I'm currently working on a large 42" x 65" oil + acrylic painting for my Life Painting class with Professor Reed. It's an allegorical painting, one that has lots of messages, only to be revealed by long stares and pondering.
The picture to the left is where this painting stood quite early in the process. Alongside the painting I am also working on a video of the different stages this painting has been through on its journey from blank canvas to layered colors.
There has been a lot of exploration on this piece. I have overcome thinking of these paintings as being delicate and that has really helped me make bold decisions and not be so tentative about things. I've painted over things, sanded paint away, painted and repainted the same elements many times over. The canvas is much more hardy than paper and can take a great deal more abuse.
On the in-class side of Life Painting we are on day 5 of an 8 day pose that includes two models, standing next to each other. One of them holds an egg, the other a cube, and they share a string between their open hands. I've been working on a glazed painting of them and today at 2 I will be headed up to work on that some more. The in-class paintings, the 2 we've done and the 1 we are working on now, are turning out pretty well. I am not too excited about their end result but I have learned an amazing amount about approaching the canvas to paint a model, the underlying structure, the importance of line, composition, and anatomy, and the reflectivity of color. I have been unable to make what I have learned really shine in the in-class paintings but all that experimenting is really paying off in the out-of-class Allegorical painting.
I'm also working on some small portraits of the people I'm surrounded by here in Savannah. I painted Kelsea's portrait yesterday, it was quite successful in terms of color mixing. I ended up bringing all the wrong colors down to the house yet I was still able to manage pulling of a nice skin tone that really suited her. I can feel my color mixing skills improve every time I start squeezing tubes of paint.
It's getting easier to see the world as it is and not how I think it was or should be. And I'm not talking specifically about painting. Improve in one area, improve in all areas. I believe that to be very true. The skills I'm learning in painting that help me differentiate the rivers of shadow and temperature of the lights are seeping into the social qualities of my life. The ability to exaggerate small perceptual changes has been helpful not just for creating an illusion on a canvas but also for interacting with the variety and depth behind
