Painting 201
This course in painting is designed to give students information about and experience with historical and contemporary approaches to the concepts of subject matter and content, theories of color and space, principles of mixing and applying paint, and the sound preparation of painting supports, grounds, and mediums. Although many projects are typically directed toward specific problems of space, color, and composition, students are expected to find imaginative solutions to problems through an individual approach. Studio work is supplemented with lecture, group discussion and outside research with oil paint on canvas as the primary medium.
First Half of Semester
This was our first assignment of the semester. In order to understand highlights and shadows, we were instructed to paint an image from our imagination. 2016, Oil on paper, 16"x12"
This was our second assignment of the semester. We cut, tore, taped, stapled, and pinned paper on a wall and painted the composition with a limited color palette. Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Titanium White, and Mars Black. 2016, Oil on canvas, 25"x19"
This assignment was done from direct observation but challenged our comfort levels and forced us to imagine colors, grounds, objects, highlights, and shadows, that we could not see. In this particular panel, I attempted to make it look more realistic based on the colors I saw and the more panels I painted, the more abstract the compositions became. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 9"x12"
In this particular panel I tried to use as many colors as I could without the painting looking "muddy." I imagined the bright colors and created an entirely new composition from the previous panel. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 9"x12"
Panel 3 was similar to Panel 1 in that the colors were not extremely saturated. I simply changed the ground of the painting to see how it would play off of the colors of the objects. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 9"x12"
In this final panel I wanted to use string, vibrant warm colors and contrast that with very subtle cool colors. This painting has a very painterly style which is very different from my regular style of painting. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 9"x12"
This assignment was done from direct observation.The easels were positioned around a central still-life. First a ground is painted the objects are slowly worked into the composition. Using a limited color palette excluding Reds, this was a challenging piece. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 38"x25"
This is one of two paintings that were made in a live model session. The challenging element of this painting was the speed at which we needed to paint. This painting has a warm undertone painted prior to starting the painting. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 25"x19"
This is the second painting that was completed during the live model session. Contrasting to the first painting, this painting has a veridian green undertone which forces the artist to work with more vibrant colors in the skin tones. Once again, speed was a challenge. 2016, Oil on Canvas, 19"x25"
Second Half of Semester
This oil painting was our final assignment of the semester where we had to think about how to represent a cubic inch of air through abstraction. My initial inspiration drastically changed and evolved on its own. I ended up having a stained-glass look which I was very happy with in the end. Looking through air, is what we see truly there? Or is it a distorted image like looking through stained glass? Oil on Canvas, 40'x40', 2016
Still-Life Set up across the room. This hanging fabric was challenging because although it seemed flat, the challenged was to depict depth. Oil on Lenix, 25'x38' 2016
This assignment involved a large still-life composed of reflecting object, transparent objects, and multiple mirrors. Oil on Canvas, 4'x3', 2016
This assignment was a research based project where we attempted to paint a painting in the style of "an old master." I chose to paint in the style of Van Gogh and ended up taking on a more antipasto effect. Oil on Masonite, 24'x18', 2016
Similar to the other landscape painting, this was the second part in the landscape assignment. This time we needed to pick a famous painted and make it contemporary. I chose to continue on with Van Gogh. There are many ways to make a painting contemporary, but I chose to make it look digitized. Oil on Masonite, 24'x18', 2016
This was one of our many nude model studies, but I am especially happy with this painting. I was very happy with the expression on his face, and the balance of colors in the ground and skin-tone. Oil on Lenix, 25'x38'