apropos!

I was just introduced to the work of Jonathan Green, I think, a southern blend of Ben Shahn and Jacob Lawrence.

final progress

Obviously these still have quite a ways to go...  I like the idea of keeping them monochromatic-ish within each one, aside from the brown sack.

week 12

First new one start. I really like how this is going so far. It's actually getting closer to some of what I was attempting in my mixed media 1-on-1 DS last semester, but on a larger scale.

Also I did several layers on the third in the Gucci series!

 

Sarah: You could stop right here and this would be enough. But I know you won't - and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 Sarah:This is a great trio. The colors are surprising but absolutely coherent.

These are getting quite fantastic. As usual, adding them up really gets to the core of the thing. The new piece is great just as it is but I really want to see what happens next.
I love the colors. They are surprising and complex, and, while you would never expect these from a fashion spread, they feel like they belong to a fashion "story". They are dark, moody and oddly glam.
S

me:
I'm learning that doing multiples is just where MY thing happens. It's never about a thing, it's about everything in relationship to everything else. The relationships are what is important to me: the thing to the whole, the thing to the other things, the elements within the thing.

I'm very affected by trend analysis. This week Ali, my fashion design instructor said I "have special talent at trending things" and again like Monk, I say it's a gift and a curse. It moves through me. I am aware of it but it is bigger than my consciousness. I'm a slave to it, but I'm not afraid of ruining it so I push it to a place that's not obvious, intentionally.

These (project 3) are Gucci. DEFINITELY GLAM! Glam is in.

On the new one, I had the same instinct to stop. It's made me nervous to start again. I think I need to just bust out some others so I can figure out what I want out of it more. I may need to use the brown bag more, a lot. I never get bags so I have to go looking for them. But use them intentionally, as a symbol of consumerism, but also a neutral flesh tone/cohesive texture/large plane of paper to illustrate with. Richard Carlyon comes to mind a little, though his bag is fully covered with paint, and stapled on.


He was the head of the VCU art department before he died. I feel him here I like felt the BMC in Asheville, and why I LOVE NYC! Art leaves residue in place.

Sarah:
Your thing is the thing.
On the other side of glamour, these make me think of Joan Brown:

 


me:
ooooooooooooooooh I'm madly in love with this.!!!!!

I've never heard of her, In some of her work she's like an older school version of SF artist, Ursula O'Farrell, (whose work I saw when I was there and then googled and is represented by the same gallery as my favorite living artist Brian Rutenberg) But there are definitely Katz and Dine ties as well. Even Shahn and I wouldn't even hesitate to say maybe a deeper Rouault influence. Even a touch of Hopper though less related to the environment, His figures are a relatively small element of the whole, ours are portraits specifically centered on the subject "person", not the scene.

week 11

It may not look like I did that much work this week but cutting these boards down with my hand saw took a lot of time and energy. I enjoyed it though. Using hand tools makes me feel like a badass!

  

Sarah's reply:

This IS a lot of work - and the colors are fantastic. I almost want you to leave them like that. But that would be like Ann Appleby and you aren't like her.:)
S

10.2

I haven't gotten a chance to work ask much as I wanted to this week, it was kind of hectic, but I do feel like this pink one is pretty much done. I did refine it quite a bit.  I may come back to after i do a few more, but i added the papers.

I obviously ditched the mouth on the darker one and I like it better but now it needs more. I may abandon the photos now and make it a little more interesting for myself, a little more playful. I really like the glasses in the other one so I may go to that as an element to help it out. The bottom half still has some compositional issues to get it "right"but it's too wet to do anymore tonight, oh and it's due in 20 minutes....

I got a piece of wood but I haven't cut it down yet for 6 more.

i like the composition, colors patterns more in the pink. I'm going to wait to drastically overhaul the composition on the dark one to see if maybe the other compositions help bridge the gap.

I'm actually having fun with these and was disappointed to not have as much time to work on them as I'd planned. But this week should be pretty normal, my boss is back from vacation!

10.3 final project ideas

I've been working on this giant project over the past few weeks. In the fall mice got into the the fabrics stash and pooped all over it, so i've been washing it a little at a time and folding it and purging MAJOR. Yay Freecycle. Most of my fabric was given to me anyway. So As i was folding up the most recent batch of yardage there was some fun 3d fabrics that i wondered what it might be like to partially paint over. So for the last project I will do at least one completely original fashion portrait using a bunch more media. I like the other project in its less media-ness. But I want to push it with the more. I'm going to do it on the same scale as the other small one (15.5"x 18") and continue making more of those along side this new more media and original "look". 

to begin I think I'll do some drawing along side choosing materials. I don't thing those steps can happen sequentially, it's more simultaneous in my process, or back and forth.

9.4 project 3 cont

Current state of the 2 so far. This week I plan to keep adding layers to these but start 1-3 more. I like where they are but i think they are far from done. I'm not exactly sure where I'm taking them but once I get a few more going them I can create more variation in technique.I think i work best when I have a lot of the same-ish things going one. I can more fully explore. I was lucky to learn that early, but sometimes I forget.

15.5"x18". acrylic on wood.