Painting out west- Rio Grande/ Mexico

Time-of-day painting

We've been painting still lifes in my class at theartdepartment.org. I've been really into observing light at different times of day, and so I was excited by our assignment to paint the same object twice, but in different lighting.

So, I took to the top of the street, and painted our rusty, old fire hydrant. Once, as it looked at sunset, and again, in the early morning.

Honestly, I'm really not happy with the result, but this is supposed to be a progress blog, so here it is. Too yellow, clumsy brushstrokes, and I rushed the drawing, so I really struggled with painting the hydrant's ellipses once the paint got fat. I'm on to the next project, but I'll be back to this topic.

Still Life

Abstract Brush Play

Having some fun with what I've learned.

Back to Basics- Brushstrokes

Week one of painting class at the art department.org. We've been taking it back to step one- paint consistency and brushstrokes. The black wood trapezoid was actually one of my "brushes".
So was a 3 inch paint scraper, a stick, and a Q tip.

What a blast.

Captain America at Dawn

I think Captain America is my favorite Marvel Character. At first, I thought the chain mail armor was lame, but if you consider its weight, I think the added momentum would be nasty. He'd be like a human cannonball. Never you mind that parachute costume in the movie. This guy's heavy. Smash yo face. Bust yo teef.

Painting at Concept Art.org's Austin Studio

Trying to raise my painting game a little, I'm taking a digital/traditional painting class from The Art Department.org. They have an Austin studio, and I went there to paint on Saturday. Acrylic paint sketch from life drawing session.

Still here...

Oil Self Portrait

A collector came across a self portrait I did, and asked if they could include it in their upcoming painting show on portraits. I began to explain the image was painted in photoshop, and that I had no physical painting.

We had a brief conversation on digital paintings and wacom tablets, but after I cleared up the confusion, I quickly thought better of sticking with this topic of conversation.

"Yeah, sure. Of course you can have it for your show."

Then, broke out my oils, and went to town on an "analog" version.

I wanted to experiment with thick paints, and practice applying them with a palette knife and big brushes. However, I also needed the piece to dry fast.

After a trip to the art store, I discovered something new- Liquin Impasto. It's a thick jelly that not only acts as a drying agent, but also grows the amount of paint. Perfect if you want a thick passage of paint, but don't want to use up a tube of Cadmium Red getting there.