Gerhard Richter Inspiration

 

My Iridescent Gold Deep (Fine) acrylic paint came out in this one as well.  Why I’m so fascinated with the night in the city… beats me.  Colors used where my comforting grays, black and white.  I used a touch of blue as well but did not want the piece to take on a completely blue hue so I limited the amount.  Gold was added to break up the neutrality in the piece.  This painting will actually go on one of our walls in our home.

Random - Night Thoughts

Gold again ;)  My love of the night showing in this… the ally scene used in the NYC piece came back in this one.  I walked around the Soho area and the dark alleys always made me curious.  Though, not curious enough to walk down… I’m not crazy. 

Final - Absinthe

For the final, I tried to touch on my fascination with Absinthe in this piece but it did not turn out the way I truly wanted it.  I will be attempting this again on my own time.  I need to work on the fluidity of the female body and become more familiar with painting glass/clear and metal objects.  The background is what I wanted but simply being comfortable with myself will get me to where I need to go.  As I’ve said before… time will tell. 

Abstract Nature

This was actually the first piece I had free reign on color selection.  I enjoyed that.  I am much more relaxed when I use colors my eye enjoys.  Gives me a pleasure I wasn’t sure I would obtain from painting.  I remembered envisioning a wooded area at night.  The street light (on the road actually) gave a golden hue to everything it touched.  This was the first time I realized that streetlights made everything gold and not yellow.  I purchased Iridescent Gold Deep (Fine) acrylic paint to bring true gold to this piece.  It was not the last time I used that tube of paint ;) 

Bodyless - Consumed Repast

I don’t believe I fully understood this assignment so I interpreted it as “things a person would use.  After coming home from Home Depot, I remembered a very ugly wall paper that I was told was for a dinning room.  I was hungry and that’s how I came up with this particular piece.  The colors I chose (apart from the wall paper) are colors I tend to flock to.  I realize that my color selections tend to be on the dark or neutral side but… that’s me.  I still have “shadowing” issues but I will keep working on that.  Time will tell. 

Still Life

Because I missed the still life class I choose to create one in my own home. This still life kept me calm for the most part.  I enjoyed using the brush strokes and the simplicity of the piece also kept me at ease.  I have to work on my shadow but the overall image came out exactly as I envisioned.  Our window allows a very good amount of natural light.  We finished a bottle of wine the night before and I put it on the sill… voila.

Self Portaits

So this was interesting.  I don’t think of myself as a loser and rather not get tripped up into thinking to much of myself by classifying me as a “hero.”  The collage is a face with a Mohawk but the faces used are from a law school magazine… very boring.  I thought it would be interesting to use the mundane and spice it up.  The second piece (which will not rotate for the life of me) is me… no make up; no powers…  I think a hero is simply themselves (and hopefully caring and nurturing).  I choose to do a realistic rendition of myself because it does show the opposite of the other piece.  I actually like both. 

Still Life and Double Portrait (part1)... and Overall thought of Class

Because of time constraint, I could not complete these assignments.  As a beginner, it takes me two to three hours to complete a painting because 1) I am unsure of the basic skills required to complete the task and 2) am still learning how to interpret my ideas onto the canvas.  Everything takes me twice as long as I believe it should because of my simple lack of now-how.  

Sketchbook entries have definitely suffered because of all this as well.  100 full page sketches (due by December 6th) that must be allotted 30 minutes each will cause a strain on time.  100 sketches over 12 weeks, is a little over eight sketches per week.  That means that in one week, a minimum of four hours must be committed to just sketching for this class.  These four hours is on top of the paintings and museum visits I am required to do/attend.  

I did not realize that quantity would be more important in this class that quality.  I have never received so many tasks in a beginners or intermediate art class in my entire academic career.  I find it unfortunate that I do not have the opportunity to practice more.  Instead I must move on to the next assignment without understanding the last and also find time to visit museums/galleries and post blog entries on every single task I am required to do.  After this experience, I will not be taking the intermediate painting class.  This class has put a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Impressionist/ Pointillist Painting

I can definitely say without any doubt at all, that the pointillist style is not for me.  I am too impatient to use this absolutely tedious technique.  Not only did this assignment require that only primary and secondary colors be used, each brush stroke was not a stroke at all but a dot.  I am not sure if I have executed the technique correctly because we were not taught how in class.

By the end of the painting, I felt like I had carpal tunnel and had to rest my wrist for an hour.

Art-in-NY Exquisite Corpse

Art-in-New York in FA11 - Image #1

My understanding of what I was required to do for this piece is still cloudy but I tried to follow the instructions given to me as best I could.  I chose not to use all of the elements from the image assigned to me.  Though it is clear that the piece I was given was a form of surrealism, my beginners "status" lead me to believe that simplicity was best in order to show what I thought the piece represented.

One of the images drawn in the middle (top-right) of the picture plain reminded me of a discarded washing machine.  I thought, “where would I find the other random elements… in one place?”  An ally way with dumpsters jumped into my mind and I chose to paint exactly that.  My final result was a night scene in an ally. 

Guggenheim: Lee Ufan - Marking Infinity

Photo from Artnet.com

Reading and understanding Lee Ufan’s background aided in my understanding of the spirituality of his works.  I agree that his work does represent spirituality… in its simplicity and material use.  But it took quite some time for me to acknowledge that.  I realized long ago that my mind is not use to abstract art and I have a hard time accepting what I see.  Brush strokes and strategically placed pillows, stones, cotton and sheet metal do not excite my senses.  I am not entirely against abstract pieces but without the reading material posted by each piece in the Lee Ufan exhibit, it took me quite some time to digest what I saw, acknowledge and accept it.  

September 11 Exhibits: LaGuardia vs. MoMA P.S.1

Photo from MoMA P.S.1

Certain subjects are simply not easy for me to explore.  Death, abuse, mutilation and other sad depressing images and ideals take a toll on me.  That said, the exploration of the September 11th exhibits at both LaGuardia Community College and MoMA P.S.1 were quite difficult to view but I came away with more field research experience and a new favorite art piece.  I enjoyed the MoMA exhibition a great deal more than the LaGuardia exhibition but both were very interesting.  I believe it was the size and scope of certain pieces in MoMA P.S.1 that won me over.  One of my favorite pieces was Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty-Part Motet."  This piece is more “audio” than visual.  The music of Thomas Tallis's 1575, Spem in alium is played though 40 standing speakers circled around a large room with a white background.  The lack of color in the room helps enhance the listeners experience by allowing them to focus on the sounds they hear without visual distractions.  I found myself wrapped up in the beauty of the piece.  I think when my fiancé and I purchase a home we should create a room with surround sound like that!

From the Floor blog site - Todd Gibson on "The Forty-Part Motet 2005

Other works by Janet Cardiff

P.S. There are no photos allowed in MoMA P.S.1

First Post

First post.  I hope this thing works.