Venting about the struggle between this new piece and I helped clear my head yesterday. So did a good night's sleep. I got to the studio emotionally prepared to paint over the entire canvas. And so I did. I used foam rollers and lots of white to cover areas that were too dark and before I knew it, there was a layer of white covering the entire canvas. I decided to turn to my beloved Prussian Blue for comfort and I can assure you: it never disappoints. This time, my approach was a little different. I ignored the sense of urgency and restlessness that was creeping up and just went slow and steady. End result: a LOT better than the day before. I'm still to see and photograph the piece in day light to get a better idea about color and I think I have to work on the focal area a little more but overall, when I photoshopped the piece into the lobby rendering, it fit quite well. Here are the shots The colors are more true to the image on the left which was taken in daylight just before I added the orange and peach tones. The ugly and mucky area in the top right corner of the image on the right is of the glare from the light in the room. I"ll post better images tomorrow. Below are images of the rendering with the work
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I can't remember the last time a piece of artwork hasn't driven me to the brink of insanity. The extreme highs and lows, nausea, restlessness, frustration, adrenaline and then pure joy have become part of a routine but something I still can't get used to. I suppose thats the point. The journey. Welcome to my roller coaster. For those who haven't read my post from yesterday, I'm working on a pitch for an open call. The piece is supposed to be a large-scale painting for the lobby of a condominium project. The clients want the painting to be blue and abstract. I started off my piece very strong with the most vibrant and stunning blue and started experimenting with Benjamin Moore wall paint on my canvas. No regrets there. The direction the painting was going in was fabulous. I photoshopped the piece into the rendering of the lobby and it was stunning. But I realized that the painting was straying from the actual brief. I had incorporated too many elements that I'm guessing the client wouldn't want. 1. the blue was so dark that it was almost black. A photograph wouldn't be able to do justice to the movement of the color and its depth. 2. I needed a contrast color to keep the piece from looking flat and adding an elegance and luxury to the aesthetic. I decided to go with a deep peach, which looked fabulous against the blue. 3. the inspiration image provided by the client had cooler tones of blues and grays layered on top of one another. My tones were far warmer because I felt that they would complement the marble console, the black herringbone wooden floor and the gold trims far better. Once the painting had reached its peak in terms of what I wanted it to look like, I realized that all the factors above could potentially result in the painting being overlooked by the clients since its not what they had asked for. That led to a breakdown and destruction of the painting. I tried to bring down the blue so two thirds of the painting would be in blue and peach would take up less area on the canvas. End result: disastrous. I took the evening off (as difficult as it was) and am headed to the studio in a couple of hours. Hopefully, its still at a point where it can be redeemed. I'll keep you posted on the progress. For now, here is the roller coaster ride in pictures It almost looked like peach waves against a blue night. I adored it. I added the white because the peach looked too flat in the bottom right corner. Until this point, I was extremely happy. Here's the piece photoshopped into the rendering of the lobby. The peach looks stunning against the deep blue, gold trims and the Carrara marble console. I couldn't have been happier. But of course I had to mess about a little more. Check out what it looks like now Gross. Fingers crossed for today.
There's this super cool platform called Indie Walls. Its where people in search of art can lay out their requirements and write up a brief, and artists such as myself can respond with a pitch. Earlier, when my work was mainly figurative, it was difficult for me to pitch my work to anyone since abstract seemed like what everyone wanted. Right now, however, my work has taken a slight turn in terms of style and subject matter so its definitely more feasible to pitch to these projects. I was on their website yesterday taking a look at newly published projects. There's one in particular that caught my eye. Its for the lobby area of a condominium project in Boston, MA. The designer is looking for 7 pieces of artwork. One large blue painting measuring approximately 44x69 inches and 6 small black and white pieces (3 to go on either side of the large blue piece) measuring 10x10 inches. They gave us a mood board and inspiration for the work along with furniture and finishing to understand the aesthetics of the area. Here is some of the info we received The lobby has a very luxurious feel. The materials and palette are equally gorgeous. Black, white, gold and teal look stunning together and I was excited to begin my work. For the blue piece, I noticed they were attracted to layers of paint and are enjoying the texture in the piece. The sheer size of the painting would definitely have high impact at the entrance and teal would look wonderful behind the marble console. The only characteristics I felt the piece lacked were a focal point and contrast. Lack of contrast translates into lack of depth in this painting and the fact that the painting looks like its covered in an abstract pattern made the piece look even flatter to me. I'm hoping I can work to this brief and add richer colors, higher contrasts, and better composition. When I was working on my previous project (The Blue Family Room), I had picked up several samples of blue from Benjamin Moore paints. There was this one color called 'Hidden Sapphire' which didn't work well on the walls of the room (the tone of the color just wasn't right) but the actually pigment and hue was absolutely stunning. Its a water based paint so I could most definitely use it on canvas. Decided to give it a try. Just the color and the quality of paint creates tremendous depth and working with water alongside allows the painting to have wonderful movement. I applied the paint when it was dark outside so I'm looking forward to seeing it in natural light. Here is what the first layer looks like Moving onto the black and white pieces. Judging from the inspiration provided, they're looking to frame the pieces and the frames would probably be gold to match the light fixtures in the room. The compositions in the inspiration images are simple. I'm not sure how I wanted to approach these so I started with making studies on acrylic paper using spray paint, acrylic and markers. I added a touch of copper to the pieces since I felt like the pinkish gold would look gorgeous against the warm gray paint on the wall and would also complement the rich blues in the large painting. Here's what I came up with I tried photoshopping the pieces into one of their renderings. I think they look pretty good for the brief but lets see what else I can come up after this blue painting is complete. I feel like I will be able to apply new things which I learnt while creating the larger piece onto the smaller studies.
If you guys remember the 12ft painting on un-stretched canvas I was working on for a living room wall, I had gone to the framers to drop it off so they can install the rope and velcro. Its on its way back today and I am SO PUMPED. I feel like my work has made progress in the short while that piece has been away so it would be crazy to see the painting on the wall. I have a feeling I will make changes to it since there's so much more I can offer it today than I could just last week. Will keep you posted on that in the forthcoming days.
I had primed 3 more pieces of wood that were just staring at me while I got distracted by a new color palette. Decided to take those on (well, 2 of them at least) and work with other cool shapes. For these pieces, I had to understand and readjust to awkward shapes, uneven and difficult surfaces, and restriction on size. Here is what the process of the first piece looked like. I decided initially to go with soft grays and and powder blue, which I felt would look gorgeous against the peach on the wall. Around half way through, I got distracted by patterns and decided to try a little metallic and a little pattern on this awkwardly shaped surface. Take a look at the journey
I completed 'We Come in Twos' and 'Fixation' yesterday and I'm in love with both. You know what the drill is. I photoshopped the piece into this gorgeous interior space and it looks perfect. Take a look The UEFA Euro 2016 has not so secretly taken over my life lately so I've been working smaller because I know how frustrated I will get if I don't find myself making progress on each piece. Just began this 16x20 in piece yesterday inspired by the yarn used in this blanket I use while watching the games. Its still just the first couple of layers. I have a good feeling about this bad boy.
I've been churning out work like never before and its put me in this amazing space where I can feel the growth every day. At the moment, I'm working on two pieces simultaneously in similar palettes and orientation. I'm enjoying the movement in the paintings and am going to whip out my charcoal and conté for focal lines in the pieces. I love how moody they are and how that separates them from the other work I've been doing earlier. Here are a few shots of the pieces
When I was walking through Creative Minds, a few super cute wooden shapes caught my eye. They had basswood in so many different shapes and sizes!!! I've only painted on wood a couple of times and it hasn't been as enjoyable as I'd hoped. One of the issues I've always faced is the limited work time it allows me. I primed the surface well with Fredrix Gesso but despite that, the wood just absorbed the paint so quickly and I could barely do much mixing. Here are a few of the shapes I picked up. Love them!! I decided to go with the shape that resembled a sigil the most (ha), and had such a blast painting it. All the pieces will end up on the gallery wall in the peach room. Take a look at the journey of the first plaque that I created. I enjoyed the process a LOT.
While I wait for the paint to dry in the 'blue room', I've decided to move onto another project. This one is equally exciting. The room I'm working on is a small bedroom that is around 12x11.5 ft in size. The light is reasonable and I decided to go with neutral colors for the furniture, light fixture and rug. All the furniture for the room was from Ethan Allen. The bed and nightstands were from the Elise collection and the finish was Vintage Linen. The two armchairs were the Fairfax in Parchment upholstered in a stunning cream, yellow and gray durable fabric (the image below isn't of the fabric I decided to go with). I decided to place the lovely Tracery accent table between the conversation armchairs. The rug for the room is a large area rug from Feizy from the Escalanté collection, and the chandelier was purchased from Currey & Co. Here are the images of the products All the pieces tied in very well together and gave an extremely elegant vibe but the room lacked a wow factor. I decided to include an accent wall in a brighter color, which I hoped would lift the entire room. For the paint color, I decided to go with Peach Cobbler by Benjamin Moore in the Eggshell finish and am now figuring out the placement of several works of art and objects for the particular wall. I picked up lots of basswood from Creative Minds on Umm Suqeim Street and began to experiment with color, gloss, and a little of pattern. Take a look at the work in progress :D Hope to make progress with more pieces of art. Will post lots of images soon!
What a crazy day!!! So I was staring at the yellow painting yesterday and the piece just wasn't sitting well with me. It wasn't the color. It wasn't the composition. It wasn't the orientation. I think it was just the sheer size and how overwhelming the color and composition both were in relation to the size of the canvas. The room in which I'm hanging it is a relatively large room thats very well lit but I'm already painting the walls in a moody and dark color. To contrast it, I wanted to paint a yellow piece. But since the canvas is so large, I think that all the factors at play are going to make it overwhelming and unsettling. Here is what the piece looked like in the afternoon yesterday. Since the image is out of context, it looks more attractive because it is difficult to imagine it measuring 6x6 feet. After much thought, I decided to cover it with white paint and rethink the colors and composition. I decided to use the largest flat brush I have so I could cover it quickly. When I stepped back to stare at it, the painting just looked complete. I love how you can see the colors from underneath the white coat. That just changed my approach and I reapplied the white with more aggressive brush strokes to create movement and texture. Here is what the piece looks like now and I photoshopped it into another interior setting, which isn't to scale, to view what it would look like against the dark blue wall that its going to hang on. Take a look!
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