Lies and butterflies

The student gallery exhibition I participated in, called "Redefinition", opened last Friday the 13th. It was exciting to see it all come together and as far as I could tell it was well received by everyone. It's nice to know our hard work paid off. I'm glad I got the chance to be a part of his exhibition and that I got to work with some of my very talented friends. I'm really proud of the end result. I'm not sure how long the exhibit will stay up, but I think at least through the summer term, which ends August 11.

My piece is called "Portrait of a Regal Buffoon". When I was told that the theme of the exhibit was portraiture and that we also had to somehow extend the painting onto the wall, I decided it would be interesting to play around with the deceiving nature of portraits. 

(And because a few people asked, I should also add that this is not a self-portrait. I based this character's features on the My Scene doll because I wanted her face to have a very manufactured look.)

Portraits can be planned out and edited to make the subject appear to be whatever they want. In this case, the subject sits on a throne looking powerful and regal. But this is just a portrait, and the real face of the subject is hiding behind it. I call her a buffoon because she is a fool and a coward for thinking a facade is all she needs to be someone worthy of respect and admiration. While the viewer has no way of knowing what she's really like, the title and the quirky background hint that what they see in the portrait isn't exactly what it seems.

The portrait portion is oil on wood panel and the rest is acrylic applied to the wall.

Besides my piece, I also painted several butterflies and a few ladybugs around the gallery per Kellen's suggestion. I think it was a great idea.

If you haven't seen the exhibition I highly recommend you do! My piece is only one out of seven awesome pieces featured in the gallery.

Maybe I should leave SUVA

For a semester and take a baking class at the Art Institute so I can finally learn how to make frosting that is NOT curdled and gross-looking. Or better yet I should write an old fashioned letter to Ina Garten asking for tips on how to make perfect frosting every time. She might even say my name on an episode of Ask Ina. That would complete my life. I secretly wish she was my aunt because (let's be real) she would be the coolest aunt ever. I would take the summers off and hang out with her at the Hamptons and eat croissants all day while simultaneously arranging flower bouquets with her fabulous friends. My frosting would always be perfect if Ina was my aunt. There is no questions about it. Luckily, my family isn't as concerned with the look of food as they are with the taste of it, so my failed bakings are still eagerly consumed every time.

Anyway, I will eventually find the secret to perfect frosting, you guys, I will!

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Here are some hand studies I did for class. I decided to use acrylic paint because some people think that I use oils too much. So here I am, shamelessly giving in to peer pressure. 

My interpretation of Merlin's soul.

Pancake hand. 

Ina

Good news and random things

I've recently acquired larger (but not large, mind you) living quarters, which means I finally have my own studio of sorts. And although I don't have a lot of extra time to make art, I am a lot more comfortable when I do. Now I can close the door and let myself get high on turp fumes in peace. 

Also, to finish up the Addy Awards/Ihop Painting saga, my painting won a silver national student Addy award (and so did Carissa Creveling's fantastic bat painting!). 

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So, it's been a while since my last post. That's because I was waiting to have substantial artwork to show and I realize I probably waited a little too long. Nevertheless, here is what I've done in the last month or so...

 Here is the watercolor assignment I ended up doing for my Illustration Media class last semester.

Figure studies done for the Figure Sculpture class I'm currently taking.

Here is the first exercise we did for Figure Sculpting class. I'm not that great at sculpting and don't care to be, so I'm usually pretty content with whatever I manage to produce.

This is the first finished painting of a series I'm working on for my Personal Vision class. 

The set of 4-5 self-portraits is meant to portray a spectrum of emotions or emotional reactions fueled by either love or fear. The idea comes from a quote that says "All that is not love is only fear". I want to go beyond rendering pretty things and onto embodying a metaphysical thing, like an emotional state, through physical means, which is not an easy task. I find it very difficult to verbalize what the series is about beyond what I've written so far. I hope that the paintings will be strong enough to speak for themselves once they're all finished.

Also, I've had the pleasure of being invited to join a group of extremely talented fellow students in putting up a student gallery show next month. I'm very excited to be a part of this project.

Here is the sketch of the piece I'll be doing for the show. I decided I wanted to have as much fun with it as I could, so I went back to the type of things I used to draw for fun, long before I ever took a painting class. The theme for the show is portraiture, but also the painting has to extend off the canvas and onto the wall somehow. I think this leaves a ton of room for creativity and I'm very interested to see how all of our different styles and interests will come together for the show. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.

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And, finally, I want to show off the lovely 3x3" paintings of my dog that Juju was so sweet to paint for me. I think she did a fantastic job.

They're just so cute and tiny! My family loved them.

You'd think I've been busy or something

Painting stopped being fun after my last post, so I stopped doing it. I've been reading instead and it's been great. I made some more bookmarks for myself and although Paquita (my laminator) started out being grumpy and uncooperative, she eventually came around and we've rekindled our friendship. 

Oswald (my easel), on the other hand, has been sulking in a corner for the past five weeks. I'll have to give him a  pep talk soon.

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These are the last three self portraits I finished before going on a painting break. After the first two I got frustrated and gave up trying to get accurate temperatures and just did a happy safe monochromatic study woohoo.

I also did these two still life studies before my hiatus.

Since then I've only done work for my beloved Illustration Media class.

Here is my Prisma colored pencil portrait of Terrence Howard.

And this was supposed to be a watercolor piece, which I tried to get away with doing in oil washes and failed. Luckily it'll count as my final assignment instead, in which we're allowed to use any medium.

On a side note, Mathilda (the bunny) is one popular lady at school. If anyone wants to buy this paining, please let me know.

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Well, the list just keeps getting bigger and bigger! There are just too many awesome artists out there. 

Here is a new batch of supercoolartists:

 Kurt Huggins & Zelda Devon - digital illustrations.

Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo -  digital vector illustrations.

Martin Eichinger - figure sculptures.

Brian Blood - oil landscapes.

Evgeny & Lydia Baranov - oil paintings. 

John Paul Braman - acrylic landscapes.

Laurie Kersey -  oil paintings.

It's been a pretty weird and frustrating semester for me...but two more weeks and it'll be done-bun-can't-be-undone. So here's to a busy/fun/productive summer, y'all.

 

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I spent all day in the cold

I walked in the snow and jumped into a creek and took pictures and made s'mores and painted a quick landscape and stuff.

This undecipherable cluster of marks is the best I could do. At least I tried. It's supposed to be a little stream or something.

 

 And some pictures.

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I haven't been able to paint a portrait a day, but I do have a few more to add.

 That's 10 portraits total so far. I'll try to do 10 more over spring break.

I also finished the first painting of the series I'm working on!

And started on the next two, which are a diptych.

I think the series will be called La Cara y el Alma / The Face and the Soul. 

And some new additions to my list of cool artists everyone should know about. (Thanks to Karla for sharing these) Now follow their links! They're all worth looking at.

Qiang-Huang- oil painter

Kelvin Lei- oil painter

Michael Naples- oil painter

M Collier- hyperrealistic oil painter

Karin Jurick- oil painter

Fongwei Liu- oil painter

Happy spring break, everyone!

I spent all day outside

Here are some pictures I managed to take despite all the dangers of the wilderness and my inability to walk and/or balance myself on solid ground.

I got enough sunlight and exercise for the rest of the year. I will retreat back into the shadows now.

 

 

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I need to catch up to everyone in the Intro. to Painting class with these self portraits. I'll try to do at least 20, if not one every day.

 

 

 

 

Today I learned that I look like Frida Kahlo in ALL my self portraits. Can I just say that she is my hero? I mean, her hair always looked nice, she didn't take shit from anyone, and had impeccable taste in men. I can only hope that one day my mustache grows to be as furry as hers.

Yet another coffee filter. I didn't realize I'd already painted this one until I was halfway done with it. 

And two out of four peppers I have to render for my Illustration Media class.

And the first painting of the series I'm working on. It still needs more work, but not a whole lot.
Yubi, you were such a great model. I'm sorry everyone keeps mentioning Black Swan. You can cover me in glue, roll me in feathers, and set me on fire for your next painting if you want. I will do it just for you.

That is all. Have a good night, friends.