Oil Waterfall, Graphite Love

Wednesday, June 29th

     One of my close friends recently traveled to Hawaii and took a beautiful picture of a small waterfall in Maui. I instantly fell in love with the deep blues and greens naturally found in the Aloha State and wanted to recreate their beauty using oil paints. 

    

      Oil painting is a rather long process as you have to paint in layers. You start off just blocking in the lights and darks with a burnt umber or sienna brown thinned with Turpenoid. After that, you continue thinning the colors with Turpenoid (a healthier alternative to Turpentine) and you build onto your painting moving from back to front. Once you start getting to add the detail, you use Alkyd Glazing medium with the paint to produce a shiny finish. 

     This painting is one of my favorites and makes me want to live in Hawaii. (:

Maui Cove (16 x 20 in)

     Another of my friends asked me to create a graphite drawing of her and her boyfriend. This one is 18 x 24 in and it's a great shot of them!

K & T graphite

Coming to a Close

Wednesday, June 1st

     20-Time has made a significant impact on my life thus far. It has taught me that I can, in fact, bring my ideas to life. The endless support and praise I have received from family, friends, and strangers has been invaluable and really propelled me to create. Knowing that what you make is beautiful to someone else brings not only the viewer joy, but the artist as well.
   
     At the start of 20-Time I had 5 specific goals that I met to a certain extent.

1.  came up with unique ideas for artwork
2. drew a graphite rendition of my cousin for my aunt (see below "Maeve")
3. created pottery (however, didn't sell it at school)
4. used medium I haven't worked with a ton (metal spoons, canvas shoes, and oil paint...to be seen in next blog post)
5. and finally, completed my "lofty goal" of having at least 10 strong portfolio pieces

Maeve

     Throughout the process, I definitely had to work at home outside of class time or else i would not have accomplished as much as I did. Few roadblocks came my way and for that I am grateful. Also, a big thank you to Mr. Gledhill for being my mentor and graciously taking time out of his busy day to answer any questions I had. (:

     Even though we have reached the end of the 20-Time project as a class, I plan on continuing individually. I will still post my work and share my process with you. This summer should be a great time for me to continue and let my creativity flow. I am looking forward to this.

Birch Tree Abstract (18x24)

     

As an additive, I went to the beach yesterday and painted this for about 

an hour. It represents how nature inspires the mind and creates connections that spark the creativity in an individual. 

Thank you all for keeping up with my blog. Feel free to follow me by email or send me any art requests you have!