Painting class #10

Get comfortable...I'm feeling wordy. Maybe its because it's almost November 1st (and the beginning of National Novel Writing month!!), or maybe it's just my brain still in high gear.

I've read more books in the past 2 months than I read all last year. Thats kind of freaky. (and sad?) I told a friend that right now I just need to throw as much as I can in the till while I can still consume the information. It seems like somewhere around March my brain begins to slow and shut down it's capacity for processing new information. Weird machine, my head.

Any way...what was I thinking? OH! Yeah...painting....it's all sort of running to together in a really wonderful way right now. The characters in my head, the brush in my hand, the music playing in the car....all one force.

I am almost done with our most recent project. The object was to choose a phrase from a list given to us and express it in a non-representational manner.

One option was clear for me. I laughed out loud when I saw it: "Losing His Grip".

I had to paint it. I am neck-deep in the research phase for the re-write of Blood Freckles (which will probably NOT be the title, by the way). Most of my research has been about mental illness ad what it really means to be Schizophrenic or have Manic-depressive illness. I've found that the rabbit hole goes very, very deep and the possibilities for misdiagnosis are incredibly high. (an sad fact, but advantageous for the sake of my plot line) Especially for John Louwen...my character. He is no longer some words on a paper- after so much research and thought, I can almost hear him breathing.

It was clear to me that this painting is about him. About him losing HIS grip....the world falling away into a fog or an abyss. All the parts of him he tries to hang onto fragmenting into something he cant control. Beautiful and sad.

The form came to me immediately- and the paint just flew out onto paper (which I already posted about)



I don't know what it is about this shape that keeps coming out of my paint sketches, but I'm trusting that its what needs to be expressed.

Here is the piece itself- not finished, but heading that way:



And now with some more work on it but still not finished:


My other conceptual paint-sketches are around the piece...I'm still trying to figure out what else needs to be in this painting.

Figure Drawing class #12

We didn't have a model, but our professor was nice enough to do poses most of the night for us. I've been working on getting a completed drawing as well as getting the face right. I need to work on hands...I'm in complete denial of that.

Here's a study I did of Margaret's head and hand. The face is better than the hand- the hand is not so good.


Later, I took what was going to be a quick gesture into a more thorough color-pencil drawing. I start with blue/violet without any intention of adding other colors. I probably should have started with an ochre of sorts or anything lighter.



I am getting better at the faces....

Figure Drawing class #11

I think it's 11...who the heck knows.

We did some extended poses last night, one 45 and one 30.

I think I'm getting closer the getting the models face right. I see now that his nose is too long here. Gee...I need to take a portrait class... (and I will...next semester!!)


His back was turned to me for the second pose so I focused in on the musculature back there....his arm looks weird, though.

Painting class #9 ...part 2

Ok, now that I assuaged my curiosity about that Rothko painting (phew!!! Painters emergency!!), I can finish talking about last Thursdays class!!

We looked at our finished abstraction projects...not everyone brought all three. It was really interesting to see other peoples interpretations. To see how someone else paints a still life, then distills it down....very, very cool.

This is Kim's:



Kim saw the angles in the still life and carried them through all three paintings. I love how congruent these three pieces are!!

This is Cindy's:



Cindy explored bananas! She really, really did!! She researched them, explored the colors....she really put her mind into this and transformed this still life into something entirely different, but not random.

And mine again:



What should I with Mr. Bones? Is he worth finishing?

Tribute to Rothko...an experiment.

I've decided in my life to go straight into investigating anything I don't understand. In the past, I sort of adhered my opinions to some sort of larger entity thinking that if so many people felt a certain way about something, it must be true. Well, over the years I've realized this is not smart, nor is it healthy. It means I don't trust my own opinions. I'm done with all that.

While this applies to many areas in my life, Art is an easily applicable example. Photo-realism used to allure me. I loved the idea that people could reproduce things so closely to reality.

With all this exposure to ideas about modern art and different movements, I decided I had to pick an artist whose work DOESN'T move me, and absorb myself into it.

I think I might have mentioned Rothko before. (click on his name if you want more info)

I bought a book about him, and thumbed through what seemed like endless pages of dry-brushed color blocks that simply don't inspire me. Except one...

This is called Saffron. What struck me was the light tat comes from between the blocks of red orange. It's like the end of a cloudy day when the sun sets and breaks through the grey and makes that blinding stripe across the horizon.

I asked my professor how he did it and we discussed it a bit. After this I started looking at all his pieces differently. I need to see them in person. I want to see Saffron in person...

So, I tried to make my own. (respectfully, of course.)

It took the better part of this morning when I probably should have been cleaning up this house. It was worth it. This very simple painting isn't simple. There are so many things pushing and pulling - I noticed it as soon as I began to layer the orange over the base of yellow. Here it was, mid-way:



And here it is after adding the piece de resistance....the super-muted violet stripe over the center yellow:

Indoors:



Outdoors:



I was marginally successful. The color across the top of the painting gave me a lot of trouble. I used acrylics, and of course the original is oil. I'm sure it's much more brilliant. I am happy I gave it a try, though.

Painting class #9...part one

Maybe when other people take classes, they just take them, do the work continue their lives. I guess I'm different. I take these classes so seriously!! I feel like I have to. I'm not a kid, this is what I want to do. This is what I should have done when I went to college the first time- I can't even imagine living on campus with 100% of my time devoted to my classes. I had no idea what i was throwing away.

That was music, though...and I had some other things going on with my brain (and, lets be honest, I was very immature).

I appreciate my classes so much and since I threw away my last educational experience, I am trying to put everything I've got into this.

I keep saying- "I need this info NOW." It's true- I mean to apply what I learn right now. Even today as I'm trying to develop a curriculm of my own for teaching lessons up here on the Divide (which is the community where I live). I am using everything I learn RIGHT NOW. Which makes me wonder how much effort I should put in to get an actual degree. I wont rush to finish off my general ed, at least.

We need money. Matts job has excellent benefits, but the salary leaves us close to empty each month. We were able to go to Disneyland thanks to my selling some paintings and Matt selling off some pricey items we don't use anymore. But, we still need a car. Two cars, actually. I've got to get a job.

The only job I want is to teach drawing and painting, and I think there might be a good chance it could work. We have an enormous amount of homeschoolers up here who need instruction. We also have schools with no more actual art classes at the elementary level. I'd love to work one on one with kids.

I've been writing up lessons...I hope I know what I'm doing!

Ok, anyway....back to class. I am LOVING this new project. Although, I take it all so serious I think my classmates think I'm weird. They're right- I guess I am weird. Ask anyone who knows me!

The project is to choose from a list of titles, and then represent that title in a non-representational painting. (does that make sense?) (representational=recognizable objects and form, non-representational=completely abstract)

My entire life has been a series of forced artistic attempts. I think. Everything I do pushes to hard on the viewer- it's my nature to overexpose the everyone around me to my own inner workings. The same is true in my paintings. I come right out and say "this one is about the objectification of women"...in the most obvious and unsuccessful way. I want to communicate in a way that allows more interpretation, more contemplation. No more visual sluttiness.

Here's some of my sketches and paint-sketches. I'm trying to be more loose with the brush. I want more movement. I can't move away from the rainbow-look, though. We are learning a lot about color theory and harmonies and such...I have a hard time picking a simple triad or tetrad---for me, if there's red, there must be green. But also yellow..and so...purple, blue....and a stitch of orange. And...there we go- every color makes it's way in eventually. I can't help it. Making I'll lose this, too...eventually? I'm not ready for that, yet.




This is my favorite of the pile...


Once I get painting, I'll let you in on the title.

Painting class #8

Last Thursday we embarked on our last painting of the 3 part project. I was pretty happy with what I came up with.

Here's the concept I came up with:


The resulting painting, almost done:



I am going to make the far-ground a bit more dimensional and perhaps add more texture to the foreground.

Here's all the three together:



The second painting needs work. I have no idea how to improve it until I painted the third piece. Now I have some ideas and bit of inspiration to tie the 3 together and maybe even save the weak one from being...well, weak.

Figure drawing catch-up post!

No good excuse for not posting lately- just had my nose in some books. I've been thoroughly enjoying fall weather complete with a fire in the wood stove, a blanket over my legs and books all over the place.

In the past week or so, I've done some good things in Figure Drawing, I think. I'm definitely more confident in tackling these drawing without getting overwhelmed.

Last week I cranked out this pose and managed to get the models face straight for the first time:



We've be experimenting with colored pencils in our gestures:



And I've been fumbling with them in longer poses. I lost some form here because I was so distracted by the fun of using the colors:



Last nights last pose- 40 minutes. It was a extremely foreshortened pose and I almost moved to change my view. I'm glad I didn't, because I think this is successful overall:

Thrifting again

I just knew I had to go. Maybe I'm psychic...but just when it comes to thrift stores. I had to get to the Salvation Army in Auburn today- I had to or I was going to be cranky. I knew I'd miss something.

I would have missed this beauty:



It's the very sort of thing I love to stumble upon, especially at under $5. I'd have to say its quite old- possible 1940's or the early 50's. It's in IMPECCABLE shape. And the weirdest thing- it fits me. Even in the waist (usually everything's too small on my unfortunately thick waist).

Hard to photograph, at least hard for me, though. Check out these pockets!! Gorgeous. They really don't make garments like this anymore.



Also...I got these:



Which are dead-ringers for some boots I tried on last weekend that were $200. I scored these for $1.94. They fit perfect and I was surprised to realize that are not leather. They really, really look like leather in real life. They are rubber rain boots!! So weird!! But, they are floppy and squishy on the inside. Awesome for slushy mountain days!!!

I got a long sleeved, long striped knit dress by The Territory Ahead as well, but it's not really that cool- I do know I will wear it to death, though. Striped dresses and me have a passionate history.

Scarlet scored a porcelain tea set. We had some Earl Grey and Tabouli together on the floor. I guess I have to sweep now.:)

What am I reading, you ask?

Well, nobody asked, but I will tell you anyway. Thats the nice thing about captive audiences.

In my research phase for my never ending novel, I've stumbled upon some really interesting books that have my brain buzzing.


The first of which is Extraordinary Knowing. For the record0 you would not find this book in the Metaphysical or New Age sections- this is not like that. This is probably the best book I've found about psychic phenomena from a skeptics point of view. It begs the question- why not? What is the big problem? Intuitive's from all over the world suffer stigma for their astounding talents. Many people live their whole lives never saying a word. It's certainly more popular to decry anyone who claims to be pre-cognitive or empathic than to explore how and why they are that way. Religion labels these people as either possessed or witches. Scientists label them crook or idiots. People are so afraid. Libby Mayer doesn't simply debunk these abilities, she opens up a whole new field of study.



Another one, that I'm simply tearing through right now is The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks. This is a memoir of Elyns struggle with madness. She is amazingly intelligent, and to see her go through this is fascinating. She has this incredible will to push on through debilitating mental illness, even while she studies at Oxford, Yale and, well....I haven't read enough yet to know where she goes next. I think about my own struggle with depression through college and feel quite ashamed to see her struggle with Schizophrenia and still excel in her work.

Ah...my brain is cranking through words. I only wish I could read faster....theres so much more to consume!

Figure drawing homework- Transferred and Inked Gestures

Our assignment was to choose a few of our gestures from class, trace and transfer them, then use ink in the method of our choice to flesh them out.

I had a lot of fun doing it- I loved using the washes.

Painting class #7

I'm learning so much- my brain is buzzing. BUZZING, I tell you.

An now I will bore you with the details of that statement.

I told you in past posts that we have been looking at books on abstract and expressionist painters. Well now, it's fueled an obsession to gather as many books and websites about these artists as possible. My Amazon cart is out of control. Anyone wanna give me $200 to buy art books? :) (I didn't think so...)

We talked about one yesterday who REALLY captured my attention- Max Beckmann. Here's one example of some of his work:


We are talking about how artists study other artists work and draw on that study to start compositions of their own. Now, judging by my compositions from yesterday- I need to study more!!

It's more of the problem that I don't know what my voice is yet. I am still trying to learn how to paint in general and can't wait until I can see myself come out in something truly original. I know it's still a long ways away.

We had to do three paint-sketches of possible compositions. We are abstracting our still life paintings from the previous week. At least- partially, until next week when we go completely non-representative.



And heres what happened on the canvas (or, in my case...big piece of masonite):



Ugh. So...it's following the assignment. It's just...saying nothing. I feel nothing. I am beginning to hate bananas. *deep Breath*

Here's how I ended class:



I'm learning. It doesn't have to be awesome. It's a process. This isn't who I am....it's part of who I'm going to be.

On a side note, I have this obsession with taking pictures of my palette. I love what happened on there....can I get this on my canvas?

Figure Drawing Class #10

New model tonight! I thought it would be easier to draw a woman but I was wrong. The model was excellent- she has a lot of experience and her confidence really showed in her strong poses. Plus, she was just a lot of fun.

I need to find out how to photograph pencil drawings in a more effective fashion. The first two are shorter drawings, and the last one is a 35 minute pose.






I am learning to fight the urge to add too much detail right away. "Think of them as a treat--dessert for when you get the whole thing pulled together." It's a struggle, because I want those pieces in there, but I need to build values and form first before drawing in the darkest lines and details.

I'm behind on homework. I missed 2 classes when I went to Disneyland and one last week when I went to see the Black Keys at the Fox in Oakland. (which by the way was AWESOME)

I have to transfer a few of my gestures from last week and then show values with ink either by cross-hatching or using washes or stippling. By tonight.

Also, I'm buried in this messy house. I haven't a clue when I can get it done unless I shirk the homework- which I really can't. Night classes twice a week didn't seem like such a big deal, but, it's taking a toll.

Painting class #6

We critiqued our still lives that we have been working on the last few weeks. I snuck a pictures of everyone's pictures. Some very distinct styles!!! I'm enjoying this class and learning a lot about the process of painting. More than just form and color, I'm learning and being challenged beyond the basics.







Turns out, none of these are done. I need to sharpen up the red cushion in the foreground of my painting as well as a few other minor things. Then we will move on to the next phase of the project.

I cannot wait to start my abstraction of this piece. I mean, I have no clue what to do, but I am looking for ward to the process.

Part of lasts weeks homework was to research the evolution of artists work over their lifetimes from realism to abstract. I looked into Mark Rothko, a modern American painter who's work emphasized color, balance and composition- all things I need work on for sure. I sort of fell in love with some of his pieces, and want to look further into what makes them so compelling. Some of his most famous work is among that which I would have previously dismissed as boring, or pointless. But, now, seeing the progression and having a broader understanding of art in general, I find them fascinating. And a total technical mystery.

Other painters I'm interested in right now are Arshille Gorky, Wassily Kandinsky and Diego Rivera.