Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Cold

Hi friends,

So, I got sick this week and didn't get as much done as I would have liked. I'm what you might call a "whiny sick" person (psh whatever that means) in that when I'm sick I am very disinclined to do anything but lay in bed.

When I did get out of bed I did this:
I worked more on this one



And I started this one


I've resolved to finish the top one. Soon. Hold me to it.

Sorry there's not more to show. Tonight will be my last lazy sick night. Promise to make up for it next week :D

Timekeeping
Stretching / gessoing 3
Acrylics 6 1/2



Saturday, November 12, 2011

Acrylics

I've been having a much better time with painting since switching to acrylics. I've continued with the smaller ones on paper, but they've slowed. Below is the only one from this week that I really like. I'm curious what other people think of it, because I think it's pretty close to the movement/distortion that I want to create.



I started a larger acrylic.



My tentative plan is to get it pretty close to where I want it, and then do oils over it for final touches. Acrylics are great for working fast and building up depth, but to me the vibrancy just isn't there, or maybe I just haven't figured out how to get it there. 

I built another stretcher bar, 40"x60", and will paint it the same way, starting with acrylics. So, officially, I have way too many paintings started and zero finished (excluding the little ones). It would feel really nice to finish one.

Timekeeping
Oils: 5 1/2 (okay, I went back for a minute)
Acrylics: 9
Grant proposal: 2
Wood shop: 3

Friday, November 4, 2011

The Breakup

Oil painting and I are officially on a break. We hope that with some time apart we may be able resolve our differences. Listen, it's not my fault that it's such a high-maintenance medium. Like, ERG, sometimes I swear . . .

In the mean time, I've taken this opportunity to see other media. Here are some small acrylic paintings I did this week. They are 7"x11" and on paper.




These can take me from 1 to 4 hours to paint, whereas an oil painting can take me . . .  Honestly I don't even know. An absurd amount of time. And I think you can see the freshness in these. You can see they were done quickly and there's something immediate about that that I like.

Also as a result of my break up with oil painting I've been drawing more.





I was really excited about this last drawing. I feel like it walks on that line between tenderness and something more sinister. Like you're not sure if what's happening is good or bad. That really interests me, because I think that's how life often is, or that's how relationships can be. They're more complicated than how they're sometimes categorized. Life isn't good or bad. It's both. I always find it contradictory.

Timekeeping:

Figure Drawing : 1.5
Oils: (before the break up) 3 
Drawing: 5.5
Acrylics: 10
Grant Proposal: 0.5