PAINTING
The extent of my painting history has been a bit bumpy, to say the least, both literally and figuratively. I have a benign hand tremor that prevents a steady hand almost 100% of the time. While it has pushed me towards more forgiving mediums like graphite and charcoal, ones where I can place my palm on the page, I can't help coming back to it. One of the more wonderful memories I have of it was a professor of mine telling me that it could become a part of my art, a touch I can leave in every piece.
The Chrysler Building
A lot of art is made of this building, and for good reason. Its timeless curves and radial patterns are a staple of New York City's landscape. Fun to paint as well!
CREATIVE BONES
This was a piece I made trying to visualize the creative process. It seems to flow from nothing and everything at all.
EQ8R
I wanted to share a visualization of the weights that can keep you feeling as though you are on the opposite side of the world as someone else, even when that distance isn't so far. The deformed and erratic brush strokes were an exercise in allowing my tremor to convey a more emotionally informed piece.
Still life
This was an exercise in oil painting that taught me a lot about color theory, in the ways different colors interact in one specific environment, and how even one color can become four.
LiTE
A monochromatic study on my desk lamp. I cannot express how much working in black and white helps you learn how to define values and space. I can't recommend it enough.
B1RTH, EVO2UTION, and D3ATH
A study on the works of Frederick Hammersley, I took symbols from the stories that I've created and turned them into geometric abstractions. The two symbols above are runes that represent strength and weakness in my world of characters. The first and larger being strength and the more angular being weakness, I used primary colors for the former and secondary colors for the latter. The use of these triplets of color allows for subtractive color theory to take place.
By looking at the geometric abstractions in the middle for around 30 seconds, and subsequently looking at the final of the three colors (red or green) the inverted colors of the abstraction show themselves burned into the after-image of your eye. Blue and Yellow turns Orange and Purple, and vice versa.
You can see the weakness that inspired your strength, and the strength that was born from your weakness.
DANCE
This is one of my first works in oil, first times working with abstract and the first time I delved into the formalist world of painting. What do you see when you look at it?
Hahn Horticulture Garden: Blacksburg, VA
A few hours sitting on that bridge might not have been the best idea, butt next time I'll bring a pillow.
LIGHTHOUSE
This isn't technically painting, but I might go as far to say you can paint with oil pastels just as much as you can draw! There is so much more you can do to blend when the medium is as forgiving as oil, but can be just as temperamental all the same.