I feel bad, but I really have not made that great of progress on my project so far because of the snowstorm leaving me unable to take the shot that I want for my project. I think that I may just end up using my brother, but I was really set on taking a photo with my friend Bella Grace on a sunny day and using her hand to cover her face and cause some sort of an interesting shadow effect that I could work with. Since I need to work on composition, I was thinking that I may do something with the arms outstretched on either side or even try a dynamic pose where the person is moving their arm above their hands. I have completely prepped my wood and shaved off all the rough edges, so this week will probably be just started the base layer and painting!
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I enjoyed listening to this interview so much! Mr. Ramsey explained how his childhood had always been around artists because his dad and mom were both artists, and his brother became a musician. He later went to VCU to get a degree with graphic design, but continued to maintain his passion for painting and drawing sketches. Later in his career when he got laid off from his job, he found his real passion for art and made it his entire job. It was very interesting to hear how he morphed his skills into a career and what truly motivated him every day to create new pieces that can be used as bird houses or cabinets.
It was funny to hear that his wife actually calls Mr. Ramsey with creative ADD because once he sees something he has a strong urge to create. In fact, many of his ideas are fluid in the sense that they all contribute to each other because he is constantly inspired and constantly changing his artistic vision. My favorite story in the interview was when he told Ria that he saw a sketch of an odd bike in a gallery and immediately decided to actually use metal and create the weird looking bike in real life. Many of Mr. Ramsey's stories about his growth as an artist resonated with me and inspired my own journey because of his positive attitude, relentless dedication, and unique outlook on what art can mean as a hobby and as a job. final picture: Disclaimer: I know I did this painting supppppper last minute, but it actually worked out for the better because the oil paint applied really well onto the wood. Before I began my actual painting, I had tried a bruneille underpainting but the gamsol did not cooperate with the smooth surface of the wood, so I decided to go straight onto the wood with the oil paint. I prepped my palette with raw umber, burnt sienna, and white and went from there! I'm surprisingly very happy with how this piece turned out. I learned that wood has a very different texture when you are actually applying the paint, and so you have to be more careful with the layers of paint. Also, it was hard to stay within the lines, so I began with the outline before each section. I have learned that my painting style is most successful when I work by section rather than all over, and I have to do it in one sitting in order to keep the same wet paint colors and have a consistent skin color throughout the portrait. Next time, I want to continue the same style and emotion I was able to capture on the wood. I also need to decide whether or not I want to add color for the jewelry or keep it blank. Yay!!!
Talked to coach about wood options and the problems I was having, and he suggested that I buy thicker wood and purchase matte acrylic medium in order to prep it for oils. At Lowes this time, I bought thicker maple plywood rather than skinny birch plywood and cut it into two pieces: 18x24 and 30x24. I also bought a matte acrylic gel from Hobby Lobby which I will use to paint onto my panel before I start the oil painting process. After that layer dried, I drew on the basic sketch of ria's face and tried (and failed) to do a bruneille underpainting.
Since I plan to work on wood, and after my interview with Stanley on Thursday, I've decided that I will take on a monochromatic theme so that I can focus more on value rather than skin color. Instead of simply choosing a picture from my photo album, I also decided to carefully choose the composition and pose for my portrait. I drove to Ria's house and tried out a bunch of pictures, but decided that this was the best composition and shot:
I've decided that I am going to do this project in wood, and so I went out to Lowes and bought a piece of birch panel for myself to use, however once I arrived home, I realized that it was far too skinny and too wide for it not to warp. Then I tried to use an experimental swatch of oil paints and after doing some research, I realized that it was swallowing up my oil paints and that I would need to do a couple layers of gesso. In order to learn how to do so, I watched these youtube videos:
I think that I will need to ask Coach what new wood to use and how I should go forward in buying acrylic gesso.
Coach told me that I should maybe make 2 pieces in time for Scholastics, and therefore I am going to start this piece along with my other piece in order to have a more holistic portfolio. I was really deciding between the two portraits on either side, so I used a photoshop app to blend them together! So far, I am super excited about how my background turned out and how well it complimented the red sari. Also, the skin was a very big challenge with the hands, so I need to figure out how I will resolve that.
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Authormy name is shreya. Archives
June 2021
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