Breath Piece

For this next piece, I decided to do a contour drawing of my friend, Lauren, as she worked on one of her pieces. I decided to do a contour drawing because I thought I needed to brush up on my drawing skills, and this was the thing to help me do just that. Since a contour drawing is a drawing of all visible edges and no shading, this proved to be frustrating for me, and although it took some time, I think I conquered it. Lauren was working on her art project while I was drawing her, so the movement of her hands proved particularly challenging for me. Getting the shape and proportion of her hands, as well as the rest of her body, was difficult. Completing this piece was satisfying, however, because it forced me to examine what I was drawing and helped me improve my drawing skills.

Watercolor

I attempted to do watercolor for the first time in a couple of years, and I think it actually turned out pretty well. It wasn't traditional watercolor, though. This piece is an ink contour with watercolor splashed onto the paper, loosely following the colors of the picture. I put together two pictures: one of an owl in a nest and one of a cactus in the desert. Luckily, the light was coming from the same side in both pictures, so it wasn't hard to manipulate. I used different greens, yellows, blues, and lots of water to create a certain look. The colors surrounding the owl are mostly cool colors, and the then used oranges and reds to make the owl more interesting and to make it the center of interest. This piece turned out well, being the first time I had done watercolor and ink.

Breadth 1

Finally, something other than an oil painting! My concentration is done, and now I'm moving on to breadth pieces. For this piece, I chose to do a pencil drawing of two little girls running. Pencil turned out to be challenging since I hadn't done a pencil drawing in about a year, but I was able to work through the values and create a full scale of values. The different patterns on the girls' uniforms and grass created interest, as well as the negative shapes. The shadows of the girls made interesting shapes, and the lights and darks helped the composition. Doing a piece that wasn't oil was so refreshing! Working through the challenges of moving from oil paint to pencil was particularly rewarding.

Concentration 12

My final concentration piece! When deciding what to do for my final piece, I knew I wanted to do something different and really branch out. I decided on this picture because I wanted to challenge myself with painting a person, which I had never done before in oil paint. I was also particularly drawn to the cool color scheme, with so much blue, and the complementary color of red in various shades. I loved the way the light created lights and shadows, as well as the negative spaces that the furniture and plants created. I am glad that I was able to challenge myself with this piece.

Concentration 11

I chose this piece because I loved the antique-look of it. The quality of the actual picture had an certain magic about it, and I could tell that many stories had come from this room. I loved the light coming in from the window and the effect it had on the colors of the chairs and furniture in the room. The light brought out the different reds, oranges, and yellows that make up the wood, and not simply brown. It also brought out various colors in the walls, chandelier, and the plant. The color scheme was complimentary, blue and orange working very well together.  This piece, though difficult, was fun to paint.

Concentrations 5

This is my fifth concentration piece, and it is a corner of a room in my art teacher's house. The complementary colors highlight the composition, and the lights on the chairs from the lamps create a wide range of values. I chose this piece because I was intrigued by the interesting and beautiful colors of the furniture and light, and I loved the warm color scheme. The placement of the furniture made this picture interesting enough to be able to use as a concentration piece.  This was fun to paint!

I was drawn to this piece by the simplicity of it. To me, it told a story, and one that I wanted to paint. The chair is old and rusty, and looks like it has weathered many storms. The wood in the railings looks as if it has seen better days. The composition of this piece was so simple, but it wasn’t boring. The color scheme was appropriate- red and green. The green in the trees contrasted with the reds and purples in the chair, and the wood has a reddish tint to it. The lights and darks filtering in through the trees creates many layers in the woods, generating a sense of depth.