Oh, painting, How I hated Thee...

I've mentioned before that one of the things I tried working on this past semester whilst painting was staying loose. Another, even more difficult, practice was to keep working on a painting through the stages of "God, that looks awful", "Ugh, I hate this", and "What the hell am I doing?"

This is one such painting.

This was the last in-class painting for my figurative painting class. We had five weeks and it was to be our best painting of them all! Granted, I missed one class but even with four weeks this painting frustrated me more than any other painting the entire Spring semester. I re-started this three times. The only reason I didn't re-start it a fourth was because I was running out of time and worked through the hatred.

And I'm glad I did. Granted, the composition I still dislike. It doesn't utilize the space of the canvas and continually frustrated me. However, it's what I learned while painting that was worthwhile. Working through frustration and dislike of a painting or drawing is almost always beneficial because I learn what it is that's bothering me and try to work a way around it. Compositionally, with this one I tried accommodating for my terrible placement with texture and color in the negative space.

Working on this further and not starting over also allowed for me to develop the skin tones and plane changes more than I would have been able to if I scrapped it and started anew. I like how the breast and shoulder turned out. Also, I think I captured the cool light on one side and the warm on the other pretty well. I'm not sure had I started over that I would have had time for these nuances.

Do I love this painting? No. Is it my favorite of the semester? No. But I did learn a lot while painting, the best being how to deal with my frustration and work through it. This is super helpful because in case you don't know me well, I tend to get frustrated frequently and with ease. It's a work in progress.

Also, I'd like to note I didn't post Friday... sorry about that. Hence this Tuesday post. Also, I have a super awesome friend visiting me tomorrow and staying for a week, so I'm doubtful that I'll have time to post anything until next Friday.

Have a great week, everyone!

Transient

Today's post: "Transient" painting in process to completion!

Underdrawing.... I only did underdrawings with the brush this past semester to force myself to keep loose and not get hung up on the drawing. However, I still want to experiment with a detailed, rendered drawing and painting over it... but I suspect I need a re-work varnish. Anybody know for sure?

Happy accident! So, I was cleaning my brushes when I accidentally flicked one and some of the cleaning solution/turpentine hit the wet paint. Oh, shit! Wait a minute... I really like that. A technique was uncovered! I'm still in love with my drips and splatters as textures, but understand I need to experiment with my control and use of them. I think using the turpentine to create them and then layer color over them (sometimes not) helps create a greater sense of texture than just the ink splats I've always been so fond of.

Underpainting complete! Kinda creepy... which, of course, means I'm into it.

Glazed color...

Stage it was in right before the last session. Empty eyeball socket really enhances that creep factor.

And final! I still need to sign it and varnish the painting, but it's mostly complete.

I really like how this painting turned out and a lot of people enjoyed it at the gallery show last week. I wanted to explore lost edges and had the concept of her being some sort of ethereal space woman in mind when painting. I think some of that emotion and mood came through in the final without having to become literal.

That's not to say there won't be space paintings coming your way in the future.

That's right. Paintings of chicks in space. It's happening.

Painting through Indigestion Brings About

Voila! Another in-class painting. This was just one week of painting for me since I missed a class and then the model was gone, so only about 3-5 hours of painting from start to finish. Top that with extreme indigestion and feeling a whole lot like ass, and I was sure this painting was going to be just an exercise and look just like how I felt. Funny things can happen, though, when you are distracted or let yourself go. I think, especially for being a one class painting, this turned out very well. Despite my constant feeling of assness. Go figure.

He has a very detective pose and I like the colors and overall color harmony that turned out...

What are those? Hands?! Hands that don't exactly resemble mere mittens? Accented by a drip texture... mmm.....

Have a good Wednesday, everyone!

Blue Nude

Today's post is an in-class painting. This was done over three weeks (which I didn't miss out one class on! Score!)

Both warm and cool, with that hotspot of a FP, this painting was a lot of fun to paint. I also had some specific spots where I really tried to express the depth within the figure and space.

The best damn feet I've painted yet, despite the problems they were determined to give me.

mmm... focal point...

Have a great weekend, guys!

Beyond

Another painting finished! I like how this one turned out, especially with the texture of the underpainting showing through the color. I was going for ghostly detective woman Chelsea Rasmussen!

Laying down the lineart and placement. I've been forcing myself to do this part with the brush this semester in attempts to stay loose. However, I saw on Dan Dos Santos' blog that he does a pretty detailed pencil drawing under his paintings... and it just looks so delicious. If only I could pull that off...

Laying in those darks

Underpainting complete!

Glazing color...

And complete!