Bridesmaid

An accompanying piece for the show completed in a single marathon session stretching from 7AM-3AM. I think I would be happier with it if the first one hadn't turned out so well. It's not that I hate this one or anything; I just have a very average reaction to the final results.

Requiem, 60 x 60 cm
Acrylic on particleboard
Painted September 2010

At first I wanted to do something very strongly separate and even got so far as to introduce a vastly different background motif (somewhere between the 3rd and 4th stages seen below). But I just didn't like how it turned out and ended up painting over it.






If I wasn't pressing to meet a deadline, I would have liked to add a bit more tonal variation and subtle colour shifts. But at the end of that 20 hour shift I don't think I had either the motor skills or ocular focus to do so. Probably shouldn't have picked such a one-tone figure to paint either. Ah well. Bear it in mind for next time.

A Potent And Lethal Addiction

New painting for the show next week. Done in three days. It would've been quicker, too, but at one point the panel fell face first onto my palette. I'm hoping to get another larger piece done over the weekend.

Hurt, 60 x 60 cm
Acrylic on particleboard
Painted September 2010

It's a continuation of the old G.I. Joe series from last semester. Not only because they were so fun to paint, but because I feel like there's a lot more I can do with them. This is an early attempt at producing an image with something a little more interesting than a one-tone background.







My sister says it reminds her of "The Hurt Locker". Huh. Cool thought but I didn't make the connection until she brought it up.

Renovations

I've been meaning to make some changes to this blog for a while, simply in the name of visual clarity. This is just a placeholder until I have the time/drive to design my own banners and backdrops. Please bear with the minor tweaking that may or may not happen over the next couple of weeks.


In other news, I am partaking in a group show at the end of this month. So if you are in Sydney come on down and bring your richest and most gullible friends.

It's A Boy

Well, this was a pleasant change from all the wall textures and chain link fence. I'm generally more happy with the figure's upper body than I am with the legs, but overall I'm quite pleased with the results given that it was rendered almost entirely from my imagination (hence the inconsistent lighting effects).


It's a strange thing, but I suspect that all the technical emphases of our first year drawing and painting classes instilled a reliance on photographic references that I haven't been able to shake. Whereas prior to art school I could generally just draw freely from mind. I guess that's why it felt so nice to kind of ad-lib this little section (with more to come).


I still have to render about a dozen or so intertwined trailing characters in translucent glazes so this painting is far from done. Originally, I planned to do three panels, but I'll be fortunate to complete two. Volume of work is my biggest concern right now but I'd rather hand in one excellent painting than two or three half-assed pieces.

Tools Of The Trade

A snapshot of my painting table, complete with overused/abused paper palette and the two miniature brushes that I have rendered 85% of my painting with. No wonder it's taken so long.

Heavy Lifting

Behold the labours of the past two months. A bit depressing considering how little way I've come and how far I've yet to go. But it is the most layered and detail-intensive painting that I've ever attempted.






You can follow my overtly pedantic process from the buildings in back to the foreground wall to, most recently, the nightmare that was the chain-link fence. Incidentally, I absolutely hate rendering architecture.

p.s. For those that know it, yes, the imagery was referenced from La Cancha. I tried adding the "Ole" graffiti but it looked pretty terrible.

Wrong Side of the Bars

Courtroom sketches from a visit to Chelsea District Court in Boston earlier this year. Guess I forgot to post them at the time, but I just found them in an old notebook.




My favourite part was striking up a conversation with the guy next to me after he quipped, "Yo, you got mad skills," and then abruptly ending it when his name was called to be summoned before the judge.