New work and SOLD WORK!

I worked on that new burnt sienna, crimsonish piece for about 4 hours yesterday. I'm having trouble with this work because I'm not sure I want to fill the entire canvas with the speckled bits like I have been doing in the past works. I will put up a new photo sometime this weekend but so far I've made sure to have the entire canvas have the same amount of activity, and not completely fill the darkened areas. I'm not sure I enjoy it aesthetically yet, and there is some improvement to be made, but I am trying to find a balance currently with the layers that's just not there yet.
On a better note, I sold my first oil painting!! I have a piece in a show back home in St. Louis, at the Art Saint Louis Gallery off of Washington Avenue. The show opened halloween weekend and will be up until the end of December. I have sold work before but never an oil painting since I just started oil painting about 2 years ago so I'm very excited. I have a picture of the piece already on the Blog, but I'll post it again so as not to go back and blah blah blah. This is also very good because I contact the buyer and create connections which is ultimately what I'm trying to do. It also is a boost because I was beginning to feel like my work was not reaching people and the enjoyment was only mine. There's apparently hope out there :)


30X40

Photos of recent work!

These photos honestly do not to the work justice, and the site I think alters the color a bit. Some of the pieces look a lot lighter or darker than they actually are... Sorry for that :( But enjoy.

This is the first piece (show-and-tell type work) 12X24, study.

This is a close up of that work

First layer done summer 2011

Finished product, 24X24

First layer of 16X24 brown study

Still a work in progress, colors need work, two much differentiation between the darks and the lights, but this is also just a study so I can learn from my mistakes before working on a larger piece. This was study for this next piece:

This piece is 36X48, working on bringing in variations of a color and really focusing on lights and darks and the way they intermix. I also have been working on my luminosity and conveying it in a striking way. I feel that the orientation might change, not sure if I like horizontal or vertical yet. I figure I'll wait till the end and figure out the presentation for each piece and how they all come together.

This is a close of up part of this new painting. Hopefully I'll finish this painting this week and have a photo to post. :) So far things are going well and in the right direction I think. We'll see!

Extremely MIA on Blogging!!

I have been extremely MIA on my blogging life, for which I am really sorry! Since I last blogged I've completed one of my new large scale paintings. This piece is 40X30 and is a pthalo blue exploration. I am currently working on an even larger canvas now. I've finished the first two smooth under layers, and am beginning to place down the swatches of color overtop. I've worked about 15 hours total on this piece thus far, and it will probably take about another 15 to complete. My goal has been to keep a steady pace on creating actual work by working on two pieces at once. This not only has allowed me to produce more work, but has also kept my mixing very steady since I have to mix twice as many colors. While I work on one, I let the other dry. This sort of methodical procedure is beginning to take shape in my work I feel.
My camera has been dead for about 2 weeks now, and I keep forgetting to bring a charger, BUT I finally brought one today, and plan to charge it up over night, and come back and take photos. I submitted my new piece to the all student show, so I won't have it back until that is over, but I plan on just taking a photo of in in the gallery. I also hope to start another new painting today, the color being a violet/crimson mixture. I think for these next few paintings I'm going to work on placement of material, and also blending of colors to make the barrier between the "blacks" and the luminous part not as noticeable. I also want to work on the conversation that happens between the two layers and weather it works with less overlay vs more (like what I have on the pthalo piece).
I also started looking a lot at American Abstract Artist, Ad Reinhardt's work these past few weeks. I'm really intrigued by his use of color, and this idea that nothing is really as it seems. I want to enforce this idea with my viewers as well, that the need to exploration is high with my work, and colors that may seem to be one color are actually another when examined. His use of subtle color change, placement and mixing in his work is just amazing. I want to go check out his book "Art as Art" Here is some of his work that inspires me:

New Obsessions

So I was looking up some artists while we were at the Tappan Library, and cam across a website that introduced me to Ad Reinhardt. Collin has mentioned him to me before but I never looked him up. I just looked him up and found this amazing video and am super intrigued by his use of black as not pure black but as colors that emerge upon closer examination, which is something I'm working towards with my paintings. I kind of enjoy the matte material of his work, but probably can never stray away from my glossy aesthetic in my paintings (too much love for it). I found this video that explains his process, and found it very interesting, something to possibly think about doing in my free time, or as a study one of these days.

Here's the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSGGHmTXA3o

Mark Rothko has really started intriguing me as well because of his use of layering, and vibration due to color relationships. I also love his soft way in which he treats the paint. I also watched a video about him from the MOMA that explained how much Rothko wanted his viewers to experience his work and have an emotional attachment almost break down at his work. He wanted them to experience what he experienced as he was painting the works. I want my work to express the way in which I work close up to it, then pull back, and repeat this movement through out my process.

Here's the URL to look back on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSiu8qzHV6c&feature=relmfu

Here is the Larry Poons URL that shows the painting changing and allowing the ovals to go from one color to disappearing: http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/poons.html

Large paintings have begun!!

So yesterday I began two new larger paintings (30x40, and 36X48). I started a blue pthalo one, and a larger version of the brown small scale one I worked on last week. I'm pretty excited to work on them. They dried over night, so I'm off to the studios this evening to put down the second layer. I also had coupons for Michael's, and got two more canvas's that are 36X48 for 15 dollars each!! Pretty pumped to start those as well. I mixed up some crimson-violet and will be painting one of these in those tones. I'm really working on pushing luminosity into these works from here on out. Megan O'Neil came into my studio today and checked out what I had been working on and suggested trying to place the glossy like forms that were darker hues on the bright areas and vise versa. I'm going to try that on a study and see how I feel about it. I've never tried it before, but I'm up for anything. I also talked to Peter this week about my resume and about what I am thinking about doing after school which I've decided to look into working for Admissions. I ideally would love to do this back home in Missouri, but would not be apposed what so ever in working here in Michigan. I also would love to work for an Art and Design School, rather than general education, but it all depends where the job can take me. I thought about becoming a teacher for a while, but decided that I would much rather work at the University level, and am not sure how I feel about going back and getting my MFA, not to mention I think I would be pretty good at talking to prospective students as a career because I already do it as a Student Ambassador for the school now. Well that's all I have so far, I really need to start posting some more photographs of work in progress, so I'll TRY and do that this evening.

People for thought

So this week I have really been focusing on finding new people for inspiration. I found a few new influences and think that their ideas are not only amazing, but sort of seeking in what I am looking for. I spent about 4 hours this week researching and about 3 hours of actual painting time. I hope in the future to get much more painting time in, but I was out of town this weekend up in Northern Michigan (mackinaw and harbor springs area). I also felt extremely influenced by the colors of the trees up in this area. Fall has always been my favorite season, and I think has a lot if not all to do with the color transformation the trees take. I have grown up in about 6 different states, but the one that has always stuck out the most for me was New Hampshire. I never understood why until this weekend when I was pulled back to memories of my childhood due to the colors of the trees and the land itself. The beautiful yellows, oranges, and vibrant reds were spectacular. I guess I've always known I enjoy color, but it took on a new meaning this weekend, it actually took my breath away, and made everything go silent in it's awe. I will post pictures on here as soon as I upload them from my camera. Here is one of my new influences: Charles Clay:


I enjoy his use of not only color, but creation of depth due to cutting out these topographical like forms in the canvas and creating layers. His other work also intrigues me because of his use of space on the wall, and creation of multifaceted layers not just in his work, but created by the light creating shadows on the wall.

David Maisel

I've begun to think about different artists and why I enjoy their work. I was looking through Katie Barrie's blog (I spent about 2 hours today looking through old blogs) and found David Maisel's work. I remember his stamps lecture from last year and how much I enjoyed it. The repetition of shapes and the magnificent color relations are what I find most appealing.



The saturation is something that I really try to accomplish in my paintings and what I find so amazing about these photographs because the feel like paintings. When I saw the stamps lecture I even thought these were paintings then realized they were photographs from an ariel view.