For the second 10 works 2 weeks, I decided to make a bigger version of the piece to the left.
I titled the newer one Debbie after a friend of mine. Unfortunately, I cannot upload a picture of it. In the piece, I unleashed my deepest thoughts about Debbie, using harsh and inappropriate language. Even though I pretty much bashed her in the painting, we're closer than we were before. It was a wake-up call for her that something needed to change and a gust of fresh air that cleared up a lot of miscommunication between the two of us.
When I began working on Debbie, I fully intended it to look very similar to the piece here (titled Teenage Vexation). After two weeks of layering and sanding, I learned that layers = lyfe. Or maybe, (x)Layers = (x - 5)Success. The more layers you have, the better! I put eight layers of paint on Debbie, whereas I put upwards of thirty on Teenage Vexation. In the future, I will work on the same scale as Debbie (4' x 2.5') but use several more layers.
This piece was taken well by the class. I think the fact that I made an abstract painting took them back the most; I've never really done that. The reason I was successful on my first and second try at abstract painting is that they weren't my first or second try. I had been experimenting with abstract painting on Teenage Vexation’s canvas for months. I would put layers and layers of paint, thinking I had made a masterpiece, only to look at the piece an hour later with fresh eyes and realize that my masterpiece was really sub-par. I would toss the canvas aside until I was hit by another shard of inspiration, repeating the process again and again. Months went by. I emptied bottle after bottle of 97 cent acrylic paint; the canvas became heavier and heavier. Long story short, I failed a lot, which also means I learned a lot. If I had never experimented with abstract painting on the side, I would have never reached this point. In the future I plan on having multiple experimentation canvases as side-projects so that I can fail and learn rapidly.
The thing I like most about Debbie is that I channeled my anger (an abundant and renewable resource) and made it productive. I turned something negative into something very positive. I brought my friendship with Debbie closer, made a piece that people can appreciate, and gave myself pride and happiness. These great things first coming from failure and anger are a testament to the greatness of art.
I titled the newer one Debbie after a friend of mine. Unfortunately, I cannot upload a picture of it. In the piece, I unleashed my deepest thoughts about Debbie, using harsh and inappropriate language. Even though I pretty much bashed her in the painting, we're closer than we were before. It was a wake-up call for her that something needed to change and a gust of fresh air that cleared up a lot of miscommunication between the two of us.
When I began working on Debbie, I fully intended it to look very similar to the piece here (titled Teenage Vexation). After two weeks of layering and sanding, I learned that layers = lyfe. Or maybe, (x)Layers = (x - 5)Success. The more layers you have, the better! I put eight layers of paint on Debbie, whereas I put upwards of thirty on Teenage Vexation. In the future, I will work on the same scale as Debbie (4' x 2.5') but use several more layers.
This piece was taken well by the class. I think the fact that I made an abstract painting took them back the most; I've never really done that. The reason I was successful on my first and second try at abstract painting is that they weren't my first or second try. I had been experimenting with abstract painting on Teenage Vexation’s canvas for months. I would put layers and layers of paint, thinking I had made a masterpiece, only to look at the piece an hour later with fresh eyes and realize that my masterpiece was really sub-par. I would toss the canvas aside until I was hit by another shard of inspiration, repeating the process again and again. Months went by. I emptied bottle after bottle of 97 cent acrylic paint; the canvas became heavier and heavier. Long story short, I failed a lot, which also means I learned a lot. If I had never experimented with abstract painting on the side, I would have never reached this point. In the future I plan on having multiple experimentation canvases as side-projects so that I can fail and learn rapidly.
The thing I like most about Debbie is that I channeled my anger (an abundant and renewable resource) and made it productive. I turned something negative into something very positive. I brought my friendship with Debbie closer, made a piece that people can appreciate, and gave myself pride and happiness. These great things first coming from failure and anger are a testament to the greatness of art.