Open Figure Drawing 6/28/10

The AhHaa School for the Arts offers an open drawing studio on Monday nights this summer. I went for the first time yesterday and got some exciting results. I haven't drawn the figure from life in about a year and a half and it felt good to play with line quality and contour lines again. I love exploring other mediums, but it is drawing that really engages my mind and challenges my skills. Hopefully next week I will gain some equally exciting result. (zoom in to check out details)

Telluride, Colorado

I have arrived in Telluride, Colorado for an internship this summer and I'm trying to seek inspiration from a place that is in a different direction from my previous work. I've been doing some pen drawings of wild flowers just to get my hand on a drawing utensil but i hope to break out the watercolor soon. I will be taking a plein air adult class at the AhHaa School for the Arts this summer and Im excited to learn about different techniques and practices. Until then, enjoy the simplicity of pen.

Another addition to the series

Oil on Canvas

12"x9"

New painting

Oil on paper

12"x9"

Here is a new painting I finished recently. First I competed a watercolor paintings of the image and used it as a color template for my oil paint. I used the drips and lines created with the watercolor to make arbitrary color choices within the painting. The result is a somewhat surreal landscape that utilizes the figure as a focal point. The paint's translucency and seemingly hapahazzard application is intended to evoke a sense of memory.

New Paintings

Here are some new paintings i have been working on. i have been introducing more solvents (linseed oil) to my paint and I have been paying more attention to choosing colors. Many of my paintings previously where completed using very saturated colors and now I'm trying to become more selective and methodically. My source images are still coming from family photos but the setting my subject is in has changed. My figures previously where placed in interior or ambiguous spaces where as no they are being placed in an implied landscape.

The semester has started and it is in full swing. I have had little time to post due to my schedule but i though I would upload some photos of my studio space. This is the location I am not in class for at work. I try to make it there every day if only for a little bit. You never know when an inspiring idea is going to occur. The wall is current;y covered with a color study project that was assigned by my painting professor so we could start the semester out just getting paint to a surface. As long as you are doing something. To start a semester or another series of paintings can seem overwhelming at times and it is nice to just break it down to the basics and get paint to paper.

Allison Schulnik: Hobo Clown

Here is a video that was brought to my attention today by my printmaking instructor. Above are stills from the film. At first he was explaining to me how this particular artists utilizes impasto and uses it to build a three dimensional surface on her canvases. Then he mentioned this stop motion clay video that this artist made as an extension of her paintings. Here is a link to Allison Schulnik's film Hobo Clown (2008). Initially I was disturbed by the imagery but eventually found myself mesmerized by the movement of the clay. She made some interesting decisions as far as how she was choosing to manipulate and utilize the clays moldable qualities. I especially enjoyed the moments where she folded the clay onto itself during the open field scene and revealed the layers resting underneath. The melting was also a wicked cool part (boston accent).