Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It confuses me
For the past couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time with oils, over pastel and watercolor. I've been trying to improve my ability to paint nature in plein air, using photos, and sketches. So far it has been hit or miss. Occasionally I will have good days but most are mild or bad. That being said if I set up a simple still life I come away happy with the painting almost every time. I was having a hard time painting today. After three paintings of 2 rough and 1 decent paintings of natural scenes, I turned the light on this little pot and painted it on a 5x7 panel. While it is a little rough I'm happy with this for the time put in. If I can get this quick and decent with my nature scenes before the year is out I would be over joyed. At this point I'm not sure what the problem is. I think some self analysing is necessary to figure out what is stopping me from becoming more consistent, quick and better with my nature scenes. One thing is for certain, I do enjoy painting still life more every time.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Out with the old
 I have been very busy with painting and finding room to accommodate everything. Starting freshman year a corner of every room I've been in has had large paper format boxes with rolled up landscape drawings in them. It has been one of the few things that has always been off limits when making room. It was after going through some of my old sketch books from college that I realized that it was over. I will not be pursuing the title Landscape Architect to put on a business card. (you have to work under some one who is licensed and take test to show you can take test) It is something that I feel good to shed. Perhaps one day my art will lead me to designing gardens and estates as something I do for fun. If that is the case I will happily be a no titled guy doing some design work.

Another thing I would like to mention about the top picture is look at the lighting. The light in this room makes me feel like I'm under water sometimes. If I turn on the ceiling fan it gets even better.
 The design above was for a park with a facility for Purdue's rowing crew. The large L shape with lines running through it was supposed to be a large set of steps that went down to the waters edge. The ramps were so everyone could have access and you didn't have to break some bones falling down all the steps to get to the water. To the left of the building was an outdoor amphitheater that had rock walls that ran parallel with the topography up to the top of the park. They were positioned so none of the trees lining the back of the rock walls impeded the view of the stage. The whole park area  was left open because it was a huge flood plain on the Wabash river. I just played with the contours so it would be open for people to do whatever they wanted on the rolling hills. Also when it flooded there would have been a couple really good spots to view the river from at the left end of the park. I had the main walk sitting above the flood plain lined with trees that gave neat views down to the water.