AEDM 2009 day 18: London goauche

Last seen here, this little postcard-sized goauche painting of London is done.

I am still getting the hang of gouache. My tendency is to use it very watered down so that it behaves almost like watercolor, but that seems silly given that I'm not particularly good with watercolors. I want to keep playing to see if I can find a style that works for me.

AEDM 2009 day 2: Tallinn in pigment and sand

This was a canvas (40x30cm) I had prepped with black gesso mixed with sand. Today I got out a few pigments, mixed them with acrylic medium, and created this scene of Tallinn, Estonia (based on photos from our trip there earlier this year). I'll probably tweak a couple little things, but it's mostly done.

Self (portrait)

Inspired by this month's Creative Every Day theme, self, I decided to start a new self portrait today. Can you tell what kind of mood I'm in?

I've done tons of self portraits, my whole life long. I like making portraits, and I'm always the most available subject. I'm doing this one (like most of my self portraits) by looking in a mirror. I like working from life when I get the chance.

I actually try to curtail the number of self portrait paintings I do, because they are pretty unsellable (and ungiftable). Not that I only do art to be able to sell it, but I have to sell things in order to have room to produce more. And who wants to live in an apartment full of self portraits? That'd be a little creepy. So would giving people portraits of myself as gifts... so yeah, I try to focus on other things. But I'm enjoying this chance to revisit my oldest subject.

Tuscany paintings: good and bad

I think this painting (last seen here) is done, and I'm quite happy with the way it came out. I need to take a better photo of it, and then I think it's ready to go up on my art website.



This one I'm less happy with. Back in December I was almost ready to declare it done, but then I decided it was all wrong. I liked it a lot in its early days, but that like faded as I added in more detail and more colors. I recently changed the sky from pink to black, which was an improvement, but it's still not right. I think it needs some radical re-working, which I'm almost ready to do. Sometimes it's hard to accept that a painting needs a lot of changing when I thought it was so close to done. Time usually helps me get over that.

Little face paintings

I'm back at home in my studio for a few days between trips to Ireland*. I'm trying to make the most of this studio time, but I haven't decided on my next big project yet. I've lost steam on the two paintings series (Munich and Tuscany) I've been working on. Perhaps I just need a break, or perhaps I'm just not meant to paint in series. Or maybe I've just chosen the wrong subject matters. Whatever it is, I'm trying not to let it get in the way of my creative output, so I've shifted gears to a completely different subject: faces.

I bought ten little (15 cm square) canvases on my last trip to the art store, and I've decided to use them to play around with imaginary faces. While I've painted many portraits over the years, I rarely work without a model or photograph. With this new project I'm trying to challenge myself to create faces from only my imagination. It's freeing to not have to worry about whether the painting resembles the subject, since there is no subject. It's also fun to play around with more abstract facial features than I'm used to depicting.


* You can read about my adventures in Ireland on my other blog.

Tuscany in pigments and paints

A painting I have in progress: another Tuscan farmhouse scene, in a mix of acrylics and earth tone pigments. I'm struggling with where to go next. Maybe the sky will get some more color.

Happy holidays!

Playing with pigments

Last night in my art class (Experimental Acrylic Techniques) we used pigments. The teacher brought in five or six natural pigments, which we mixed with water and medium to get a paint-like consistency. And then we painted. It took a little while to get used to the different qualities of the pigments, the varying coverage they offered, etc. The limited palette also took some getting used to, since most of my works involve the whole spectrum. I spent about two hours working on the above Tuscan farmhouse painting (20 x 24 inches, on canvas). I was frustrated with it because the piece looked really boring to me. The teacher disagreed and suggested it was done. I admit I like it much more today than I did last night. I was sure I was going to paint over it as of yesterday, but today I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

I came home with a substantial amount of leftover pigments (and a partially-completed self portrait I worked on for the last 30 minutes of class). I can't decide what I want to do with them. Another attempt at a Tuscan scene, perhaps? The colors do seem fitting. Or perhaps I'll use them in some sort of mixed-media experiment. Hmmm.

AEDM day 28: cold nights in the city

Yesterday evening's 'Experimental Acrylic Techniques' class was productive, if not quite in the intended way. The experimental material presented to us was white acrylic glaze, which we were to drizzle onto our paintings through a hole poked in the bottom of a plastic cup dangling from a string. The concept made me think of rain, so I set to work on two canvases, having no plan but vaguely intending to produce rainy day scenes. The drizzly glaze was more suited to abstract pictures, I would think, but I am practically incapable of producing abstract art.



At any rate, the resulting paintings came out better than I expected, and the teacher all but forbade me to use the drippy glaze on them. So I ended up with a couple plain old acrylic paintings.

The darkness of the paintings makes them particularly hard to photograph without glare, so I'm including two photos of each scene, taken in different lights. The first ones are more accurate. They are both acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm; I haven't named them yet.

Munich scene #2

Another Munich painting I've been working on, not sure what to do with next. 45 x 45 cm.

AEDM day 10: Theatinerkirche

I've been working on this painting of the Theatinerkirche in Munich for a couple weeks now. I can't decide if it's done, or if I want to completely re-do the sky and a couple other parts. I guess I'll wait for a couple days and see what I think then.

Work in Progress: another Zurich scene

I want to move on to Munich paintings, but I had a couple Zurich ideas left to realize. This one started out unexciting, but I'm starting to get attached to it. I'm looking forward to where it goes next.

New subject

I'm still working on a few portraits, but I decided it was high time to start on a new body of work, as well. So I've started on a series of cityscape paintings. The first ones were inspired by the canals of Milan's Navigli neighborhood. Here's one of the works in progress.

I will be painting furiously for the next month, as I have an exhibit opening in Zurich in November. So much to do!

Photo Friday: Unfinished

Unfortunately I have way too many 'unfinished' ones lying around.

Progress

I have taken much too long of a hiatus from my painting. I have four canvases in progress, all of which were started months ago. This one, Tomoko, which I was most afraid of ruining, is finally coming along. I basically destroyed the face and started it again, but without changing the layout. I am happy with the progress I'm making on it. I think it's time to leave it for a bit and move onto one of the other works in progress.

Work in Progress: Tomoko

I often reach a point in a painting where I really love something about it, even though I don't love it as a whole and I know it's not finished. I get kind of panicky at this point, because I'm afraid that if I work on the painting too much more, I'll ruin whatever it is that I love about it.

Take this demo done by another artist, for example. I like several of the early drafts of his work - how did he know to keep going? Perhaps because he had a clear image of the goal, perhaps because he was following a certain technique. I'm still experimenting with my techniques, and don't know what my finished paintings will look like when I start them. This painting has gone through many iterations already to get to where it is now.

Realism isn't the goal, although I do strive to make my subjects recognizable. I like it when paintings are a little rough around the edges, and I try to resist over-polishing my works. But I also don't want to quit before they're really done.

What I probably need to do is learn to get over it. Just plow ahead, and not be so afraid of ruining a half-finished painting. I can learn from mistakes. To take away this feeling of 'preciousness' that I start to associate with my works, I should start making more of them. Work on multiple canvases simultaneously, and hold myself to more of a schedule. It's too easy to put painting on the back burner when things get busy around here.

I'm going to be traveling for most of the next two weeks, but when I come back I will start a new painting schedule. Start at least one new painting each week. Also, at least one new art blog post per week, to help me reflect on my progress.

The Apple Escapes

30 x 30 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2007.

My dad asked if this was based on an actual escape attempt that occurred in my kitchen. Answer: nope, this scene is totally staged. Sorry to disappoint.

I am donating this painting to the silent auction that will be held as part of the Hands On Switzerland Valentine's Day Gala.

Apples and their reflections

30 x 45 cm, oil on canvas, 1992.

In high school I took two years of AP Art. One year my theme was portraits, and the other year it was fruit. I can't remember exactly why I chose fruit. Probably as much for its ease as anything. You don't need much space to set up a still life. Fruit offers an array of colors, textures, and shapes for the artist to play with. And except for the inevitable decomposition that occurs if you drag out the work too long, fruit proves to be a rather static and obedient subject matter.

This particular painting is the only piece of my early work that I have here in Zurich. For some reason it traveled here with me, stowed away in my portfolio case full of otherwise blank and unused art supplies. I'm not really sure why - this isn't my best painting from that time, or even my favorite.

I have started on another portrait, but I have also been looking around for another subject matter to try out. This painting reminded me of my earlier fruit period, and once again drawn in by the ease and simplicity of this subject matter, I decided to set up a new still life. I'll let you know if it proves fruitful. :)

Yoshiko

40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006-2007.

I'm not sure this one is finished (which is how I feel about most of my paintings when I post them here). I do at least need a break from it - I've stared at it too much. I'm looking forward to starting something new. Perhaps this time I'll get several canvases going at once.

Katy

40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006.

This portrait was a new challenge for me, in that it is the first full portrait I've done recently of a person whom I've never met in the flesh. Not knowing the subject makes it difficult for me to improvise too much, and I found myself worrying much more about likeness than I usually do. Nonetheless it was a joy to paint, as I had several lovely photos to work from, and the client was a dream (providing information and photos, and leaving me plenty of artistic freedom). It was a commission done for Jeremy, who gave it to his wife Katy as a Christmas gift.

Alison

30 x 40cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006.