This is an art blog, made to keep me commited to my work! It will host a (hopefull) variety of images and thoughts on my personal artistic process.
Labels
- Acrylic (7)
- Conceptual Discussion (7)
- Finished Work (8)
- Grad School (2)
- Graphic Novel (1)
- Ink (5)
- Interview (2)
- Painting (11)
- Pen (1)
- Process (7)
- Sculpture (1)
- Sketches (2)
- Theater (2)
- Watercolor (3)
Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Completion
My portfolio has been fully submitted to Wichita State University! It feels like an incredible relief, but I am still plagued with a need to make more work. It is one of the best feelings I have felt in a long time! Here are some other images that were sent, I know that some have been on the blog before, but non-the-less....
"Appropriate Interaction" 10"x22" Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
"We Found It" 10"x22" Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
"It Is Time" 20"x30" Acrylic on Illustration Board
"Navigation" 11"x14" Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
I am quite sure I will either go back into some of these or I will ignore them and never look back. Either way, it is done and I am pretty pleased!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Portion of Grad School App Portfolio
I have some new photos of my work for ya'll! They are being created for my graduate school application portfolio. I have learned a lot about my work in the short time frame these were created. It really has been a grueling and wonderful experience!
"In This Present Situation" -Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 36"
"Overlooking Destiny" -Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 48"
"Comprehension" -Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 30"
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Birth of a New Painting
So I just finished another painting. I actually took some process shots on this one, although I skipped a few major steps. But here is a bit of the process below.

So you may remember the "Rainbow Puke" start, well this is the base for the rest of the painting. Generally it took me a while to figure out how to fix it. The fix was as follows: a thin coat of white gesso. All that remained was some pink permeating through the gesso. (Sorry no process shot)

After the gesso dried I drizzled some yellow on it. Yellow is one of my go to colors, especially in the beginning, as it is rather neutral in its own loud way. I then started to take some new colors in, discovering shapes and forms.

Here I am simply letting the painting and the medium speak. I am discovering shapes and forms and space intuitively.

"Integration" - Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 11" x 14"
And here is the final image. I spend quite a while letting the painting dictate what needs to be discovered. I also try to let the colors do the discovery. It was in this work that I really seemed to discover a method for working. I seem to reference nature and landscape more than I realized, balanced by an intuitive discovery of the the work through its development and my medium.
So you may remember the "Rainbow Puke" start, well this is the base for the rest of the painting. Generally it took me a while to figure out how to fix it. The fix was as follows: a thin coat of white gesso. All that remained was some pink permeating through the gesso. (Sorry no process shot)
After the gesso dried I drizzled some yellow on it. Yellow is one of my go to colors, especially in the beginning, as it is rather neutral in its own loud way. I then started to take some new colors in, discovering shapes and forms.
Here I am simply letting the painting and the medium speak. I am discovering shapes and forms and space intuitively.
"Integration" - Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 11" x 14"
And here is the final image. I spend quite a while letting the painting dictate what needs to be discovered. I also try to let the colors do the discovery. It was in this work that I really seemed to discover a method for working. I seem to reference nature and landscape more than I realized, balanced by an intuitive discovery of the the work through its development and my medium.
Labels:
Acrylic,
Conceptual Discussion,
Finished Work,
Ink,
Painting,
Process
Monday, March 12, 2012
Conversation with Nancy Morrow
So today I finally got to meet with Nancy, a former professor of mine at KSU. We got to talk about what I had been up to artistically and discuss some of the issues. I couldn’t find my notebook while we were talking so I didn’t take notes. Sadly, I am now trying to remember what all was discussed.
Firstly, she was pleased with what was there. She said that is showed that I had worked, even if I hadn’t worked as much as I had wanted to. We talked a lot about how I was coming up with the images. The early work was built under the P.R.R. (refer to blog name) theory that I had created earlier. These works although landscape in nature, she said she couldn’t directly pinpoint them to their source.
Later I would give up the PRR method, and simply try to work from the brain. I really didn’t think that it was such a bad idea, but looking back I’ve realized that I stifled myself. Nancy said one of the hardest ways to work is from the brain. You have to remember form, light distribution, color variance and everything else related to its physical self. That is a lot of information for the brain to simply remember, organize and interpret. It can quickly become a mad man’s folly. I know we have talked about “inspirational imagery” around the studio, but I guess I always had this silly notion that “real” artists didn’t need that. How very wrong I was. This “inspirational imagery” is a diving board. It is a motivator for work. I don’t have to feel limited my surrounding images, but rather inspired. She suggested that I try to find something I can visually investigate. I research countless things in the form of a hobbyist, but never anything particularly visual. This seems relatively silly in retrospect, as I am a visual artist.
We would eventually talk about process. I believe that I work on canvas best, but at the same time, I feel limited by roughness of the canvas at times. There are times I want to do small delicate work, but can’t. She suggested linen. I’ve heard of it before, but never really investigated it. It seems to be a more tightly woven material, aka smoother. It is also tragically expensive. For now I should just paint.
She found some imagery that I did actually respond to and it was germs, or spores. Something like that, but the forms were very interesting due to their depth and interactions. They also made me think of cosmic photographs (space nebula, asteroids, etc.).
We also talked about the little rooms. They differ so much from the organic paintings. She said that sometimes we feel the need to compensate for missing properties in our work, and that I simply over-shot the moon a bit. She didn’t say it was a bad thing, and that I may be considerable to a therapy of some type. I really liked this idea. It means that my little room things can just be mine. She also liked the cut out shapes (the rectangles full of white lines). Yet instead of overlapping them over each other, she was pondering on overlapping them over the paintings. This isn’t really something I’ve ever considered, but it was a welcome change of thought.
Next on the list was a discussion of the number of works created. She was pleased to hear that I tend to work on multiple paintings at once. The practice isn’t good for everyone, but I work quickly and get bored even quicker. But more so on the number game is, you can start a painting the same way multiple times. The beauty of painting is that is virtually impossible to recreate a painting exactly. I know that you may be able to disagree with that statement a bit, but for me, I can’t recreate a painting without going nuts. So, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel each time, simply restart a painting and learn something new. A technique that was discussed was having 3 paintings that are virtually the same. On one you paint like you normally would, the second you paint with slightly opposing ideas or with different parameters, and on the third you just go crazy. The benefit is that you are learning something from each painting, even if they aren’t so called “the one.”
Another practice that was discussed was creating two lists. One list is filled with everything that you believe a real painting should have. The other list is filled with everything that does NOT make art. Then create two works, one from each list. This is useful in getting an understanding of what secretly and subconsciously motivates your work. We immediately discussed Julie Heffernan, an artist I am very infatuated with, but quickly realized through the discussion that although I love her work, I have not desire to actually paint like that. Please note the image below:

Juile Heffernan - "Self Portrait as Tender Mercenary" Oil on canvas
It was just a joy to talk and confront my work realistically again. I just don’t’ know how artists survive without other artists to talk to. Thank you to Nancy Morrow for your time and wisdom.
Firstly, she was pleased with what was there. She said that is showed that I had worked, even if I hadn’t worked as much as I had wanted to. We talked a lot about how I was coming up with the images. The early work was built under the P.R.R. (refer to blog name) theory that I had created earlier. These works although landscape in nature, she said she couldn’t directly pinpoint them to their source.
Later I would give up the PRR method, and simply try to work from the brain. I really didn’t think that it was such a bad idea, but looking back I’ve realized that I stifled myself. Nancy said one of the hardest ways to work is from the brain. You have to remember form, light distribution, color variance and everything else related to its physical self. That is a lot of information for the brain to simply remember, organize and interpret. It can quickly become a mad man’s folly. I know we have talked about “inspirational imagery” around the studio, but I guess I always had this silly notion that “real” artists didn’t need that. How very wrong I was. This “inspirational imagery” is a diving board. It is a motivator for work. I don’t have to feel limited my surrounding images, but rather inspired. She suggested that I try to find something I can visually investigate. I research countless things in the form of a hobbyist, but never anything particularly visual. This seems relatively silly in retrospect, as I am a visual artist.
We would eventually talk about process. I believe that I work on canvas best, but at the same time, I feel limited by roughness of the canvas at times. There are times I want to do small delicate work, but can’t. She suggested linen. I’ve heard of it before, but never really investigated it. It seems to be a more tightly woven material, aka smoother. It is also tragically expensive. For now I should just paint.
She found some imagery that I did actually respond to and it was germs, or spores. Something like that, but the forms were very interesting due to their depth and interactions. They also made me think of cosmic photographs (space nebula, asteroids, etc.).
We also talked about the little rooms. They differ so much from the organic paintings. She said that sometimes we feel the need to compensate for missing properties in our work, and that I simply over-shot the moon a bit. She didn’t say it was a bad thing, and that I may be considerable to a therapy of some type. I really liked this idea. It means that my little room things can just be mine. She also liked the cut out shapes (the rectangles full of white lines). Yet instead of overlapping them over each other, she was pondering on overlapping them over the paintings. This isn’t really something I’ve ever considered, but it was a welcome change of thought.
Next on the list was a discussion of the number of works created. She was pleased to hear that I tend to work on multiple paintings at once. The practice isn’t good for everyone, but I work quickly and get bored even quicker. But more so on the number game is, you can start a painting the same way multiple times. The beauty of painting is that is virtually impossible to recreate a painting exactly. I know that you may be able to disagree with that statement a bit, but for me, I can’t recreate a painting without going nuts. So, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel each time, simply restart a painting and learn something new. A technique that was discussed was having 3 paintings that are virtually the same. On one you paint like you normally would, the second you paint with slightly opposing ideas or with different parameters, and on the third you just go crazy. The benefit is that you are learning something from each painting, even if they aren’t so called “the one.”
Another practice that was discussed was creating two lists. One list is filled with everything that you believe a real painting should have. The other list is filled with everything that does NOT make art. Then create two works, one from each list. This is useful in getting an understanding of what secretly and subconsciously motivates your work. We immediately discussed Julie Heffernan, an artist I am very infatuated with, but quickly realized through the discussion that although I love her work, I have not desire to actually paint like that. Please note the image below:

Juile Heffernan - "Self Portrait as Tender Mercenary" Oil on canvas
It was just a joy to talk and confront my work realistically again. I just don’t’ know how artists survive without other artists to talk to. Thank you to Nancy Morrow for your time and wisdom.
Labels:
Conceptual Discussion,
Interview,
Painting,
Process
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Paintings in Progress
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Paintings in Progress
The following are two pieces I recently started. I was simply trying to get myself to paint again. I am really pleased for the most part with these pieces, even though I feel they are not quite finished. As always forgive the poor quality images. You have no idea how crippled an artist is without photoshop and poor lighting... pity.

"Blooms of Midnight (Temp name)" Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 10"x24"

"Sunrise (Temp name)" Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 10"x24" (The names of these pieces have changed and their sizes updated on a later post.)
"Blooms of Midnight (Temp name)" Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 10"x24"
"Sunrise (Temp name)" Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 10"x24" (The names of these pieces have changed and their sizes updated on a later post.)
Valentines Greetings!
I hate Valentines Day, as does anybody who doesn't have a significant other. Yet, it was on this auspicious holiday that I would receive a glimpse of wit. I made three versions, one rather innocent and two rather grim. I love them! To all of you Happy Valentines Day (belated).

"I got you the biggest Valentine I could find!"

"I just couldn't figure out how to mail it. Happy Valentines Day!"

"You gave me your heart for Valentines Day!"

"Oh! I wasn't supposed to eat it? Happy Valentines Day!"

"I'm giving you my heart for Valentines Day!"

"I didn't really think this through... Happy Valentines Day!"
"I got you the biggest Valentine I could find!"
"I just couldn't figure out how to mail it. Happy Valentines Day!"
"You gave me your heart for Valentines Day!"
"Oh! I wasn't supposed to eat it? Happy Valentines Day!"
"I'm giving you my heart for Valentines Day!"
"I didn't really think this through... Happy Valentines Day!"
Wood Nymph Portraits
Friday, January 20, 2012
Illuminated Manuscripts
At one point in my career, I became infatuated with illuminated manuscripts. And although I loved the inherent religious implications and symbolism with said manuscripts; I twisted them a bit and added some tarot symbolism to my own versions of illuminated manuscripts. If you were unaware,which I wasn't for quite a while; illuminated manuscripts were not only made for beauty, but rather as teaching instruments to those who could not read. On that same note, tarot cards use pictures to help us better grasp some possible universal meanings from the conversations surrounding a tarot reading. I thought that these two things formed a happy union. Unfortunately, I can't quite recall the stories and morals I was implying while creating these sketches.

Pen, watercolor, ink on sketch paper. I really wasn't too impressed with the coloring. In fact it quite offended me. Live and learn.

Pen, watercolor, ink on sketch paper. You can see that this one has a bunch on hatch marks, representing words that you can't read. This would force you to interpret the images alone.

Pen on sketch paper. I was very pleased with this one. So pleased in fact that I was terrified of finishing it for fear of ruining it. This piece makes me wish I had studied printmaking. I feel it would be rather successful as such.

Pen, watercolor, ink on sketch paper. I really wasn't too impressed with the coloring. In fact it quite offended me. Live and learn.

Pen, watercolor, ink on sketch paper. You can see that this one has a bunch on hatch marks, representing words that you can't read. This would force you to interpret the images alone.

Pen on sketch paper. I was very pleased with this one. So pleased in fact that I was terrified of finishing it for fear of ruining it. This piece makes me wish I had studied printmaking. I feel it would be rather successful as such.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Yet More Paintings
Well, I have a couple of more paintings to post. They aren't completed yet, but I was so excited about them, I couldn't wait. They were made using the PRR theory I have been working on lately, and I couldn't be more pumped!

This piece is temporarily called, "Deeper than Before." It is about 20X30 Acrylic on Cresent Illustration Board.

Temporarily called, "As We Carefully Meld." It is about 20X30 in Acrylic on Cresent Illustration Board.
I am most thrilled about these pieces, as they are composed with the PRR theory that I have been working on, but while also developing my desires of exploring the energy behind the original scenes.
This piece is temporarily called, "Deeper than Before." It is about 20X30 Acrylic on Cresent Illustration Board.
Temporarily called, "As We Carefully Meld." It is about 20X30 in Acrylic on Cresent Illustration Board.
I am most thrilled about these pieces, as they are composed with the PRR theory that I have been working on, but while also developing my desires of exploring the energy behind the original scenes.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
A few images
Hey Ya'll! So it has been a very long time since my last post, and I do have some images for you. My artwork has gone on a quick hiatus as I am working to finish the set and lighting project for a high school theater production. Images to come!

This piece is temporarily called, "Conerstone Thought". I have to take a while to name my work as the name is very crucial to giving the viewer a bit of perspective, so often times, works are given temporary names till their true nature is discovered. The piece is about 10X15 inches, made with acrylic on hot press Arches watercolor paper.

"Proceeding Towards" is about 24X36 inches,made with acrylic on hot press Arches watercolor paper. I am currently not completely satisfied with this piece, and will be going back into it, but of course all my work suffers that same fate.
I am almost ready to move into my studio, as it is soon to be emptied of its other storage contents. My current projects include (but not limited to): 1)
Insurrection, a graphic novel based on a screenplay by my brother in law. 2) The set and lighting for Murder in the Heir, a high school production. 3) Of course my work in general (really right now I am gathering sketches from my hikes to begin my process) 4) and finally, moving into my studio, and really digging in! Hope you all have a wonderful day and best of wishes to all!

This piece is temporarily called, "Conerstone Thought". I have to take a while to name my work as the name is very crucial to giving the viewer a bit of perspective, so often times, works are given temporary names till their true nature is discovered. The piece is about 10X15 inches, made with acrylic on hot press Arches watercolor paper.

"Proceeding Towards" is about 24X36 inches,made with acrylic on hot press Arches watercolor paper. I am currently not completely satisfied with this piece, and will be going back into it, but of course all my work suffers that same fate.
I am almost ready to move into my studio, as it is soon to be emptied of its other storage contents. My current projects include (but not limited to): 1)
Insurrection, a graphic novel based on a screenplay by my brother in law. 2) The set and lighting for Murder in the Heir, a high school production. 3) Of course my work in general (really right now I am gathering sketches from my hikes to begin my process) 4) and finally, moving into my studio, and really digging in! Hope you all have a wonderful day and best of wishes to all!
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