Painting class #4

This was a good one- we critiqued the paintings we'd done last week that featured the paper lanterns. Usually critiques take quite a bit of class time, but with only 6 in this class, it makes it go rather quickly. The amount of feedback we get is awesome.

We are embarking on a project consisting of threes stages: realism, semi-abstraction and finally, abstraction. I'm stoked.

I bought boards to paint on at Home Depot. They were cut from on 4' by 8' piece of tempered MDF. I probably should take a math course and learn to deal with numbers- I ended up with some fairly severe rectangles. I'm a dork.

Oh well, a good compositional challenge. Composition is something mysterious to me- it sort of feels like numbers and math when I think about it. I need to learn it- it's just that I fear I'll never understand all the basics of placement and proportions. Maybe I will. I don't know.

Anyway...

Laying this thing out was rough- I needed to keep it all very vertical due to my very long and narrow board. This meant I had to position myself on the side of the still life. I think (I hope) this will give me an opportunity to display depth.

Here's the still life from my angle- and this is not good photography:

Here's what I have so far:



It looks like a wretched mess right now. I'm taking the skull out- it's just not right for this painting. It would look forced, and from this angle, it's just not a strong form. I need to believe I can do this- but I was really struggling while painting. I feel like I can't snap into the painting.

I am pretty excited about going to Disneyland this weekend though- and I had cramps. And this week was weird- my brain was tremendously...scattered? Fogged? Discombobulated? (is that a word? It doesn't really matter...it fits.) My mind is full of disjointed thoughts, incomplete sentences, unexplainable opinions and random acts of word-invention. Its amazing people put up with me.

I *think* I'll be able to focus more next week- after our vacation.

I'm in an extremely creative place right now, which is always good- lots of ideas. I am thinking a lot about what it is I want to draw and paint. I'm getting great material for my writing through research. All good things.

The problem is- when this happens my life turns to mush. I forget to call people, my kids have ratty hair, there's no socks, and the cooking suffers. My husband starts getting frustrated with me, my friends probably start questioning my sanity (a worthy concern) and my kids get out of control.

Usually, though, I follow these times with periods of focus, where I can apply and arrange the information properly.

Usually.

Sometimes.

:)