Big City

Definitely very influenced by the trip to New York on this one.

NY Sketches

I was lucky enough to go to New York with the art department at UVU earlier this year - here are a few of my favorite drawings from the sketchbook I brought along.

Gretel

Gretel in traditional Czechoslovakian (now Czech Republic) clothing. Well, sort of...
Watercolor!

Late.

I'll be sharing what I've been working on for my BFA show very soon, but in the meantime enjoy this scary drawing!

Digital Rain

Sketches

Okay, maybe this should just be called procrastinating...

Collage

This is from the beginning of the year. It's layers of paint that have been sanded and has a gesso-transfer map across it.

Post-It Art

Well, I'm back to school after a hectic summer. This semester my work will (hopefully) focus more on finished art & not just classroom studies!! (Yay!) I'm going to be concentrating on my BFA show for the upcoming year so that should be fun.

Ariel & Tinkerbell copyright Disney - of course!

Red & Green

A couple more oil studies, the top one had a red toned canvas & the bottom one was green. I've been looking at a lot of Sargent's work lately, so hopefully it will have a positive influence :)

Another Painting Study

Brown Paintings

More oil paintings - I kind of like the scratched up background. (I cut up a still life study from last semester and sanded over the pieces.)

Still Here.

Thalo blue, Cad. Yellow Light, Permanent Rose & White in oil paint! (I can hardly believe it myself.) I had 7 of these little paintings to do this week & this is the only one I really like. It has it's problems, but overall I think it was a success. (Sorry for the bad photo!) I tried to put some warmth in the reflected light/shadow side of the face. I really struggle with shadow color, & color in general... but I'm working on it! :)

Pudgy?

This little bulldog is getting in shape with style! This was done for a class to accompany an article about doggy fitness & obesity. I'm not going to complain about what I wish I'd done differently, so I'll just say that I love her little face - especially her crooked teeth! And I love her little fat rolls :)

Me

Digital self portrait for a class. My hair is quite light right now :) Photoshop.

Mad Rush

These were really quick studies, like the fastest things I've ever painted. The one on top is going to be my final for Adv. Illustration so we'll see how it turns out! It has some photoshop-ing (is that a word...) to help it look like she's surrounded by notes.

Do Something About It

March is over?!?

Okay - so where did March go? I drew about a zillion pictures, some of which I will try posting next month... trust me there's only a couple worth sharing - you're not missing out on anything. This was a really fun painting - It has gesso applied unevenly on watercolor paper so when you paint on it a cool texture appears. Oh ya, I didn't bother stretching the paper before-hand, so if you were to see the original it has a lovely ripple-effect... I should really know better!

More Faces

These were fun! - they're acrylic with gesso texture on watercolor paper. Here's the assignment: On the top, a brown under-painting with color dry brushed over it. Next, vivid colors. Then a high-key painting with neutral colors mixed from complements & white. And finally a low-key painting which has many colors, but all very neutral with grays and no value lighter than a 3... (okay I sort of cheated with the eyes.) They're all stylized, which I love doing :) I think I'm getting the hang of acrylics, but I still feel a little out of control when I'm painting, like I just don't know how things are going to turn out (or even if they'll turn out sometimes.) So I've got a lot more practicing to do.

But I'm happy with these :)

You guessed it.

The colors went a little weird & dull...

More School Paintings

No Time!

Well, I shouldn't have spent any time doing this... But there you have it!

Brown Sketches

These were so much fun to draw - even though they all kind of look the same... I was going for that classical renaissance face. (That baby seriously had this Mac & Me quality - but in a cute way!!)

Nothing Special

Just some pink sketches - I have to apologize for some of my scans recently. One of the scanners I use is very nice at accurately scanning & the other one is just awful & wants to auto-correct everything for you. (It's like a little kid that cuts their own hair thinking they're doing mommy a favor...)

Anyway, I got the new James Christensen book & I love it! I actually met him over the summer at the Twiggs & Moore Gallery & he's such a nice person. He drew a picture while he was there & gave previews of some of the paintings that appear in this book. (I don't quite know about his whole "well-dressed man/hunchback" characters, but I love his figurative work, details & textures.) I think he also figures that you can never paint too many profile views! (or fish...) I wonder if he does teaching workshops...