Two Bottles (Red and Yellow). One advantage of giving drawing lessons: You can steal from your students. In this case, I took a drawing (not mine) of two bottles and fast-forwarded several iterations toward a more refined sense of ideal form.
Showing posts with label geometry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geometry. Show all posts
Painting Gabriela on the Couch with Pillows
Painting Gabriela on the Couch with Pillows.
Video. Look closely, and you can see the black and white sketch (in oil) leaning against the wall.
Gabriela
Gabriela.
Watercolour and pencil on paper. June, 2008. Hendon.
After sharpening all of my pencils, we tried three diferent poses. This last pose included lots of circles, implied shapes, and pillows. At the time (two and a half weeks ago), we had decided that this watercoulour of Gabriela on the couch with some pillows would be the painting pose. Of course, that decision never came true and was overridden by the future.
Maryte in the Park
Maryte in the Park.
Watercolour and pencil on paper. June, 2008. Angel.
We were in Angel park, except that it's not really called Angel Park. What I mean is that we were sitting in the park which is located close to the Angel tube station, the one with the war memorial. It was one of the first sunny days of the summer.
Girl on the Chair with Hand
Girl on the Chair with Hand. She's sitting on a wooden chair, with her right hand leaning across the top. This was a warm-up sketch with two pencils.
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Girl on Concrete Wall in White Dress and Black Jacket
Girl on Concrete Wall in White Dress and Black Jacket. We (Ewelina and I) were looking for the sun. Nothing good on the Southbank. So, we crossed over the Thames river. Passed Big Ben. Crossed the street. Settled in a little park across from Westminster Abbey.
Then, the sun found us. And it was nice. Until about 7pm.
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The Empty Chair
The Empty Chair. Camden. A coffee shop. An empty chair. Lucy. A watercolor sketch for a painting. Or, a watercolour sketch for a painting. Geometry of the form. The form in geometry.
As I was painting, a well-meaning woman came over and started asking me questions. About my watercolors. About my watercolours. About my pens. About my drawings. And it was a bit annoying. A bit rude. And she should have waited for me to take a break. Lucy was posing hard.
Note to people: it's better to not to disturb artists engaged in the act of creating. Wait until they take a break. Otherwise, you only get one word answers. Had she waited, I would have loved to talk. But,...
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I Only Know People I Know Through Other People (If You Know What I Mean)
I Only Know People I Know Through Other People (If You Know What I Mean). This sketchbook was a gift from Holly (Christmas, 2006) and really impressed me at the time. Because it was perfect for me. Only, I didn't realize it at the time.
In January, I began the process of shutting down my second Richmond, Virginia art studio. The first one was shut down by redevelopment. This studio was shut down because I had lost all control. Hence, this particular sketchbook is entitled: "On Shutting Down and Starting Over. or. The Gaslight Search Engine Takes Control"
Travelling without a studio, sketchbooks have become my art for the last two and a half years (interrupted every now and then by the most beautiful paintings I have ever painted).
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paintings.drawings.arithmetic.
Coffee and Complicated Thoughts in a Red Chair
Coffee and Complicated Thoughts in a Red Chair. Lesson #6: Composition and Shape.
Downstairs in a London coffee shop, the chairs were especially comfortable. Chain coffee or independent coffee, I don't really mind as long as there are comfortable chairs. Especially during the long London winter, coffee shops are some of my favorite places to draw.
This is a picture of me from last week, complete with my adventure pack. Pen in hand, I was drawing a quick sketch of Meral. At the same time, I was explaining the importance of shape (particularly implied shape) in composition.
Meral seemed to understand, but thought that the picture made her look fat. Which is when I began another rant on the beauty of shape in form.
In this case, I was particularly fond of the three-dimensionality of the drawing (and the shapes found within).
Sometimes it's better for me not to talk too much.
Seated Nude (in a Chair)
Seated Nude (in a Chair). Although this looks like a preparatory sketch, it was painted after the oil painting, which was painted after a rather large thumbnail sketch... Part of the "Women I Don't Know" series, I used the oil painting as a reference so that I might amplify the geometry of the form. I'm going to make prints of this drawing, mostly because I like it so much. My favorite part is Amy's hair, composed of rectangles which approximate the "curve" of her head. I had just started teaching some basic principles of calculus and approximations of curves were in the forefront of my thoughts...
Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (video)
Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (video). A brief approximation of the experience of rotating slowly in the center of the room while standing with one leg planted solidly on the ground. The other leg? That's the one contorted in a dire need-to-maintain-balance position, in choreographed slow-motion tiptoe between bed, bedpost, and floor. "peaceful" was the word most often heard as a description to the room once I had finished. Funny, given that my use of aerosol varnish set off the fire alarm. The entire room was thick with haze and post aerosol fume, but I didn't get it until several dirty looks and one really loud alarm later. But, I digress... Eventually, I had to cut open two onions, leaving one piece in each corner of the room, to get rid of the tremendous smell...
Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part III)
Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part III). I kept this idea... In a hostel, who typically stays in a private double room? Couples. So, I went with something which alluded to the idea of a relationship, without being cliche. The biggest bottles I've ever painted... 130cm tall...
Back of a Woman (Kristin)
Back of a Woman (Kristin). Painted yesterday, Sunday in Peckham (South of the Thames). Nice. A classic pose, the back of a woman is an elegant indication of her true beauty. There's an undeniable geometric foundation to her form that is both subtle and constructive...
The People
The People. Inspired by a poem of the same name, by an author whose name is no longer with me. This painting was the first of my synthetic pixelization series and depicts two lovers on a sunny day.
A Vase With Three Flowers
A Vase With Three Flowers. An atari-like composition, I must admit... Superimposing a gigantic grid over the complex reality of a vase and three beautiful flowers, I still smile thinking of this painting. Now, it sits on a wall in an office, shining a cheerful light. beep. beep. and it was all according to a plan
Still Life wth Pan
Still Life with Pan. Well, I was researching the grid. It was an independent study, during which I began to develop certain ideas which have served as the fundamental basis for much of my artwork. In this painting, the plane is divided into four quadrants. Fascinated as I am with geometry, it seems that each object begins to allude to certain basic shapes.
Self Portrait, Grid-based
Self Portrait, Grid-based. Infatuated with the grid, with the thought that overt geometrical relationships could so readily expose themselves with direct observation, I sat down at my drawing table and began to look into a mirror. It was 2003, but I can't remember which season. I do remember, however, that I was well-seeped in my 'pixlizarion' phase... and, I also remember the desk upon which I was drawing. Used as a bargaining ship to secure the big room in our newly acquired three-bedroom on the Boulevard, I never really used it for more than storing scattered piles of paper. In fact, I can only remember doing three drawings on the table. Mostly, I just sit on the floor when I paint or draw, which makes things much more intimate...
Apples and Bananas
Apples and Bananas. Painted as one of my last still life paintings of 2006. I was sitting at a brown wooden table. It was a summer night, calm, and damp in silence...
This particular series incorporates pseudo-dynamic elements to invoke relative notions of our own ultimately geometric composition. The same series also alludes to the particle-based structure by which reality is composed. I'll tell you more about it if you ask nicely...
Girl on Couch (Isabel): Painting
Girl on Couch (Isabel): Painting. I changed palettes for this one. Not because I wanted to, but because the colors made sense, and perhaps because it is so similar to the color of the drawings that I've been working on for the past year. Finally, a good painting...
The drawing was nice too.
Again, July transformed me. I had no idea where I would land, and suspect that I have not yet landed...
View From An Apartment in Cheshunt
View From an Apartment in Cheshunt. Finished or not, it's gone. I've moved to so many places in the past two months... This painting was finished the day I moved out of my flat in Cheshunt, for obvious reasons. It was a gift to a friend of a friend but was commandeered by the original friend. I hope to one day see it again...
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