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)

sketchbook 001

various sketches from the past few months

ugh never draw when you're not in the mood

i killed it. ugh ugh ugh ugh. the thumb on the left hand .... i hope i can ask for it back to fix it ... i like the hand on the right quite a bit; i'd like to use this piece for my portfolio/art supplements.
not done, but i have to submit for this application for an art class and i'm outta time sooo ...

in other news, dug this one up for my application, tweaked it up a bit, cropped it in art class today. i quite like it for something that's from my pre-csssa days :)

slip on the red shoes and dance

work in progress. extended hand study building off of 'glide', finally :) i'm working on numerous pieces at the moment; they'll be done within the next couple weeks. huzzah productivity!

i dunno if my whole cardboard series is going to go into fruition, the series sort of disappointingly died under workload, stress, and personal life concerns. i have a couple sketched out that need to be finished, so we'll see. maybe i'll just truncate the whole thing at five pieces ?

paint like a feeling

i wanna i wanna paint!

harrrumpf. inspiration strikes at an untimely time.

just to make this post non-useless... here's some stuff from an uninstructed costumed figure drawing workshop i went to on thursday. 5-10 minute poses. last one was a 20 minute one. i hate my style. it's so childish and ignorant.

glide

hand study from late january of 2010. each hand took between 10-15 minutes.
composition could be stronger but i like it enough; the objective was to learn the gesture of the human hand (in particular where the hand curves outwardly and where it curves inwardly, etc) and this study definitely helped loads.

i'd like to revisit this sometime and do a more complete study (with shading and on a larger scale).

on a slightly unrelated note, i think i need to get away from pop culture for a bit. immerse myself in art or literature, or just something besides songs about ass and getting crunk. it's affecting my cognition and in turn my work, and that disturbs me immensely.