy. I used fresh locally grown produce and it turned out so well. If you are interested here is the recipe-
Asparagus Avocado Soup
Cook 8oz asparagus.
Add to blender with 1 chopped avocado, 1 1/4 cups
cold water, 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream, and 2 Tbsp each chopped
cilantro and fresh lime juice.
Puree until smooth.
Season to taste.
Ladel into 4 bowls and top each with 1 Tbsp sour cream.
Makes 3 1/4 cups
I had a bunch of asparagus so I doubled the recipe. I also didnt have any sour cream so I subed cream cheese and milk. To season I used salt, garlic powder, a little bit of pepper and extra fresh lime.
A Bike Basket, a Balloon, and a Creepy Purple Ape Pillow Pet from Mom and Joe
Cute Earrings from Pam
$ from the Grandparents
watercolor and pen on cardstock
On 24 Aug I celebrated my 24th birthday. My family and I went out to dinner at one of my favorite Italian place. We ate, we drank, we laughed, and we opened presents :)
For thank you cards I thought it would be fun to take the gifts they gave me and make them into art! These are not very big since they are cards but they were quite fun to do. I hope my family likes them :)
A few weeks ago our rental company came to us and informed us that the owners of our home want to sell. So guess what! We're moving!! We signed the lease and got the keys to our new house yesterday.
It is a bit smaller then our current home but it is nice. It is going to be exciting trying to figure out how to fit 4 bedrooms into 3 but I have confidence that we will be able to do it.
With each move, this will be our 4th in 6 years, I believe we have a theme song. The theme song for this move is-
The most interesting part of moving for me it going through all of my old art work. I find things that arnt my best works but that give me ideas on how to rework them and make them better. I have so many creative pieces that just need a little more love to be awesome. I also found a pair of windows that I got almost 5 years ago that I want to turn into a sort of shadow box. Soo many projects, so little time :)
Wish me luck setting up my new house and studio. Hopefully we wont have to do this again for another 2 years.
Today is also my last day of Summer Semester. Fall Semester starts September 1st so I dont get much of a summer break. Oh well. I will be taking Head and Figure Sculpture, Still Life Painting 2, Quick Studies, and Small Business Entrepreneurship. It is going to be a busy semester BUT I only have 7 classes left until I graduate!!!
Stay tuned, on Saturday the 13th I will be posting some tips on how to keep a daily sketch journal.
For Landscape Painting. Final. Previous step. I love this. I think it my best work this semester. Today I mostly worked on the sand and the wave. I think I may enter this is a local gallery show.
