Snowy Landscape Painting

Another one-a-day painting. Oil on canvas board 9x12.

Oil Painting

More painting every day! Fun stuff. This is from photo reference I took myself over in Bothell along some creek and suburban development. Oil on canvas board 11x14 (cropped smaller due to scanner size).

Even More Landscape Painting!

Oil on canvas board. 9x12.

More Landscape Painting

More landscape painting. Enjoy!

Landscape Painting

A continuation of my landscape everyday challenge...

Rolling Hills Landscape

I told myself that over my winter break I would try and do a (landscape) painting every day for the entire duration of the break -- so far I've only missed two days! Pretty cool in my opinion. And with each new painting I feel as though I'm learning something unique and developmental. I have like four paintings sitting around drying so once they're finished with that I'll upload them too. For now here is the day three(?) painting I did. Oil on canvas board 9x12. 30-40 minutes max. 

(Oh, and the painting a few posts ago with the mountain and clouds is also part of this painting-a-day thing.)

Collage

More Collage because I have nothing better to do.

Tall Mountain Landscape Painting

Oil on canvas board 9x12. Photo reference. Take note of the burnt umber ground popping through in spots of the painting. This technique of glazing the background of the image before you begin painting helps to get rid of the confusing and misleading white of the untreated canvas and also (most importantly) creates a sense of unity throughout the image and in some cases compliments the colors occurring in the direct application of paint, i.e. the reddish 'background' is the compliment of the some of the more greenish colors in the foreground. Any-who. Enjoy.

Elephant and Female (Painting + Process)

The final for my painting class this semester was to create an oil painting using a grasaille technique in conjunction with an excessive amount of planning and preparation. I decided to paint the image below of a young woman and an elephant both reaching out to each other in some act of intamacy or embrace. The painting was created over the course of about four weeks and was done on a stretched cotton canvas that I built to a unique set of dimensions. I'll Briefely explain the process I went through in creating this piece. 

The image directly below on brown paper is the first rough sketch I had, this was the original hashing out of the idea using basic reference and some imagination to place the characters in their respective spots. (quick, dirty and unfinished)

The next step was to enlarge the original image with a photo copier to the size I wanted the painting to be, this way I could create a full fledged drawing that would be a 1:1 (match?) with the canvas itself. The two images below are on newsprint and were essentially traced from the photocopy. Using referense photos I rendered the various values and create a map for how my finished painting would more or less look. Take note that I cut out and moved the woman's head a number of times trying to find the appropriate, natural spot where it would rest on the shoulders. 

Once the final renderings were done I took a large sheet of tracing paper and traced the image again outlining the various shadow forms and values so they would be apparent later. Using a graphite transfer paper I essentially layed down this exact image on the canvas. From here I could begin actually painting and experimenting with color schemes and glazing techniques. 

Below are four test studies I did for the painting. The purpose of these fairly quick (ten minute) paintings are to establish a comfortability with the paint and an understanding of the values on the form, in this case the arm and body mass. In addition, these paintings were also used to experiment with different color palettes and colors, for example the painting on the right directly below is using an 'earth palette' consisting of only three colors and white. Some of these studies, particularly the black and white  one are simply to understand the values occurring in the form, others were to play with colored grounds (the background color) or even what color the dress might be. Purely experimentation.

Here is the finished piece. 31 1/4 x 12'' Oil on canvas. The painting itself took only about 6 hours but the planning process of course extened that to the roughly four weeks of class time. Overall I'm fairly happy with the painting, I find it breathes and has a wonderful glow. Both figures appear generally pretty comfortable and accurate and I think the overal dramatic impact of the image speaks strongly. 

Pine Cone Ink Drawing

The final project for my drawing class this semester was to enlarge an everyday object to a relatively large scale -- I believe the final piece was roughly 2.5x 3.5 ft. The medium was left open to us and after my semi-success with the sculpture illustration I decided I would make my project from black india ink. If you can't tell, the object I chose was a pine cone. It is intentionally abstracted to an extent feeding off my geometric tendencies, desires for cleanliness and aesthetic appreciation for loose perfection.

India Ink Painting / Drawing

My second time ever using ink in any paint brush type context. From observation of a small clay statue brought in by my drawing teacher. Large, at least 2x3 ft., roughly 3 hours under studio conditions. Included is a detail shot showing all the layers and washes I applied to get the variation in value. (And no, the statue was not remotely anatomically correct -- not my mistake)

Environmental Drawing Works

The ultimate joy I get from art is when I can travel out into the world, natural or otherwise, and capture a scene as I see it. The one and only way to learn the intricacies of the reality that surrounds us is to observe from it. How to understand light, color, value is apparent all around us in the universe -- these are some of the only semi truths we can know, they apply to us. So to get better we must study nature, that is what the drawings below you are; snapshots of reality through an artistic license, the privilege to take from real-life and interpret, either adding or subtracting, twisting facets of the observed to support an inherent beauty that lies within the natural world.

A mix of charcoal and graphite, fairly large and all from observation. Of particular interest are those from the center for wooden boats on south Lake Union in Seattle. Enjoy!

Still Life Drawings

The bane of my existence is charcoal -- or so I thought before I took it to more practice and genuine application. Through working more with this messy, black-ash stick that is charcoal I have begun to truly appreciate the useful qualities it offers. Most notably being its dry application, easy blending abilities, capacity to reach a pure black and the diverse assortment of values it can conjure up in between. This is a testament to the fact that you cannot like or dislike a medium / material until you have whole-heartedly working with it and learned its methods. I doubt I will be working much with charcoal in the future but it was invaluable to have had the time to fully comprehend and experiment with its possibilities.

Below are a number of still life's as depicted in my 'works on paper' drawing course from this past semester. Most are large, roughly 2x3 ft. or so and all are done using the aforementioned medium of vine and compressed charcoal with splatterings of white and red pastel. Also note that each drawing took from 10 minutes to 2.5 hours to complete and, again, are completely hand drawn from observation under studio lighting. Enjoy!

Theben

A friend fond of the esoteric once scrolled for me these symbols. Theben he told me; the witches alphabet, lost in the fog of time, something truly mysterious. Penned rough and fast in the cluster-fuck of finals critique I saved these letters in my notebook , they have now been revived and illustrated before you. For those interested enough you'll find out what it says, I assure you its not 'penis'.

Purple Elephant

Do purple elephants exist? I don't think so. A memento. Oil on canvas board. 9x12.

Blue Paper Abstraction

A simple line abstraction using blue Saral tracing paper. Mostly Random.

Homemade Typeface

Below is a completely handmade / homemade typeface that I designed. The name of the typeface is "Strong Silent Type" an obvious play on words in addition to a perceived personality trait I may or may not endear myself to. (did that sentence make any sense?)

Chess Set

With the same clay that I used for the male figure in the last post I decided to also make a chess set. On the whole I was going for an abstracted minimalist styling where each piece would be broken down to its most basic and crucial components. I had a ton of fun making this set and I got lots of encouragement that in the end helped me to finish it and make it look cool. I'm glad I took this project on because it was something that I could make artistically and then use in any chess-y situation (preferably over coffee and in downtown Edmonds). Hope you enjoy.

Large Nosed Man (Sculpture)

A while back I bought some clay at the local art store, after toying around with it for a while I decided to make a cartoonish male bust. The model originally had a hat on with a feather sticking out the side but the hat came off and at some point I lost it. The clay was originally a whitish gray color, to help exaggerate the various curves of the face I painted it with white acrylic. Not much more to say - just me playing around with sculpture. Enjoy

Talking Sauce Packets

I work at Taco Bell and in the lobby there are several large sauce packet containers that need to be re-filled and organized periodically. On each sauce packet, dependent on flavor and hotness are a number of cheesy quips, puns and random lines. I found these to be severely funny and odd so I figured I would share them with you here today. Bear in mind as you read these that each saying came off of a little packet of hot sauce from Taco Bell. I hope you like these as much as I did (or maybe they won't come off as funny at all). Enjoy.

• I'm with the band
• I've been through fire for you
• I'm gonna be fire for Halloween
• Can my friends tag along?
• I bet you wanna squeeze me don't you?
• Friend request accepted
• I work well with others
• Is it me or is it hot in here?
• Lets go get matching tattoos
• Give me some knuckles
• I'm a people packet
• TACO me
• Have your people call my people
• Dibs on the tacos
• I see how you look at other sauces. . . 

Self Portrait

Two more self portrait photos from the roll.