Roadkill in Middle Earth, maybe. This was another one of the texture projects, and though it didn't come out really how I wanted it to, it's not that bad. I don't mind posting it here.

What was I even thinking with this...maybe a little of Howl's Moving Castle.

Okay it's been a little while since I updated here, let's keep going through the old stuff...This one was a texture exercise/assignment. I chose to look at an old Japanese shrine door that had this little iron charm on it. It was so cool, it was something I wanted to paint pretty directly from, without adding splashes or style or whatever. Just as it was. I know it's pretty gestural, but I like how it came out more than the other texture pieces.

Ah yeah, the time machine...this one didn't come out exactly as I'd planned, but not really...bad, I guess? It was a loose interpretation of a time machine in some ways, mostly to help feed my World War II obsession. But I liked the concept; scarab wings on a guy first off, but then they open to a working time travel gear? Niiiice. I think the color gets me the most on this one; I'll have to try and paint something else gold and red and see what happens.

I looked through some of my file today and realized that I haven't done a multiple image post since the very first one, so here's some studies and scraps. This first one was when we had mini painting sessions with the model Meg, who I normally don't thoroughly enjoy...but this one was on a good day. I felt experimental and maybe kind of bored, but hey, a kind of good result, yeah?


The second was an ink test on this one journal I hadn't tried before. Of some...person, some guy. I don't know, the colors came to me later and I really loved the way the ink bloomed into it.

Self portraits have always given me a little bit of trouble; it's not that I don't like to draw myself, I'm okay with that. But maybe it's more...I don't know what to be doing, or how to compose the piece so that it truly reflects ME. Somehow this made it seem easier to accomplish. I did some observational painting with it, for the items in the painting. It was alot of improvisation for everything else, and I just tried to let it come out as it would. I definitely had alot of time to think about myself, I was trapped painting in a closet the whole time!

I miss enjoying school assignments this much.

And old painting that I still find room in my heart for. I think this was a big turning point for me, as far as painting goes. I was finally free to paint in a way I liked while still learning to sculpt objects further and work with bouncing reflections in the glass. Jessie and I worked together to create all this, trying to fit the theme of 'True Blood'. I think we got this pretty well down!

Can't wait until the next season...anyways, I'll have some newer stuff on here soon.

I didn't even think about putting this one up, considering it's my header, but...here it is. I love this book called 'Milkweed', and as an assignment a few semesters ago, we had to remake a book cover. Instantly chose this one. I liked how the colors came out, and how the paper accepted medium, so I might use it again sometime. I haven't thought about it for a while, but...it would be cool to use this paper again.

I haven't been able to sketch things out lately; I'm worried that I won't be able to get anything good out at Savannah. Maybe it's just time for a change of sketchbooks. God, I don't know, I feel like I switch so often. Is it an inevitable waste of money?

This painting's finished. And I love it. I think after struggling for a while on deciding how to best interpret my love for this film...I think I finally found solid ground.

I think the connected disconnect between the characters was perfect for their jumbled relationship; the colors, the background...I'm just really happy with everything. Finally, the first painting I can be solidly happy about! I'm definitely getting influenced by the painters around me.

A study painting I did of the model Rachel. Her body was plump, but beautifully curved, and she had tattoos that, for some reason, no one was painting. I thought they helped to make up who she was. I've also heard about her backstory before she became a model and was inspired by that. I especially love THIS painting because it sort of depicts the idea that our models are just that, a nice body to paint, when they actually have all these little secrets to tell, a life of amazing tales. 

This is a portrait I finished for my watercolor class about a month ago; of course it has to do with the Holocaust, the Warsaw Uprising to be more specific. I'm carrying this Uri character over into alot of my drawings, doodles, paintings...everything. Something about him really intrigues me, like I need to make up this entire life for him, despite the fact that he dies young.

I definitely saw him as a part of the Polish Underground; he seems like the kind of kid that'd be pissed off about oppression.

Thinking about this character makes me think of what resistance means nowadays, and how futile and trivial it all seems, when all we need is to find an innovative way to send a message in order to change our social inequities.