Thursday, July 19, 2018

Classical Still Life

Still Life
2018
Oil on Masonite
24 x 18 in

I've just completed a still life commission for a local interior design firm. It was such a great experience working with them. They gave me this beautiful frame to fill in, even before I started the painting. I felt a little pressure in making the painting as good looking as the frame is. As soon as I got the panel cut to size, I finished the painting with the frame attached to it. This was normal for 19-century painters to do, they could see how the finished painting would appear within the frame. I can say it helped a lot when determining if I was done or not. 


I hope everyone enjoyed this one, thank you for stopping by!

Monday, July 2, 2018

June Portrait Challenge


Hello everyone! Its been a while since I last posted, a million apologies for neglecting this platform. A lot of things have happened since my last post. I've graduated from graduate school (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and have my MFA in visual studies in painting and drawing. It's been a whirlwind since graduating which is the reason why I've been absent from posting so much. 

After graduating I was burned out from all the hard work with my thesis (I will post my thesis paintings on the next one). I hadn't drawn much through my thesis and only painted for the most part. I wanted to get back to drawing and was thinking of ways to do it other than just doodling in my sketchbook. I decided to set a challenge for myself, one that I didn't think would be possible, to draw thirty portraits in the month of June all done in ballpoint pen. Essentially drawing one portrait a day, no matter how bad it was by the end of the day I had to be done and ready to post it. I asked all my followers from my social media community to submit their pictures, from there I was able to start the challenge. I wanted to get to know my online community better and see how this challenge brought us closer. It's a step in the right direction post-thesis work, I want to see how far I can push this idea of an online community and how we can know each other better rather than just clicking a thumbs up button. Still a work in progress but I have the wheels turning and that's important.

The drawings you see in this post is from all the portraits I completed in the month of June. Again completed only using a ballpoint pen in sketchbook paper. This challenge has taught me so much, I challenge everyone who reads this to push yourself with your work. Create challenges to make you feel uncomfortable, it's a very good thing to not feel sure what the hell you're doing. I can go on and on and on about everything I learned and why you should set goals for yourself, I think the work speaks for itself. 

Thanks for stopping by and viewing my work!