Monet Influenced

In this project we were required to use a well-known artists piece of work and replicate it in our own approach the best way that we could. I chose to use Monet's Red Boats of Argenteuil.

I liked this piece because it had many ranges of color that I could explore with and use. This was one of our very beginning projects so we were all still getting used to painting. In this piece we used cold wax in our painting and it made for a thicker medium. The paint was put onto the board with a palette knife which made for difficult maneuvers in tight and small creeces with attention to detail.




Later in the project I was able to maneuver easily across my canvas to create the look that I as going for. I found myself wanting to give up wtih this project and by the end I Was burnt out but tried my best to give it my all. We worked on this project for a very long time and I had produced a lot of flaws in that time but in the end I enjoyed it and it. This piece made me appreciate former artist and painters and their maticulous skills.

Dirty Messy

In this project, we were required to find a quote or a social justice topic of our choice that we felt like we wanted to portray and illustrate in a dirty messy painting. The quote that I chose for my project is:

"the anchor holds
though the ship is battered
the anchor holds
though the sails are torn
i have fallen on my knees
as i faced the raging seas
the anchor holds
in spite of the storm" -ray boltz

I found this quote to be very meaningful growing up on the coast and at the time of the assignment I was going through a rough time and it just seemed to fit perfect so I wanted to try and execute the quote into a painting. It took me a while and with some help to figure out how I wanted to create the design for this piece. I played with the idea of the anchor and text a lot. I had to get out of the mind frame of a graphic design piece because that is what I have been used to the past three years. It took me too long to get out of that mind frame but once I did it was smooth sailing, no pun intended, from there on out.




The process of adding colors and the process of really seeing the idea came quicker than the actual concept of the design. I actually used two squares for this piece. One of just plywood and other was a canvas that I had made out of old rugged canvas and I had added some additional weathering to it. I wanted the 2nd canvas to be drastically different from the first. I believe that I achieved that using a different medium, color palette and approach of design. I used my fingers and hands for that piece and was much more "messy" in my method.

Buchanan Influence

The final piece of the semester was inspired by the styles and works of Luke Miller Buchanan, a local artist in Raleigh, NC. Luke Miller Buchanan is a mixed media artist who uses photography as a main portion of his work along with paint and some personal items along the way of the piece. The process of this piece first began with choosing a place or idea and portraying the idea of mixed media. I decided to use the Cape Lookout lighthouse that is located 10 minutes from my house. Most known as a tourist attraction but really hits home for me. Along with multiple pictures of the lighthouse, I chose to take some of its surroundings and a picture of myself with my nephew that was taken at the Lighthouse for inspiration. I then put all my pictures together to come up with the best way to execute the Lighthouse in a manner of a "visual hic cup!"




After placing the pictures in the correct order, I then placed a medium on top of it to seal it into place and that was able to be painted over. I began by adding the sky to the picture first. I was very hesitant and in some ways, nervous, about how to approach this project but once I painted the sky it became more fluent about what to do next. Then, with a little help and inspiration from classmates and Carolyn, I then painted onto the lighthouse and the surroundings giving it a more acceptable to our eye feel. Before I saw it for myself I played with the bottom half in a couple of different ways about what to do with the background space. In the pictures you can see my process to the final method I chose to pursue.

Georgia O'Keefe

In this project, we were required to chose a artist that we found interesting and study their work and techniques of achieving that specific style. I chose to study Georgia O'Keefe. O'Keefe's palette includes bright colors, which I love, and the elegance in her brush stroke was something that I was inspired by and stood out to me compared to other artists. At first in the process,I used a variety of pictures taken of the still life and 'collaged' them together and created the 'perfect' still life. I then used the picture and enlarged it big enough to cover my 18x24 canvas and half way through tracing my picture, I was then introduced to the idea that I could give my background a color instead of tracing images on a bare canvas. I was very excited and open to this idea and it also assisted in my process along the way because it help me see objects and was able to let me see how to paint light in a different manner. I chose to use a sky blue as my background.






Further along in my piece it was easier for me to apply colors and it took me a while to become dramatic with the differences between light and dark. This piece was definitely one that led me to grow in my experiences as a painter and led me to see things in a much different way than I had previously seen in my other pieces. As you can see in my process pictures below, I had to really give in and make it dramatic between light and dark.






In this piece I feel like I really made lots of development from the beginning, the between and the end. I am very happy with my end result of this piece. I feel like that I gained a better knowledge in painting light and the colored background really help me see it in a different way.