#7 The Party Girl

Part of the reason I love painting is seeing the process of a new work take form. Sometimes I have the entire composition mapped out before I begin. Sometimes I wing it. This one, "The Party Girl," is referring mostly to embarrassing drunk photos that get shared online all too often. In this day and age, when real consequences don't seem to exist and no one really understands the eternal life of something posted online, I felt it prevalent. The pose is inspired from Luke Hillestad's "To Set His Torso Free." When I saw this painting I was amazed by how fluid and dynamic the body looked. So here're some in progress shots. I'm feeling close to done on the figure...now to complete the rest (my least favorite).

St Paul Fall Art Crawl

Unlike with the Spring Art Crawl, this time, I knew what to expect. I knew people didn't walk around with the intention of buying. And if they would buy, they usually wouldn't buy anything over $50 unless they came specifically shopping. Also with Lowertown St Paul's face being ripped open 24/7 by bulldozers and pipes sticking out of the ground getting ready for a transit system that won't be here for 4 more years (don't get me started), we knew attendance would be low. That being said, I used this art crawl as a debut of my new series and showed paintings that only my friends had seen previous. I was obviously very nervous about this. But it was wonderful. I put up an artist statement (which most people read) to introduce the meanings of the pieces, which I think helped my purpose a lot. I got a lot of laughs and a lot of comments - which really validated this series for me. The fact that the public can relate is what it's all about - and that keeps me painting.

And a shot of my apartment because it is just so cute:

Still coming along...

Decisions, decisions. I hate these decisions. After a wonderful and much needed crit/art talk tonight, I am faced with more of them. The thought of when to stop was a major theme. Take this piece for example. The bust is almost complete, the figure is getting there, the face is close to done (just needs hair and eyebrows, my least favorite part), and yet the background is entirely schizophrenic. On one hand, I could furnish this room...painstakingly so, so there's no real room for interpretation. The style is completely uniform and the viewer doesn't have to think much. OR. I could leave it a little more open for interpretation, add some visual interest without adding too much. But this could look sloppy. So...the question is, how will it succeed? How much is too much? How little is too little? When will I truly be done with any of these?!

...stay tuned.

Profile Pic!

Still working on the background, hair, clothes, etc.... But done with the face. Best face yet, I think:

The Selfportraitist

My inspiration for this piece is the all too familiar MySpace or Facebook profile picture. Since everyone now is a photographer with their digital cameras and iPhones, some take it upon themselves to find their most flattering angle...by taking picture upon picture of themselves, altering the contrast in photoshop and coming up with the perfect, sexiest, most alluring picture of yourself. I would say most of us are guilty of at least doing this once... Perhaps VanGogh and Kahlo are the most well known painters who would do this same thing. So taking the well known 3/4 face pose, and adding the familiar arm out needed to snap this picture....here's a very rough draft of my new piece:

Now...what kind of hair to give her? I'm thinking emo...

Venus->Olympia->.....Kendra?

Referencing art history is a huge part of my series. So for my portrait of a rich housewife, I based my composition and pose on Venus and Olympia. These pantings have different types of women, different messages, but seen through the scope of a time are very similar. I hope to bring yet another type of woman to this pose. The obvious sexuality speaks for itself. But this housewife is not a symbol, a goddess, or a hooker. She *could* be any of these things...but above all, she is a real person in 21st century America. Which, in essence, is what I'm trying to communicate. Visual aids:

Venus of Urbino - Titian

Olympia - Manet
And mine :)

G-rated close up : )

It's so hard to photograph oil paintings...especially one this big. This painting is 6.5' x 4' It looks much better in person. So come see it! Art Crawl Oct 8-10!

Now What?

Alright. So here he is. He's done. One problem, what to do with the background? Is this why art professors always stay to work on the whole piece at the same time?

Anyway, here he is in all his Ed Hardy glory: