Experiment and Create Workshop

On Friday 10/28, I attended a workshop at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford, PA. The instructor was a very nice lady named Doree Losciavo. At first, she just kind of painted and we watched her, and then she told us to start...just start.

Lately, I like to use reference photos, not because I'm trying to copy the photos literally, but just to get ideas of colors and relationships of objects to each other. The photo is just inspiration to get started. This helps me get past the "what to paint?" The finished product looks very little like the photo.

These are the 3 pieces I finished in the class. Not the best photos, but they suffice, I think. The first 2 are watercolor, water soluble crayon and collage. The third, just watercolor and water soluble crayon. This is the first time in years I have collaged into a painting. I think it's important, if collage is added, that it be integrated into the surface and not appear as a crafty looking add-on.


This last piece is shown with a mat that is really too small for it. It's a 12x16" mat, which cuts off too much of the picture, but the 16x20" mat was too big. I just used the small mat for the photo, but would like to get one that fits it better.

Painting on Unprimed (Raw) Canvas

This is what I painted in painting class last week. The instructor provided us with some raw canvas to paint on, as inspired by the famous painter Helen Frankenthaler. Thin watery paint bleeds into the canvas while thicker applications remain on the surface. At one point she asked me what it was that I was painting, and my response was "some kind of sunset thing". I actually turned it upside down to add darker colors to the "ground", and when flipped upright, the canyon kind of miraculously appeared. Since the canvas is unstretched, I could have it stretched onto some stretcher bars, but I think I will likely do is get the old sewing machine out at some point and make a wall hanging out of it. Really happy with this painting.

Latest Painting from Painting Class

I painted this in the session where we were experimenting with painting in layers. This painting is based on one painted by Patrick McFarlin (http://www.mcfarlinoil.com/). I love some of his landscapes (in his work file called "Flatlands"). This is not a direct copy of the painting he did, but very similar.

Art Classes

I started a basic drawing class and also a painting class the first week of January. These are the result of this week's efforts.

The drawn still life is just a rough draft, done in charcoal. We will be continuing to work on it. Photo is just a bit blurry. I had a lot of difficulty with the pitcher. I just couldn't seem to get the handle on it oriented properly, but I think it's pretty good now :)


I am pleased with this fruit painting from last night. I wish the pear were prettier, but in real life it just wasn't a very pretty plastic pear. At least it makes the lemon shine nicely.

Overall, for someone who is not comfortable with realism, I'm pretty happy with my results! I think it's also good for me to push my boundaries like this. I think it will help my abstract painting immensely.

Art Snax

This is one of my latest projects. Saving the sweet little pieces that end up in my scrap/collage bin. These little guys are only 2.5 by 3 inches in size. I didn't like my signature in black on the top one, reapplied it in bronze. It looks better now.

New croppings

I continue to crop pieces from the piles of poured paintings I did over the summer. Here are a few more. The purple/black ones are really small (5x7 inches), and the oval is 11 x 14". I really like that one!

Controlled Pouring Workshop

These are the paintings I did at the Controlled Pouring workshop with Nina Williams last Saturday. I love the one on top. I am not sure that it's "finished", but I love it just the way it is. I am really pleased with how the pour came out. The second one is done. Overall, I'm happy with it, though the colors don't excite me as much as the ones in the bright red painting :) The last one was a failed pour. I poured the paint, and the colors I chose (pinks and purples) really did not go together very well, so I used a rubber squeegee to scrape the paint off. I actually like it with the paint scraped off, but it does need something more. I'm waiting for it to tell me what it needs.

Ferre

These 4 paintings came from a full sheet painting. The full sheet is named Ferre, with the individual paintings being Ferre I, Ferre II, Ferre III, Ferre IV. Of all the paintings I have done in this style, these are probably my favorites. I used a similar color combination to the Imagina paintings, but with much more lively results.

Oric Veme

You may wonder where I get the names for some of my paintings. I have a really hard time naming artwork. I am really rather jealous of folks that come up with immensely profound names for their paintings. Lately, I use nonsensical words cut from other words. I cannot recall which words spawned oric and veme (I pronounce it "veh-meh"), but they seemed to fit with this rather eerie composition.

Still Cutting

Well, it's not like I haven't been busy. I have been entertaining myself making silly collage and cutting away at paintings I have already done. Today the weather was nice so I got 3 more sheets done today. Two came out pretty well, one is a little strange. These are the photos of the ones I cut out of the older paintings already depicted.