New Work in Progress

Above is an underpainting for one of my newest large-scale paintings. It is 4'x4' and on wood panel. This painting depicts an actual event that occurred recently. After my children promised that they would bring their winter toys in after playing outside in the snow, our snow-blower had a very frustrating encounter with their sled. As of now this painting is entirely black and white. However, once dry I will be glazing with color as with my previous painting. One of my goals with this painting was to make the black lines really stand out. I want the lines to be bold and clear so that the audience know that leaving the lines was fully intentional. I am planning on leaving figures out of this painting and only including my children by showing what they have left behind. 

This is a rough sketch for my next large-scale painting. It is the view up the stairs of my house, with my daughter above and her toys tossed down the stairs. I had envisioned this piece to be very large, the largest that I have done so far. Originally this painting was started on a 4'x7' wood panel. However, after realizing that it would be difficult enough to get this piece out of my studio, never mind into my car, I had to come up with a different idea. I will now be re-doing this painting on a piece of loose canvas that will be stapled onto the original wood panel. This way I will have the hard surface of the wood but will also be able to un-staple the canvas and roll it for easier transportation. More pictures of this piece will follow once I get it onto the canvas. 

One Step Further

I made the decision to push this painting one step further by glazing a third coat. By making the couch even brighter, as well as glossy, I feel that the sleeping figure finally becomes the focal point. Once this coat is dry I plan on going over the black lines one last time. Hopefully then I will finally be able to put this painting aside.  

Experimenting with Glazing

Part of my plan for this semester is to experiment with different ways to continue to use black. I have decided to first try glazing color over an entirely back and white painting. For my first attempt with this I have chosen to use a black and white painting from last semester. I enjoyed the glazing process and am pleased with the results.

 Before

After

Changes to Last Semester's Work

I have started off this semester by making some minor adjustments to some of my paintings from last semester. I decided to make these changes based on feedback received at the residency. 

For this painting I simply added more white around her eyes in order to help them stand out. Previously her eyes were lost when this painting was viewed fro a distance. 

It was suggested for this painting that since I had black outlining in many areas, it would make sense to also have the outlining on the edges of the walls in order to separate them from the rest of the space. This can be seen best in the close-up image on the left.

January 2015 Residency - All Work

                        

 

                                                    

Completed Work

One of the last of my finished pieces this semester and the only piece done entirely in black and white. The image on the right is a close-up of the child sleeping on the couch. The child was completed using a palette knife while everything else was just by brush. I feel that the fast-appearing brush strokes give the room a sense of energy that it would not have otherwise, considering the figure is meant to be sleeping. 

 

Small Works

Some of my completed smaller works - paint sketches.