Francine's Sister

Francine's Sister, 60 x 72 cm., mixed media on board

As promised, more fruit. May I present Francine the Asia Pear's companion, Francine's sister. I wanted to pump out some more fruit pieces in the hope that etsy will serve me as well as it did last spring. Bellow are a few nice close ups were you can see the text contour lines. I actually dyed all of the paper in tea and coffee on our stove.


Unlike most fruit paintings, this one too me quite a while to finish. After I put down the text layer I completed the majority of the painting in a few hours. Something wasn't quite right but I added a few subtle details with pastels that really made the contours stand out.



I am still not completely settled on the back ground. In the spirit of Francine the Asian Pear I left it the natural wood color but in all honesty I may change it. We'll see.


Here is a little glance into the process. I did a quick sketch with a sharpie and then began to lay down the text contour lines. I used a mixture of flour and water. As I typed that I realized that might be why I had to make an emergency trip to the grocery the other day for flour. . . . oops.



I think this book is the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It was a wonderful book but I finished it and it was the only book available.

Francine's Niece, 24 x 33 cm., mixed media on canvas

Finally, I made a baby one. Both are now listed on etsy for purchase!

Stay tuned for a new improv video in the next few days! I finished one over the weekend and I am just finishing up the video editing now!

Happy April!

You Name It VII

You Name It VII, 14 x 21 cm., mixed media on cardboard

Here is a quick collage sketch I did the other day. I miss doing fast little collages, I gathered a lot of imagery from them when I did them in Chicago last year. Finding interesting old books is a challenge in Korea.

The color scheme and emptiness of this sketch remind me of You Name It III. Maybe I will combine the two compositions at some point.

Despite the fact that this doesn't count towards my 16 paintings I have been working and sketching is just as important as coming up with a final product. As vital as sketching is, I tend to be an expert at overlooking it.

Well, enjoy my doodle,

K

Kiwi I

Kiwi Fruit (or Torpedo Fruit Bowl), 60 x 85 cm., mixed media on board

I have made a goal to have 16 paintings done by the end of May - 8 fruit paintings and 8 creative paintings. Despite the fact that I am not feeling incredibly artistically inspired I feel like I need to take the spare time I have and create something. Living in Korea is incredibly distracting (visually the creative juices just aren't at their usual flow) but I want to take advantage of the situation as an artist. I have had two exhibits in Italy, why not add Korea to my international list. If do well here I may be able to get some residencies in China of Japan next year which will be a great way to travel when we are done in Korea!

So, this was a fruit attempt thought I must say it was almost thrown into the "creative" category.

So, this piece went through a lot of unintended layers. I did a few quick sketches before I went to the actual surface. The sketches were done in ink on butcher paper. On the second sketch I did some work with pastels and them painted over the pastels with a mixture of water and flour (mostly to adhere the color). Once I was comfortable with the layout I took a loaded brush (ink) and quickly sketched out the painting. My plan was to use brown paper and collage the shapes of the kiwi in. Sometimes I draw much better with tearing paper than with a pencil or inked brush. Instead I just went right for the pastels. Before I knew it the "painting" was a drawing on board. The final touches were some shadows I drew in with watered down ink and a very small amount of acrylic paint that I used to paint the bottom of the bowl. At the very end I took a small brush and applied some flour/water to some spots on the kiwi. I then beat the lines out to give them a more unified feel (while still being able to see the lines). I need to find some varnish.



The bowl has a funky wood grain that is like pond ripples. I took the pattern up one notch on the exaggeration scale which I ended up really liking.

I think that this image is a nice view of the different techniques used. You can see the ink, pastel, acrylic and the effect of the flour and water.

I haven't quite finished. The bowl is almost to subtle for me. I have thought about making it red. Opinions? I also need to finish the edges, then it will be ready to sell. As soon as I have a few paintings done I'll be re-posting on etsy and I will start looking for galleries.

Happy March!