Graduate Work

Finished my first piece of graduate art work, as of tonight. (need to get a better image...) Putting in the frame tomorrow, which will bring it to it's final state of completion. Overall, I am satisfied with the general outcome of the piece, aside from a few small things I might change. I believe this has been a successful trial of how I am going to render future work, and I am especially satisfied with the color scheme.
I am currently working on a larger work that includes the whole female figure and will hopefully be shooting reference photos for my next pieces this week. I have decided to narrow down my research on perception to focus on the process of belief, by incorporating religious ideology into my paintings. Not necessarily in a religious sense, but as motif to look further into how we perceive ourselves in our own lives, as well how we perceive others, as we work towards an 'end good'. Mainly focusing on why there is a need to perceive an outcome for all that we sacrifice, or work towards on a daily basis.

Graduate School

Finally feeling settled into my new environment at Kendall College of Art and Design, after approx. a month of moving from Fort Wayne. I was given the opportunity to move in my studio two weeks ago, and have thus begun working on two new paintings. These two paintings are much different from past work, both technically and conceptually,but I feel still retain many elements of my previous style.
Conceptually, I am begging to explore the relationship between perception and imagination. I was reading a bit of Sartre and came across this quote as a point of interest,

“The object of the perception overflows consciousness constantly. The object of the image is never more than the consciousness one has, nothing can be learned from an image that is not already known…It can, of course happen that a memory of an image presents itself unexpectedly, and presents some new aspects.”

-John Paul Sartre, " The Psychology of Imagination"

I am still attempting to solidly compose an accurate artist statement, but decided I would start painting with a loose idea of concept and see where that led me. I am mostly attempting to create a dream like atmosphere that reflects a reality juxtaposed with an image that provides a narrative about the subject of the painting.

Technically, I am now using a much more limited palette than my previous work. I am using this palette to promote the idea of imagination vs perception by creating an atmosphere that is realistic, but also has a dreamlike element to it. In the current pieces I am starting off on, I am using blue grays being juxtaposed with a brighter range of yellows.

This particular painting is about half finished. I still have further rendering to accomplish in the face, and much more to go in the background, as well as hair. The flower in her mouth is also in need to quite a few more layers, and will eventually 'glow' against the neutral palette.