painting of the week

Corey came over last night and studied for the LSAT while I painted a picture of him. I liked the painting the first 10 minutes but then it went downhill and I spent 30 more minutes trying to like it again. I was fairly unsuccessful. I do, however, feel productive knowing that I finished a painting. Even if I had been doing something else productive last night, it's nice having something tangible to show for my good use of time.

A painting a day is my ultimate goal, but for now I'm happy with a painting a week.

angel in georgetown

(20"x16") I took a few pictures of a neat, old cemetary in Georgetown last May and started this painting a few weeks later. It sat, half finished, in my art corner until a few weeks ago when a friend of mine saw it and told me how much he liked it. I was surprised at his reaction because I didn't like it much and had even considered painting over it. I decided if he thought it was that good I might as well spend a little more time developing it and, worse case scenario, I could always give it to him....sorry, I like it now so you can't have it.

I love trees

(24"x30") I've noticed I have a lot of paintings of trees and forests. What can I say? I like trees. This first painting was done from a photograph I took near Lehi, Utah (right next to Thankgiving Point). I used to drive past this tree a few times a week and I always made a point to slow down and look at it as I drove past. One snowy day I brought my camera and captured the bare branches standing out against the insanely gorgeous sky.



I love this painting because I did it in 15 minutes. I had been experimenting with oil paint on paper because I love how it soaks up the color and is so rich and intense (this photo doesn't quite capture it). I stopped home on my lunch break one autumn afternoon and the tree in our backyard was so beautiful I decided to drag my easel outside and do a quick painting of it. I already had the yellow/orange painted paper so I added the trees and rushed back to work. I've tried duplicating the spontaneity of this (ironic, I know) but haven't been successful.


(20"x20") I like to make fun of this painting by calling it my "magical tree." The original concept was not captured. In a college painting class we were told to do a painting that was symbolic. I wanted to indirectly depict the Tree of Life without making it obvious that's what I was trying to do....well I guess I succeeded in that part. I wanted it to look regal and illuminating but instead made it pink with sparkly pixie dust floating down from the branches. That's okay, it kind of looks like an illustration for a children's book and one of my past co-workers liked this painting so much she commissioned me to do some paintings of bunnies hopping around in a magical forest for her daughter's nursery....(I probably could have done without that commission).

self-portraits

These blue and pink paintings are abstracted self-portraits that I painted using a similar technique to blind contour drawing (except I allowed myself to pick up the pen). So basically, I looked in a mirror and drew myself without looking at what I was drawing (except glances to see if my pen was in the correct general area). This technique forces me to loosen up and just draw, without being pre-occupied about making the drawing accurate. It feels kind of liberating and I really like how they turned out. I especially like the blue one because I think it actually resembles me.


These three paintings were done from photographs I found of me and my sister when we were kids, playing with masks, hats and wigs in our front yard. I'm the little vampire.

This drawing was done for a college art class when my professor asked us to draw topographical lines on the self-portrait. I think it looks like I'm made of wood.