I came in to class Friday with an immediate purpose. I had to paint my final balloon top, paint
shadows onto the balloon, paint Noah's portrait three times, AND make a
background all before 1 pm Saturday. Not
only that, but I was holding out hope to begin another project entirely(Eileen
told me I was not allowed to start something new until I had resolved my three
prints- if I was even going to get to make three.. smart lady. I was determined). When you begin your week at aTi, you think
you're going to have time for everything, but it went by in a blink of an eye
and now I needed to play catch-up.
Painting Noah! |
I finished my final balloon quicker than each of the two
before, and started mixing the colors for Noah's skin tone. Having not painted with anything but
watercolor in a very long time, let alone a portrait, I was a little
nervous. I finished my first Noah
painting right before lunch, and took about 6 pictures of it before I printed
it because I was afraid it wouldn't look the same printed off the glass. Much to my surprise and delight, it printed
clearly and actually looked like him!
I paused for lunch and was thrilled to not eat soup for the first time this week. I was finally feeling like a healthier human again. Lunch discussion centered around personal websites and sharing student experiences with the community.
Notice how this image is a reverse image of the final product below |
I paused for lunch and was thrilled to not eat soup for the first time this week. I was finally feeling like a healthier human again. Lunch discussion centered around personal websites and sharing student experiences with the community.
I finished my second portrait of Noah around two o'clock, when my phone died. Since I wanted to be able to see the shadows of my reference photo so the balloon would look more realistic, I ran to get my charger.. and then what? I didn't want to try painting my final Noah without a good reference and I didn't want to leave the week at aTi with only two completed images after I had already made 3 balloons. I quickly painted over the sharpie line drawing on the back of my plexi glass with the hair color I had made for Noah. I could at least make a graphic image of him. I loved the result. It was beautiful, and I liked it way more than I thought I would. I think I may have even liked it more than my portrait.
By the time I had finished my line painting, my phone was
ready to go and I began working with the transparent base to create a shadow
color. I began with a grey blue color
and adjusted it so when it was mixed with the beveled knife, it looked almost turquoise,
but when I did a "draw down"(thin pull of the ink on a scrap sheet of
paper so you could determine the actual color when printed), it looked like a
perfect shadow tone. I painted the
shadows in stages on each of the three pieces, starting by inking the entire
balloon and then pulling away ink reductively each time before starting the 2nd
layer, where I could create further shadow and definition.
I finished the shadows and went to dinner with Judy, another
workshop participant. I loved talking with
her about her collaborative monster project, and wrote down a ton of notes once
again. She had chosen to complete both
her Chipboard and Monotype pieces based upon the same subject matter of a
memory of her mom. They were beautiful
and I was amazed by her sense of style.
I kept telling her how much her work reminded me of Eric Carl
illustrations. Each piece was so
playful.
It was just after dinner when I received the most exciting
news. I had sent out a message on a whim
to a coworker asking if she had a press I didn't know about, and it turns out
that she has a small table top press! I
cannot wait to see how it works! After
dinner, Judy came back to the studio with me to finish her final
Monotypes. Next came probably the most
fun part of my balloon image, the painting with water. I mixed a blue and a teal green color to
create the waves of my background and a more saturated ultramarine blue mix for
the sky. I loved the feeling of painting
with the water, and the look was so perfect for the background of my
image. Every brush stroke seemed so
expressive, and every line came through.
I was so lucky Eileen came back to check on us in the studio at this
moment because it hadn't occurred to me that adding the water would change the
drying time and, therefore, the printing quality of the ink! I printed my first background and loved it,
but knew I would need to work quickly for all of the colors to come through on
my other prints.
This is the line painting I referenced in the last post; and the first attempt of the water painting technique. |
I finally finished my backgrounds(for the most part) before
leaving the studio Friday night. I could
not believe the experience was almost over.
I was already talking with Judy about what classes we may want to take
at aTi next year. We left the studio
very late and my mother, asking where I was, told me "If you started a
master's program, Anthony(my husband) may never see you again!". I absolutely love being in the studio, making
art, thinking of ideas, and learning. I
remember in college finding it hard to pull myself away from my artwork in any
studio when I got "in a groove" and this is still true today. I am so happy that my husband, friends, and
family understand and embrace this side of me, and I am thankful that they have
encouraged my time and experience here.
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