I think the strongest one is the smaller piece on the right in the second image down. It seems like you had the most fun making this one, it has major spirit, like your drawings always do. The color seems well-controlled and the marks are graphically diverse but complementary. There is a nice range in value and a nice mix of straights and curves, fast and slow moving dynamic lines.
the painting to the left also has some cool designey graphics( i love the thing on the right of the painting that looks like melitng vertical train tracks) but it doesn't have the pop of its counterpart...it needs some more contrast or something.
the top painting has a number of intersting moments, my favorite being the fuzzy-looking area where the yellow, orange and black intersect. the black lines are curvy there and I think this feels better somehow than the stark angular branch-like lines on the right. The white strokes add a strange spatiality to the picture, which I like...design-wise I think they aren't quite as well placed as the worm-like marks in the first painting I talked about.
The painting from your roof has a very accurate color feeling! (I've been on a roof in long beach) The trees and the red tiles and the tar-roof colors feel good. I'm a little unclear on whats happenning in the foreground. My favorite thing in the painting is the tall , wavy pole just to the right of the lone large tree on the left. It has a character that fits the painting perfectly. The thing that looks like a tree way behind it creates great depth in the picture. i wish the power lines to the right had that same feeling.
ok, thats it. It would be cool if you took the red/grey one taht I like and do another one exactly like but improved. i'm sure you have tons of time for that.
last thing--if i saw your sketchbook and then these paintings I wouldn't guess that the same person did it all...why do you think that is?
The purple/black images were all done with only a few limited concepts in mind: higher contrast in the foreground, and daring linework. Also, no anomalous marks--if something attracts attention, I hope it was for a good reason. I will definitely do more paintings like this.
The black/yellow/orange image was considered a failure, and shelved. Then I had some leftover light-blue paint on the palette (which I didn't want to dump in the sink), and made a desperate attempt to make the failed painting work a little better. I covered the awkward negative spaces, and anything I thought was clumsy, with vigorous, straight stabs. I tried to create "systems" and "flow." Beyond that, I accept that it was a very limited success.
The LA rooftop foreground is incomplete, and I ran out of paint and then patience (didn't want to re-mix all the colors). I put most of my effort into matching colors to what I saw. I don't think that I started with the right palette, though: White, Black, Sap Green, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, and "Davy Gray."
My sketchbook is so different because I am striving to consider negative spaces while painting. In pen, I usually just try to "sculpt" forms with hatching and totally disregard image composition. This is bad because I have very little experience with managing and strategizing within the picture frame. Hence the very designy paintings.
I wish painters' "in the moment" thoughts were printed in real time on a strip of paper that came out of their ears. I love listening to the decision-making process and feel like i learn a ton when I do!
Why don't you put a frame (or several) in different pencil colors around the sketches you do in the sketchbook? That's probably cheating but it seems like good practice for creating and seeing space shapes.
3 comments:
Awesome, you really crank these things out.
I think the strongest one is the smaller piece on the right in the second image down. It seems like you had the most fun making this one, it has major spirit, like your drawings always do. The color seems well-controlled and the marks are graphically diverse but complementary. There is a nice range in value and a nice mix of straights and curves, fast and slow moving dynamic lines.
the painting to the left also has some cool designey graphics( i love the thing on the right of the painting that looks like melitng vertical train tracks) but it doesn't have the pop of its counterpart...it needs some more contrast or something.
the top painting has a number of intersting moments, my favorite being the fuzzy-looking area where the yellow, orange and black intersect. the black lines are curvy there and I think this feels better somehow than the stark angular branch-like lines on the right. The white strokes add a strange spatiality to the picture, which I like...design-wise I think they aren't quite as well placed as the worm-like marks in the first painting I talked about.
The painting from your roof has a very accurate color feeling! (I've been on a roof in long beach) The trees and the red tiles and the tar-roof colors feel good. I'm a little unclear on whats happenning in the foreground. My favorite thing in the painting is the tall , wavy pole just to the right of the lone large tree on the left. It has a character that fits the painting perfectly. The thing that looks like a tree way behind it creates great depth in the picture. i wish the power lines to the right had that same feeling.
ok, thats it. It would be cool if you took the red/grey one taht I like and do another one exactly like but improved. i'm sure you have tons of time for that.
last thing--if i saw your sketchbook and then these paintings I wouldn't guess that the same person did it all...why do you think that is?
Thanks for the compliments and detailed critique!
The purple/black images were all done with only a few limited concepts in mind: higher contrast in the foreground, and daring linework. Also, no anomalous marks--if something attracts attention, I hope it was for a good reason. I will definitely do more paintings like this.
The black/yellow/orange image was considered a failure, and shelved. Then I had some leftover light-blue paint on the palette (which I didn't want to dump in the sink), and made a desperate attempt to make the failed painting work a little better. I covered the awkward negative spaces, and anything I thought was clumsy, with vigorous, straight stabs. I tried to create "systems" and "flow." Beyond that, I accept that it was a very limited success.
The LA rooftop foreground is incomplete, and I ran out of paint and then patience (didn't want to re-mix all the colors). I put most of my effort into matching colors to what I saw. I don't think that I started with the right palette, though: White, Black, Sap Green, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, and "Davy Gray."
My sketchbook is so different because I am striving to consider negative spaces while painting. In pen, I usually just try to "sculpt" forms with hatching and totally disregard image composition. This is bad because I have very little experience with managing and strategizing within the picture frame. Hence the very designy paintings.
I wish painters' "in the moment" thoughts were printed in real time on a strip of paper that came out of their ears. I love listening to the decision-making process and feel like i learn a ton when I do!
Why don't you put a frame (or several) in different pencil colors around the sketches you do in the sketchbook? That's probably cheating but it seems like good practice for creating and seeing space shapes.
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