JK LOLZ this one is

SUPER SENIOR'S LAST PAINTING OF COLLEGE CAREER JDFSNIUDGBERGHBJFDG

GRANDDADDY

Critique with Rachel #2

SO- Critique this past Friday went really well.  I began using richer, more vibrant colors in my landscapes and it is being received well.  It has been agreed that I am beginning to make "juicier" paintings that are more interesting to look at.  Initially I decided I wanted to show the majority of my paintings for the BFA show, however, it was agreed that since my paintings are so busy, that may be such a good idea.  I need to have a marginal amount of space between each of my paintings which will allow my audience to really take them in.  The obstacle now is figuring out WHICH of my paintings I want to include.  Other than that, I believe it will be smooth sailing the rest of the semester.  The last painting I have been working on is of my grandfather.  I hope I like it enough to include it in the show since he is sort of the basis around my series.  I've had my ideas and work pretty put together this whole year so I'm amped I'm not in super stressed mode.  

LISA FRANK MODE

blah blah blahhhh I feel like a Mel Bochner painting

Just completed this painting.  I've been working on two other larger paintings that aren't complete yet, so I'll show them some other time.  I'm trying to bang out as many boat/landscape/beach/whatever paintings as possible so I have a wide array to choose from for the show... I plan on showing a series of paintings and the more I have to choose from the better (I think).  

This guy is one of the more "loose" paintings I have done.  It has a different feel from my previous works in both color scheme and style.  I don't particularly like this painting because it feels very gray or drab, but it adds variation to my series which is a plus.

Here's a close up of my evil boat painting.  It's starting to come together

BFA II Critique with Rachel #1

    So my critique for the first round with Rachel went well.  Everything that was said about my work I had heard before from last semester.  I need to start mixing color more and re-work the sky in the painting of my grandmother's destroyed house.  Everyone kept saying that my composition and framing in each of my paintings was expected and very traditional.  All visual information was perfectly framed by the edges of the canvas.  I decided I should make a change for my next painting.  I have adapted a more interesting composition that continues off of the canvas.  I also began using a less graphic and "blocky" approach to putting down shape and color.  I am using mostly cadmium reds in a sort of pointillistic way.  I like what is happening so far- it is my most powerful piece yet (I think).  It is the farthest stretch AWAY from a pretty boat painting.  It has a sort of infested or moss-like feel to it.  I kinda like it.  I can still be more loose, however- this is something I think I will always struggle as as an artist.  Hanneline suggested I use the darkest parts of my painting in a manner that is completely opposite of what "makes sense".  I tried inverting darks and lights by making the darkest moments in the painting the most RED.  It's weird, but I think it may become something interesting.  I think for my next piece I am going to switch it up and do something figural.  I have an old photo of my grandfather when he was a fisherman.  It is a very centralized photo but has a definite mood about it.  He is clearly caught of guard with a cigarette in mouth and gloves on hand.  I think it may sort of tie together or allow my thesis to come full circle?  Who knows... I'll just have to try it out.  TOODLES!        

Studio Journal Entry#9

What I did to my parents' bathroom

So for drawing class we had to "extend line out into the environment", so i decided to make a grid out of my parents' bathroom.  It was pretty funny, and it also kinda pissed my parents off :O).  I think it sort of transformed the space in a way- it turned something so "homey", like a bathroom in a house, into a sort of industrialized, structural, formal space.  WOOoOOOoooooo0oooo0o0o

I'm gonna stretch a new canvas and work on it this week- FINALLY.  This is the busy part of the semester so I don't have as much time to produce as I did in September.  No excuses, though.  

I've been looking at Cessily Brown lately.  I really like her in a weird way.  I figure she's a good artist to be looking at when doing landscapes in the style I am ultimately aiming for.  Some of them have a stamp-like quality which reminds me of my use of paper towels as a sort of paint brush.  I get a destruction vibe from her paintings.  The majority of them have a centralized, sort of cluster of paint that is very abstract.  You are still able to recognize the painting as a landscape, but the finer details are lost in her brush strokes.  I really appreciate how simultaneously descriptive and NON descriptive her paintings are.  This is something I could work towards for my next painting.  This is the picture I want to work from next, and I think looking toward Cessily Brown is a great reference for me: 

  

This is my grandma's house after the hurricane.  I really need to plan this out and really consider the surface of my canvas and the manner in which I paint.  

Cessily Brown

I read this article about Brown online to get a better feel for who she is as an artist.  It's called "The Aura of an Expanded Painter", by Nicola Trezzi. Here's the link: 

http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=268&det=ok&title=CECILY-BROWN

I like the fact that her paintings "represent a fragment of a more complex situation".  With painting, you don't always have to be completely representational.  This is something I am battling with.  I can give just a litttlllee bit of information without revealing the whole.  Does that make sense? probably not.  Essentially, I think I can convey my point by just exposing a fragment of my "complex situation" (or overall thesis idea...).  

GOALS

Get on with it.