Category Archives: New Work

New Work

New Work Reveal – On My Mind

My new piece ended up coming together rather quickly. I’m guessing it was due to a combination of the sudden dismal weather over the last couple days and also on and off feeling like I was coming down with something and being low on energy over the last week or so. Neither of these occurrences are fun, but they did force me to have lots of sit-down, indoor time when not at work which certainly upped my art production. Like the last conceptual portrait I did, I wanted this piece to be mixed media so I could use the artistic medium best suited for each part of the composition. I ended up using prismacolor pencil for the portrait, acrylic for the space scene, watercolor for the background, and fabric for her dress – the star print was just too perfect. I added some embroidery detail around the figure at the end to finish it off and really highlight the figure and bring her into focus despite her subtle, lighter tones. I found the inspiration photo first, and then built from there. I love finding interesting bits and pieces of inspiration in the unexpected. One wouldn’t expect a piece of art to spring from a blurred antique photo with poor lighting of a girl holding her head sulking as if she has a headache. But, I saw that photo and instantly thought of a heaviness or vastness she must be holding inside her mind. Hence, the universe concept. I wanted to add art nouveau detailing because I’ve never done an art nouveau inspired piece, and it is truly one of if not THE absolute favorite design period of mine. I knew the iconic swirling, rounded patterns would be perfect to compliment the outer space motif. I’ve actually been remembering to take progress photos to some extent. I’ll get the hang of this blogging thing yet ;).

Initial portrait shading finished, and just filled in the space scene with acrylic.

Initial portrait shading finished, and just filled in the space scene with acrylic.

Adding the art nouveau detailing by filling in the pencil outline with metallic gold acrylic.

Adding the art nouveau detailing by filling in the pencil outline with metallic gold acrylic.

Darkened some of the shading on the figure to balance the dark areas of deep space and the moon phases pattern, and added layers of metallic watercolor to the background. Also detailed some constellations over the watercolor.

Darkened some of the shading on the figure to balance the dark areas of deep space and the moon phases pattern, and added layers of metallic watercolor to the background. Also detailed some constellations over the watercolor.

More layers of watercolor, the final embroidery design around the figure, and voila!

More layers of watercolor, the final embroidery design around the figure, and voila!

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New Work

New WIP, and Building An Army

I started a new conceptual portrait, this time involving stars and space imagery which I haven’t used a lot in the past – time to retire the flowers and forests for a bit. I am also going to be adding touches of art nouveau, one of my absolute favorite design periods. I’m not certain what main accent colors I will be using with the black and white as of yet, but I’m leaning towards navy and gold, we shall see. The tilted downward angle of the face is certainly more challenging then the classical head and shoulders portrait, but after much erasing, success! Even practiced artists are in love with erasers.

wip

When I need a break from the more technical, detailed work, I’ve been having fun growing my little army of wooden dolls – currently two strong. Who am I kidding, painting those tiny little clothing patterns and facial features on wood with a couple-hairs wide paint brush is still technical and detailed :P. I have always loved the simple cuteness of Japanese kokeshi dolls, and I wanted to try my hand at designing my own take on them. I figured wood would be easiest to paint with acrylics, so I perused the wood crafts aisle at Michaels after teaching a class one day and found 2 bags of shapes, one conveniently labeled “heads”, the other “bodies”. What luck! It doesn’t get much easier than that. Along with glue, I ran a heavy toothpick through the partial hole in the bottom of the head and the top of the body for extra support. This would be a really fun project to do with kids as well. You could even glue on small googly eyes, and some yarn for 3-dimensional hair, cut pieces of fabric or patterned paper to glue over the body, some small buttons down the front … the possibilities are endless. I will post pictures of their friends once I finish some more, promise! I will also keep you updated on the new portrait. Have a great start to the week everyone!

Pretty simple supplies ... it's all in how you decorate them!

Pretty simple supplies … it’s all in how you decorate them!

Two of my non-handmade modern kokeshi dolls

Two of my non-handmade modern kokeshi dolls

Each of them just has to have SOMETHING on her head. Yes, that is a real acorn on the left, brushed gold and sealed. I was on a hike and quite literally exclaimed to my boyfriend, "They look like mini hats!!!" and started frantically collecting as many as possible. I knew they would come to good use one day!

Each of them just has to have SOMETHING on her head. Yes, that is a real acorn on the left, brushed gold and sealed. I was on a hike and quite literally exclaimed to my boyfriend, “They look like mini hats!!!” and started frantically collecting as many as possible. I knew they would come to good use one day!

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New Work

New Work Reveal – Wonderland

I have been slowly adding to this piece over the last couple months. It went through some stages where I wasn’t really sure if I even liked it, but lo and behold, in the end I think it all turned out just fine :). I usually use only one or two shocking, bright colors in a piece at a time (with the exception of illustration/graphic design stuff when it calls for it) and never primaries like this, so I must admit the color scheme did freak me out a bit and I was sure for a moment that I’d made a terrible mistake. However, adding the dripping watercolor from the bottom to blend into the blurred figures in the background really tied it together. I wanted to use these “childlike” colors to reinforce the idea that we are seeing the environment through the eyes of the girl. This is also the reason why I made the drawn on windows on some of the buildings in the back simplified, and more “sketchy” and didn’t use a straight edge. This decision also greatly freaked me out at first. Apparently I don’t do a whole lot of “childlike” illustration. This was definitely something new, and it’s been a wild ride and I am pumped to move on to the next thing :). I really don’t know how some artists work on one piece for years, I’m always anxious to finish up and get on to the next big idea! I took in-progress photos this time, a first, and really must remember to do this more often.

WONDERLAND – 18×24 – COLORED PENCIL, INK, AND WATERCOLOR

Starting with the midtone shading of the skin ... I know I have mentioned before it's usually best to start with the background first. However, since I knew I wanted to do the background in ink, I reversed the process. Since primsacolor pencils are oil based, they provide a barrier so that the ink mess doesn't get all over the area where I want the figure. Sometimes you have to alter your process to best suit the materials, learned mostly through trial and error.

Starting with the midtone shading of the skin … I know I have mentioned before it’s usually best to start with the background first. However, since I knew I wanted to do the background in ink, I reversed the process. Since primsacolor pencils are oil based, they provide a barrier so that the ink mess doesn’t get all over the area where I want the figure. Sometimes you have to alter your process to best suit the materials. I’ve learned this mostly through trial and error.

Next on to the hair, and I did a little trial filling in the rabbits in color on her shirt ... still scared of the bright color!

Next on to the hair, and I also did a little trial of the color idea by filling in the rabbits on her shirt … still scared of the bright colors!

Decided to fill in black behind the pattern on her shirt to balance the dark areas in the composition, and also to "anchor" those darn rabbits to something! I also inked in the blurred figures rushing by in the background, softened the edges with water, bleeding the ink.

I decided to fill in black behind the pattern on her shirt to balance the dark areas in the composition, and also to “anchor” those darn rabbits to something! I also inked in the blurred figures rushing by in the background, softening the edges with water, bleeding the ink.

Added more color by putting a pattern on the lapel of her jacket, and began rendering the cityscape in the background in ink.

I added more color by putting a pattern on the lapel of her jacket, and began rendering the cityscape in the background in ink.

Buildings inked in!

Buildings inked in!

Further developed shading on the skin where needed to have harmony with the values of the background, dripped colorful watercolor up from the bottom of the composition, and chalked dark clouds over the background to recede it further back, and draw the eye to the figure. I believe it is now finished :).

Last, I further developed the shading on the skin where needed to have harmony with the values of the background, dripped colorful watercolor up from the bottom of the composition, and chalked dark clouds over the background to recede it further back, and draw the eye to the figure. I believe it is now finished :).

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New Work

Bringing The Inside Out – Exploring Conceptual Portraits

Spring seems to be the time for exhibitions, and with many deadlines coming in mid-February, I’ve been going into hyper-drive to get pieces finished and ready. This past year has been all about conceptual portraiture. My drive to expose the subject’s thoughts and emotions through visual cues outside of themselves  came in part from my interior design study in college, where visual cues in the external environment are key, and part from a conversation I had with one of my best friends coupled with my overactive imagination. We were both at different colleges, and she had had a particularly stressful couple of weeks and was unloading over the phone because that’s what best friends do. One thing you have to know about me, as people talk, I get these vivid little reels of what they are describing playing in my head. It doesn’t mean I’m daydreaming and not listening, it’s just how my brain works. I immediately got this image of her overstuffed brain protruding from out of the ripped open top of her trademark top hat, with other random objects and various debris springing out everywhere. I told her, she burst out laughing, and we went on with our evenings. I made a concept sketch the moment we got off the phone, for future reference.

After doing a series of portraits in which visual manifestations of the subject’s emotions literally burst out of or hovered over the top of their heads (wouldn’t that make life far less more of a guessing game as far as relationships are concerned?), I began to think more about how not only literal objects but also the more subtle use of color and all over pattern could communicate about the subject’s mental state. If one’s emotions covered them like a fabric, what would it look like?

Today, my portraits are a combination of these earlier ideas. I used photos I’d taken of friends before, but now I’ve gotten really into using vintage photographs as references instead, because not knowing the people at all allows me to start with a blank slate and gives me more freedom to invent my own stories about them. Photographs of my girls are being taken, and jpegs sent or framed work dropped off to the various locations for jurying, so wish me luck in the next couple of weeks! If you’d like to see more portraits, check out my website (there is even one MAN portrait! – those of you who know me and my work know how rare this is). Prints are also for sale here!

Overaccumulation of Stimuli, Prismacolor Pencil, 2010 - The portrait that started it all.

Overaccumulation of Stimuli, Prismacolor Pencil, 2010 – The portrait that started it all.

Fight Or Flight, Prismacolor Pencil, 2011 - Through studying interior design, constructing environments for people, you learn that color and pattern SPEAK, and can affect the psychology of those who live in it (and the psychology of the viewer who looks at your art!)

Fight Or Flight, Prismacolor Pencil, 2011 – Through studying interior design, constructing environments for people, you learn that color and pattern SPEAK, and can affect the psychology of those who live in it (and the psychology of the viewer who looks at your art!)

Hopeful, 11x14 Prismacolor Pencil

Hopeful, 11×14 Prismacolor Pencil

The Peacock, 11x14 Prismacolor Pencil

The Peacock, 11×14 Prismacolor Pencil

A World To See, 11x14 Prismacolor and Mixed Media

A World To See, 11×14 Prismacolor and Mixed Media

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