painting #2: Lauren's Diptych

I started the second one yesterday. Very different approach from the first one. It bothered me that the first one had too few sizeable chunks of color, however, this one has fewer "moments". I've been looking at a lot of Franz Kline, although by "a lot" I mean whatever one can find within five minutes of Google time.

work it.

I think its almost done. However, I need to get a lot of work done on the other, and make sure they still work as one piece. This involves starting the second one. Hah.
Some detail shots, all the same painting.

slow and steady wins the race

I found a four leaf clover I thought I might glue or paint in here, but then I forgot about it.

I think I'll try some glazing too? Or thinner layers anyway.

Also, Larger sections of color.

I need to paint a chair to get a sense of balanced color. Chair to be painted soon.

Project: experiment

Still working on the first painting, and really have been neglecting it. I think if I photodocument my progress, I'll feel less scared about changing it so drastically. And its all sorts of relaxing and nice, to just mix paint and put it where I feel at that moment it should go. So far, still using the palette knife, probably in aversion to the waste of paint that occurs when using huge brushes for one or two strokes, and then all the large brush washing..
If you're confused about the connection the previous image, I am turning the painting periodically until I see what's going on.
So I think its going to just continue like this for a while. Maybe I'll glue some stuff, and scrape off some. But uh, other than that, I'm kind of at a loss.
I have a list of 20th century art history books I need to choose from and..... learn all the Art History I've been avoiding.

ink washes and other experiments

Living in Philadelphia has proved so far, to be the right decision. My biggest fear was that I would not be inspired to make art. However, a friend of mine has commissioned me to paint two experimental paintings. We discussed specific artists and specific paintings, and her likes and dislikes. I gave her an idea about what I plan to try, and am being honest about that I have no idea how they will end up. I started the first one, and hope to change it every few days for the rest of the month. Will start the other one soon too, hopefully. State one:

I also did a painting of another friend of mine, of whom I took some reference photos a few weeks ago:

In other news, I took some screen-caps of my friend Aisha via skype a few weeks ago. I painted this last night as well.


So, all in all, not that bad. Let's keep it moving!

what to do?

I went to the Cezanne show at the PMA: it was great. It was inspiring, however I still don't know what my immediate artistic goals should be. I am determined to experiment for a bit, but I think some regimented life-studies will be good too. I have a moving image in my head as well, but... to create an animation? I think it loops, but its one of those things where if I try to put it on paper and fail, it'll be gone forever. What a fear!