Head Painting: Week 11

This week I tried to merge my usual style/method with the thicker painting stuff I'd been doing the week before.  I agree with my teacher that the paintings just look a little nicer and more professional when they have more paint on them.  I really enjoy this method, and I'm going to keep working on completely getting the hang of it.

I tried to stay a little more loose with this first one, and then I tightened it up on the second one. We've also still been playing around with the double, contrasting-temperature light sources.

I only had just over 2 hours for this one instead of the normal 3-- there's more I would have liked to do with it but I ran out of time!

Head Painting: Week 10

This week I decided to force myself out of my comfort zone and TRY SOMETHING NEW! My teacher's biggest recurring suggestion for me is to "put more paint on the canvas".  My paintings tend to be pretty thin and flat (which is more comfortable for me).  Also-- oil paint is expensive! But Brother Barrett says to "paint like a rich person"-- don't skimp on the amount of paint you use.  I finally decided to throw hesitation to the wind and pile the paint on (well... it seemed like a lot of paint to me).  I was actually rather pleased with how it turned out too!

I also decided to try direct painting for the first time.  Instead of doing a whole drawing underneath and then painting it in, direct painting means just building everything up as you go.  It was scary not having a drawing to reference, but it turned out alright. :)

Look at that thick paint!

I kept doing the same sort of thing for the second painting for the week, but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. But overall this week was a really good learning experience!

Head Painting: Week 9 (plus some figure drawing)

We kept going this week with the contrast of two, conflicting-temperature light sources.  This time it was a bright red light instead of yellow.  It was tricky and my paintings didn't turn out quite the way I wanted.  Oh well! You win some, you lose some. :)

The light from both sides was pretty dim and I struggled with keeping the painting low-key and not having a distinct light/dark side.

The lighting was a little more straightforward with this one (brighter light on one side) and I think I did a little better with it

I also did some more figure drawing in Springville!  I LOVE FIGURE DRAWING.  That is all.  :)

Head Painting: Week 8

Last week we started some paintings with colored light and multiple light sources.  It got complicated really quickly.  Our model was lit from one side with soft, cool, natural light, and then lit from the other side with a hot, yellow-colored bulb.  Even though it was a bit mind-boggling I feel like I was able to figure it out pretty well and was happy with how it turned out! :)

Head Painting: Week 7 (aka Out-of-class Assignments)

Two weeks ago we had some guest artists come and lecture or do demos during class, so we didn't get any painting done ourselves.  But the artists were great!

Instead, I worked on the the three out-of-class paintings we had to do for our midterm.  We were supposed to use three specific palettes/techniques with each one.

The first one was done with only white, burnt sienna, and ultramarine blue.  I had a tricky time re-figuring out how to make this limited palette work.

The second painting was done with the "Zorn" palette (white, black, cad red, and yellow ochre).  After using this palette several times in class I feel like I was a little more comfortable with it.

The requirement for the third one was that we were supposed to paint it in black and white first, and then glaze the color over the top of it.  I've never attempted glazing before and had to youtube some demos to see what the heck I was supposed to do!  It was rough, but now I have a little experience so my next attempt should be better!

Figure Drawing!

I mentioned in the last post that I had a piece accepted to the annual BYU Figure Drawing show.  Here is the drawing that was in the show (the buff guy) as well as a gesture and a nude drawing that I've done recently.

This drawing was done when I went to an open figure drawing session in Springville