mmmm

risd pre-college foundation drawing work

in terms of technical/rendering ability, i don't think i've improved much from the class. but the real value came from exploration of material (ie: ink and drawing utensils with ink) and style (ie: i fell in love with the look and process of contour drawing). it was interesting doing highly refined and controlled work (like the 30 something hours i spent on the trompe loiel assignment, the still life with the camera) and then just ripping loose with ink on the last few figure drawings. i'm usually the type to be incredibly controlled and precise with my drawings, but what i lacked was an ability to shut off my rational brain and let my art instinct fly. perfection of rendering is incredibly limiting; the process of producing work in that style is just psychologically mind-numbing... my creativity dulls and it becomes easy to lose the vigor of a love for drawing. i'm happy to report that, that vigor .... wellll it's baaaack! :D

oil painting is fun!

this isn't everything from my RISD pre-college painting class, but most of it. i left out a landscape (ugly), the first black and white study we did (boring), and our first still life (blurry photo).

1. Limited Palette fabric study. 16" x 20"

I used two tubes of paint: yellow ochre and dioxane purple, plus permalba white

2. "The Lone Chair" 16" x 20" interiors in neutrals study

3. "The Lone Dress" 20" x 16" interiors in neutrals study


4. "The Lone Studio" 16" x 20" painting set at night

5. glazing study 8" x 11"

6. self-portrait 11" x 14" assignment was to do a painting with the toned ground poking through. it didn't work so well for me because the toned ground was a yellow ochre/burnt umber mix and it was too similar to my skin tone ... regardless you can see portions of the toned ground in the face, especially the nose and forehead

7. "Sierra!" 11" x 14" Portrait of my roommate :D The assignment was to do a flat painting, ie: Alex Katz's style

8. portrait of a model 11" x 14"

9. model study 16" x 20"

10. Self-portrait w/ symbolism assignment. 18" x 24" this is probably my favorite painting i have done thus far (though i don't think that is saying much). it speaks of my ambitions as an artist. with my artwork, i want to "paint" the audience; i want to change the viewers' perceptions of a topic furthering awareness of social problems or social phenomenon. in essence, i intend to make art with social concern. the painting also hints at perhaps the folly of my goals: in thinking too much about the viewer and the message i'm trying to convey, i end up ignoring the actual painting i'm working on. this manifests often in my work through shitty paintings: banal ideas, and technical (not creative) execution.

11. Self-portrait. 12" x 24" this is a continuation of the previous in that the former is about my goals as an artist, and this one is about my fears as an artist. i fear dying and having produced no significant work, being inconsequential and suspended in time's continuum with no impact on the world. i had more fun experimenting in this one (working on a slightly wet phalo blue toned ground and playing with skin tones, and leaving it with an "unfinished" feel) but i don't like the result in this one as much. i felt so drained while painting it, i kind of gave up (doesn't help that i did the majority of this after midnight the day it was due ahahah)